Thank You, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I would like to say a big thank you to everyone that has shared this year with us all at Patchwork on Central Park.
This year has been great and we expect to keep up the high standard next year.
I am sure you will all join me in saying what a wonderful team of women I have working for me at Patchwork. So a big thank you goes out to them. It would not be the shop it is without them.

We will be closed from tomorrow afternoon at 3pm (24th Dec) and we are re opening at 10am on the 4th of January. I am really looking forward to 10 whole days off, kind of as I intend painting and setting up a studio space..
Gordon will be bring in my new shipment of the Liberty Summer Seasonals on the 4th so if you are around pop in.

So have a safe a joyous Christmas and see you all next year.

Christmas at Scarlet Jones

What am I doing up at this hour? I foolishly went to bed after dinner and this is the result!
So instead of laying there wide awake I thought I may as well check out a few blogs and do a post.
Scarlet Jones is full of gorgeous things at the moment, vintage inspired Christmas decorations as well as having heaps of the beautiful Place des Lices bath and products at bargain basement prices. Great for stocking fillers.
I am no longer importing this product so it is all being cleared.

Melbourne Cottages

Flemington is a suburb of Melbourne that retains quite a few Victorian Cottages, here are a few photo's of cute ones that I took yesterday. Unfortunately for Glen Iris (the suburb I live in) the older houses are being bulldozed at a very fast pace and being replaced by a shiny new house.
Such a pity.

Helpful Hints

I borrowed this great book from a close friend and thought it was worth sharing.

Last Minute Gift Idea's

This scarf is a nice quick last minute gift idea for someone that has everything.
You need 1.75 cm of voile and 25cm of liberty silk.
I used the Anna Maria Horner voile for mine.
You can make two scarves from main fabric but we do have some half lengths of AMH cut at patchwork.
Rip voile in half lengthwise and rip off selvedges.
Rip your silk into 5 pieces selvedge to selvedge.
Join 3 pieces together.
Place silk strip flush onto side edges, sew along edge 1/4" in. (cut off excess when you reach the end of voile.) repeat.
Fold silk piece in half and sew along fold. repeat.
Place another silk strip along the bottom edge of scarf and sew. repeat. (I washed mine as I like that no so new look)
Finished ready to wrap.
The scarf will be in the shop if anyone wants to look at it.

New Fabrics

For a bit of a change we have just received our New Range of Denyse Schmidt's fabric before it is in stores in the USA.
As usual it is not your average fabric Which is perfect for me. It will be on the net tonight.
p.s. French Espadrille's at Scarlet Jones $45

Christmas Gifts

Just a quick post for a couple of Christmas suggestions. Bakers Twine $10, Liberty Packs, Les Olivades packs and scarf fabric.
The voile is just perfect to make a scarf. You can hem it or just rip it and machine 1/4" from the edge. Wash and tie into a knot to dry. Both ways look great.
Sorry the phot's are a bit fuzzy, I left my camera home so had to use the i phone.

Liberty Garland

A simple garland using Liberty fabrics, perfect for adorning the mantle this Christmas.



To make, you will need:
2.5m bias binding
6 x Liberty fat 16th's
1/2 meter vlisofix

Step 1: Press all fabrics

Step 2: Draw and cut out festive shapes ie: star, tree, stocking etc

Step 3: Cut 3 pieces of vlisofix the same size as your fat 16th's. Iron each vlisofix piece to the wrong side of the Liberty prints. (You should have 3 Liberty pieces with vlisofix and 3 without)

Step 4: Peel off backing paper. Iron other 3 fabrics onto the backs of the first fabrics (the ones with the vlisofix attached)

Step 5: Cut out as many shapes as possible (I used 24)

Step 6: Take your bias binding and with a sewing machine, sew shapes between the bias fold using either a zigzag or straight stitch.

Step 7: Hang your garland!



Liberty Fat 16th's can be purchased in store .

Scarlet Jones Open Late on Wednesday night

We are open late this Wednesday night and the following Wednesday night at Scarlet Jones for your convenience.
We have just put out our exclusive Christmas stock of Vintage inspired decorations from the USA.

Linen Just Arrived

Quite a few customers have been waiting for a shipment of the lighter weight linen. It has just arrived along with the lighter coloured scarf linen. Just in time for you to make some linen scarves for Christmas.

Market Finds

Isn't funny how everything matches without trying sometimes. These pics are of my market purchases yesterday (gifts and for the shop only) I am loving the orange and black combo.

Yuwa Fabrics Special Purchase

Just got back from ordering next year's fabrics and have just bought a large amount of Yuwa fabrics in a Special Purchase lot selling for $22 a metre. Get in early for the best choice (they are all pretty gorgeous though)

Christmas is Coming!

I have been a bit of a bah humbug kinda girl for the last few years when it comes to Christmas.
I think it started when my adult children were still at home and I had to drag them out of bed to eat Christmas dinner. (who cared that they had got home from the night before at 10am and were feeling extremely seedy)
Little ones certainly made Christmas much more fun. Even though being woken up at 4 am didn't seem like fun at the time, it really was!
Enjoy it while it lasts if you have small children it goes very quickly, and it is so much fun sharing the excitement of Christmas with them.

Anyway I thought this year I will get into the Spirit of Christmas! This is my first offering. If you would like a copy of the "how to" sheet call into the shop next week or put yourself on the email list and I will email you a copy. (I am not in the shop again until Sunday)
P.S. For anyone that does not know we are open from 12 - 4 on a Sunday.