Inkodye

I was reading Jessica's How about Orange blog this morning and saw her most recent post about Inkodye, a light-sensitive dye for textiles, wood and leather. They had sent her a sample of this brilliant and she decided to test it out. It's a bit like Batik but much easier and less messy (I seem to remember getting wax everywhere when I did it at school)

You simply brush it on evenly with a foam brush onto your fabric of choice (has to be a natural fibre). You then place items/shapes of your choice on top of the fabric and lay it in the sun for 5-6 minutes. The colour will deepen and where you have placed the shapes will remain bleached out. Immediately after removing the shapes from the fabric, to avoid the dye under the shapes from developing, rinse the fabric in the sink and wash with fabric detergent.

Below are a few images of her test, for more examples of how Inkodye can be used check out the website here.

All images from How about Orange

Cute Tape Measures

I was reading today's post from Jessica at How about Orange about this super cute Panda Tape measure. I instantly thought I want one! I found an ebay seller in Birmingham who sells them for £2. They also sell other animal based tapes such as frogs, pigs and cats. There is also another seller based in Sheffield who sells them here and has a choice of pig, frog, panda, brown bear, blue bear, pink bear and a red bear. So you are really spoilt for choice but the panda is probably the sweetest.

Image from How about Orange

Image from ebay

Image from ebay

DIY Patterned Fabric

Jason Loper posted on apartment therapy a how to guide on creating your own patterned fabric. He was finding it difficult to find a fabric that matched his newly painted walls so ping! an idea appeared. Using scrap fabric, a stencil, a roller and left over paint he created a fantastic curtain.

Images from Jason Loper on apartment therapy

Wallet Tote Tutorial

Now I'm quite a novice at sewing but occasionally I see something so useful and cute that I would love to be able to make, that I can't help but share it with you all. On Sew, Mama, Sew! Lorraine of the Ikat bag blog has shared a Wallet-to-Tote tutorial. The inspiration for this design came from her three girls and how impromptu adventures always required a bag. She also happens to use the wonderful Outside Oslo fabrics of Jessica Jones of How about Orange. So if you fancy a sewing challenge then take a look!

(Images from Ikat Bag)