Cool Stuff: Cyanotype Fabric

Photo from Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts

If you've been reading for awhile, you know that I'm not exactly the craftiest chick on the block. But my daughter showed me this project from her beloved and already dog-eared copy of Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts, and even I was tempted to give it a try.

Martha (or, more accurately, Martha's army of people) used fabric that had been specially treated to become photo-sensitive to create textile cyanotypes, which were then used to recover a pair of chair seats.

Photo from Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts

Simply choose an object or set of objects you'd like to silhouette, lay them on the fabric, expose the fabric to the sun for a few minutes, and rinse in water to permanently set the image. Then use the resulting print to cover chair seats, sew up a throw pillow or table runner, stretch and staple around a canvas for instant fabric art, or for any number of other simple projects.

The cotton fabric is from Blue Sunprints, and costs $16 per yard.

P.S. For a similar effect on paper, check out the Sunprint Kit (a small set is $6 at the Curiosity Shoppe, or you can pick up a large set for $13 right here). I bought the paper as another gift for my creative daughter, and am planning to frame a collection of beautiful fern frond prints she made with it.

Cool Stuff: Ink & Spindle Fabric Packs

I'm stockpiling fabric at a ridiculous rate, but despite my endless good intentions, no cushion covers have been sewn. Still, I'm mighty tempted to snap up a couple of these yummy mixed-fabric packs from Melbourne, Australia's Ink & Spindle (aka the studio of textile designers Bianca van Meeuwen, Lara Cameron, and Tegan Rose).

Each of the packs comes with three cotton-linen, eco-screenprinted pieces measuring about 17.5-by-17.5 inches -- perfect for a trio of mix-and-match cushion fronts, don't you think? Above: Hollabee #2

Hollabee #5

Hollabee #8

Hollabee #10

Hollabee #12

Hollabee #14

Hollabee #15

The mix packs are $34 Australian (about $24 U.S.) each right here.

(If you have bigger sewing projects in mind, Ink & Spindle also sells an array of absolutely gorgeous handprinted fabrics by the meter. Check 'em out here. And if sewing isn't your thing, the studio sells cushions made with its fabrics here.)

Etsy Find of the Day: Skinny Laminx Sevilla Rock Fabric

Yummy new yardage for those spring and summer sewing projects from Cape Town's Heather Moore (aka Etsy seller Skinny Laminx). Above: Colts in Goldenrod

Colt Circles in Sand and Seafoam

Herds in Red and Grey

Mongoose in Khaki and Sable

Duikers in Aloe Red and Green

Each of the wonderfully nubby, 100-percent cotton, vegetable-ink-printed fabrics -- inspired by the ancient cave drawings near Moore's South African home -- is $14 per quarter-meter, $27 per half-meter, or $50 per meter right here.

Check out more of Skinny Laminx's gorgeous textile designs here.

Cool Stuff: Monaluna Fabrics for Robert Kaufman

Score one for the home team! A big congrats to Oakland designer Jennifer Moore, who recently come out with a fun new line of cotton fabrics called Monaluna for textile company Robert Kaufman.

These pretty, colorful patterns are making me itch to get going on some simple spring sewing projects: Whipping up a few cheerful cushion covers and stitching fabric cosies to hide the sewing machine and the TV when they're not in use. I might even attempt to add some contrasting bands of fabric to the bottom of a plain set of curtains.

One thing that's especially nice about the new Monaluna site is that Moore has put together trios of fabrics that work well together, so mixing and matching isn't such a guessing game. She's also provided step-by-step instructions for a few of the sewing projects pictured on the site, such as the quilted pillow above.

Some of my favorite combos:

Mingle

Metro Market

About Town

Check out the entire Monaluna collection right here -- and see a list of online merchants who stock the fabrics here.

Object of Lust: Dandelion Clocks Wallpaper

I am sick with lust (sick, I tell you!) for this Dandelion Clocks Wallpaper from the venerable British company Sanderson.

Psst -- the cheerful pattern is also available in fabric. (And by "available," I mean available for purchase in England, Wales, and Scotland.)

Any U.K. readers out there willing to swing by John Lewis to pick up a roll or two for me? ;-)

(Via Design Undercover.)

Cool Stuff: Lotta Jansdotter Fabric Remnants

Grab yours quick: It-Girl textile designer Lotta Jandotter has just put up a selection of fabric remnants on her website.

Each remnant bag consists of four pieces of Jansdotter's distinctive screenprinted linen fabric, two measuring 18 by 18 inches and one each measuring 72 by 13 inches and 12 by 18 inches. Use the fabric to whip up a table runner, some throw pillows, kitchen towels, placemats, handbags ...

