November ukulele appliqué bags handmade by Ivy Arch

I've been sewing a new batch of appliqué ukulele tote bags. They're all made from a combination of vintage furnishing fabrics with different front/back panels and have a contrasting appliquéd ukulele on the front. 

They're the perfect size for carrying A4 books or magazines and are ideal for transporting your ukulele songbooks. There are five new bags in total, all available to buy now from my Etsy shop. 

Telephones and Clocks: new lavender bags in the Ivy Arch shop!

These printed retro telephone and clock lavender bags are on sale in the Ivy Arch shop! They're made using fabric from Kokka's Ruby Star collection (designed by Melody Miller) featuring telephones in shades of blue, green and pink, and clocks in olive green and rust. Handmade by me, I've backed them with polka dot cotton fabric and stuffed them with highly fragrant dried lavender flowers from Provence.

To buy or for more information visit the Ivy Arch Etsy shop.

Summer sale: 20% off at Ivy Arch Etsy shop

I'm having a super summer sale in my Etsy shop - 20% off everything for 5 days using the coupon code IVYSUMMER20. Go to IvyArch Etsy shop here.

♥ ♥ ♥ Take advantage of this super soaraway special offer before the shop closes for the school summer holidays!  Enter the discount code at checkout using the 'apply coupon code' tab on the right hand side of your shopping cart page. ♥ ♥ ♥

Retro telephone lavender bags in the Ivy Arch Etsy shop

These red and pink old-fashioned telephone lavender bags would make perfect end of year gifts for hard-working teachers. Plumply stuffed with fragrant French lavender, they're made using 'Phones Go With Me' fabric from Melody Miller's Ruby Star Sparkle collection for Kokka.

Also making an appearance in the Ivy Arch Etsy shop today are some more Typewriter Love lavender bags – these ones in a delicious turquoise and blue colourway with green hearts. Both sets of handmade lavender bags are available to buy from my online shop now and are ready to ship straightaway. 

Hotchpotch ukulele tote bags by Ivy Arch

 

I dithered over what to call these new appliqué tote bags. Each bag is made from a medley of vintage fabrics. Hotchpotch is my favourite word for them but the dictionary also suggested melange (I think not), salmagundi (a new word for me, apparently also the name of a 17th century salad dish), gallimaufry (which I like but sounds as clunky as Gargiulo) and plain old mishmash - a lovely word but doesn't do these gorgeous fabrics justice.

So hotchpotch it is. These beautiful ukulele tote bags in exquisite vintage fabrics will be making an appearance in my Etsy shop over the next few days, starting with four of them listed today.

Super cute lavender bags available now in my Etsy shop!

I've just listed a whole new bunch of lavender bags on Etsy. I made them from Suzy Ultman's Put A Stamp On It design cotton – another beautiful Robert Kaufman fabric. Regular readers will know it's a favourite fabric in my house!

 

To see more or to buy, visit the Ivy Arch Etsy shop now.

Eclectic Owls in the Ivy Arch shop

I've been busy sewing owls. They started off as birthday presents for my daughter's friends, then seemed the ideal thing to make for Donna's new retro-fantastic flower shop and have been so popular I've made some to sell in my Etsy shop too. Now, you may think the last thing Etsy needs is more owls (according to this highly unscientific study they're the fourth most plentiful creature on my favourite handmade marketplace), but I'm sure you'll agree these owls are particularly lovely.

They're available in two shapes and I made them using up some of the precious smaller offcuts of rare vintage fabric left over from bigger projects, combined with contrasting bold contemporary prints. Original fabrics used include designs by Peter Hall, William Morris, Naito Shoji, Lecien Japan and Robert Kaufman.

They're upcycled toys and I love making them as every different fabric combination seems to give each one a distinct personality. Ivy Arch vintage/modern owls are available to buy now.

Gudrun Sjödén fabric ukulele bags

It's no secret to regular readers of this blog that I'm a fan of Gudrun Sjödén's fabric and clothing designs – last year I was voted Gudrun's Most Colourful Woman in London at the launch of her first UK store. I was therefore delighted to get my hands on some beautiful eco-cottons from her Home furnishing collection. Made from organically grown cotton, these fabrics have a lovely dense weave and are smooth to the touch. They cut beautifully and crisply and were a pleasure to sew on my machine.
     I made two quilted ukulele gig bags using a combination of Zigzag material in bright pink and Rita eco-cotton in spice green. I had enough left over to make two ukulele appliqué book bags – the perfect size for carrying Gudrun Sjödén catalogues.

If you like the results go here to have a look at Gudrun's online shop which is packed with wonderful new print designs from her Spring 2013 collection. I covet everything in the fabulous Cirkus triangle motif fabric and am saving up for a Glimmer raincoat!

 

Love bird ukulele gig bags by Ivy Arch

Hot on the heels of the weekend's RSPB annual Big Garden Birdwatch survey* comes a new range of Ivy Arch bird print ukulele gig bags.
     I've used my Flea gig bag pattern for these soft cases as this gig bag shape is also popular with owners of a standard soprano ukulele (these bags fit both type of uke). I channel quilted the front panels in straight lines to contrast with the oval body shape.

The bird print fabrics are all from Ikea and I especially love their delightful new pale blue Evalotta material (designed by Malin Åkerblom) with its bright orange, red, pink and green exotic birds. 

    All four quilted uke gig bags are available to buy now from my Etsy shop.

* In the hour we spent observing Birdwatch we spotted a song thrush, a jay, a blue tit, two blackbirds, 10 carrion crows and 11 seagulls - most common in these parts.

