New Liberty Print Fabric Necklaces by Hippystitch

New Hippystitch Liberty Print Fabric Necklaces

 

I am rather fond of Liberty fabrics so it's always a pleasure to go and choose some for my fabric necklaces.  Recently I bought a particularly nice selection and have enjoyed making them up.  Geography was always my favourite subject so I particularly like the map fabrics...

Liberty Prints - Cary's Patchwork & Big Smoke

But then there's some super flower prints...

Liberty Prints - Wandering Meadow (pink), Poppy Wonder, Wandering Meadow (blue), Hazy Days

and also a rather nice Althea McNish print of onions...

Liberty Print - Cebollas Garden

parrots...

Liberty Print - Sonny James (parrots)

and a sort of undersea garden...

Liberty Print - Midnight

You can see from the top photo that they are all now made up into necklaces.  You can wear them choker length or longer depending on how you tie them.  They are all made from Tana Lawn cotton so they're lovely and soft against your skin.  You can even carefully handwash them when you need to...

Hippystitch Fabric Necklaces made from Cary's Patchwork Liberty Print

Now they're all available to buy in my Folksy shop.  You can find them here along with others.  Go take a look!

New Stockist - cambridge contemporary crafts

cambridge contemporary crafts, 5 Bene't Street, Cambridge

In case you haven't heard I have a new stockist in Cambridge - cambridge contemporary crafts.  If you're local to Cambridge or just visiting check them out.  They stock all sorts of delicious items that would make excellent presents (very topical at this time of year) for others or yourself!

Hippystitch Fabric Necklaces

They are stocking my fabric necklaces most of which are made from Liberty prints and all of which are super soft and comfortable to wear.  They have quite a selection...

Hippystitch Fabric Necklaces

So, whether you want to wear them choker style with a bow or mid chest length with a knot - the choice is yours.  They can also be gently handwashed!

Hippystitch Fabric Necklaces from choker length to mid chest

Hope you get the chance to explore cambridge contemporary crafts soon - enjoy!

Althea McNish at the William Morris Gallery, London

Althea McNish - Golden Harvest (for Hull Traders)

Althea McNish's "Colour is Mine" exhibition at the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow, London is her first major retrospective and shows her vibrant, colourful prints that revolutionised mid 20th Century British textile design.

Althea McNish

Born in Trinidad in 1924, she emigrated to the UK in 1950 with her family.  She was one of the first designers of Caribbean heritage to gain international recognition in the field of textile design and was one of Britain's most innovative and influential textile designers.  She claimed to see everything "through a tropical eye".  McNish's style brought together abstracted botanic designs with a Caribbean inspired colour palette.  This is true of her most famous design Golden Harvest, pictured above and is also shown in her sketchbook below...

Althea McNish - London College of Print & Graphic Arts Sketchbook

She studied at the London School of Printing and Graphic Arts and in 1954 won a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Art where, following encouragement from her tutor, Eduardo Paolozzi, she studied textiles.  Her talent was recognised by Liberty who commissioned designs from her graduate collection and for whom she went on to design silk scarves and dress and furnishing fabrics.  She also designed very successfully for Hull Traders.

Althea McNish - Cebollas for Liberty
Printed cotton furnishing fabric

McNish's original design for Painted Desert was quite large.  She liked to work at scale and then decide how to reduce the size for its intended purpose.

Althea McNish - Original design for Painted Desert

The 3 colour Painted Desert design for Hull Traders was produced as a heavyweight cotton satin furnishing fabric in 4 colourways: purple, green, pink and gold...

Althea McNish - Painted Desert (pink) for Hull Traders

Althea McNish - Wallpaper Design for Sanderson

She was a founding member of the Caribbean Artists Movement, active between 1966 and 1972, which sought to celebrate what it recognised as a distinctive Caribbean aesthetic.

McNish also designed murals for Warerite plastic in the restaurants of the ocean liner SS Oriana which took her further into the world of interior design...

Althea McNish - Warerite Plastic Mural Designs Rayflower & Pomegranate for SS Oriana

McNish's painterly style worked well for the scarves she designed for Jacqmar...

