Jess Brown Design

Deep in the throbbing heart of Spitalfields, London is a wonderful shop, a veritable Cabinet of Curiosities. Caravan is a home-loving bird's dream with an eclectic mix of finds that only a stylist could have accumulated for our delight.

'rag dolls: hand made & one of a kind. All made of cotton muslin and tea dyed. Each doll is crafted using found, recycled, and antique fabrics and wools.'

This week I spotted these beautifully made 'fairies' of Jess Brown from California which I thought I'd share with you. On her eponymous blog, she even shows us her studio, and as you know from earlier posts, I love peeping into peoples' work spaces.

Lotta Jansdotter

There are many reasons why I wish I could divide my time between the UK and USA and Lotta Jansdotter might come somewhere in my shopping list whilst back there. I remember a lovely freebie from Selvedge magazine some years ago was a notebook or some such thing from Lotta's gorgeous range of print textiles.

I could just blah on about her and I'm sure you won't find it hard to gather lots of lovely images on the web so I'll leave you time to do that. I really just want to alert you to her style.

My Sewing Bee is really a library of my sewing pets (never hates) which we can pick up and be inspired.

The best place to begin is at Lotta's own web site where you can get a feel for her very happy style. Being Finnish, she has that Scandanavian sensibility that I so love, from the colours to the simplicity, it's effortless.

If you're keen to pick up some ideas and run with them yourself, then you can with her book, Lotta Prints. You'll be able to shine both with the sponge and the needle!!! "Textile lovers rejoice! Lotta Jansdotter's new book is full of printing methods for everything from your tote bag to your table runner. She explains each process in detail with beautifully styled how-tos, tips for working with different materials, and a showcase of crafts made with each technique." –Linda Permann, founding craft and decorating editor, Adorn magazine (Sadly no longer in print).

If you want to learn more of her talent, then you could do no better than 'attend' and interview in her studio, courtesy of Etsy.

What better way to spend a happy half-hour. Then go and get the sewing machine out and some paints!!!

Welcome to Sewing Bee - Sewing Rooms

Some of you may already visit my other incarnation as chaincreative, the crochet blog. I love looking into the world of crochet; it's design and creativity, and I hope to bring the same view to sewing.

I've been sewing since I was a child and my mum taught me to always respect my work and never give it less than all my attention and care.

For the first post I thought I would take a quick peek at the power-house for much of this careful work! The sewing room. I'm very lucky to have such a room. Somewhere to stack all my fabrics, stash all the threads and bobbins and the space to cut and stitch. A wee bit crammed but at least I know where everything is!!! I based the rooms colours on the beautiful painted houses in Arles in the south of France. It always makes me feel particularly calm!

Not everyone is so lucky but I know that any space with peace and time can fulfill the same function. I spotted a few other such lovely rooms on flikr and wondered if anyone out there has a room to share.

These lovely rooms are from blossomhill cottons and wildlivekids. I love the jars of buttons! Just so...sherbety!