Shop news

We have been enjoying beautiful golden days of autumn with temperatures as high as 18C - two week school holidays are coming to an end and last weekend was spent with our friends in Augsburg, Germany, where we have once lived. We took this opportunity to visit the nearby Legoland and a backdrop of autumn leaves made the park even more special.

Now I am back at my studio, photographing and listing the items I have made recently; some house brooches, a wristlet and a couple of zipper pouches. Two of the brooches got snapped up as soon as I listed them, holiday shopping has begun :-)

Zadnji oktobrski dnevi so res čudoviti, čez dan je toplo tudi do 18 stopinj in ravnokar končujemo dvotedenske jesenske počitnice - prejšnji vikend smo bili na obisku pri prijateljih v Augsburgu, kjer smo nekoč živeli in seveda ni šlo brez skoka v bližnji Legoland, ki je v jesenskem listju še posebej veličasten. Zdaj sem nazaj in fotografiram ter v trgovino dodajam izdelke, ki sem jih sešila v zadnjih dneh - dve hiški broški sta že prodani, hura za bližajoče se praznike :-)

October

I love autumn, so much inspiration in leaves turning gold, chestnuts on the ground, red berries on bare branches... I've recently added a few new coin purses to the shop and I want to make more autumn inspired items before Christmas takes over. Happy Autumn!

Živela jesen!

Back to school

Summer holidays are almost over, September is coming closer and Loddelina shop has reopened - with brand new pencil cases to start the new school year with.

They are one of a kind purses with handmade applique and freefoot embroidery, inspired by endless rows of trees by the north Italian highway on our way from France to Slovenia. The purses are 22 cm (8.5") long, 8 cm (3") tall and roomy enough to hold all your writing instruments. You can also use them as cosmetic pouches or small bridesmaid's clutches!

::  ::  ::

Počitnice so skoraj pri koncu in septembra se začne novo šolsko leto, čas za novo peresnico! Peresnice so ročno povezene z motivi, ki so jih navdihnile neskončne ravne vrste dreves ob severno italijanski avtocesti na poti iz Francije v Slovenijo. Puščice so dolge 22 in visoke 8 cm, dovolj prostorne za pisala,  make up ali kot priročna večerna torbica.

Oh, deer!

I love this beautiful upholstery jacquard I recently found in our local fabric shop, of all places - the gorgeous colours and fun woodland motifs, who wouldn't want a nice comfy armchair upholstered with it?

Unfortunatelly it is a bit too expensive for such a project but a few smaller purses and pouches will look quite cheerful adorned with little deer, foxes, birds and snowflakes. Is it too early to start thinking of autumn?

Here are first two bags I made, one XL zipper pouch and one small, elegant clutch for an evening out. Every little bit of this rich fabric seems too precious to cut out, I trace my patterns carefully to get the best composition possible and not waste anything. More forest wonderland soming soon!

Zaljubljena sem v tale žakard, ki sem ga našla nikjer drugje kot v naši lokalni trgovini z metražo - čudovite barve in motivi srnic, ptic, lisic in snežink - a je še prezgodaj za jesenske misli?

Zaenkrat sem v trgovino dodala dve torbici, eno večjo, drugo manjšo, večerno, kmalu se jima pridruži še kakšna!

Purse tree

A purse tree is a magical plant which I use to grow all my purses on :-)

Last week it produced two zipper pouches in silver faux leather, a present for two birthday girls we had dinner with on Saturday. There is a similar purse available in my shop at the moment so have a look while I go and water my purse tree!

V mojem vrtu raste posebno drevo, na katerem poganjajo torbice :-) Prejšnji teden sem pobrala dve puščici iz srebrnega umetnega usnja na zadrgo, darilci za dve slavljenki sobotnega rojstnega dne. Podobna puščica je trenutno na voljo tudi v moji trgovini - medtem, ko si jo pogledate, grem jaz zalit moje drevesce!

Days of the week

The school year is almost over but my little first grader still gets confused about which day of the week it is - part of the reason is the French system with four and a half school days (half being the Saturday morning) with Wednesday as a day off school. The Saturday morning was added this year (consequently, other four days now have shorter afternoon classes).

To help my daughter tell days of the week correctly I made her this little banner with paper flags (7 cm high), sewn together with a piece of lace trim (I use old, worn out sewing needles for sewing on paper). Every morning when she gets down to breakfast, she will move the little bird pin one day forward. 

Happy Monday, everybody!

