With the colours of my weekend fresh in my mind, when I contemplated introducing my new sponsor this morning, I decided to see if I could colour-match my weekend from the shades of Kona that they stock. I could, so I'm doubly delighted to introduce Plush Addict, who offer Aubergine Place Mat; Daunt's Back Wall; Perfect Teapot Green; and Champagne Truffle Pink within the 278 shades of Kona Solids that they have on their website.
Plush Addict started off just a few years ago as a relatively small business, stocking soft, plush fabrics from which to make cloth nappy covers, but they've quickly grown and the business now not only keeps Kellie's husband, mother and sister-in-law busy, but also employs several local people and sells everything from quilting fabrics to dressmakers' denim.
I was especially excited this morning when I realised that they now have in stock the whole range of one of my favourite fabric collections: Meadow by Beth Studley.
I adore these poppies and the colours are deliciously juicy, while still feeling like a relatively sophisticated print.
Crazily, you can get fat quarters of all ten prints for just £23.75…which (I know you can work this out for yourself, but it feels worth pointing out anyway, as I find that bundles are rarely actually less expensive than buying the fabrics individually) works out at just 2.37 a fat quarter!
I also wanted to share with you these fabrics from the Mariposa collection, by Blend Fabrics. I love the soft, quiet colours and they remind me of Liberty prints, which are characterised by the same hand-drawn, fine outline to the designs.
Lately, I've been drawn to fabrics where the prints have a certain amount of definition, as it makes them so much more versatile if you want to fussy cut them, as I've done in the piecing above, which is cut from this Dear Stella fabric. I realised recently when I mentioned the term on Instagram that not all sewers (especially non-quilters) know quite what 'fussy cutting' means. I have to confess to loathing the term; it inexplicably conjures up images of large frilly knickers for me, which is a not entirely pleasant experience, but there's nothing that describes it quite so well so, for the uninitiated, it's essentially cutting a fabric so that a particular part of the fabric's design, such as a flower or motif, is centred on the piece of fabric you're cutting. It's a great way to create a completely new design from a print or, used en masse, to create a kaleidoscope effect with your piecing. For this reason I find myself drawn to Helen's Garden, which has some really well-defined designs, as well as some beautiful blender prints.
Back to Kona, Plush Addict have put together some really unusual colour stacks. This one is called skin tones - isn't that a fantastic idea!
What they really remind me of though is ballet shoes. I love that shade of peachy skin-colour that children's ballet shoes are traditionally made in. I have to admit that ballet is all about the costumes for me (I still feel like this as an adult when my daughter and I go to the Royal Ballet School's end of term performance every summer with my sister). When my daughter was very small, high on Angelina Ballerina books, we were both terribly excited about her starting ballet lessons. We went to the local dance shop and picked out the most divine pink leotard and skirt; sat in perfect happiness while the peachy little ballet slippers were fitted on to her chubby little toddler feet; and then she practically floated home with the bag of pink frou frou held tightly in her hot little paw. It came as a total shock to us when we arrived at her first lesson to discover that each ballet school chooses its own uniform colour and that our one favoured a hideous shade of claret! It was unfathomable, and after that we arrived at ballet lessons each week feeling slightly crestfallen, pulling on the regulation ballet clothes (having had to exchange the pink uniform) resenting how very un-Angelina they were. Anyway, it wasn't so very long after that, that my daughter shunned pink forever and realised that she preferred climbing rocks to keeping her toes nicely pointed, but 'ballet shoe peach' still makes me feel really happy. This handy feature on the Plush Addict shows the last half-dozen items that you've most recently viewed…you can see that I got sucked in to pouring over peachy coloured interlock and pastel shades of netting that I have absolutely no purpose for…
But Plush Addict's range of dressmaking fabrics does look very good. I can't vouch for the quality of it, as I haven't felt any of it in person, but it certainly looks lovely. You can find an exhaustive range of colours of interlock jersey here; and an incredibly varied collection of denim here.
Although Plush Addict have extended into every conceivable fabric direction, they have also maintained their extensive range of plush fabrics, stocking all the insanely soft and dreamy fabric you could wish for. Their range of minky fabrics (if you haven't felt these, the softness is unimaginable - although it's now known as 'cuddle fabric' in England due to trademarking issues) comes in every possible colour; they have plush printed fabrics; cuddle fabrics embossed with dimples or chevrons; fabrics that look like they have been shorn from a teddy bear…and so many other very good things.
Oh, and if you're in Kent, Plush Addict hold open days every other month! You can find the dates here and also in-between times by appointment.
What new fabrics are you coveting at the moment? Did you notice any predominant colours from your own weekend?
Florence x
