New House Textiles

Lovely prints from UK Based New House Textiles. I especially adore the Sweetheart Collection.

Will Click for Textiles: Fly Girls

There are so many wonderful blogs that feature an array of amazing textiles, so I thought it would be fun to share some of the links that I stumble upon here on Crafty Hues. First up is the fabulous Fly Girls blog of the super creative Andrea Pippins. She has a wonderful collection of textile inspiration on her blog. Click Here for Textiles!

Oh Suzani! {embroidery defined}

Aren't these pieces gorgeous!? The beauty, passion, creativity, and techniques never cease to amaze me when it comes to traditional textile design. These pieces are called Suzanis and are hand crafted by the women of Central Asia. Usually the embroidery stitch used in these pieces are that of the chain stitch, so in the spirit of these beautiful embroidery stitches, I thought I would post a mini tutorial video i found on how to embroider a chain stitch!

Making a Suzani: Each suzani is unique in design. To be a suzani designer was, and continues to be, the prerogative of specialists. Traditionally, the skill passed from mother to daughter and certain families became renowned within their communities for their patterns and symbols. Though the end product is distinctive, most suzani designs derive from the same compositional scheme; a central field surrounded by borders on all four sides. This scheme has a long tradition in the arts of central Asia, and in Islamic art in general.





Traditionally, suzanis were made entirely by hand and could take around 18 months to complete. Cotton was the most common ground cloth, woven into long strips about 12” wide. Anywhere from three to six strips were tacked together to create a large piece of cloth. Using black ink, a designer would draw, often freehand, a pattern on the cloth. Once the color scheme was agreed upon, the stripes were separated so that different women could work on the embroidery simultaneously. When the embroidery was complete, the strips were sewn together again. Sometimes the embroidered motifs and colors did not align precisely when the strips were rejoined. Such inconsistencies were not flaws, but simply by-products of the process.

Suzanis are particularly valued for the fineness of their embroidery and the skillful use of contrasting colors that result in bold, vibrant designs. Variations of chain stitch and couching are the most common stitches. By changing the direction of the stitch, changing stitch length and color, a woman gave texture and energy to a motif. Read More Here...

Judy Black {colorific}

Gorgeous pillow color waves and designs from Textile Designer Jennifer Neill of Judy Black. here is a little bit of info about Jennifer that I grabbed from her website. You may find that I will begin posting the bios of designers and crafters here more as I am always inspired by their summarized journey towards a creative careers!

About Jennifer: "Jennifer Neill is solely involved and responsible for all aspects of the design process, from the original print idea to the final garment. Jen loves the purity and romantic nature of the handcrafted process and feels tied to the tradition of textile design. Her work spans from tight five-colour, registered by eye, t-shirt graphics to loose free-style intuitive printing. The following is a general overview of the creative progression of each piece.

A collection of final images are selected from Jen’s hundreds of doodles and sketches which are then refined or left in their raw state. Silk screens are then constructed and exposed using photosensitive emulsion and ultraviolet lighting. Each screen is then brought to life through extreme experimentation with colour variations and placement options creating moods, effects and styles. Ideas born through the above experimentation process are then printed on pre-made garments or cut directly from the randomly printed cloth. Simultaneously, designs for clothing and accessories have been brainstormed and drafted. Once final colour ways, prints and pattern pieces have been determined, Jennifer then sews each piece of her one-of-a-kind creations creating an intimacy that does not go unnoticed." ~judyblack.myshopify.com

Donna Gorman {fresh and simple}

I love these prints from Textile Designer Donna Gorman. The cool sorbet colors are deliciously gorgeous. You can never go wrong with rich colors and simple patterns..neither will ever go out of style! the photos below are all taken in Donnas lovely vacation home on Vieques Island. Here is more info on Donna in case you are not already familiar with her and her work. You can also read more about her and her design inspirations on SeedsandFruit.com:

Donna Gorman!s fresh, colorful and innovative work graces the products made and sold by some of the best names in contemporary design...... like Crate& Barrel and Marimekko, where she was vice president of licensing and design until 1992, when she started her own design firm retaining Marimekko as a client. Trained as a photojournalist, Donna Gorman has kept the photojournalist!s instinct for connecting with details of everyday life. Her designs are often born in the images she she captures with her camera during her travels to singular, eye-catching locales like Morocco, India, or rural Mexico. The photographs serve as inspiration- visual field notes- to be transformed with brush and vivid colors into paintings that are ultimately reproduced in her designs.

Donna Gorman and her work have caught the attention of those who set the standard in the design world. Decorating and design publications have run feature articles on her
collections, and her work and home have been featured in publications like I.D. Magazine, Abitare and Metropolitan Home. Gorman!s design work is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Applied Arts in Munich, Germany. A frequent guest on several shows on HGTV, tapes of her appearances are being sent to key retailers across the country to promote her products. William Morrow published her first book, “The Artful Table”. A second is in the works,combining two of her life!s passions, travel and entertaining.