:: :: :: 

Šolsko leto gre h koncu, moja prvošolka pa še vedno ne ve točno, kateri dan v tednu je - zmedena je, ker ima francoski sistem štiri šolske dneve in pol (polovička je v soboto dopoldan), v sredo pa ni pouka. Da bi ji pomagala, sem hčerki izdelala koledarček iz papirnatih zastavic (visokih 7 cm), skupaj sešitih s čipkastim trakom (za šivanje papirja uporabljam stare, rabljene šivalne igle). Zdaj vsako jutro pri zajtrku premakne ptička / ščipalko za en dan naprej.

Lep ponedeljek vam želim!

New in my shop

I recently listed a couple of XL zipper pouches with, as I like to call them, wild tulips. I have always wanted to make my appliques a bit "messy", with not so neat stitching and not every thread in its place but each time I try to go a bit wild, my (otherwise very messy personality) pulls me back into clean, neat lines. I don't know why that is but having this in mind you might find the two tulips quite an achievement for me :-)

The third new listing is a hobo shoulder bag, made from rich olive green upholstery velvet (soft to the touch but very durable). I have sewn four little fishies on it (again, with clean&neat stitching) and then decorated them with some hand embroidery. The interior is my recent favourite botanical print from Ikea and as usually, the bag has a zippered interior pocket and a swivel hook.

I wish you all a wonderful weekend!

Damjana

:: :: :: 

Novo v trgovini:
Dve puščici na zadrgo z "divjima tulipanoma". Vedno sem si želela ustvariti takšne bolj scufane, neobdelane našitke, pa me moja sicer ne zelo redoljubna narava vedno usmeri v čiste, polikane, natančno obšite oblike, kjer stran ne štrli niti ena sama nitka. Ta dva tulipana sta torej, vsaj za moje pojme, precej divja :-)

Druga novost pa je malha Pupa, narejena iz olivno zelenega tapetniškega žameta, ki je mehak na otip, a zelo trpežen. Na torbi so našite štiri ribice (spet z zelo strogim obšivom), čez pa sem jih malo povezla na roko. Torba ima še notranji žep na zadrgo in kaveljček za ključe.

Vsem želim lep vikend!

Damjana

A little present

I've made some colourful little card holders and since every purse could use one to organize all the cards, coupons and such, I decided to include a FREE card holder with every purchase at my Etsy shop made this May and June!

The card holder can also be used to hold a little "survival" kit of band aids, aspirin, a safety pin and similar. So hurry up, the offer expires end of June!

Crocheting towards Easter

A couple of years ago I tried to learn how to crochet with a help of many tutorials on YouTube. I have long been fascinated with crochet stones and wanted to give it a try. So far I have learned a few basic stitches and I have managed to incorporate my tiny crochet flowers in some of the handbag designs.

This week I found a lovely tutorial showing how to crochet a small stone or a glass bead into a pendant so I just had to try it out. The result are these glass pebbles and a new crochet stone that sits happily in the Easter basket on our dining table. What can I say - I am hooked!

Have a lovely Easter, everybody!

::   ::   ::   

Pred par leti sem se hotela naučiti kvačkati in s pomočjo YouTube-a se mi je uspelo naučiti nekaj osnovnih elementov, ki sem jih potem vključila v moje izdelke. 
Ta teden pa sem odktila še en video, ki prikazuje obkvačkanje manjšega kamna ali steklene kapljice v obesek - rezultat so tile stekleni kamenčki, zraven pa sem srajčko nakvačkala še za en večji kamen, ki zdaj čepi v velikonočni košarici na mizi. 

New warderobe for Giuseppina

My little girl, now 6, doesn't play much with dolls - she gets them mostly as birthday presents from friends; skinny Barbies and scary Monster High dolls that end up forgotten in a drawer. But two Christmases ago my mother gave her a small Götz doll, much more natural looking, with long hair, perfect for braiding, and sleeping eyes. The 27 cm doll, called Giuseppina, came with a simple summer attire, so I made her a little "evening" dress - I found some tiny doll dress patterns online and improvised a lot.

A year has passed and now, during winter school break, my daughter asked me to make more dresses for her doll - after all, she will need new warderobe for the coming spring!
I made two cotton dresses (first one a bit wobbly but the second one much improved) and a "school" dress, made from cool wool cloth - the sleeves were sewn in by hand, I just couldn't get the tiny dress to fit under my sewing machine foot.

The last (so far) item from Giuseppina's new warderobe is a jacket. I recently bought a bag of mixed metallic zippers on sale and some of them were really short. I was wondering what I could possibly use the super short pink split zipper for - well, who knew it was perfect for doll wear!

Have a nice weekend!

