pond_ripple's Fabric Blog

This is a view of the lining of the pencil pouch that I made for my sponsored child, Sarla. For some reason my camera doesn't pick up on the brightness of the yellow, and instead washes the image down to this pastel yellow. It's  made using my Parakeets on Gold fabric. Here's a closer view of the little budgies!

This is my second messenger bag ever. It uses two of my custom designed fabrics: Cherry Vanilla Plaid and Ice Cream Stripe . I'll be putting it up for sale in my Etsy shop pretty soon.

I made this journal from scratch using a swatch of my fabric that features my cat Richard on the cover. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to make a journal although it was a bit time consuming. I used regular computer paper that I folded in half individually and sewed together in small stacks of ten or eleven sheets using my sewing machine. (I kept the pages together with binder clips while sewing together) This step took a good long while as my sewing machine had to be hand cranked in order for it to make it through the stacks. Once I had completed four stacks I sewed two together, and then the other two together in order to get two now larger stacks. This took awhile as the needle can only go through the holes that the machine had already made, and it took a bit of effort and a sturdy thimble to do that.  After that I repeated the process with my stitches spaced way out and doubled to get the final stack. Then I used the stack to determine the ...

This is my entry for the Circus fabric of the week contest on Spoonflower.  I knew that I wanted to at least include a few lions and a group on the flying trapeze, but apart from that I had no idea what I wanted. I ended up looking around on Flickr for some inspiration, and I came across wonderful black and white striped leggings. It led to the striped costumes on the lions.  I looked at a lot of photos of trapeze artists in action to be sure and get the lions in the proper positions. After the initial drawings of the trapeze lions, I started to just wing it. The high-wire act started out as two separate performers on different  tightropes, but they were making my repeat difficult. I was just going to cut one from the design, but then my brain started working. So, I combined the two acts. Oh, and the juggler is just kinda there. Not much of a story on this guy he just showed up in an almost finished form from the first pencil sketch. He does remind me of an Oom...

This is a glasses case that I made for my mother out of a swatch of my Delicate Floral on Red fabric. These are so easy to make!You don't really need a pattern. Just use a regular swatch (they're normally 8"x8" plus a small white border) and a lining piece the same size. Pin and sew them together right sides facing leaving a hole for turning. This is the step to put in an elastic loop in the top seam for a button closure. Turn it inside out, sew the hole closed with a ladder stitch, and iron flat. The basic idea is to fold it in thirds and sew up the edges by hand to make the pouch. I used a figure eight stitch to keep the lining from sticking out the side. Just be sure to check the fit before you sew the edges. After it's all sewn up, fold the top down and iron it flat. The last thing is to sew on the button and you're done!

This box has three of my designs on it: Golden Sea Serpent Golden Dragon Skin Delicate Floral I mostly use this blog in conjunction with my small line of fabric on Spoonflower, but today I'm writing about another medium: paper. Using the designs I originally intended for fabric on paper came about from this amazing website, The Toymake r by Marilyn Scott-Waters. On this website there are some astounding paper toys and boxes. Most of the toys are set up with a blank version that you can print out. I used some of the box templates and placed my fabric designs on them before printing them out. It seriously uncluttered my sewing desk. The boxes I have posted pictures of use these two templates: These two boxes have the original designs by Marilyn Scott-Waters. Polar Bear in the Parlor Bug Box Have fun, but beware! This is totally addicting ;) I gave this box with my Primavera on it to my mom.  This matchbox for my loose buttons has my Delicate Flora...