Ukulele appliqué bags with apples, birds and flowers

Three new ukulele book bags are listed in my Etsy shop. There would have been four, but I love this wonderful Jane Foster fabric so much that I had to keep one for myself. You can snap one up here, but be quick - they won't be around for long!

Christmas ukulele gig bags

The month of Christmas is upon us and here are two new quilted ukulele gig bags with a festive theme made from fabric designed by Lotta Kühlhorn for Ikea. The pale blue one has a Scandinavian mountain landscape design with snow-capped mountains, winter berries and a mountain goat. The other is a rich bright retro 60s Scandi floral print which also seems perfectly Christmassy. Both are handmade in Worthing by me and are on sale now in my Etsy shop.

Vegetable lavender bag bundles

Stuck for vegetarian-friendly Christmas gift ideas? Then look no further. The latest addition to my lavender bag line is a veritable vegetable bonanza. Bumper bundles of these 1920s seed packet lavender sachets tied up with satin ribbon are on sale in my Etsy shop.

With names as evocative as Kentucky Wonder, Livingston's Beauty, Snowball and Icicle (better known as beans, tomato, cauliflower and radish), these bags look and smell as good as they sound. Available now.

C30, C60, C90, Go!

It's rumoured that cassette tapes are making a comeback. Hard to believe in an age of digital media but I'm one of the people who love listening to music on cassette. Maybe it's the fact that it's a physical medium where sound is recorded directly onto an object that makes listening to a cassette feel more vital than an MP3 file. A well played cassette's sound may distort and sometimes the magnetic tape will snap, but it's so rewarding when you've fixed it with Sellotape (after a fashion), rewound it with a pencil and when played again in a tape machine you can still hear most of the sound!

     My collection of mix-tape treasures includes Lex Luther's Revenge - a gift from DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid, and an untitled compilation of contemporary Czech and Slovak music from Heather Mount of Tamizdat. The inlay card is decorated with a hand painted swirly blob and the track listing is typed onto a folded piece of paper. Both have been played repeatedly over the years and are objects I'd never want to part with.

    So, my third batch of lavender bags this week is dedicated to cassette tape lovers everywhere. They're sachets made from MiniModerns C60 fabric which has images of retro cassettes printed in bright colours. The fabric was bought from Clothkits in Chichester who produce a wonderful sew-it-yourself skirt kit in this material.

Cassette tape lavender bags are available now in the Ivy Arch shop.

Perfectly punctual lavender bags

It's lavender o'clock in the Ivy Arch shop and here's the second batch of this week's new lavender bags. These beautiful retro clock designs are available for a limited time only. Go here for more views or to buy.

Typewriter Love lavender bags

This week I'm listing three new ranges of lavender bags in the Ivy Arch shop. The first batch are made in Melody Miller's fabulous Typewriter Love fabric. They're deluxe and plump with fragrant French lavender. The backs are cut from Laurie Wisbrun's crisp and bright Flowers In Ice fabric, making them the perfect winter gift. Let the Christmas present buying begin!

William Morris and Peter Hall ukulele gig bags

I've listed two more quilted vintage cotton ukulele gig bags in my Etsy shop. The one on the right is made from an original piece of William Morris Chrysanthemum fabric in muted browns and pale oranges.  The one on the left is cut from a stunning piece of Peter Hall's 1960s Candida screenprinted cotton in browns, black and white. I previously made a bag for a pocket uke in the orange colourway of this design.

Both of these gig bags are now available here.

Quilted ukulele cases in rare vintage fabrics

Five new ukulele gig bags have gone into my Etsy shop today. They're all made from original 1950s, 60s and 70s fabrics (a William Morris design, Bernard Wardle screenprinted cotton, Liberty prints and Heals fabrics).

     I've used a combination of channel quilting and free-motion quilting here. As a naive self-taught quilter I wasn't actually aware that was the name for what I was doing until my friend and sewing expert Leigh Otterson-Walter of Quilty Pleasures enlightened me!

Detail of channel quilting and free motion quilting on Ivy Arch uke cases

I love the look and texture of quilted fabrics and sometimes find the stitching on the back of the piece as interesting (if less colourful) as the pattern on the front. There's a secret work of art hidden away inside the lining of every ukulele bag I make. 

Hidden back view of an Ivy Arch quilted ukulele bag

These vintage fabric ukulele gig bags are on sale now in the Ivy Arch shop.

Ukulele cushions by Ivy Arch

Continuing the theme of ukulele appliqué (as seen on these tote bags), I've designed and made a range of ukulele cushions. They're all cut from original 50s, 60s and 70s fabrics and each has a ukulele motif appliquéd on the front in a contrasting material. My favourite is the 1950s green atomic leaf pattern cushion with a pink polka dot uke. They're available to buy online now from my Etsy shop. No ukulele lover's home is complete without one!

Not so Scary Monsters

I've added a new tribe of handmade monster toys to my Etsy shop. These beasties are a little bit smaller and a perhaps even a little bit cuter than the first lot. They're made from vintage fabrics and I think the barkcloth ones are especially covetable. A couple are in the same fabrics as two of my ukulele tote bags - also on sale now in the shop.

1920s seed packet lavender bags for the Spring Equinox

On the eve of the Spring Equinox, here's the new Ivy Arch range of lavender bags. They're cut from a piece of cotton printed with 1920s seed packets from the Card Seed Co. of Fredonia NY. This beautiful fabric was designed by Holly Holderman for Lakehouse Dry Goods. I've backed the pouches with olive green polka dot cotton and filled them with French lavender.
     Some of them are on sale now in my Etsy shop and I'll be adding more seed varieties in the next couple of weeks.