A diverse range of companies seek Gorman!s particular creativity. For Seabrook Designs Gorman has created several very successful juvenile and general wallcoverings and coordinated fabric collections. For retailers like Crate&Barrel, Target, JCPenny, BedBath&Beyond, and Dansk, she has designed several coordinated and independent product collections of table top, bedding, and bath products. Her accent rug program for Bacova Guild and fabric collections for Duralee continue their success with new introductions
every season.

Flip, a brand she created for her exclusive children!s collections, continues to expand into new categories including infant products and clothing. Manufactured by Sweet Potatoes, The Flip Kids clothing collections bring sophisticated colors and patterns to wearable and comfortable fashions for toddlers-tweens. ~donnagorman.com

Creative Color [via denyse schmidt]

I can totally see myself over indulging in a project such as this. Filled with color and simplicity, these colorful adornments created by quilter and Textile Designer Denyse Schmidt would add character to many different spaces. I can see a bunch of them stacked randomly in a cute dish/bowl. I can also see these as Christmas tree ornaments as well..yes, I am quirky enough to do so! LOL. You can find the how-tos of this project along with a great feature on Denyse in the Summer 2009 issue of Creative Home (psst...i love this issue of Creative Home by the way..it's filled with lots of color goodness...as usual!)

Berry Ava Blanket {finished}

So, I finally finished the "Berry Ava" Baby Blanket! Yay! Even though there are obvious flaws when it came to the printing with the embroidery hoop and modge podge, I must say that I love the outcome! I kept it simple and sewed on a pre-quilted chocolate brown baking to the fabric. It looks great and I hope baby finds comfort within it! I could not resist adding in the "handmade with love" tag, which will do for now until I feel worthy of a professional Crafty Hues tag..LOL. Ok, things will still be sporadic as I am due this Sunday and may have to be induced sometime next week if she does not arrive on her own.

Baby Blanket Sneak Peek: Berry Ava Fabric

So, last night I decided to muster up the courage to go ahead and print one of the fabrics that I will use in the baby blanket for our little girl who is due next month. I really have been putting it off, as I did not want to TOTALLY screw it up as I did not have money in the budget to buy more fabric. Nevertheless, I VERY much consider this a practice run as I am still using the hoop screens and modge podge(which explains the random smudges and pinholes...LOL). I think with my next print I will go ahead and use a true screen, but for this project, I will continue with this print.

I do have one question...How do I prevent my screen from picking up ink if it is laying on top of the print next to it..should I print every other row and let dry and then print in between or do I just wipe after each print..any suggestions?

As I was reading the lovely and might I say very resourceful blog Celestina Carmen, which is a blog about screenprinting, sewing, & crafting; I learned that I should really raise my screen just a bit from direct contact to the fabric to help prevent smudging so I will definitely be experimenting with that soon. Also, I failed to use a fixative in my ink, so I have to be sure to order some to help my color set better. Nevertheless I am pleased with the design and can really see this motif in lots of different things. I call it Berry Ava because our little girls middle name will be Ava!

So, I just wanted to quickly share my progress. I must say that screenprinting while pregnant can be a bit of a challenge!: I will be back some time next week and will post pics of the completed blanket. It really won't be to complicated...quite simple really. Ok, thanks for listening and I will be back soon! Happy creating!

The Manderley Collection by Romo Fabrics (textile of the day)

I thought it would be fun to every now and then share some textile inspiration by picking a print to highlight from time to time. To start things off I have selected this print from the Manderley collection by Romo Fabrics. I love the colors, and the pattern is great! I will be highlighting both manufactured and hand printed fabrics, so if you come across a great print that you think should be highlighted, then feel free to shoot me an e-mail!


printed on pure linen

Fabric Ink & Color Theory {new goodies}

Don't you just love getting art & craft supplies in the mail! I finally received a few goodies in the mail today! I recently ordered some basic screen printing/fabric ink, some speed clean, and a wonderful color theory book called the "Color Mixing Bible".



I LOVE this book as it has so many examples of the various techniques and ways that one can mix colors depending on consistency and shade! I bought this book first to add to my collection, because in my opinion, knowing how different colors work together as either the top or bottom layer is extremely important when hand printing. Many times I would find myself confused on which order I would apply my ink/paint and then i would end up with a disaster and a waste of product.



So I really think that this book will be a good aid for when i need a bit of color mixing inspiration. It includes color mixing for: watercolor, acrylics, oil, gouache, colored pencils, ink, and pastels. I bought mine "like new" for only $8 bucks via amazon & it is in perfect condition (I heart amazon)!

