It was at a Craft Fair in September that it first caught my eye and it was love at first sight. Although Harris Tweed has been a long time obsession/love I have to admit that I have been enjoying a brief flirtation with Etsuko Furuya's lovely fabric designs. All of the designs I really like feature big cats (Lion, Leopard and Tiger) which is not surprising as being a Leo I have always liked big cats. All the designs come in a variety of colourways but you may have to shop around to get the colourway you want as not all the suppliers carry the whole range as it pretty vast!
As my new obsession took hold I feverishly searched the internet for stockists - the only information I had to go on was that it was a Japanese fabric. I spent hours Googling and following false leads before finding some stockists (all non-UK unfortunately) with the designs I wanted. As I have been hit a couple of times with large import tax penalties I decided to do a small experiment where I would order one yard of fabric from 3 different suppliers and compare them on price and service - I would save on import tax but would have to pay 3 lots of postage which was still cost effective.
All the fabrics were ordered online at the same time. First to arrive was the order from KallistiQuilts which was the Leopard print.....
which is printed onto a lovely medium weight linen fabric - ideal for bags and purses. I was the most expensive per yard at $18 but the postage was the least expensive at $9.50.
Quite some time later the order from Superbuzzy arrived which was the Lion in grey.............
which is printed on a heavy cotton gauze which is not ideal for what I want to do with it but I am sure I will find a way of using it. In my haste I had ordered this without reading the description properly - be warned! I think that this particular design only comes on this type of fabric ad I just assumed that they were all on linen. Superbuzzy took sometime to deliver and at $17.95 per yard is not much cheaper that Kallisti Quilts and the postage was $12.95 (most expensive of the 3)
Last (by a couple of weeks) but not least was the order from Phatfabric - Tiger on the Flower in Black -
My absolute favourite of the three designs it also has the ubiquitous crafty owl......
and even a tiny insect or two......
This was the cheapest fabric at $16.50 and it cost $10.50 in postage and is printed in on lovely linen.
So there you have it - hopefully this information is useful in some way. I have also seen that in the UK Clothkits have started doing one of the Echino fabrics used in a project featured in Sew Hip magazine.
The big cat theme continues in my house with the purchase of these bowls from the Concetta range at Habitat.
perfect for chips and dips!
It's amazing how alike the fabric and plate designs are from 2 different designers ( I think the Conchetta range was designed by an Italian designer) I was delighted to find these just before Xmas and they made entertaining just that bit more fun!
As far as I know these fabrics are not available in the UK but if they are I am happy to be corrected so please leave a linkx
Cooee from "Downunder" Suzanne, you certainly have been busy with your research. Love the fabrics and look forward to see how you are going to use them. The lion looks very regal but I can't go past he owl and I just love bees, they are so industrious.
Best wishes for an interesting and crafty 2010.
X
Posted by: Claire Smith | January 14, 2010 at 01:05 AM
Hi,I Love the richness of the 3 fabrics. They are all so beautiful! Looking forward to seeing what you turn them into... they would also look fab wrapped round a canvas. Hope your well. Rx x
Posted by: Rebecca | January 14, 2010 at 08:38 PM