Spring 2009 Headbands

I've just finished photographing the headbands I've made with all the new fabrics I picked up for Spring! I will be adding them to the shop a couple each day for the next week or so. Here are a few of my favorites so far.

I'm totally loving these new prints! Clockwise from top left - "Black Sakura", "First Leaves" in Green, "Flower Child" in Purples, and "Flight of Fancy". I'll be adding these and many more to Black Mustard Fiber Arts this week.

Also, here's a look at how the recycled fabric headbands turned out! These started out as 2 men's shirts and a cool vintage dress. I can't wait to go raid the thrift stores for more goodies like these!

Recycling / Upcycling to live life softly

On Friday I popped into a thrift store on a whim while driving home from work. I thought it'd be cool to see what kind of things I could find that would be good to cut up and use for fabric. I ended up picking a couple of men's shirts and a cool vintage dress, all of which had small spots and flaws that I figured might keep them from finding good homes in their current forms.

Yesterday I was planning to meet up with my best friend/model to photograph my new headbands, but because my sewing was not as fast as I remember it being, I ended up missing my chance to get together with her. I was feeling pretty bummed and kind of annoyed with myself, and I decided to dig into the clothes and start cutting. I had no idea that simple act of cutting up clothing would have the power to turn my day around! It was so much more fun than I expected it to be. It was the perfect mix of a destructive outlet and creative possibility. And once it was all cut up, I ended up with some great pieces of fabric!

Next time I will definitely wash everything before I cut it, because the way I did it I ended up with quite the tangled mess in the washing machine. But after ironing I have some really nice-sized pieces of totally usable fabric.

I really like this brown and green striped woven looking stuff! I can't wait to see how these look as headbands, and I am already itching to go scour the second hand shops for more finds!

Hurry Up Spring!

These last few weeks have been a bit of a waiting period for me. I've been working on lots of fresh Spring items lately and I'd hoped to share them this month but a couple of things have gotten in the way. First, there's the crazy weather we've been having. We've had some days that feel like Spring is already here, with beautiful blue skies and mild breezes. Those are the days when the inspiration runs high to create pieces for the upcoming season. Then there are the days when I've planned a photo session with my lovely model/best friend and wake up to see a landscape shrouded in grey and big fat snow flakes coming down! What's up with that? Well, I'll give Old Man Winter his last few days but he'd better be gone soon because April will be Spring Fever at Black Mustard Fiber Arts!

Then of course there was my aunt's passing, which has pretty much taken priority. I've been grieving the loss of her and I've gladly given my time to the people in my life who've needed me around. But I am eager to get back to business as usual and I'm hoping that April will be a month of rejuvenation for me and for the shop!

To kick it off I've brought back some of my cotton headbands. I'm bringing out all the best prints from last year, and I'll also have a whole whack of new fabrics coming out in April. These are a couple of my favorites from last summer. I really can't wait to bring out the new prints - I've been having so much fun working with them! Don't forget to sign up for my monthly newsletter if you want the inside scoop on the Spring items coming out next month!