Retro Easter...

Just came across this terribly cute way of bringing a little Easter into your home with a retro flavour from fab blogger & sewing extraordinaire 'Retro Mama' aka Kim... This designer seamstress sets a funky tone for Easter Eggs - without the worry of the actual egg and blowing the contents, and maybe cracking a few on the way in or out. Why you ask... these eggs are poly filled [stuffed]!

Here's a few great pics from 'Retro Mama' Kim's step-by-step guide to getting these Retro cute eggs, I suppose it's all in your fabric choice. I love the geo prints - some spots, chevrons, stripes, and maybe a lattice work! Wouldn't these eggs look gorgeous in Rubie Green fabric by Michelle Adams, or Katherine Rally Textiles by Katherine & Rally Dupps! Time to get organising your Easter decor...my Easter tree has been up for 2 weeks now and I still haven't shared photos with you - this week I promise!

What decor will you choose for Easter celebrations?

Retro Mama's - Fabric Easter Egg Tutorial

Materials:

10"w x 5"h Quilting cotton, linen or other non-stretchy woven fabric in one or more prints

Thread

Fiberfill, Nature-fill or other similar polyester or natural stuffing

Disappearing Ink Pen

Scissors

Pins

Hand sewing needle

Pattern (I recommend printing it on card stock for easy tracing)

Seam allowances are 1/4"

1. Cut out the pieces. Place pattern piece perpendicular to the fabric selvedge, trace the pattern with disappearing ink (see photo below) and cut four pieces from desired fabric prints. You may cut multiple pieces simultaneously from the same print by folding the fabric over one or more times, cutting up to 4 pieces at once.

(Tip: If you're using a scrap and don't know which way the selvedge is, test which direction the fabric is stretchiest. The fabric is stretchier going perpendicular to the selvedge, and less stretchy going parallel with the selvedge; you want the stretch going from top to bottom of the egg, not side to side, so your egg doesn't get too "fat" when you stuff it. Hopefully that makes sense.)

 2. Place pieces together for sewing. Always keeping track of which end is "up", place 2 fabric pieces, right sides together, pinning if desired. Do the same with the remaining two pieces. Transfer the two dots from the pattern to the fabric pieces on top. If using two different fabrics, make sure both pairs have one of each print and that the same print is on the top of both sets.

 3. Sew a seam along the right side of one set of egg pieces, from top dot to bottom dot, backstitching at the top and bottom. Do the same with the second set of pieces.

 4. Put the two halves together. Turn one set of egg pieces right side out, and place inside the other set of egg pieces, so that right sides are together on the inside.

Match the seams at the top and bottom and pin. (Note the purple ink marks on the lower righthand side in the photo below that indicate where I will leave a hole for stuffing)

5. Sew the two halves together. Sew around the outside edge of the egg, leaving a 1" hole on one side for turning and stuffing, backstitching at the beginning and end of the seam.

 

 6. Trim the seam allowances, taking care not to snip into the stitches and leaving the seam allowances wide around the open hole.

7. Turn the egg right side out through the hole and it will look something like this

8. Stuff the egg firmly with poly-fill or other stuffing, and close the hole with small slip stitches/ladder stitches.

9. Voila! You have a completed egg.

10. Now make bunches and bunches of these...

 

images & tutorial via Retro Mama, via Lazy Girl Designs, via WhipIt.net

Upholstery & Chair Love...

What a colourfully sophisticated & fun living room... I love this graphic ikat inspired style of this gorgeous lolly pink upholstery on the white painted armchairs and the cushions; and again in the sea foam green colourway used as the window treatment - curtains and the cushions too, the design reminds me of the fabulous prints from Michelle Adam's Rubie Green and the East Village print series There is clever use of linear graphic elements through the pattern in the upholstery print to the diamond-esque carpet design, through to balancing the strong heaviness of the angular coffee table to the curves of the 'knob-ular' ball armchair frame. Seamlessly ties together. Don't you love this too? !

Images from House Beautiful & Rubie Green

Palatial News - Rubie Green & '..The rise of eco-chic design'

Thought I'd share this interesting article from the SMH (Sydney Morning Herald) that I read last week on 'the rise of Eco-Chic', mentioning several of my favourite textile designers & decorators....

It's often said these days that green is the new black. Being eco-minded is becoming quite the smart, style-minded thing to do. Perhaps you're among those with a rising awareness about the "stuff" you bring into your home, paying mind to how long you'll love it before you toss it away and also how it has been made. On the other hand, maybe you've been put off by the oddness of what you've seen paraded as eco-design."I really want to show people that homes can be eco-friendly without sacrificing personal style," says young New Yorker Michelle Adams, who runs an eco-friendly textile company, Rubie Green, which already has a strong local fan base.Adams is in Sydney for next week's trade-based Australian International Furniture Fair (February 4-6) where she will give a seminar titled Eco Chic Design.

