Cushion Galore

Scroll down to see cushions for sale. There are blues and purples, pinks and reds and neutrals. All cushions are stuffed with an ecological filler of pure wool and recycled cotton covers.

Cushions for sale reds and pinks

Cushions made from recycled materials. To order please email info@ruthsinger.com or call 07740 345 062
Pale pink lambswool with corsage, back with hand-dyed cotton. 38cm square. £60
Cerise mohair with corsage, 32cm square, £60
Pink/ grey striped lambswool felt. 30cm square. £40. Matching tea cosy available!
Red suede cushion with hand-cut pattern. Back of cushion is vintage kimono silk in burgundy and gold. £60 35cm square
Baby pink quilted, lambswool with corsage, back with hand-dyed cotton. 38cm square. £65
Red wool cushion with corsage, 38cm square, £50

Cushions for sale neutrals

Neutral cushions made from recycled knitwear. To order please email info@ruthsinger.com or call 07740 345 062
Top: Cream cable knit, 35cm square. £40
Middle: Pure wool cable, 42cm square, £50
Bottom: Beige with corsage, 40cm square, £60

Cushions for sale blues and purples

Listed here are many other cushions that are for sale. Unless otherwise stated, these are all made from recycled knitwear. To order please email info@ruthsinger.com or call 07740 345 062
Cushion pads are made from recycled fabric stuffed with pure wool fleece.

Purple sparkle with corsage, 50x32cm, £55
Pair of small Doublet cushions, approx 30cm square.
Dark blue with pink lining and dark floral backs. £80 for two.
Purple chenille with corsage, 45cm square. £55
Light blue wool cable, 40x26cm. £40
Dark blue wool felt, 34cm square. £40

Brighton and buttons

The weather was finally good enough to take some pictures. Not exactly sunny but not foggy at least.
Brighton Pavilion, a wonderfully inspiring place. In the article I am writing for Popular Patchwork I suggest that the details in the building would make great quilt designs. I hope someone does try it - I wont I'm not a quilter by any stretch of the imagination!








To celebrate this success, I went button shopping. A few bits of fabric came home with me too.


These fabric and most of the buttons are from Ditto, one of the shops I recommend in the article. The flower-shaped ones came from Harlequin Vintage, a shop full of lovely things. I had to leave behind a set of 10 leaf-shaped black glass buttons which were very Shiaparelli style, and probably date to the 30s or 40s.

Knitting

I am supposed to be taking photos of Brighton (where I live) for an article in Popular Patchwork. Every day in the last week that it has been sunny, I have been at work out of town. Whenever I am working at home (about 5 days a week) the weather is dull. Today we had fog. Real grey dismal winter sea fog. I sat at my desk watching it roll down the street. The air is so wet that the trees are dripping, like after a rain storm. It is very weird.

So this evening I had to force myself out to my knitting group - Brighton Stitch and Bitch, which was a lot more fun than watching the fog. I finished off my weepod cosy in lime green cashmere, that matches my bedsocks.









I started on a knitted bag in this style but in creamy white, which lots of people have suggested would make good wedding bags. I think I will trim it in vintage lace and line with a pretty Liberty print.










I also finally got started on a coat made from these two fabrics, as a sample to go on my website. The main fabric is a vintage waffle weave cotton print in amazing zingy colours. I'm lining it in the bright turquoise. Its an adapted commercial pattern so it will be an experiment to see how it works.

Teaching teachers

Spent this afternoon teaching some teachers how to do fashiony things with leather - like the hole-punch corsage and cut-work suede cushions below. They had some great ideas themselves, like weaving strips of fabric through the leather and layering and cutting away in contrasting colours. It certainly inspired me to try some new things, and seemed to give them lots of ideas of what to do with their pupils. A very enjoyable and creative session.

Also sent a package off to a new stockist - Platform Gallery in Lancashire - including felt bags and purses.

Sunny day indoors

We seem to have missed spring and gone straight from winter to summer. Its been really hot here, and I have spent the say indoors teaching. But it was a good day - I ran the first of 4 fashion workshops for families with about 12 participants of all ages. We started the course by doing drawings and collages about ourselves and then some drawing outside of the school building, looking at details and shapes in the architecture. We then had fun dressing up in clothes back-to-front, on heads, around arms etc to inspire about new shapes and styles. Then all the participants had a go at designing some clothes or accessories taking ideas from the 3 sets of drawings / collages they had done during the day. Some fantastic ideas came out of this creative session and hopefully some exciting pieces will be created in the next few sessions. In the next session we will start working with fabric and look at ways of customising clothes. I haven't got any pictures, but will be sure to get some of the next session.

