Bags to elephants

Kate Evans let her imagination run wild with a whole load of Oakshott fabrics. She says: “I’m not sure the pictures do justice to the wonderful colours and effects of the fabrics.”

Very kind Kate but they certainly made us smile.

2014-07KateEvans

Ruby Reds on Harris

Mairi Wheeler has taken her Ruby Reds on holiday to the wilds of Harris. As she says:
This is when being an OAP has its advantages.”

2014-06Mairi Wheeler

Oakshott Across France

The wonderfully enthusiastic (and talented) Jacqueline Marangos not only uses and designs with Oakshott fabrics but sells them at festivals and exhibitions round France.

She has produced this beautiful little bag in Ruby Reds (kit available):

Jacqueline Marangos bags Ruby Reds
Jacqueline Marangos bags Ruby Reds

English-speaking, button-mad Jacqueline runs L’Aigulle Boutique in Burgundy and has taken Oakshott fabrics to Nantes and Paris and in July (4-6) she will be at the Festival du Lin in Normandy.

[expand title=”Jacqueline de L’Aiguillée Boutique vend les tissus Oakshott en ligne et serait heureuse de vous renseigner. Read more in French.“] Visitez son site sur www.aiguilleeboutique.com

Avez-vous remarqué que cette année les couleurs sont vives et éclatantes comme pour chasser la grisaille de l’hiver. Cela change de nos beiges et noirs que nous aimons tant.  Des vestes, manteaux, bijoux, chaussures sont de toutes les teintes gaies et colorées et, oui, il y en a aussi pour la « quilteuse ».   Oakshott tissus pour patchwork vient de sortir 57 couleurs chatoyantes dans la gamme Colourshott, parfaites pour le patchwork et l’habillement.  

“Est-ce que c’est de la soie”? demandent 50 fois par jour des clients à l’Aiguillée en Fête ou Pour l’Amour du Fil à Nantes, tellement les tissus Oakshott ont un aspect soyeux et irisé. Non le tissu Oakshott c’est du coton,  100% tissé à la main en Inde, créé par  Michael Oakshott un anglais qui a grandi là bas. Il fabrique ces tissus dans le cadre d’un commerce équitable.
57 nouveaux coloris saluent le printemps avec une nouvelle  largeur  de 137 cm et un grammage légèrement supérieur ce qui vous permettra de faire non seulement du patchwork mais également de la couture.

[/expand]

Sharing colour since 2010

We first met Fiona across a crowded exhibition aisle in February 2010 and have been having fun with her approach to sewing ever since!

Fiona Pullen runs the online sewing directory as a central UK online platform for sewing businesses to promote themselves and as a one stop site for people who love sewing so they can find details of suppliers, sewing workshops, free projects, sewing techniques, industry news, competitions, events etc.

She gets 60-70,000 visitors a month so she gets plenty of offers to contribute content, particularly if it involves  free fabric Emoji since they get to keep and enjoy what they make. For instance there’s a husband  wearing this tie to work now and loving it.

sewing-directoryTie-sharable

It was designed by keen crafter Miriam Faulkner.  You can find Miriam blogging at moremiriam. Instructions are on the sewing directory site.

This was one of two  projects The Sewing Directory ran as a fabric challenge with Oakshott. Fiona shared the details of the fabrics on her site and invited people to submit ideas of what they would make with them.  She then chose her two favourite ideas and sent them the fabric to make up their items and write the tutorials (go to her original post here).

The second project was a perfect little evening bag (instructions here) by Anna Wilson (you can find more projects from her on her blog www.awilson.co.uk or find her handmade products on Etsy.

sewing-directoryEvening Bag

Earth Gradations

We’ve just had a photo of a gorgeous quilt top using a full range of earth elements shot cottons from Sarah at {no} hats in the house, who said:

I’m a bit partial to the (more underrated?) neutrals in your collection … so tell me, will you be introducing any browns/tans/etc. back into the lineup?

and our answer is:

We still have a few Earth colours left and are likely to be bringing back some earth and tan tones in Autumn 2015.

Meanwhile feast your eyes on her quilt top and read full details of how Sarah achieved the gradation of colour on the blog:

Gradient fill; Layer cake
Gradient fill; Layer cake

We simply love the Ruby Reds!

