On my crazy Priscilla

Honestly, Priscilla is not for the feint-hearted.

She is bright, bold and certainly not a conformist.

The brigth spiral I appliqued on the front was sold to me as an African wax print.  I really doubt that it is, but nevermind....

The back of her is patchwork and spiral quilted - same as the front, with a variegated green topstitch cotton.

I continued the craziness on the interior with a bright stripey fabric and roomy pockets.

 Priscilla really is zany, but I do love her.

Are you brave enough to walk down the street with Priscilla on your arm?

On how Delilah came to be

Here is the next installment of the design stories behind the new products, now available here too.

Delilah’s fabric is also an African wax print. 

 However, looking at the fabric, it called to mind something art-deco-ish to me.  Don’t you see it too?

Well, I’ve had this pattern in mind for a while, but never came across just the “right” fabric until I saw this.

This shape is odd, I grant you.  

But look, why have something ordinary all the time?

I found the inspiration from what is called a “chatelaine” from earlier times, like this one

source

However, for a modern woman a little purse like this is totally impractical.  And I must confess, although Delilah is much bigger, I suspect she might not be the most practical bag I’ve ever made.

I added a few gold coloured beads to the flap, which works with a magnetic snap, just to add that little bit of interest. 

At first I wanted to add a whole lot of gold beads, but I changed my mind, as I thought it would be a sort of over-kill, with the odd shape, the strange strap placement etcetera.  Do you think I made the right decision?

Delilah is also lined in the cream bridal satin I used for Athaliah, as this lady deserves something glam!

I called her Delilah because – just like the lady in the Bible, she steals your heart without you meaning to have it happen.

“Whyyy why whyyyy Delilah….” (admit it: you sang that)

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!