I know I promised you a post with a more in depth look at my printing process, but something pretty out of the ordinary happened over the weekend… I took two days off from printing! It was nice to rest my back muscles a little, and enjoy the first days of summer. I am working with a friend to develop a short video showing my printing process, but I’ll certainly be sharing more photos before then.
Behind the Scenes
Thoughts on Postcards
I was very excited to see that Cotton & Flax was featured on Door Sixteen yesterday, I’m so happy to count Anna as a fan of my work. She mentioned something in her post that made me think, and that I hadn’t been able to articulate before.
“I used to send postcards out all the time because they’re so low-hassle: Cheap stamp, no envelope, small space = fast writing, not to mention the fact that anyone can and will read the back keeps me from saying anything too dumb. I don’t know why I stopped, but I need to order a couple of packs — because who doesn’t like to get a little real mail every now and then?”
As an avid letter-writer, I forget that any snail mail that shows up in my mailbox is a surprise and a treasure, as long as it’s not a bill. While many people think of snail mail as taking the time to write a newsy letter, full of long stories and gossip, a simple postcard can make a big impact too. Sending a postcard is such a simple gesture, and knowing that someone is thinking of you and sent over a quick hello never fails to make me feel appreciated.
If you feel intimidated or overwhelmed by the idea of sending snail mail, or even having a pen-pal, sending a simple postcard is a great first step.
Recently at Cotton & Flax HQ
I’ve been blogging a bit less frequently lately, as I’ve been working hard to build up my inventory for upcoming summer sales and in person shows here in California. I’ll be selling my work at Renegade Craft Fair in LA and San Francisco the last two weekends in July, so I’m spending every free moment printing, sewing, and designing new products for later this year.
If you want more frequent updates, you can follow Cotton & Flax on Instagram, I post lots of behind the scenes photos from Cotton & Flax Headquarters, plus the occasional photo of Frida, my adorable cat (and Cotton & Flax’s CFO… hah!)
Thread holds it all together.
Thread might seem like such a little thing (an afterthought, even), but using quality materials makes all the difference. If you’ve sewn larger projects before, you probably know what I’m talking about – it’s incredible how such a simple material can make such a difference. For Cotton & Flax projects, I use Gutermann’s natural cotton thread because it never seems to break or tangle while I’m sewing, and the colors are just phenomenal. This first photo shows a portion of my thread stash, built up over many years. It would be amazing to see all the empty spools I’ve used up over the years, part of me wishes I’d saved them all.
I’ve experimented with lots of different types of thread, and I’ve built up a pretty little stash of it over the years. It’s nice having it around when I want to work on side projects, like this sewn rope bowl I made a couple weeks ago, inspired by Doug Johnston.
If you sew – do you have a favorite brand of thread? Any other materials or tools that you just can’t live without?
New additions to the shop
Added a few new items to the shop this week, like this mint brushstrokes pillow above.
I re-listed many of the patterned postcard sets that had sold out. These grey confetti cards were a big hit at the in-person holiday markets I did last year, so I am glad to have them back in the shop.
The new latte coasters are back in stock as well! I love this color, it has such great subtle color variations when you see it in person. That’s the beauty of using natural materials – each one is a little bit different and unique.
Shades of Grey
I’m currently marveling at all the shades of grey in the Cotton & Flax shop. Just restocked a bunch of items (not just grey things, I promise), so take a look!
In other news: I started a quilt from Cotton & Flax scraps this weekend, hope to share my progress with you soon. If it’s like my other quilt projects, I’ll be working on this one for a while.
