On design stories

I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there’s a few new items available in my shop.

Over the next few weeks I would like to share the design story behind these new items, I hope you like to read about the adventures that I have with my products.

I’ll start off with Athaliah.

She’s made with African wax print.  As I’ve told you before, I’ve discovered that these African wax prints are actually not from Africa at all.  Some places call them “London wax prints”, and I’ve seen other names for them as well, which involves brands, so I won’t mention them.

Anyway, the African wax prints do originate from Africa originally, so I’ll continue to use them.  I must also just mention here that these prints have tons of flaws in them, so if you buy anything made from African wax prints, be sure that there will be flaws in the prints.  It’s not the fault of the maker of the item - although I must say I try to work around the flaws myself.

The fabric for Athaliah has a cream base with oval shapes in brown, teal and purple with yellow lines. 

I chose this basic shape for her and Phoebe, Rahab and Priscilla.  You will find out why at a later stage – stay tuned ;-)

For her closure I wanted to do a button as I loved these purple buttons with their hint of glitter – a girl’s gotta have glitter at some point.  

To emphasise the oval shapes of the print, I made the flap oval too, and put two buttons on.  Only the bottom one does the work of closing however.

I’ve lined her with a cream bridal satin.  I’ve found the bridal satin to be surprisingly sturdy and since I found this bridal satin rather cheaply on the off-cuts table, I don’t have any qualms in using it for a lining.

Do you like Athaliah?  Let me know what you think!