pond_ripple's Fabric Blog

There was once upon a time a king who was so much beloved by his subjects that he thought himself the happiest monarch in the whole world, and he had everything his heart could desire. His palace was filled with the rarest of curiosities, and his gardens with the sweetest flowers, while in the marble stalls of his stables stood a row of milk-white Arabs, with big brown eyes. Strangers who had heard of the marvels which the king had collected, and made long journeys to see them, were, however, surprised to find the most splendid stall of all occupied by a donkey, with particularly large and drooping ears. It was a very fine donkey; but still, as far as they could tell, nothing so remarkable as to account for the care with which it was lodged; and they went away wondering, for they could not know that every night, when it was asleep, bushels of gold pieces tumbled out of its ears, which were picked up each morning by the attendants. After many years of prosperity a sudden blow fel...

For the folk tale fabric of the week contest at Spoonflower I have picked the story "Donkey Skin" from The Grey Fairy Book by Andrew Lang. So far I have four plush dolls of the princess designed: one with the donkey skin , one with the dress the color of the sky , one with the dress the color of the moon , and the fourth with the dress the color of the sun. Donkey Skin The Dress of the Sky The Dress of the Moon The Dress of the Sun

When my dad got the rice sock that I made him, he made a very interesting remark. He said that there is a danger of the rice sock getting wet and exploding. Although I laughed at the ridiculousness of the statement, I just had to try it for myself and see. . . Trial 1: dry sock Trial 1: rice sock in warm water Trial 1 Result: Wet rice sock, no damage Trial 2: second soak in warm water Trial 2: longer exposure to water Trial 2 Result: Wet rice sock no damage Basically it just doesn't explode. The closest thing to blowing up was the fact that it held an air pocket, similar to swim trunks in a swimming pool, when it went into the water. 

This is my latest swatch project, insoles. I have small feet, and wear a size 6 shoe. Still there is a small area of insole hidden by the top of the shoe that the fabric wasn't quite long enough to cover. This looks fine on this project, but I would recommend using a swatch only for smaller shoes. It was easy as pie, all I did was take out the existing insole, which was simply glued on, and traced it on a piece of paper. I used that as a template for cutting out my fabric. I put the original insole back in as is since the glue that held it in before was still able to keep it on the shoe. I used a paintbrush to spread Elmer's glue on the sole, and put in the fabric. I used the wrong end of the paintbrush to smooth the fabric, and let the glue dry. That's it :)

Here's a little sneak peek of the baby quilt I've been working on for a friend of mine. It uses four of my fabric swatches: Dragon Quilt , Snakes in Top-Hats , Taco II , and Dragon Z's . The orange stripe came from the lining of an old bag. I tried to give the quilt a more organic feel by not doing perfect squares that match up in strait lines.

Click image to view Full Size

My cell phone and its new home! I'm always trying to do something new with my fabrics, and this is my newest project. It's a cell phone case that features my Cupcakes  design on upholstery weight twill, and some of the lightweight, polyester, crepeback satin fabric I got on E-bay. And I used magnetic beads from an old necklace that I broke forever ago to make the flap closure.  The neat thing about this case is that it's reversible. I'm actually kind of proud of it since I did it all from my own little head. (Using other people's patterns isn't ever as fun as making your own.) Cupcake side with cell phone Black side out  with cell phone A peek inside, Cupcake side out Closer look at the bead closer look at the Closer look at the back cupcakes Full view Black side out- front

Today's project is a simple fabric wallet. Just one pocket and a flap to go over it. It was super quick to make. Three pieces is all that it takes: a fabric swatch for the lining ( I used my Red Fox Stripes ), a larger black piece for the outside, and one small black piece to even out the difference between the lining and the outside fabric. I sewed the smaller black piece to the bottom edge of the lining piece. Then I put the lining and the outside piece (which were now the same size) together right sides facing and pinned them. I sewed around the edges leaving a 2" hole for turning. The corners were clipped and then the whole thing was flipped right side out and ironed. I sewed up the hole in the side with a ladder stitch. Then I folded and ironed the bottom third into place. I ran a quick whip stitch up both sides, and then ironed the top flap down. The end. That's all I did. I was thinking about putting in pockets and all that jazz, but I just felt like doing...