Textile Tip, Tricks and Ideas: Add some Shisha to your craft projects

Add some Shisha to your craft projects

Shisha or Abla Bharat embroidery , or mirror-work, is a type of embroidery which attaches small pieces of mirrors reflect metal to fabric. Mirror embroidery is spread throughout Asia, and today can be found in the traditional embroidery of Iran, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, and Indonesia.

It is a really lovely way to adorn and embellish your textile crafting projects and it makes them stand out from the crowd.

We have an excellent video on our YouTube channel that show you how to sew with Shisha mirrors. You can click on the video below to watch it.

Our YouTube channel is cram packed full of lovely videos for you to watch and learn from. Access to every video is free and there are 269 for you to choose from. We are very proud of the videos we have made and they have been viewed over 3.5 million times, so why not join in and watch a few today.

You can find the Colouricious YouTube channel by clicking the link below. If you like the videos I would really appreciate it if you could click on the “thumbs up” symbol just beneath it to let everybody know you liked it.

YouTube Channel

We have a wonderful special Shisha starter kit available at the moment. It comprises:

• a selection of Anchor embroidery thread

• a bag of beautiful hand cut diamond shaped shisha mirrors

• 5 wonderful hand carved wooden block designs perfect for shisha mirrors measuring 75mm in diameter

• a sponge to apply fabric paints to your blocks

• a small foam mat

It is the perfect set to get you started in Shisha embroidery.

Learn New Embroidery Techniques

Come and join in on our kantha stitch embroidery textile tour of West Bengal to learn about Indian heritage, hosted by our Colouricious representative. During your textile holiday you will be exploring the Indian traditional techniques of kantha stitch, block printing, batik, macrame, embroidery and textiles, and many more truly unique experiences, many of which will be in remote villages, off the beaten track. The tour is in October 2017, and is for 14 days. It is a hugely popular tour and we highly recommend it if you enjoy embroidery and want to learn about different stitching styles.

If you would like to join us in October next year, then head over to our website and use the online booking form to reserve your place. It is a fantastic trip and we would love for you to join us.

Colouricious Club Member Deals

The Hmong people are an ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China. Their history is somewhat difficult to trace but it is believed that they originated in the mountains of the Yellow River before migrating South in search of more arable land to farm. The Hmong people are now in Vietnam, Thailand and Laos as well as China.

The Hmong people are famous for their intricate textile art which comprises bold geometric patterns often in bright contrasting colours. Sub cultures of the Hmong people, not surprisingly, associate themselves with different patterns and techniques when it comes to their textile art designs. White Hmong are usually associated with reverse applique while the Green Hmong are more likely to be seen using batik.

We have a number of beautifully intricate pattern blocks in Hmong styles and they would be wonderful on any craft project.Use the code below and you will get 20% off any these blocks you purchase that can be found on the following page of our website. Hmong Blocks

hmong20

As usual, the code is only valid for 1 week and will expire on Sunday 23rd October.

Quilt Shows

We have just got back from the Craft4Crafters show. It was lovely to see you all and to hear all your stories about block printing. I am off to Dublin next week for the Dublin Knitting and Stitching Show and would love to meet anybody that can come along to the show, so please say hello, it is lovely to see you all.

Dublin Knitting & Stitching Show – 20th – 23rd October

Printology is so popular we are doing it twice! But only spaces now for October.

Our February Course is now full!

As we expected, our Printology Workshop proved to be very popular and we filled the February course in just over 1 month. We sort of guessed that this would be the case which is why we have already organised a second workshop for October next year.

The second course is going to run from 26th – 29th October 2017 and we are now taking deposits so you can reserve your place on the workshop. If you want a place on the October workshop act quickly to grab your space.

Come and See me at a Quilt Show for FREE!

We have a couple of tickets left for the West Country Quilt & Textile Show. The tickets are for Sunday 13th November and the show is at the University of the West of England Exhibition Centre. We also have some free tickets for the Dublin Knitting and Stitching Show as well, which is at the end of this month

If you would like a ticket for either of these shows all you need to do is purchase anything from our website and add a line in the note box that you would like a ticket and we will send it out with the items you purchased. I am afraid this will have to be a first come, first served offer, so they are gone the offer will be over. If you are one of the lucky ones though, I look forward to seeing you there!

October Deal of the Month

Christmas is coming!

I know, I know, we are only just into October and the sun is still shining, but I have seen some Christmas adverts and the shopping channels are already mentioning it, so I don’t feel too bad about reminding you all that Christmas is not that far away. For us crafters, we have top be even more organised if we are going to produce home-crafted gifts and cards for our friends and family. I was talking with one of our club members who is already preparing her designs for gifts, and she told me about her 6 year old grandson who loves joining in with when when she block prints and is going to make gifts himself for all his teachers this year.

So, now we have all agreed that Christmas is on its way, what is the special offer?

Well, we thought we would give you the chance to combine our beautiful Christmas blocks with something you can print on and give as a gift. Buy any one of our Christmas Block sets and you will get a free tea towel to block print and create a lovely festive gift. The deal gets better though as if you buy two of the Christmas sets, you will get 3 free tea towels and buy three sets and get 5 free tea towels. No code or comment to make when you order, just choose your sets and we will do the rest.

1 Christmas Block Set – 1 Free Tea Towel

2 Christmas Block Sets – 3 Free Tea Towels

3 Christmas Block Sets – 5 Free Tea Towels

To see the choice of block sets for this offer you can visit our October Offer page.

It is a great deal and I am sure anybody who receives a hand printed tea towel will love it.

Huge choice of Gelli Plates

We have lots of different shapes and sizes of Gelli Plates on our website. Gelli Plates are incredibly versatile and can create unique designs and patterns for your craft projects. They can also be used in combination with stencils and our blocks which make the a perfect addition to a crafters toolbox.

If you would like to take a look at the range of Gelli Plates and accessories we have on offer, visit our Gelli Plate page, and see all the different items that we have in stock.