Lilac

Today I'm playing "Liberty Camouflage" with lilac. One of my favourite Liberty prints teamed with my favourite shrub.

The print is “ArchiveLilac” by Liberty of London: “Taken from a tiny paper sample in the Liberty London Archive, this Liberty London Fabric takes inspiration from Alice’s journey through the Garden of Live Flowers, where flowers talk and chatter and help her on her way.” It’s interesting that the design survived originally as a paper sample as I can absolutely imagine it as wallpaper. The first time I saw this fabric in this colour, I was reminded of a print my sister had in her kitchen, of Van Gogh’s Almond Blossom, and I still think about the painting every time I wear this top.

I bought the fabric on a fun day out with Rebecca from Poshyarns and we got lost in the rain because we were chatting too much (not the first nor the last time!) and spent hours browsing the amazing selection of Liberty fabrics in Shaukat. I am so lucky to have a friend with a similar love of Liberty fabrics!

I have made many tops with Liberty tana lawn, but I tend to use different prints to those I use in my work. I prefer bolder, often more geometric Liberty prints, whereas the colourful gifts I make for my shop tend to use the smaller, ditsy floral prints. That being said, I still only work with fabrics that sing to me and make me happy.

I love this time of year when the big blousy shrubs bloom – the bouquets of rhododendron flowers, brilliantly-coloured azaleas and, best of all, the heady scented lilac. Today is, I think, “peak lilac”: the flowers are all out, perfectly white and scented with fresh green leaves.

It is so transient – I know that by next week, individual flowers will be browning, leaving each bract looking singed and past its best, so I am spending time breathing in the sight and smell of them. I’ve cut some lilac to bring indoors, although it never lasts quite as long as I hope. The wonderful Jane from Snapdragon wrote some tips on her blog on makingspring flowers last longer and she kindly gave me some advice for lilac longevity.

I certainly don't have green fingers, particularly indoors, so I need to make sure to make the most of these gorgeous blooms outside for the few days they have left.

Bags

Following my post earlier this week, this is what I have been doing with my lovely fabric haul.

I've been working on my "perfect tote" pattern for a while now. When I say "perfect", I mean perfect for me, i.e. that it is big enough for my stuff and a nappy change for the little helper, the handles are long enough to go over my shoulder even when I'm wearing a coat, that I can open it wide enough to actually see what's in it. I find with a lot of bags that I have to scrabble about blindly without being able to see the bottom. So I knew I needed something with a gusset (I have a friend who would stop reading this blog this second just because of that word!) but that wasn't too tricky for me to sew. Also, I now know from experience that bizarrely I find it easier to make a lined bag: I am not one of life's neat sewers, and the lining lets me hide lots of mess (can I somehow employ this technique in my kitchen, I wonder?)

The most enjoyable part has been choosing which fabrics and linings to use together. I love this bird print with the red polka dot lining:

I've been really careful about cutting the gorgeous shoe fabric as it's just too good to waste, so I've made these little bags for girls - maybe not quite big enough for everything I haul about with me, but certainly big enough for a purse and some lip gloss.

Fabric

I had such a lovely time in the fabric shop today. We popped in to look for curtain material for the middle cheeky boy's room and came out with a bag full of totally inappropriate (for him) fabric instead. We also bumped into two friends, so the Little Helper was happy hiding behind some curtains with his little girlfriend. I had to pretend not to see the Bob the Builder fabric he was so interested in.

So, tea, shoes, polka dots, pink.....I reckon if I throw a few buttons into the mix I could make most of the female population happy with this haul!