"It's a common misconception that eco-friendly implies either a colourless, style-lacking space or a super-modern, energy-efficient structure that barely resembles a house," she says."Neither need be the case, so I'm excited to share what some top New York designers are doing that's both green and stylish and, most of all, easy to live with."Indeed Adams's designs confound the conventional tree-hugger aesthetic. Her fabrics boast swanky, uptown Manhattan motifs: leopard prints, zebra prints, bamboo trellis, bold geometrics, all befitting a chic penthouse in a magazine spread. Which is no coincidence really, since Adams's previous role was as a market editor on Vogue's sister magazine Domino, a style bible to home-decorating enthusiasts everywhere.There, Adams became aware there were no fashion-forward eco-textiles. The textile-design graduate saw a business opportunity.

"I always wanted to have my own line of fabrics. My heroes were people like Cath Kidston and Rachel Ashwell - who even had her own TV show. I didn't realise that textiles could be this big!'

'So I just decided to take the plunge and go for it. I had a lecturer at college who said: 'If you're going to go out and put more products on this Earth, then you should make them sustainable.'

"Thus, Rubie Green's printing process is non-toxic and the bedding range, made in India, is from a factory certified for its socially responsible treatment of employees. Nevertheless, Adams has been delighted the fabric designs are beloved for their look as much as their origin.It's an experience shared by local Sydney brands such as Bird, Cloth and Publisher textiles, whose work also has a solid green base but who have carved their own distinctive place with a series of wonderfully creative fabric designs.

What's different about Adams is that in just 18 months she's gone global. Enlisting the talents of a photographer friend and an old college BFF as a model, Adams has produced a glamorous online shop for her products that could have come straight from the pages of her old magazine."All of my customers are obsessed with Domino and they love the over-the-top Hollywood Regency style [a term for the popular American trend paraded through the magazine that's inspired by 1960s and '70s high glamour]."As part of her Sydney talk, Adams will be sharing her views on where trends are heading next. "

For the past few years, Hollywood Regency style has been incredibly popular in New York and my designs certainly cater to the trend but we're starting to see homes that are a bit more subdued and natural - perhaps it could be called Boho chic?"Design is starting to move in a simpler direction. Things are less graphic and we are moving to a more subdued, natural look. I'm working on creating some new colourways for my fabrics that will reflect this trend - soft pinks and greys for people who don't want to be so bold."Adams won't be the only one imparting her eco-vision to the design community. Six leading architects and interior designers will construct room sets based on the concept eco-luxury - two words that have only recently started to go hand in hand.

Meanwhile, emerging designers will be showcasing some thought-provoking eco-furniture designs. Here's a look at some of the best on offer.Eco-hang upsVictorian design graduate Stefan Torre's Vertical Fold Chair can transform from an occasional seat into a wall-hung art panel. Challenged to design something with a double purpose, Torre says: "The best way was to create something that saves space."The chair is made from E-veneer and hoop pine ply. He's hoping the chair launches him on his way to his ambition. "One day I'd like to run my own workshop and to make furniture to my design," he says.
Paper as plasticDon't be fooled by the plastic-like appearance of the Zeopod; it's recycled paper and hemp.What's exciting is that this new material, called Zeoform and made in Mullumbimby, is made from cutting edge nano-technology and doesn't use the glues, resins or toxins common in many plastics. And it is 100 per cent biodegradable at the end of its life.

Perth-based designer Wilma van Boxtel was invited by Zeoform to design a seat with their new product and the shape was inspired by a seed pod she discovered in Queensland. To round out its blue-chip sustainable credentials, her upholstered seat is made from Joyce Eco foam with an eco-wool covering.Van Boxtel, who lectures in design at Curtin University, says: "If we as designers make better choices, then the consumer doesn't have to think about it."I teach my students to think about sustainable design [and packaging] as using common sense."Cutting through the eco-hypeIn building lingo the term "kerf" applies to the fraction of material that is lost when a blade cuts through it.
Alex Lesniowski named his display stand Kerf because "that's the only wastage in the design", says the RMIT furniture lecturer of his modular design."You can make it into a hall table, chairs, a coffee table, even a racking system. It's like Lego and I have only come up with about nine configurations but once I put it out there I hope the public will come up with a lot more," he says.Lesniowski is a committed eco-designer."I am very passionate about using material to its full potential with no waste," he says. "I chose hoop pine because it's sustainable and it's local. The are so many so-called green materials but there's a cost [including environmental] in transporting them."And he points out that an important part of sustainability is a product's durability."If you look in antique shops, you will find chairs that have been around for 100 years - that's because they have been built well. They're sustainable because they have been recycled through generations."

Organic tablesOne normally doesn't think of perspex as being eco-friendly but young Sydney designer Amy Tang has sourced an EcoResin from the US to manufacture her striking Organic Culture tables.Against the geometric shape of their silhouettes, the table top features seagrass or die-cut bamboo framed within the clear surface. "I wanted to design something that was minimal and edgy but organic," Tang says."Having that sustainability [in the design] is the number one thing people look for. I want to design products people value for life. That's my philosophy.

Find out more . . .
* Rubie Green rubiegreen.com

* Alex Lesniowski alexlesniowski@optusnet.com.au

* Amy Tang amz@amzdesigns.com

* Stefan Torre torre-01@hotmail.com
* Wilma van Boxtel deseosdesign.com*

The Australian International Furniture Fair and co-located fair Decoration & Design (February 4-6) at Sydney Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour, Sydney are trade-only events. See aiff.net.au.

Image & article source SMH.com.au