Jansdotter is also offering bags composed of at least five smaller remnants, good for quilting, fabric collage, patchwork designs, and so on.

The remnant bags are $24 right here and here.

Cool Stuff: Amy Ruppel Fabric and New Artwork

Stop the presses! Artist Amy Ruppel is making her first foray into textiles with this brand-new, handmade woodblock-print fabric featuring her signature avian designs. The fabric is available for $125 per yard from Portland, Oregon's Grassy Knoll Gallery.

Ruppel's new show, Migratory Patterns, will be up at Grassy Knoll through August. If you're not in the area, you can buy the original multimedia artwork and wood sculptures that Ruppel created for the show in the gallery's webshop. Prices range from $80 to $875.

And if you're a fan, don't miss Ruppel's next online art sale, which goes live at 10 a.m. Pacific Time Monday, June 9.

Etsy Find of the Day: Maramiki Screenprinted Textiles

There's just something so yummy about linen, and brand-new Etsy seller Maramiki has rendered it even yummier by screenprinting (with water-based inks) subtle botanical designs onto the nubby, natural fabric. Above: Screenprinted linen/cotton pillow cover (12 by 16 inches), $20

Screenprinted natural linen, $30 a yard (56 inches wide)

Screenprinted linen/cotton pillow cover (20 by 20 inches), $30

Screenprinted cotton-duck placemats, $18 for two

Screenprinted black linen, $26 a yard (45 inches wide)

See all of Maramiki's Etsy offerings right here.

eBay Find of the Day: "Midwest Modern" Fabric

What would you do with this great selection of fabric from Amy Butler's brand-new "Midwest Modern" collection? The seven half-yard cuts could be turned into pillows, seat covers, stretched over canvases for instant homemade art, or maybe whipped up into jaunty little aprons or handbags. So many possibilities ...

The fabric normally retails for about $10 a yard. So purchased from a store, this collection -- which includes Amy's Honeycomb, Garden Maze, Happy Dots, Martini, Nouveau Trees, and Optic Blossom patterns -- would run $35.

Current bid: $20. (Hurry -- the auction ends early Thursday morning.)

Cool Stuff: Summer at IKEA

I slipped, you guys. Despite my resolution to lay off the IKEA crap once and for all, I bought a whole bunch of stuff there yesterday.

I know it will all fall apart in a few months, and I suspect that it was probably made with toxic, non-sustainable materials by obscenely underpaid workers in Far East sweatshops. But I stopped in to pick up a bunch of Ribba frames so I could finally hang my growing collection of Etsy prints, because those are the only simple white frames I've found that I can afford to buy in mass quantities.

And, well, my resolve to drastically limit the amount of IKEA in my life fell away when I saw all the happy, super-cheap new summer stuff and other recent additions at my local Swedish superstore. (And yes, today I feel hung over with guilt -- but not so much so that I didn't spend most of the morning moving things around to make room for my new scores.)

Sommar Cushions, $8 each

Sommar Paper Tablecloth, $3. (There are so many different ways you could use this large roll of fairly durable laminated paper: wrapping a lampshade, lining dresser drawers, staple-gunning it over a worn table- or dressertop, mod-poging it to cabinet or closet doors ...)

Sommar Food Domes, on sale for $1 each

Sommar Cloth Bags (a little Orla-ish, no?), $8 each

Sommar Gardening Bags, $3 each

Sommar Hanging Planters, $13 each

Sommar Picnic Blanket, $30

Sommar Throws, $13 each

Greno Cushions (I like the yellow), $20 each

More Greno Cushions, $6 each

Hemon Rugs, $15 each

Flyn Ofelia Curtain Panels, $45 for three

Hjordis Fabric, $4 a yard

Knubbig Lamp, $17 or $9, depending on size

Pjatteryd Wall Art, $70

Tripp Storage Tins, $3 a set

Jutanas Decorative Figures, $20 for a set of five

Trollsta Sideboard, $349

Ange Chair, $129, and Hejka Chair, $139

Oh yeah, and they finally have that Egg-like Karlstad Swivel Chair ($329) that I lusted after last summer, when it was only available at overseas IKEAs. Not loving it so much in person.

I didn't actually buy all of this stuff, mind you -- but I bought some of it.

Damn you, IKEA.

(How do you all feel about the Blue Behemoth? Great for deals on fun, disposable decor -- or poor-quality environmental and economic scourge? Post a comment and let me know.)