Althea McNish - Scarf designs for Jacqmar

McNish loved fashion and in the 60s was asked by ICI to design for their new fabric - Terylene Toile and also designed for paper clothes which were made from a bonded cellulose fibre that could be washed upto 6 times.  She was frustrated that paper fashion never really took off.

Althea McNish - Fashion Textiles Terylene Toile & Paper Dress

Throughout her career Althea McNish taught at many of the UK's leading art schools. She was awarded the Chaconia gold medal in Trinidad for her contributions to art and design, and in 2006 an honorary doctorate in fine arts from the University of Trinidad and Tobago, where she mentored many of its student designers.

Even in her final years she continued to share her vast knowledge and experience of textile design with students and the wider public.  She died in 2020, aged 95, 2 years after her jewellery designer husband, John Weiss.

This exhibition is on until 11 September 2022. Well worth a visit!

Notes:

Liberty have a range of Althea McNish fabrics (Tana Lawn and silk satin) for sale on the roll in store and online.  Some cut lengths are available in the William Morris Gallery shop.

The William Morris Gallery has a pleasant cafe.  The gallery is in Lloyd Park in Walthamstow and so is surrounded by green space.

Mini Pincushions for the Travelling Stitcher

Mini Pincushions for the Travelling Stitcher

Recently, I had a great find at my local charity shop.  I found a couple of wide hexagonal rings that I thought would make great mini pincushions...

Rings from the local charity shop

I used some FIMO to make bottoms for the rings using the rings as cutters to get the right shape...

FIMO bases

Next I glued the bottoms into the rings - I used UHU glue...

FIMO bases glued into the rings

Then I cut out a circular fabric top using a template.  I wasn't sure whether this would be the right size so I made one in calico to check and it was fine.  Using a running stitch round the fabric circumference I gathered the fabric and stuffed it...

Cardboard template for the fabric top and samples

Here are the finished ones I made using Liberty prints...

Liberty print pincushion tops

I glued these into my pincushion bases. And here are the finished pincushions, all ready for the travelling stitcher...

Mini pinshions ready to use

As not everyone will be able to find some suitable rings or have some FIMO lying around I've written some instructions so you can make your own mini pincushions using bottle tops...

Mini bottle top pincushions

Check out the instructions here or take a look on my How to make... page.

Happy stitching and happy travelling with your mini pincushion!

New in at Ebbing Tide, Filey

Flower button bracelets - great with jeans or pretty with a dress

   
I have just delivered some new stock to Ebbing Tide at Neil's Gallery in Filey.  They now have some colourful flower button bracelets, my Made by Me Bird kits in a selection of yummy colours, and a new stock of Liberty print fabric necklaces. ....Oh & a new mermaid has just swum by.  Here's a flavour:

Made by Me Bird kits in lots of yummy colours - great to make yourself!

Liberty print fabric necklaces - lovely Spring colours

A new mermaid brooch has just swum in!

The weather's warming up - why not take a trip to the seaside and take a look at Ebbing Tide!

Just arrived at Ebbing Tide in Neil's Gallery, Filey

Magical Mermaids swim into Filey

Hippystitch goodies are now being stocked by Ebbing Tide at Neil's Gallery in Filey.  So if you've taken a trip to the seaside do take a look - there are lots of lovely things on offer there. 

Don't forget a walk on the beach or the cliff top - pleasantly bracing at this time of year!  Then follow it up with a coffee at The Coffee Shed - fab!
 

People & Places Brooches & Map Pouches

It's always great to take a trip to the seaside.  Go on - you know you want to!

Wonderful visible mending & how to rejuvenate an old coat

The problem

I'm beginning to enjoy visible mending - it's colourful (or can be) and you don't have to be too careful and you can use what's to hand.  So here's the problem - I've got this coat and it's got a ripped lining.  Now you can't see the ripped lining when I'm wearing it but it's a bit of a mess and I know it's there so I want to repair it.

The Coat

Here's the plan.  I've got lots of Liberty fabric scraps - largely from the fabric necklaces I make - so I thought I'd make an interesting patch from a variety of pieces.  This could then be used to cover the ripped part of the lining.  I didn't have to undo much of the lining (just a little on the side seam) then I was able to hand sew my patch in place and stitch the side seam back up.  Was it successful?  Well here's what it looks like ...

Liberty print repair

I think it's a big improvement - you can let me know what you think ...