I decided to go with Versatex for my ink as I remember it worked quite well in my past printing sessions, so we will see if I still feel the same way after a few practice rounds. If so, I will order a few more colors!



I plan on making my mom a yard of fabric for her birthday and to print my own fabric to make a baby quilt for our little girl that is due in May...the colors for that will be pink & brown. Wish me luck! If they come out properly I will most definitely post them here.

Maiwa Natural Dyes

Psst...Maiwa is hosting a fabulous textile symposium in October, so if you are in the area I would definitely recommend looking more into this, as I know I would love to attend many of their workshops!


I just came across Maiwa, a supplier of natural fabric dyes and textile printing supplies! I heart this site and look forward to trying out their line of natural materials to experiment with. They carry natural materials such as: Black Oak, Henna, Indigo, Marigold, Pomegranate, Safflower, and more; and their prices for the smaller jars start at just $3.95! They also have some great instructions and tips on various textile printing that are free to download as well as a glossary that defines the colors that each of their natural dyes are used for as well as the colors that result from them. So, if you are lucky enough to find yourself in the Vancouver, BC area, then you should most definitely check out their shop Maiwa Handprints!



They have also produced several documentaries. Two of them I would love to own to add to my own textile collection, the first being "In Search of Lost Colour: The Story of Natural Dyes".



The other film that I would like to own from them is called "Through The Eye of a Needle: Stories from an Indian Desert" (the textiles in the preview below alone are captivating..simply gorgeous!).



The price of these two are about $42 bucks for private use, but I think if you are a serious textile guru or one that just simply loves the art of textiles, then it would be well worth the investment!

Dabu Dyeing (beautiful)

Print One {it's a start}

So, today I finally broke open some paint a long with a simple DIY screen. I used a hoop, some voile and modge podge to make my screen for this, as I was just practicing and I did not want to ruin good material! So anyhow, this is what became of it. I like the colors...the print could be a lot better, but it was good enough to make a cute little pillow for our couch. Nevertheless, I plan on ordering some fabric dye/paint as this was plain old acrylic screen printing paint. So, at least it's a start, considering I have not printed in a long long time! Be back soon with print two. My goal is to keep sharing prints and hopefully as I go, the prints and color theory will become more refined with each one!

Inspired By: Lotta Jansdotter

Creative Goals [long & short term]

I don't know about you, but I have tons of things on my creative to-do list that I would like to accomplish soon and within the future...here are some of them:

Short Term Goals:
1. Open up my etsy shop
2. Write creative articles on a more regular basis
3. Have a devoted time just for my crafts
4. Knit & crochet more
5. Sketch/paste in my sketchbooks daily
6. Sew more clothing

Long Term Goals:
1. Write several children books
2. Write a creative living book (I already have the title)
3. Have successful handmade fashion, decor, and body care collections
4. Publish some creative/cute cook books

My Creative Space

The Inspiration [how it all began]

Ok, so I have finally gathered up the nerve to restart my creative journey! I say re-start, because it has been much too long since I have created something to sell and for that matter even for myself or our home. I use to have an online boutique called JuBella.com, which sold handmade jewelry and accessories, now JuBella.com has evolved into a creative living blog which I totally adore. Nevertheless, it has been a few years since I have found myself engulfed in creative energy. After giving birth to our son, and taking on life, my creative charm seemed to be put to the side.

I attended Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) for a couple of years where I started off in Interior Design, and although I was good within my major & I obviously carry a great passion for design, I just felt like interior design did not fully meet ALL of my creative interests. It was a bit too structural for me, so I switched my major to Fibers...and that's when I fell in love with creativity all over again! I loved the fibers program at SCAD. I felt that I had found a major that incorporated everything that I loved: fabric, color, embroidery, fashion, pattern, sewing, product design, knitting, crocheting, and paper all in one...heaven indeed!

So, to make a long story short...I never got to finish my fibers degree. So there I was...a bit lost and confused on what direction to take my crafty life next. It's a lonely and frustrating feeling to have a creative spirit and not know what to do with it! So, I am at a point now where I really feel the urge to bring my creativity back...yes, I'm bringing creativity back..LOL. We are expecting a new baby girl this May, and I felt that this would be the perfect time to start this little endeavor and with the season of spring here I figured, what better way to renew and transform.

So, here I am, ready to take that plunge back into my creative world. I must say, it's quite intimidating, especially when one blogs about so many creative people as I do over on JuBella. Yet I know deep down there is plenty of creativity just dying to be released and I would love for you to skip along with me as I take the journey to free it!

So, I hope you enjoy my posts, which will consist of all of my inspirations for my work as well as updates on my upcoming Etsy shop! Thanks so much for stopping by. Please do visit often & remember to Dream It, Create It, & Give It Away!