Ruby Reds in Circles and Crescents
Ruby Reds in Circles and Crescents

Say Jutta and Anka of quilt-around-the-world.com. They wrote to us in English and German so we thought we’d publish both and add Italian  for good measure (anybody else out there want to contribute translations, of this or other posts?)

After a tour through the city of Bath and a subsequent visit to the Oakshott Warehouse where Michael and his wife welcomed us in summer 2013, the idea for this wallhanging was born. It is called Circles & Crescents and was designed to use the entire Ruby Red collection. Although the quilt includes many curved Drunkard’s Path seams, it is a lot easier to make than it appears. You will find a detailed pattern on our website (Quilt around the World members can download it for free) and a kit including pattern and all the precut pieces in our webshop (in collaboration with Quilthouse Purgstall, Austria). If you prefer to do the cutting yourself, we suggest that you buy the Ruby Reds fat quarter pack. This gives you a little extra fabric for smaller projects and leaves some margin for cutting accidents.

[expand title=”

For readers of Deutsch:

Wir sind absolut begeistert von den Ruby Reds!“]

Nach einer Stadtführung durch Bath, dem berühmten Kurort im Westen von England, haben wir Oakshott Fabrics im Sommer 2013 einen Besuch abgestattet, wo wir von Michael und seiner Frau sehr freundlich empfangen wurden. Hier ist die Idee für diesen Wandbehang entstanden. Er heißt KreisRund und spielt auf die runden und halbrunden Plätze an, die so charakteristisch sind für Bath. In dem Quilt ist die gesamte Ruby-Red-Kollektion verarbeitet. Obwohl jedes Element im Quilt eine gebogene Naht hat, ist das Nähen sehr viel einfacher, als man denkt. Auf unserer Webseite haben wir eine ausführliche Anleitung für den Quilt (Mitglieder von Quilt around the World können das PDF kostenlos herunterladen). Außerdem haben wir in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Quilthouse Purgstall in Österreich eine Materialpackung zusammengestellt, die die Anleitung und alle vorgeschnittenen Einzelteile enthält. Wenn Sie die Teile lieber selbst zuschneiden möchten, empfehlen wir die Fat-Quarter-Packung der Ruby Reds. So haben Sie noch ein wenig Stoff übrig für kleinere Projekte und ein wenig Reserve, falls etwas beim Zuschneiden daneben gehen sollte.[/expand]
[expand title=”

For readers of /italiano:

Ci piace tantissimo il Ruby Red.“]

In seguito ad un giro nella cittá di Bath e una visita al Magazzino Oakshott dove Michael e la moglie ci hanno hospitati nell’estate di 2013, fu nato il concetto di quest’arazzo.  Si chiama Circles and Crescents (Circoli e Falci). Benché la trapunta contiene molte cucitare curvate “Drunkards Path” é molto meno difficile da fare che non sembrerebbe.  Troverete un disegno dettagliato sul nostro sito (i soci di Quilt around the World possono scaricarlo gratuitamante) o potrete ottenere un corredo contenente il disegno e tutti i pezzi pretagliati dal nostro web-shop (colla collaborazione di Quilthouse Purgstal, Austria).  Se preferireste voi stessi fare il taglio suggeriremo che compraste il Ruby Red fat pack.  Questo vi offre un po’ di stoffa addizionale per altri progetti piú piccoli e lascia qualche margine per errori nel taglio.[/expand]

Pink Calluna Cami

Our mouths watered at the sight of Kerry’s clothing adventures with our new Calluna Herringbone fabric. There’s info and pics on lilysquilts.blogspot.co.uk and detailed making instructions on verykerryberry.blogspot

Kerry Berry in Calluna Herringbone
Kerry Berry in Calluna Herringbone

The Calluna  Herringbone is what I would describe as a shirting weight.  Imagine a beautiful, quality men’s shirt, from the sort of gentlemen’s outfitters that sells brightly coloured socks and cashmere sweaters- that is the weight of Calluna.  It is light to medium weight, perfect for shirts and dresses.  It is soft and the weave produces a two tone effect with a light colour on one side and a darker version on the other so perfect for contrast details like the button plackets, collar stands, cuffs and pockets on this dress.

Oakshott Fabrics Calluna Herringbone 01
Oakshott Fabrics Calluna Herringbone 01