Category: fabric scraps

Fabric heaven

It’s been a busy week of curating and creating some lovely new fabric scrap packs.

There’s a new selection of black/white/neutral sheer and semi-sheer fabrics for you to layer and/or paint:

sheer and semi-sheer fabrics

This one contains scraps of very sheer nylon chiffon, unusual textured tulles, dress nets and plain tulle, two-tone voile, and black and white printed chiffon that takes paints and inks beautifully. These are synthetic fabrics so they won’t take fibre-reactive dye. I’ve had great success using diluted acrylic inks on these fabrics – the inks are semi-translucent so they don’t interfere with the sheerness of the fabrics, and they’re pretty much colourfast when dry.

sheer and semi-sheer fabrics

There’s a collection of hand-painted fabrics (and I’m especially pleased with this one):

hand-painted chiffon, tulle and other scraps

This one contains paint-dyed synthetic chiffon, painted textured tulle, fine nylon chiffon, hand-dyed cotton scrim and a few snippets of hand-dyed cotton organdie and other tiny scraps. Fabulous for layering, and good for my Stitched Samples for Sketchbooks course, and my Stitch a Little Landscape course too.

hand-painted sheer/semi-sheer scraps

And finally, if you like a little luxury in your layered stitching, there’s a collection of hand-dyed silk organza and silk chiffon:

hand-dyed silk organza and silk chiffon

The silk chiffon is ultra-soft and floaty; the organza is stiffer and semi-transparent. This one comes with a couple of yards of hand-dyed/tea-dyed silk ribbon.

hand-dyed silk organza and chiffon scraps

I even made new labels and sourced some compostable cellophane bags to package them in.

new fabric scrap packs

These collections are available now while existing stocks last; I don’t plan to restock before Christmas so when they’re gone they’re gone. Still lots of choice in threads too. Just saying.

Overseas news: I’ve now sent a couple of trial packages to the US, one of which has been delivered (it took about a week) and the other is well on its way. The system appears to be working fairly smoothly.

Unfortunately for anyone in Canada, Royal Mail is not currently delivering there due to the postal strike. You can still place an order if you want to, and I will post it when the current troubles have been resolved.

Wishing everyone a lovely weekend.

Paint-dyeing

I paint-dyed some chiffon fabric this week.

paint-dyed chiffon

It’s the same technique demonstrated in my Stitch a Little Landscape course, very easy and very effective. Any fabric paints will work; acrylic inks will work too.

If you let the fabric partly dry while it’s scrunched up, you get these really attractive watermark effects where the colour settles into the creases:

paint-dyed chiffon
paint-dyed chiffon
nice

An unexpected extra – I laid the fabric strips to dry on some packaging paper and now I have free collage paper too:

packaging paper accidentally paint-dyed

Some of the chiffon will end up in sheer fabric scrap packs next month. I’m pretty pleased with these, which is always a good way to end the working week.

Have a lovely weekend.

Fabrics

I’ve been sorting through my fabrics and scraps, and I’ve put together a couple of options that are now available in the shop.

The first is a sheer and semi-sheer/textured fabrics scraps pack that looks a bit like this:

FSH – sheer fabrics scraps pack, example

You can see average contents here:

sheer fabrics collection

The second is a lightweight fabrics selection, mostly hand-dyed, and mostly cotton with some scraps of silk and/or linen:

lightweight fabric scraps, average contents

And one in the making:

lightweight fabrics

Both packs are good for layering, to create little landscapes or stitched samples. I used some of the scraps to create a very long cloth, which I’m starting to explore.

a long landscape

Not sure where this one is going, but it looks like a long road. It’s about 4″ wide by about eight feet.

in progress

Have a lovely weekend.

Making Zen workshop

Just a quick fly-through to remind you that my free Making Zen workshop is available for 24 hours today. Depending on your time zone, you may need to wait for it to become available.

Making Zen workshop

If you want to watch this (and the other 30+ workshops) in your own time, and if you want access to the inspirational artist free gifts, then you’ll need to upgrade to the VIP pass, which you can do here. It’s absolutely worth having, if you can – the value of the free gifts alone is over $3,300, and you get ongoing access to everything.

Making Zen workshop

For transparency, upgrading to the VIP pass from the links on this page allows me to receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) that helps to support my work as an independent artist.

Thank you, and enjoy!

Making Zen: 5-day event for mindful makers

Bright and early on a Monday morning, and here’s the first of my two Big Newses I’ve been waiting to share: I’m delighted to be hosting a workshop on the fabulous Making Zen online stitching retreat, happening from 26th May, and you can get your free ticket here:

🎨 Get your free ticket to Making Zen here!

Making Zen is much more than just another free event. It’s an opportunity to slow down, tune out the noise, and reconnect with your inner artist. If you’re looking for a quiet pocket of time to make something with those delicious scraps of fabric and threads, then here’s an invitation to somewhere special.

It’s called the Making Zen Online Retreat, and it’s five soul-soothing days (26–30 May 2025) hosted by Kate Ward of Zen Stitching, where 32 (!) makers, artists, and creators share an invitation to slow down, reconnect with your creativity, and rediscover the joy of making with your hands.

You’ll discover:

  • How to turn your scraps and remnants into stunning art (and peace of mind)
  • Cultural traditions in art to explore
  • Why listening to your gut might be the most creative move you make

And I’m delighted to be there too, sharing my session on zero waste stitching.

If you’ve already purchased the course, the Making Zen workshop will still be of value. In addition to the workshops there are free gifts and exclusive extras, plus you get to join over thirty other workshops from some incredible artists including Jody Alexander, Ann Smith, Mirjam Gielen, and many more.

And the best thing about all of this is that – yes! – it’s 100% free to attend.
No strings, no catch. Just art, peace, and a community of makers who understand the value of quiet, mindful making.

🎟️ Get your free ticket here

I’ll look forward to seeing you there, with an open mind and hands full of thread.

For transparency, you will see that this email contains a few links to the Making Zen ticket. These are affiliate links, which means if you later decide to upgrade to the VIP Pass, I’ll receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) and you’ll be helping to support my work as an independent artist. Thank you so much for signing up – there’s so much to enjoy here.

And PS – for anyone looking for information on pricing (for the VIP pass) here are the prices:

Fast action – $67 for first hour after signing up

Early bird – $97 until event begins

Regular – $147 until the end of the event.

Stitched samples for sketchbooks

Good news! My new course is about ready, I think. It can be hard to tell when these things are done because you get so immersed in the process of making, videoing, editing (and re-editing) that it can be difficult to be objective about it in the end.

Stitched Samples for Sketchbooks is all about turning your fabric scraps (and other odds and ends) into something beautiful, useful, and inspirational.

I’m probably primarily a textile artist, but I spend a lot of time working (or playing) in mixed media sketchbooks to explore different themes, colour palettes, textures and different ways of stitching. Most of that happens behind the scenes, but it’s essential groundwork for whatever I happen to be working on at any one time.

This course shows you how I go about preparing and adding stitched samples to my sketchbooks.

scraps

By layering your scraps and adding some simple stitching you can create unique little samples that you can add to your sketchbook, or indeed turn into any piece of decorative work.

getting started

There is layering, stitching, painting, sketchbook work, and more.

painting backgrounds

As always, you can watch the preview for free before you commit to anything, and you get lifetime access to all lessons. You can download the videos, watch as many times as you like, and learn at your own pace.

working with layers

I had lots of fun putting this one together, and I’ve made some interesting samples for my own sketchbooks too.

preparing samples

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

And stay tuned for some exciting news coming next week…