Interior Design · Sewing projects · Soft Furnishings

Dreaming of spring…

My favourite seasons are definitely Autumn and Spring but if I had to choose between the two I guess it would have to be Spring, with the last remnants of Winter fading away as the days gradually get longer and the sun’s rays get warmer. My favourite flowers are tulips too; I love their sleek curves, simple lines and bright, cheery colours. So it’s no surprise my first designs included tulips; at least I can dream of Spring…

And while I’m dreaming, here are some of the things I have made from my gilhoolie tulip screen-printed fabric. The large turquoise tulip lampshade and the pouffe are for an order I took at the shopping evening last month. They’re a Christmas gift for a little girl’s bedroom, I hope she likes Spring and tulips as much as I do!

Lots of lovely tulips!
Lots of lovely tulips!
Interior Design · Soft Furnishings

gilhoolie has set up shop!

I have finally set up my gilhoolie shop on folksy! HOORAY!

You’ll find a few gilhoolie things on there so far but I’m still working on adding some more including my bags, bunting and the rest of my lampshades. So please come back in a week or so and have another look (don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll put another update on here anyway to remind you!)

You just need to search for gilhoolie on folksy or click on this link: gilhoolie shop.

Here is a screenshot of my shop, please come and have a peek!  Then you have my permission to browse all the other lovely things on folksy!!

gilhoolie shop on folksy
gilhoolie shop on folksy - go and have a look!
Interior Design · Sewing projects · Soft Furnishings

Promises, promises…

Bunting and beanbag
Ahhh!

I had lots of fun a couple of weeks ago taking photos of my friend’s beautiful little girl sitting on a gilhoolie beanbag and pouffe (with some bunting in the background). Thank you so much Sandi, I may ask again if that’s okay!

I know the model looks gorgeous but I’m also hoping these photos show my products well enough to start selling on-line now. I must admit I did get a bit carried away and didn’t always manage to get the whole of the beanbag in shot, oops! Ah well, I still have lots to learn. Thank you also to James for playing around with the photos in Photoshop; I think they are very professional and just the look and feel I was going for.

It’s taken a bit longer than I expected to set up my folksy shop but I think the photos are incredibly important. I’m going to take some more of my lampshades this week too as I’m not happy with the ones I already have. When you work for yourself it’s easy to not set deadlines and just go with the flow but I promise these will be on folksy by the end of the week, cross my heart and watch this space for details!

pouffe
Just chilling!
Events

Models required!

gilhoolie table
gilhoolie table!

This week I’m putting the finishing touches to things and I thought I’d practice arranging all my creations ready for Thursday evening. I put this display together in half an hour before I rushed off on the school run, but you get the idea! As you can see, I got the bunting bug last week and made some more out of scraps of fabric from our bedroom (Romo Quadra Dahlia and John Lewis chevron in sulphur).

I guess it isn’t a coincidence as I’ve made lots of things from the same fabrics, but it does feel like gilhoolie has some kind of identity now don’t you think?

My next task is to take some more professional looking photos so that I can sell gilhoolie things on-line; I might need some little models to pose on the beanbags and pouffe!

Interior Design · Sewing projects · Soft Furnishings

Two pouffes and a bag…

Two pouffes and gilhoolie label
Two pouffes and gilhoolie label

I’ve been busy making things to fill my stall next Thursday and  I think I’m nearly there, thank goodness. Here are two of the gilhoolie pouffes. The bright one on the left is made from Amy Butler fabric (I have some left over so will probably make a lampshade with that) and the one on the right is made from fabric I already had from our hall curtains and cushions. I’d like to be able to make them from the fabrics I have in stock for lampshades as well as bespoke to match an existing colour scheme, perhaps in a living room or child’s bedroom.

gilhoolie bag
gilhoolie bag

Also, some of you will be pleased to hear…. I made another gilhoolie bag. This time I went back to the simpler design but I incorporated some of the details from the Tabitha bag I made last week with a coloured trim and patterned inside of the handle. I had a play with making flowers and bows to decorate the bag but ended up going back to the covered buttons to keep the look simple. The bows and flowers are always an option though as they did look pretty.

Now that’s all done I’m ready to start putting some things on folksy ready to sell, well almost. I just want to finish off the birds and hearts I started making last week and some bunting to decorate my stall, oh yes and a gilhoolie sign. We had lots of fun at the weekend, James cutting MDF and myself and the boys painting the boards with chalkboard paint; they even have one each for their rooms, one in the shape of a car and one a guitar!

Interior Design · Sewing projects · Soft Furnishings

A quick update…

Just thought I should put a quick update on gilhoolie as I haven’t blogged for ages, I’m still here! The last couple of weeks have been spent doing lots of screen-printing (some prints more successful than others, arghhh) as well as lots of behind the scenes preparation for getting started on selling things. I’m hoping to have a stall at a shopping evening at school next month so I’ve been concentrating on that by putting together some marketing materials and thinking about how to display everything. I also want to start selling on-line on folksy before then, so I’ve been writing a biography to set up a gilhoolie shop. So you see I have been quite busy really!

I’ve made some lampshades from my own designs (shown below) but also just ordered some pretty fabric to make some more. I’ve decided to not just make things exclusively from my own hand-printed fabric but instead to experiment with any other fabric that catches my eye. I’ve also ordered more denim fabric for making beanbags and bags. The designs will be made to order with a choice of fabrics for bag linings, beanbag pockets, pouffes and accessories (buttons and bows on bags). I’m really looking forward to receiving the fabric I’ve ordered as I’ve missed sewing and I’m getting impatient to start selling soon!

I’ll let you know as soon as my folksy shop is set up, watch this space…

folksy logoBusy, busy!

Busy, busy!
Artwork

Decisions, decisions…

I only have three silk screens, so I need to decide which three of my designs to start printing onto fabric. It’s not easy! To help me make a decision, I’ve been using CorelDraw to add my designs to some pictures of lampshades and my Moroccan pouffe. It helps me to visualise how they will look and how to scale the pattern repeat.

gilhoolie pouffe and lampshades
gilhoolie pouffe and lampshades

I think I’m going to go for these three: gilhoolie butterfly, tulip and windmill…. but don’t hold me to it; I keep changing my mind!

gilhoolie butterfly, tulip and windmill
gilhoolie butterfly, tulip and windmill

I might start by making a lampshade for our new front room (I know I said I’d start with tea-towels but hey, I’m multi-tasking!)

Decorating is ongoing but nearly there; just shelves to build and wallpaper to put up. Watch out for the photographs soon!

Interior Design · Sewing projects · Soft Furnishings

Simple pleasures…

gilhoolie pouffe
gilhoolie pouffe

I really like the shape and style of traditional Moroccan pouffes and thought it would be good to have a go at making one. These will eventually be made from my screen-printed designs but I thought I’d practice on bought fabrics first.

This one is made out of three fabrics: John Lewis Chevron in sulphur, a plain natural coloured linen, and grey cord as the top and bottom. Can you spot the gilhoolie label in the seam? (Seeing them attached to something I’ve made makes me smile!)

I really enjoyed making something a bit different from standard cushions. The question is, what to make next?….

….well, I realised yesterday I’m not happy if I don’t have my next project at least in my head, but the next ‘project’ is to clear out the utility room and try and set up a workshop so that I can start screen printing. Not as much fun as making stuff but it has to be done. Hopefully I’ll be posting pictures of my first prints soon!