Alice in Wonderland - Spring / Summer 2015 Liberty Jelly Rolls

Many are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new Spring/Summer Seasonal Liberty 2015. Especially this Alice in Wonderland themed Liberty Tana Lawn print. Our new stock is due to arrive in early January. 

To celebrate and wet some appetites I have hand selected and beautifully co-ordinated Liberty's in a range of palettes and made Jelly Rolls using our new Sizzix Cutting Machine.....

Incorporating many of Liberty's latest designs from the Spring/Summer 2015 Collection: Alice Wonderland, Theo, Gally Moggers, Garden Wonderland, Patsy and Laura will all be names of pretty prints that you'll grow to love more and more as you use each one.....

"Blue and White" is a palette made famous by Liberty so as a tribute to the man Arthur Liberty himself..... who dedicated a whole room to it!

 Materialise has an abundant supply of Liberty sticky tape in a wide range of prints designs and widths in store at the moment. It looks perfect with simple brown paper as the wrapping with just the Liberty tape for that exciting and stylish splash of colour. Plus we have a nice Christmas price!

With Lots of Christmas colours too!

It suddenly occurred to me that I really needed to make a Large Liberty Christmas Bow for a fancy and fabulous front door....!
Merry Christmas.....

Christmas Flavours cooking at Materialise

So... I've been a bit slow to start this Christmas, even by my tardy standards! If I'm honest, it just comes around way too quickly for my liking (plus I really just want to sit and hand piece one inch Liberty hexagons...... They are so addictive, I'm completely hooked!) Once I get into the swing of things, I'm brimming with ideas for decor and gifts, however I never seem to have enough time to make them all. 

This year we have loads of Liberty tana lawn to mix with all the Japanese linens....... Heaven!!!!!

I'm a fan of choosing traditional Christmas colours, like green, red, gold and silver, and then adding a highlight colour or two to freshen things up. My highlight colour is usually one that I've been vibing all year, that also looks smashing with my chrissy colours. I think Chrissy colours can be any shade of the classics- such as green and red- which often translate to yellow and grey.

Essentially my colour scope is only limited by my imaginaton. Which means no colour is cast aside. Just the way I like it...

This Christmas the choice has been made for me by my beautiful my two and a half year old daughter Liberty. Yes, you guessed it, it's "Pink"! So I'm embracing the pink challenge, and adding some purples in too. A glorious example of this is the Little linen heart above, with whimsical hand stitching and a uber cute 1/2 inch hexagon....

Stars are always big on my christmas decoration list....

My Hoya flowered for the first time today.... I just adore these little perfect waxy star shaped flowers. These flowers were also a favourite of Mum's too..... I'll be adding more ideas as they come to fruition. Simple, quick, fun and festive.......

 Last year I made Liberty a Hobby Horse for Christmas, I had the best fun making it. The bit I enjoyed the most was the hair! This will never go out of date!

A while ago I started piecing together these hexagons to make a pull on cover for an old foot stool. I finally finished piecing together the top. I am now happy with the colours and will not be unpicking anymore. 

Here is a new selection I started piecing together the other day after a friend generously returned from Japan with an amazing selection of Japanese Liberty in a soft selection of blues, mauves and mossy greens. Christmas is not just about decorating or rushing around the shops... Who doesn't love something handmade!

Cotton & Steel comes to Materialise

Cotton and Steel is a new & contemporary range of fun novelty and basic prints produced by an all female design collective. The high quality fabrics have been produced in Japan, slotting in nicely at Materialise amongst all our other lovely Japanese made fabrics. 

The range has been specifically produced for the patchwork and quilting market and is fast and fun.....

Already proving popular with customers as soon as it arrived this week in store.

Cotton and Steel have also produced a range of prints available on a fabulous Linen/Cotton 

Featured above is the already iconic "Mustang". If you are a regular on Instagram or Pintrest you would have already seen this design pop up. 

My personal favourite is the lion "August"

This kitty cat is proving to be a winner will all our self confessed "crazy cat lady customers....."

