knick knacks & ric rac

ever since i saw these adorable embroideries on etsy (and bought them right away, of course!) i’ve wanted to make a knothole skirt.

then i found a few more at thrift stores, and the little mouse one on etsy again.

i’ve only seen these 4 designs. have you seen any others?

when i first moved into my house, there was a big dead tree in the back yard. it had been there for many years, it was mostly hollow. every time we got a lot of rain, another limb would fall off.  it was my favorite feature of the yard until it completely toppled over in a big  rainstorm a few winters ago.

one year a couple of woodpeckers raised their family in it. they pecked out a perfectly round hole for a doorway. the next year it was home to a family of squirrels. they were so cute, one day i tossed out some stale tortillas and they brought  them up to the top branch and lined them up in a row.  so funny!

knothole skirt-tree bark print with a lil squirrel peeking out of a delightful knothole pocket at the hip. printed on a fabulously textured stretch twill. trimmed with ric rac at the hem.

honeycake skirt-super fun skirt inspired by hungarian honeycakes! decorated with soft vinyl ‘frosting’ appliques, accented with giant buttons and a row of jumbo ric rac. (you already know how much i love them…remember these and these?)

yodel-ay skirt-lovely smocked denim and vintage alpine trim, a perfect combo! in two lengths, 23.5″ and 16″

hothouse skirt-neon bright vintage 60’s fabrics paired with denim and accented with hot pink ric rac.

geometry skirt-a bold geometric print in browns, orange and gold, topped with a black denim yoke

golden garden skirt-pattern mix skirt in autumnal shades. a perfect fall picnic skirt!

at some of the new goodies coming this week!

when i made this skirt i knew i liked it (of course!) but i didn’t know it would become my go-to skirt…i’ve been wearing it all the time, it’s fun to wear and so easy to throw on and go out.

i bought these pairs of embroidered pockets downtown years before i started madewithlovebyhannah, but they were so cool i knew i would use them sometime. now’s the time!

on the black denim background they remind me of these pretty mexican bateas

that’s why i call it the batea skirt!

cactus flower skirt

batea skirt

lion print skirt

fabric fun skirt

flower basket skirt

cottage garden skirt

some motifs i find myself a little obsessed with throughout the years, hex signs are one of them…

rug is 28 inches across. this is actually the second pattern i made, after a little miscalculating the first one is turning out huge…i’m estimating it’s going to be 4 or 5 feet across when i’m finished! i just wanted a little kitchen rug!

 then i made this tulip and heart rug to coordinate with the wall tile in my kitchen. i did discover that i really like crocheting stuff in a continuous circle. 

all made with thrifted yarn, some polyester rug yarn, some regular yarn i doubled up, and some aunt lydia’s rayon/cotton heavy rug yarn (my favorite! i need to find some more!) still working on the giant one…

this funny post over at flapper girl reminded me that i’ve been meaning to show you this donut tree fabric from the old dunkin donuts uniforms. i always admired this print and was pretty thrilled when i found a remnant of it many years ago at a fabric store in boston. it’s such a great color combo! i made a pair of pants out of it sometime in my twenties. i still have this fat quarter of it left, and i still think it’s the best uniform print ever.

much more fun than a random number generator, my assistant chose the lucky big-box-o-scraps recipient! thank you for all of your comments!

is it just me or did may really zip by?

i’ve been doing some serious (late) spring cleaning around here. it was getting really hard to keep track of fabric. when i first started madewithlovebyhannah i only had a handful of designs, 7 years later i have 72 designs in multiple colorways…that’s about 138+ different items. that’s alot of different fabric!

i bought this cubbyhole shelf from ikea to help me get organized and i have to tell you i think it has changed my life!

wow, i can find stuff now! i’m wishing i’d done this years ago.

i also found a bunch of leftover screen prints so there may be more swatch bundles on the horizon. when i’ve done the swatch bundles before, i cut out the parts that are badly printed or blurry…would you prefer it if i left the pieces intact, mistakes and all, for you to cut as you like, or do you like me to edit them? please let me know what you think!

speaking of fabric, i just picked up a bunch of this awesome lion print fabric at the thrift store!

i’m going to use it for some summertime skirts. i’m really digging the color combo!

i also unearthed a bunch of mostly vintage fabric pieces left over from various ‘limited edition’ skirts through the years.

if any of you lovely readers would like them for patchwork or what-have-you (there are alot of decent sized pieces for purses and pouches) leave a comment and i’ll randomly pick a recipient a week from now and send you a large flat rate mailing box (that’s 12″x12″x5.5″) stuffed to the gills with fun fabric pieces! (US addresses only, please. international shipping for the box is almost $60! yikes!)

just finished adding them to my website!

beanstalk skirt (with that debut discount! 20% off until midnight 4/9 PST!)

i like this print so much i put it on pillow covers and tees too!

shortcake skirt

and the schwarzwalder and dutch treat pillow covers are back (you may remember them from 6 or so years ago!)

and a few new limited edition skirts…