3 year blogiversary giveaway!

Today we are three! We have stopped wearing nappies and are so much more fun to be around than we were three years ago!

To celebrate this I am giving away this fun and funky patchwork pillow. To be in with a chance to win just leave a comment telling me why you deserve to win this. I will pick a winner at random in a couple of days and contact you. Please make sure you have signed in before you leave a comment as I cannot post it to an anonymous person ; )

More like it (but not the same, no two will be the same!) will be on sale in my Etsy shop too in case you don't win!

Good luck

Jennie

Crowd funding project for a new cheekyhandmades studio

 Cheekyhandmades is bursting at the seams in the current set up, and needs a new home. The loft is already converted but hey there is a huge garden outside so why not go outside to expand? Indeed, that is now the plan.

I want to build a cool garden studio with room for all my sewing machines, overlocker, ironing board, students etc etc and I need you help.

I have set up a crowd funding campaign, the idea being that you lovely people donate some money, any old amount is fab, and in return you get a perk. If you were already planning on booking some classes, donating £100 gets you £120's worth of classes. Bargain! If you really want to buy a bespoke quilt but would love some money off, donate anything from £150-£250 for a cotbed or double bed quilt, total bargain.

Intrigued? Find out more and donate here: "help-me-build-a-studio"

So where do you buy your fabric? This is where I buy my fabric!

I guess by now you may have figured out I have  huge fabric habit…

So I thought I would share with you my favourite fabric shops, especially as I get asked by my students quite often where I recommend buying fabric.

Now you can find lovely stuff at your local market if you are prepared to root around and ask the stall holders what fabric it is (as often it is polycotton which I personally detest and would not use for anything other than toiles or for learners to practice on). And you can unearth some amazing bargains that way (£1/ meter for funky florals and cool checks).
But for most of my fabrics I either venture further afield to proper brick and mortar shops or most often, I go no further than my sofa and shop with a cuppa in my hand (or a glass of red like I am now!).
So here goes then for a list of great online fabric shops:
@ Fabric Rehab, a fantastically addictive online fabric shop. Most fabrics are sold by the FQ (fat quarter, a quarter of a yard) but can be bought by the meter by adding 4 FQs to your basket. A veritable smorgasbord of yummy fabrics and great customer services.
I have just spotted some fab retro cassette fabric I will be buying as soon as I post this blog post http://fabricrehab.co.uk/fabrics/retro-cassettes/
@ Eclectic Maker, a delicious online shop selling fabric, patterns, haberdashery and more. Check out this stack of cuteness:

@ Fancy Moon, I so love this shop… it sells Mexican day of the dead, Hawaian prints, cowboy prints, and camp as Christmas pin up fabric as well as many many more amazing hard to get prints, as well as patterns and haberdashery. Contact me for a discount code too! We love the guys n gals at this online shop SO much… Check out this cute Hawaian pin up print:


@  Sew-la-la, a cute shop selling lots of vintage inspired florals and spots as well as pompom trims etc.
@ The Eternal Maker, a wonderful shop selling all the latest Japanese fabrics as well as trims and buttons and tools and hard to get Japanese craft books. Look at this lovely flowery bolt of happiness!
@ Then of course there is Etsy. There is so much gorgeous fabric on there you could lose whole days on there (look under supplies). And shipping from the US to the UK is supercheap and pretty fast. Of course you run the risk your parcel gets intercepted by customs and you have to pay import duty but this has only happened to me a few times when I had boxes sent over, not when I order a few yards here and there.
@ Last but not least there is of course Ebay. Some of my earliest purchases were from lovely Ebayers (the Felt Fairy, Favourite Fabrics (see bundle below) etc) and some I still return to over and over.

HAPPY SHOPPING!!