Because it tis the season to be jolly I had to get this classic yet modern Christmas design....

Let's not forget the beautiful Butterfly's.... It would be rude not too.

To view these gorgeous fabrics on our website and order online, simply check out the link below!

http://www.materialiseyourlife.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=cotton+and+steel+novelty

See you soon........!

Materialise has More New Japanese Fabric Arrivals

Earlier this week I had a customer who came in specifically looking for chickens..... I apologise to this person because I completely forgot about these cute guys that arrived later this week. This is the ever popular double gauze which is so perfect for babies and pj's for little people.  The popularity of double gauze is growing which is great because it is useful for so many things and so beautiful to wear and sew. Available in many great designs and colours we are steadily building the range in the store, however the good ones sell fast so if you see one you like pop in and grab it. We have more in store....

The petite floral design under the chooks is also a double gauze but it feels like its a flannel because it's the softest double gauze I've ever felt. 

This micro pin dot has proven time and time again to be useful in so many quilts in both the grey and white so we have added to the range and now stock this selection of clean and clear colours that will no doubt be as popular. 

A new selection of Liberty bias bindings are filtering into the store. Featured above the ever popular Felix and Isabelle is definitely a winner.

This beautiful design from the Autumn Winter collection works beautifully with the Japanese indigo's and was made to order for Robyn who is making a selection of place mats for her dining table using the indigo's. 

This traditional Japanese base cloth has a real slubbiness and texture to the surface of it making it very useful in all kinds of projects. Now available in this lovely selection of colours to co-ordinate with others in our range of beautiful Japanese fabrics.

This natural linen is my favourite pick in this delivery. The spots are quite large but still workable and I have a sneaky suspicion this will be popular for clothing, pants, shorts, skirts and dresses.

We are growing a gorgeous selection of yarn dyed fabrics that will lend themselves beautifully to quilts and clothing for the men and boys in your life. Here is a small selection of some new pieces we recently received.

These yarn dyed shot cottons have the warp and weft fibres dyed different colours before being woven together. This is a great basic and is slightly heavier making it perfect for clothing, especially shorts or pants....

Just arrived from Japan! Now At Materialise - Don't Miss Out on These!

Whenever a delivery from this Japanese supplier rolls up I could not be happier. Unpacking the boxes is just so exciting, seeing how all their colours work together and their beautiful textures.....

I am thrilled with this selection of Japasnese plains. 

This fabric looks like it's linen but is actually cotton. It has that beautiful slubby texture of linen. This new range of colours are just melt in your mouth. Perfect for shorts, little girls tops, quilts, you name it, this is so versatile.

These reversible oriental inspired prints have amazing colours and textures on both sides! The new colour palette works beautifully with so many others we have available too. 

This good old trusty linen spot is back again in purple and pink due to popular demand. We have added  a french navy this time and the soft khaki green hasn't been in for a while. Popular for everything people use this a lot to make tea towels, (well nice linen tea towels can be hard to find!) quilts, bags and recovering worn out cushions on a cane sofa

Every time we get this fabric into the store it literally gets inhaled by everyone. I used it to make some cool indigo cushions with boro detail..... 

New Double Gauze in a stunning pillar box red and this beautiful washed out faded looking denim blue. 

New Double gauze in soft pastels, I thought the green and the soft blue would be good gender neutral options for baby wraps.... Perfect for sleepwear, I'm keen to make some pj's for my little girl

Getting Organised at Materialise

This week Gretel has worked tirelessly on scanning, uploading and organising a lot of the Liberty for our online store. A good portion of our latest Liberty's are now able to be viewed by you in the comfort of yr home, with still more to come..... . Gretel has really gone nuts beautifully describing each classic floral print to make it easier for you also often referencing the history of many designs..... 

I've been a good girl and stayed focused (as much as my brain can) on my spring clean, continuing on with the sorting and ordering in my studio. I am determined to get new organisational systems up and running to make life easier and more productive.....

This gorgeous selection of Yuwa roses all floppy and nice have sadly been given their marching orders.

