Hare, Sewing and Snakes

It is World Watercolor Month but I've not done as much painting this week as I normally do.

I've been sewing and I made another baby tunic top, the flowery part was a fat quarter

and I altered the white one because it was a bit short

I bought a few dressmaking patterns for myself seeing that I quite enjoyed doing these [some of the time]. I did a mock up of one from an old sheet, it looked dreadful. I remember now why I stopped dressmaking - the patterns never fit me properly.

Also this week I drew lots of snakes and coloured them with markers because

there was a contest at Spoonflower for Brightly Coloured Reptiles. I put them together on the computer and spent ages trying to get the repeat pattern working right which I eventually did and the result was this [showing 4 repeats]

Unfortunately I missed the deadline for the contest!

It's Paint Party Friday and one of my designs from last week is featured on their check in page, 

thank you PPF. Hope everyone has a great week.

TAST 51 and Fabric Samples

Take a stitch Tuesday - week 51 - Raised Herringbone Band.

I prefer stitches that grow quickly and this small sample seemed to take an age, so it is probably one that I won't use again. Click on the link above to see more samples.

I've stitched it in purple to go in another new journal. I've finished the green one, I'll post photos next week.

Below are the remainder of the Spoonflower fabric swatches.

I did have another version of all queens but I've altered this one for fabrics, the old one was better suited for a single placement such as a motif for a t-shirt.

This one is an altered doodle.

I have a larger version of this which is still available on Spoonflower, I thought it was more suitable for wallpaper or curtain fabric.

Another one using the doodle trees.

I had this one printed in with the last batch except it was bigger, I altered it so it would be more suitable for clothes and patchwork.

This one is actually altered snakes and a games board. The swatch looks very pretty.

This one was inspired by the tiles at the Alhambra Palace, Spain.

Have you got a favourite from the whole batch [30 swatches]?

Recycled Wipes and Snake Fabric

 I soaked some washed, used face wipes in some tea, and after they were dried and ironed I layered them and hand stitched them together. I attempted to transfer some bird images but it didn't turn out too well. I used PaperArtsy satin glaze with an inkjet transparency, details here. They say it is a quick method but I'm wondering if I pulled the transparency off too quickly for the fabric I was using or maybe the fabric itself. Actually I have tried it on other fabric and it wasn't too successful there either, so I will have to practice some more but I will use the technique again some other time. Maybe it is my printer inks?

Sample to be continued......

There was some colour left on the transparency which I transferred to a page in a vintage book, that worked great and looks OK too.

The Spoonflower contest this week is Year of the Snake. My fabric was inspired by a snakes and ladders board game. The interwoven pink and green are actually snakes which I made a pattern with.

Snake Fabric & Illustration Friday

 A digitally printed fabric I designed & printed when I was at college. It was inspired by a snakes & ladders games board, although I just used snakes and no ladders.

This is my drawing for this week's Illustration Friday challenge - Burning