Needless to say I couldn't get it up to the counter fast enough! All the time though, I had this feeling that I'd seen it somewhere before and it was familiar but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I told Hazel and she agreed that it was familiar - which to be honest doesn't carry a lot of weight as she's easily influenced! By the time we got home I was pretty sure it was because it was very similar to a top I'd bought her last year at JK Kids, but when I compared them it was a bit...tenuous.
I mean, you can see the similarities but they're not THAT similar. But you know, I'm getting old and confused and all that, so I just left it there but still with the nagging feeling. I love that top btw, several people have asked if I've made it because it's so the kind of thing I would make! Hazel told me today when I put it on her and she wanted it off immediately "I just don't like the design of it mummy. I just don't like how it feels on". Where is she getting this from I wonder? Daycare? :P
I went into the kitchen to make a cup of tea and idly glanced at the stove and noticed the tea towel hanging there*. Now tell me, do you think the fabric resembles the Anthropologie tea towel my brother sent me this Christmas?
Not half! No wonder we'd had that feeling of familiarity because other than the big Mexican embroidery and the fact the teatowel is on linen, it is the same print. Identical. So calling all Kiwis and Aussies, if you act quickly enough you too can be dressed like an Anthropologie teatowel. Hazel certainly will be! :))
ETA: I showed Mat the fabric when he came home this evening and he took one look at it and before I explained anything he said said "oh, that's the same as the Anthropologie tea towel." Sheesh. My grand reveal ruined by a husband who notices fabric. I've trained him too well...
*Note: it was not ironed at that point. I don't iron tea towels ever, unless I'm about to photograph them and show the world. Then I iron them. What? No. No I'm not presenting an idealised version of my life thank you. I also clean the house before people come over. Is that presenting an idealised version of my life too? ;) I also Photoshopped the tea towel. It's probably come over all faint with the attention...
That's awesome! I love that print!
ReplyDeleteSpotlight is picking up their act again, thankfully! They've been through a bad patch of terrible nothingness - but then last time I went out with a friend (she's making pants for her just starting to walk 1yr old) we found heaps and had to restrain ourselves. I found the sweetest little 'almost Japanese' print, but of course on their cheap flimsy fabric. Wish they'd get into the lovely linens and that sort of thing, the better quality fabrics.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it wonderful how that print must have gotten into Hazel's brain and she wanted it as it was something she knows and sees regularly, and it must have felt like home. Can't wait to see what you make with it.
Enjoy your day. E xxx
Yeah, they've definitely picked up their game in the last few months. A new
ReplyDeletebuyer? Though I must say the bolt of Australian flag quilting fabric
languishing at our local makes me giggle every time I see it. Oddly enough,
no-one's bought any. The fabric quality still isn't quite up to scratch,
the thread count on the quilting fabric is somewhat lower than the
'designer' stuff, but it's half the price or less too! There's still a lot
of really depressing taupe florals and the kind of fabrics that put me off
quilting for so long, but yeah, coming along coming along! I wonder if we
were looking at the same 'Japanese' fabrics? And I've found some neat dress
cottons too, although as you say the fabric can be a bit cheap and nasty.
I've had some lovely voiles though.
Yeah it is rather! I'm half considering getting some more for a shirt for me.
ReplyDeleteYou ironed it and photoshopped it? Those dishes had better appreciate the company they are keeping. What will you make from the fabric?
ReplyDeleteSpotlight here is improving too; it definitely beats its mainstream competitor.
I think it'll be a top or a dress. Not quite sure yet, I need to get Hazel to look through pattern books.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, the dishes are feeling a little over-awed. But once the tea towel has been through the wash and is all wrinkly again things will get back to normal.
I'm a mom in San Francisco of a 5 yo who is very sensitive to clothing, and I started reading your blog because she wouldn't wear the things that I made for her. Hazel sounds a lot like her. Sensitive about seams, the way things feel, everything has to be just so? I've had to pretty much stop sewing for DD and just buy Hanna Andersson instead (very soft clothing). It's sad to be a sewing mom with a kid who is like this.
ReplyDeleteYes she's getting that way for sure. I hadn't actually thought of it the way
ReplyDeleteyou phrase it but it may very well be an actual physical thing as well as
being a way of controlling her environment (which is what I'd put it down to
previously). She really dislikes constricting clothes, but that's partly
because she spent the summer in shorts and tshirts, loose dresses and
nothing at all, and now that winter is on the way she's not loving the more
constricting warmer clothes. I must check out the Hanna Andersson stuff to
see what it's like, it's not a line I've heard of before.
If your daughter's dislike of clothes isn't just a physical thing then there
are a couple of things I've found that increase my chances of a successful
reception. It seems to come down to letting her choose fabrics and patterns,
and sometimes letting her help with the sewing as well. I listen more to
what she says than I used to, and I've also made it clear to her that if she
doesn't like things then she doesn't have to wear them but they may be given
to someone else who will appreciate them. That usually sorts out the power
plays from the things she really doesn't like!
Thanks for the comment!