I know a lot of people lately have been on the hunt for the larger more romantic style roses that Yuwa use to do a lot.... Lately they have been as rare as hen's teeth!!!  So 'Voila'.... These packs will make them a little easier to find and they co-ordinate beautifully with new Yuwa's we have recently received.
It's not hard to see why I have been hoarding these for years. 

I know I'm being a tad over zealous and will probably regret saying goodbye to so many pretty's but I'm tired of looking at them in the box, longingly, wanting to use them.... Even if I live to be 100 I dare say I won't get a chance to get to these puppies....

SALE! 10% OFF FABRIC including Liberty, Yuwa, Kokka, Sevenberry and more......

Believing is Seeing!- at Materialise

It may sound strange but my friend and fellow quilt enthusiast Jo and myself would often stand in Materialise of an afternoon and pray for Liberty. What can I say, We Love It! As two self confessed addicts we were into using the stuff big time. We had a daily dalliance with the colours (man!) and we wanted more.... Heck we needed more!!! Especially if we were going to finish Jo's Liberty strippy quilt in hues of pink and green with hints of blue and lilac so it had an amazingly harmonious, perfectly graduated colour selection..... Today I pray to give Thanks for such positivity coming into my life.

It's no wonder so many of us share a fascination and passion for blue and white with Arthur Liberty making a study of it at one of his first retail store's..... 

Lately I have been drawn to the apricot pink shades which was a favourite when I think I was about 10 yrs old.

This week new Japanese Linen panels arrived. The prints are beautiful

The tones work perfectly with either a natural linen or this new Japanese Linen in soft silver grey. "Hello friend......"

A diverse and rather inspiring selection of fresh books also arrived. I am keen to get stuck into making some clothes from Sew, Chic, Kids.....

My fave book for quilts "Unconventional & Unexpected" is hands down a must in my collection.... Featuring this quilt amongst many, many, many, more lovely creations.

Elizabeth is an amazing client who is always full of positivity and it definitely shows in her work featured here. The colour washing in these quilts is just so easy on the eye. 

Elizabeth affectionately calls these quilts her trunk divers... as they have been predominately made from   

the diverse selection of novelty prints that are available in our chest of Japanese pieces....

Elizabeth has added bits from previous quilts, like this piece from her son's golfing quilt. Piecing the fabrics together in a thoughtful and purposeful way to create a theme and build the loose story that gives each quilt its own personality. 

Elizabeth is a woman after my own heart.... She has lovingly quilted the main body of the quilt in diagonal stripes, changing the thread colour to match the colour gradient of the quilt top.... I LOVE doing that too. It makes your eye just skip happily down the quilt. 

 For the borders Elizabeth has used this really cool wave design that just works. I am always looking for new and interesting ways to change up and improve my quilting techniques so I think I will be borrowing this one. I might need a bit of practice first though to get it right....

(I hope you don't mind Elizabeth?)

This quilt has just hours of fun for a wee one...

A true eye spy done in a very cool, modern way...

Elizabeth's quilts are truly magical and have a flowing narrative that gives the receiver the greatest viewing pleasure possible. 

Thank you for sharing Elizabeth

New arrivals at Materialise!

New aqua green and pink floral Yuwa from Japan! Home decor weight, perfect for bags cushions and recovering that gorgeous old chair that you've been wanting to do! 

Too Cute.... New Kokka Elephants and little Lambs also arrived from Japan. This beautiful brushed cotton linen blend has the softest surface texture. The feel of this cloth makes it an instant success, the last time we had it in blue elephants they sold out in no time....

More morish soft textured double gauze in beautiful baby blue and soft apricot pink are also available now! Perfect for baby wraps and face cloths too.

'Caution: Construction Ahead!'  Adorable novelty prints for the little ones! Safari animals, are always popular, trucks and diggers and cute numbers.... Hurry while stock lasts!

Soft and sumptuous bobble trim is now available in a selection of new colours! Use it for edging curtains, cushions or clothing.