Joži (Giuseppina) dobi novo garderobo - malo improvizacije, nekaj krojev, najdenih na internetu (punčka je velika 27 cm, zato sem rokavce šivala na roko), pomaga tudi, če publika ni preveč zahtevna, pa kar gre. Lažje kot šivati za suhljato barbiko... Zaenkrat sem scoprala večerno oblekico, dve spomladanski, eno "za v šolo" iz tanke volnene tkanine in jaknico, za katero sem uporabila kratko deljeno zadrgo (ta se je slučajno znašla v vreči ostankov na razprodaji zadrg).  Lep vikend vsem!

Longing for spring ...

... And doodling bright, nature inspired drawings. One of them led to a new clutch with a similar patchwork design - I used cool wool cloth for the base and sew on it leaves in all the blue fabrics and patterns I could find in my box of scraps, then embroidered them with the machine.

The clutch is 26 cm (10") wide, 16 cm (6.5") tall, lined with cream white canvas with botanical print and it closes with a metallic zipper.

Have a creative week!

::  ::  ::

Nova torbica na zadrgo, ki je nastala po skici, načečkani med sanjarjenjem po pomladi. Torbica je široka 26 cm, visoka 16 cm, podložena z belim potiskanim platnom in se zapira na kovinsko zadrgo.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wishing for spring

While outside my window winter only just begun (we've had almost 1 metre of snow over the last seven days), my thoughts are fast forwarding towards spring - I crave pastel colours and cheerful motifs.

I added three new XL zipper pouches with a starfish applique (that one always makes me smile and made from soft corduroy it feels nice to touch as well). I was able to use some leftover cotton canvas from my university days when we experimented with dyeing - that is why I like to work on smaller purses, there is always an opporunity to use those pretty little scraps of fabric I find difficult to throw away...

A friend of mine asked for a custom faux leather messenger - she wanted bright green interior and a cheerful embroidery on the front - with the word Hope. Perfect for spring!

Čakajoč na pomlad

Zunaj meter snega, v meni pa že želja po svetlih pastelih in spomladanskih motivih. Zadnje tri puščice, ki sem jih dodala v trgovino, imajo našito morsko zvezdo iz mehkega rebrastega žameta, ki ga je užitek pobožati. Uporabila sem tudi nekaj ostankov blaga, ki smo ga ročno barvali še na fakulteti, vedno mi je žal zavreči lepe koščke tkanin... Torba iz umetnega usnja pa je nastala za prijateljico, ki ima rada živo zeleno barvo in je želela poseben izvezen motiv z besedo Upanje.

And so it begins again

A new year, a fresh start, a tidy sewing desk, new supplies on the shelf - what more could one possibly want?

January began with a winter wedding of a dear friend and we drove to the nearby lake Geneva in Switzerland, to a beautiful little town of Vevey where we could take some great pictures of the lake and the couple just before the sun set in the afternoon.

My wedding gift were two soft but well stuffed 50 x 50 cm pillows in custom made decorative covers - I used all linen fabrics, cut out the initials F and J and decorated them with lace, ribbons and buttons.

December was a month of giving and what better thing to give than one's time and attention. Recently a couple of friends became the lucky parents of a baby boy and since they have a Christmas tradition of buying special ornaments that remind them of certain places and events, I decided to make them a "baby's first Christmas" ornament - a little bird for baby Gaspard.

And since I mentioned new supplies... I ordered some small embroidery hoops before Christmas, thinking I could engage my children in some needlework - they have been asking me to let them help me sew so I am always looking for ways to involve them in my craft in a fun, safe way. So far we haven't yet had time to try out embroidery but I couldn't just let those hoops sit on my shelf untested - so one night, while watching Agatha Christie's Poirot episodes on Youtube, I made this little floral arangement on a 5 inch (13 cm) hoop. 

But what about the children? We'll do needle work next time, for now I bought them some colour pencils for fabric and they drew some creatures on white linen which I then sewed together and stuffed into small plush toys.

While all this was going on, I hardly had any time to sew new Loddelina bags - they will have to wait for my next post.

Have a lovely week!

:: :: :: 

In spet se začenja

Januar je čas za nov začetek, za pospravljeno šivalno mizo in nove potrebščine na polici. Mesec se je začel s poroko dveh prijateljev -  nekaj foto utrinkov iz mesteca Vevey ob Ženevskem jezeru. In moje darilo mladoporočencema: okrasni blazini 50 x 50 cm z začetnicama J in F na lanenih prevlekah. 

Pa še eno darilo, božični okrasek za dojenčkov prvi božič, moji prvi poskusi vezenja (pred novim letom sem nabavila nekaj manjših okvirjev, da bom mogoče otroka navdušila za delo z iglo) in živalice, ki sta jih na blago narisala s flomastri za tkanino, jaz pa obrezala, zašila in natlačila v mehke igračke. 

Tudi za Loddelino bo čas, več v naslednji objavi!