Spots and holes

Just a mention of the Very Hungry Caterpillar at Needlebook made me think about the nature of holes, and indeed spots (which also came up). I wonder if the impact of the caterpillar in my impressionable youth is what has left me with a fixation with making holes in things. In a decorative, not destructive way! So I have been through my products and identified 3 cushions with holes in and there is a plethora of cut-out work in my home and wardrobe.

This hat is a work in progress, starting with a nice but tatty second hand hat. I cut off the brim and have punched the holes. Eventually I will add a new hat band or some sort of other decoration, probably one of my corsages and some vintage ribbon.


The corsage here is a similar idea, this time using old leather samples which were already circular and had a single hole in.

One of these days I intend to do a similar design in a suede skirt I made a few years back.

Maxim Dress

Dior's Maxim dress with lovely pockets cut in one with the skirt fabric. Cutting the skirt and pockets in one makes it hang beaufifully without affecting the flow of the skirt. To do this the pocket inside is cut with the small panel above the pockets that looks like darts. It will only work with a waistline and a bit of fiddling, but well worth it!
This dress is in the V&A and is on display in the Fashion Gallery. To see more about it go here and search for Maxim.

Tea cosy!

I'm very pleased to announce that Finely Crafted are stocking my products made from recycled fabrics including suede and kimono silk. This lovely tea cosy is from my Dragon range and I adore it and am sad to part with it. It's made from felted angora and is beautifully soft and gorgeous.

Tassel

Just completed this tassel for a private commission. It is made from silk and net fabric with vintage glass beads and sequins. The cord is hand-braided silk.

Smocking

I picked up this great pattern for 50 pence in a junk shop in Brighton at the weekend, along with some great pre-war rayon. This pink and floral piece will be added to my growing stack of rayon, which I love and cannot quite decide what to make with...
Back to the smocking pattern - I have loved this type of smocking - often called American smocking- for ages, but am too lazy to draw out the required grids. This pattern is in fact transfers with the grids marked out ready to iron-on and sew away! I am not planning to make a cushion with my smocking, as that really will look a bit too retro for my taste, but rather incorporate it into garments.

Gathered fabric

I have been playing with gathered fabric for some time. One of my products, the Polonaise scarf, is made using hand-gathers. I have a skirt in progress and have been experimenting with using this technique in other ways. This purple sample is the same technique using padding inside each gathered pucker. I love making 3-d shapes in fabric using padding and quilting and am working on ways of using this more in clothing, either as all-over texture or in small areas as embellishment.

one piece cutting

Following a discussion on A Dress a Day on 13th April about a gorgeous Schiaparelli pattern, I got thinking about one piece cutting. Cutting a garment with the minimum of seams is usually a couture technique as it uses a lot of fabric. As well as this lovely dress pattern, I have been looking at a 1950s jacket in a local vintage shop that is cut all on one piece. I haven't got a pictures, but its cropped boxy 50s style with round collar and single button at the centre collarbone and 3/4 sleeves. The jacket is in lovely pink/ silvery silk brocade. Stunning. I'm going back for another look.
Likewise, I was recently lucky enough to have a study of a 1935 dress made by Charles James for Anne Messel, Countess of Rosse, at Brighton Museum, which has amazingly complex cut - which I know you can't see on this picture, but I do intend to experiment with this idea. There is also a top in the collection which is made on similar principles.

Trouser pattern

I have been working on a trouser pattern for a customer with a non-standard body shape - basically ordinary trousers don't fit, so I drafted a pattern from scratch using her body measurements and this book.
I then checked the finished block against the great article in Threads, January 2006 about body space and trouser fitting, and it seems to have worked. I don't know why more professional dressmakers don't just draft patterns from scratch, it seems to me a whole lot easier than adapting patterns that are made for shapes that no real women actually have! At least for simple shapes like trousers. Its a lot more fun too. I may change my mind entirely on this once I have tried fitting the toile of course...

Holiday envy

Am deeply jealous of Jane's holiday in Arizona.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/itsme_jae/?find=itsme_jae
myself, i had an exciting day out last week in Newhaven, all of 3 miles from home. but I saw a kestrel and some nice twigs and lichen.
Textile production has continued, slowly but surely, with a corsage commission cpmpleted and posted and a rather fabulous black silk tassel in progress. Looking forward to getting on with lots more over the easter break.

first post

Those that know me will be more than somewhat surprised at me blogging. But the time has come. I'm not really a mantua maker, but I wish I was. Don't often get chance to make things as lovely as mantuas, but I will in time.

Almost Mantua

The nearest I have got to mantuas themselves are these two 18th century inspired jackets for my two lovely friends' Civil Partnership ceremony. The dark blue one is based on a riding jacket with gorgeous, though nightmarish to make, pleats on the back. The pink one is a creation loosely based on caraco and gown styles, with lovely gathered pleats at the back. More pics will come.