Dandelion.

Back from Spain!

London and its rain really doesn't appeal after so much sunshine,,, 

I had some posts lined up for publishing while I was there, 

but I then decided that as much as I love blogging I would keep Spain a blog free zone, 

and truely make the most of having * nothing * to do or think about!

As I am pretty certain that over the next few weeks or months even, there won't be very much time for me to waste. Back to uni, and to be honest I am pretty excited to get back to work.

This post is about the totes that I have mentioned earlier that Kate and I were creating, or have now created to be sold by Hobbs in aid of the Fashion & Textile Children's Trust.

The Fashion & Textile Children's Trust is a fantastic charity, here is a little bit about them;

'The Fashion and Textile Children’s Trust is a small charity with a long history of providing education and welfare grants to families in need of a helping hand.

The charity exists to help the children of people who work in the UK fashion and textile industry.

Since 1853, the charity has supported thousands of families across the UK with grants for the little things that really can make a big difference.

We’ve supported a young mum after the death of her husband by helping out with essential expenses. We’ve supported children with special needs with the cost of specialist tutors. We recently helped a teenager kick-start a career in catering by covering the cost of his basic kitchen equipment.

Sometimes, it’s just to help someone lead a more comfortable life – such as covering the cost of a replacement bed for a disabled child.

We are the UK fashion and textile industry’s charity – backed by the industry, supporting the children of people working in the industry.'

Here is the image that I chose to use on my tote, this is a picture taken of my niece Leilah, whom as you are probably aware as been the model for many of my prints!

The stencils I used for the totes, 

Kate and I bought the plain totes from a website called The Clever Baggers. 

 I hand stencilled the totes using this fabric paint that was around £5 from Cass Art 

This is the paint that I previously used so I was confident that the quality was good, I printed an image of Leilah onto a t-shirt which has been washed several times and is still looking pretty good, as the ink hasn't faded. And to print all the totes I probably used around half the pot, which is pretty good.

I printed 10 totes in total, I kept one for myself and one I gave to Leilahs Mum, and the other 8 will be available for Sale in Brent Cross Hobbs, I will update you on when they go on sale! : - )

I enjoy sponging on the ink to the tote as it allows the print to become more textural as you get a variation in shades. This means that each tote looks different and you get something special and unique, I also added some detail to the dandelion, which is detailed in the pictures below.