Colours of Marrakesh

I am just back from a weekend in Marrakesh where I found endless colour inspirations. Sparkles of blue, terracota, red and pink were peeking through the dirt and dust of the city, waiting to be discovered. I fell in love with that saffran yellow of the leather and terracota-pinks of the city walls.

Borlotti Beauties

I just have shelled borlotti beans that I bought at a local market and realised how beautiful they are! Beetroot-red speckles on smooth shiny white... I would love to make a necklace from them one day! But for now, I will just cook a lovely vegetable bean stew. Yummmm...

Bracelets Made from Damadged Fishing Nets

What a great idea for fundraising and recycling! A group of women from Japanese town of Sanriku that was badly hit by the tsunami are making wonderful misanga bracelets from the fishing nets damaged by the tsunami. Not sure if it is possible to buy them outside of Japan but I would certainly love to have a few of those!


The Project's Website

Natural Dyeing Rocks!

I am soooooo excited about my experiments with dyeing vintage lace and reclaimed fabrics using only natural dyes. Everyting I can think of goes into the pot with my textiles: berries, onion skins, wine, malt drinks. The results are absolutely fabulous!!! I am using the dyed textiles for making jewellery and DIY kits.

On the photos below textiles are dyed using (from the top): barley drink, onion skins, wine (a quick boil), wine (long simmering).

DIY kits from FABULA

Just listed a new product in my FABULA Destash shop - DIY kits for making textile cuffs.

Each kit has silk scraps, pieces of antique and vintage trims and lace, some of them are hand-dyed by me using only natural dyes (fruit, berries, vegetables and various plants!). I also put in reclaimed and vintage beads and buttons with some surplus semi-precious stones beads.

Let me know what you think!

I am back with cocktail napkins!

Gosh, I really have been ignoring my blog for a while. The summer is over, so no excuse now.

I am a big advocate of re-using vintage and salvaged textiles in any possible way to save them from going to landfills. I use a lot of them in my jewellery and is thrilled to see great ideas on the internet. Here is one of them: vintage sheets cocktail napkins. Throw a cocktail garden party before cold days arrive!

Design*Sponge