fair stash & repros

 so you know

a girl has 'got-to-have' a great fabric stash hey!?

there may have been some great sales on lately ...

my deliberate fabric selection has changed a lot in the last year

i've gone from thinking fabric for items for markets

to sewing more clothing items for me

with some 'tweaking' to the fabric shopping list

in order to 'make' for a friend's new shop being opened in feb

very excited about that

so this bundle may have made its way home with me this week

some for me & some to sew to sell

stay tuned hey!

now back on the topic of 'stashing'

there's some innate desire to stash & own & treasure

with those who sew

sometimes the stashing can get in the way of the making

for women is it the 'gatherer' instinct

is it something to do with the temptation of the 'great sale'?

but i have to say that i love that when i 'need' to problem solve

a design element i can turn to my stash & the answer is there!

lucky me ....

so in the big furniture & sorting re-shuffle that happened

about our home last year with the completion & set-up of 'the studio'

we moved this fabulous wardrobe into my sewing room

(yes i am completely spoilt as i have an art studio & a sewing room!)

we've had this piece for years & its had a variety of uses

was a fantastic op shop buy a few years ago

my FIL fitted the shelves for me

there's a beveled mirror on each door as well

.... & since sewing more clothing having a mirror 

in your sewing room .... is very very handy!

i spent 3 evenings collecting all my fabrics from assorted storage

unfolded, pressed & refolded & sorted

yep ... totally worth it!

so when i say i've raided the 'top shelf'

i mean it .... dualities!

great story behind these little fishies
..... swim fishes swim along the grainline!

i have purchased lots of fabric on line in the past but this

last year has brought on much more expensive 'shipping' to australia

so yeah ..... not so much! to make it worth it you really need to buy bulk

& that's just not always necessary .....

and as well as that i've found more & more

that i like the thrill of finding & handling fabrics

that has a lot to do with the making clothing change

so rathdowne remnants & spotty & darn cheap fabrics

have been more frequented 

..... with no encouragement from others!?

their advice is gold

my recent spotty splash out - top pic

have you been to spotlight lately & seen there

vintage linen range? called?

well i did spot some IG discussion & some disapproval

of Spotty's choice here to reproduce these designs

for people who know 'fabric' to us they are

one of the designs from Denyse Schmidt's

Flea Market Fancy Free Spirit range 

from some years back by Westminster Fibers

 yeah that's true ..... but its also not

they are designs used early last century

that have no 'copy right' & may be used for reproduction

kind of makes you feel like you've been cheated a little huh!

can you spot the difference between them?

which is which?

left :: spotlight version in stores now - linen

right :: flea market fancy - quilters cotton

the spotty one being a linen is slightly more grainy looking of course

i love this design & i have absolutely NO issue with it being reproduced

& with the recent 40% off it made it very afforable

i only bought x1m & am now wishing i'd bought more

i came across this same reproduction issue a few years ago

when i found a little plate in an op shop 

with another fabric design that i know well & adore

i did .... i wrote to 'amy' ..... she/or one of her staff kindly wrote back to me

saying they'd investigate ... they did & explained

they also asked for my postal address ....

lucky me was sent some ab patterns of my choice!!

so no getting upset peoples .....

we do not live in an ideas vacuum

there really are very few 'original' ideas out there

support our bricks & mortar stores .... we need them

but what i would like to see happen

is some kind of coding as to where the fabrics were

'grown' ..... i'd love to know there fair-trade ratings!!