Following the immutable law of rural vintage/shabby chic design — that absolutely everything ought to look better in a floral pattern — I decided to do some tests on the old national icon of this land.  Enter the Jack Union series of napkins, wash bags and cushions that combine various Rosablue patterns in a cunningly familar way. Indeed, I might not have bothered (gimmicky and me-too-ish, I feared), but a much-loved American customer had been wanting a Union Jack deckchair for the longest time  … and one thing led to another.  So we finally have a product “she” can buy for “him” that still has flowers in it somewhere, as well as a new version of an old familiar that those in the countryside could go dotty about.

A small community of designers is now using The Fabric Press and I thought I might develop a tool to help us communicate and promote the service and our products.

The Craft Toolbar is intended to offer a set of resources that might be helpful to those who are designing and prototyping items of a regular basis.  It also has a few tools that could prove handy, like a list of best blogs, magazines and service sites. By the way it also has built-in radio and tv content.

We will add content all the time and where possible include links to the websites, blogs and online stores of those using The Fabric Press. It’s in its infancy, but if you use the IE or Firefox  browsers, please try it and let us know what you think and how it could be improved. [ Try it ]

With all this bad news about we just needed something to cheer us up and it finally came in the shape of an old knitting bag that Penelope found at a boot sale. It was old, beaten up and it looked just about as sorry for itself as I felt. Then I took another look at the kittens and decided it was time to hang the worries and “go for the whimsy”. The result is a rather fun replica pattern that does its very best to cheer one up. So far I have tried it in blue and pink and we have made a couple of wash bags and shoppers. I have also printed some light cotton that should make lovely pijamas for the girls.

Eureka! Just four years after first attempting this stylized floral, it finally yielded some results we are happy with. Called Lawn, the new pattern is available in our usual range of cottons, ranging from poplin through to heavy canvas. Anyhow. we have tested it with some washbags thus far, but we are looking forward to seeing the dark one as a large shopper.

Photoshop trials with wall coverings

We have started to plan our next design phase, which we hope will include e a range of adhesive papers and coverings for your walls. The idea is to be able to sell it by the roll in our store and online. The first trial patterns are likely to include the Kingham floral and the Alphabet Soup for children (shown above).  If you are interested, or would like a particular pattern, let us know.

We have upgraded our Fabric Press Service. Try it out.

When I was called upon to set up a work area for Penelope recently, it struck me how ungraceful the PC workstation looked. The mouse pad seemed an easy area where I could intervene and I began to experiment using fabric. Linen was perfectly usable, but it was a bit hard on the hand, so I did some tests using a traditional neoprene mouse pad base. And here is the result. The florals work particularly well and help make the desk alot more inviting and gracious. We have started selling them in our store and they are also available from our online shop, for £6.00 inclusive of UK postage. [ go to shop ]

I first came across the notion of this “dry” hot water bottle when an American friend who helps out in our shop complained about the bitter damp that can descend on our humble retail point. It has taken us a while to get things started, but we are now ready to launch our first versions of the product.

We have prepared a dedicated web space for the cushions and our other Winter Warmers, and we can offer a unique range of options, including a version that has a self-contained and washable inner cushion (left) filled with cherry stones and complete with the instructions on the outside.  This pad is heated in a microwave for a few minutes before being slipped into its elegant cotton cover.

We are also producing a range of sachets as hand-warmers. Perfect to slip into your pocket before that cold walk to the station.

Have a look at our Winter Warmers webspace.

Our New Photo Gifts Widget

We are trying to promote our specialised personal gift service inside the gated communities of Peer-to-Peer networks and blogs.

This is our first attempt, which should allow people to add our photo gift service inside their online photo albums.

It means that anyone who visits and had permission can order a photo gift using one of the images on the blogger’s online album.

And it means that the photograph rights holder will get a commission of 10% of the product’s value every time an order is placed.

It makes it easier for friends and family to create some memorable gifts, we suppose.

As you can see, we are still battling with one problem …

The …

thing …

is a bit …

too …

deep …

Still, it’s a start and hopefully we can refine it.

With energy prices sky-rocketing as they are, we decided to focus on those devices that can offer some practical help. For all those who have older homes with eccentric, ill-fitting doors, these items can be a life-saver. As you can see we offer two standard sizes, based on averages of internal and external doorways, but customers can also let us know their particular requirements and we will make the items up to measure.

Patterns & fabrics: The cotton covers can be printed in any of our patterns but we can also make them in durable mock leather.
Sizes & Prices: Small (85cm) £22.00, Large (110cm) £25.00 [ See our shop page ]
Custom sizes: The excluders can also be made to order to fit your door.
Delivery: 1 week to 10 days and flat postage fee of £3.00.