Bad News Is: The motherboard in my computer has finally given up the ghost. It’s decided that my mouse and keyboard are part of a terrorist cell and keeps scrambling their transmissions signal. It also doesn’t believe that the tablet exists and thinks that the internet disappears after five minutes.

Good News Is: With less Tumblr and Facebook to distract me, I’ll get more sewing done while the computer is in for repairs.

In the mean time, enjoy this sketch that I worked up about a week ago. If I finish all the sample pieces, this lovely prototype is next on the menu. The dickie and sleeves will be made of chiffon and the lace and braid will be the same as on the JSKs and skirts. If it works out, I’ll have samples to show off soon.

Also: if you’re really curious to know what I’m up to during this down time, I’ve made a twitter account recently: @RougeAerie.

Feel free to follow!

Bit earlier than I said I would be, but the fabric is now available on Spoonflower! 

Remember, it will only be up for sale until next month! After May 19th, these seven colourways will be permanently archived!

OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT - CAROUSKEL FABRIC RELEASE
That’s right ladies and gentlemen, the fabric is hovering at the threshold of release! I am fixing up a minor repeat error in the files (so minor that I’m the only one who has noticed it so far, go figure) and then they’ll go live.

As of tomorrow night, the Carouskel Print will be available via Spoonflower for one month only. After that, it will be removed from sale and placed in the archives for my personal use.

Release Date: April 18th, 2012 @ 5:00pm
Pull Date: May 19th, 2012 @ 5:00pm 

That means that the material will go live for public sale on April 18th, 2012 at 5:00pm (UTC+10:00; Sydney, Australia time). It will be archived on Spoonflower on May 19th, 2012 at 5:00pm and no longer be available for public purchase. I will still be producing garments of my own design at this point, but yardage via Spoonflower will no longer be available for purchase.

A NOTE ON PRINTING
I deliberated on some time as to how to format the final, public print files. In the end, this is the decision I have made:

There will be a single-border repeat, suitable for all fabric widths, in each colour for border prints.

The reason that I have made this choice in terms of the file format is because while the design prints best on the sateen, I understand that people may not want to have to use it.

Re-formatting my files to work as a double-repeat on every fabric type is incredibly consuming, not to mention the fact that the resulting documents would be too large for Spoonflower’s upload limitations; re-formatting the file to only work on sateen would limit people’s choice of materials, and thus make it unfair to people who don’t want to use that particular fabric.

I have ordered fat quarters of several different fabrics to test their quality; the colours are not nearly as rich on the quilter’s cotton or the Kona as on the sateen, particularly for the dark coloured fabrics. They also tend to fade more dramatically in the wash, especially the black, so purchase these materials at your own risk.

Finally, I have designed the blacks that I use to be a four colour black. This brings it as close as I can get it to a “true” black with digital printing. It is not, however, quite 100% pitch. It is still slightly grey. The contrast against the red makes it look darker by comparison, however.

A NOTE ON FABRIC CARE
If you read nothing else of the post but the dates, please read this.

For Spoonflower Fabrics:
I advise only hand washing this fabric in cold water with incredibly gentle detergents, then drip-drying. Regular detergent, washing machines and dryers have all faded my previous samples significantly, but phosphate free washes in cold have come out fine.

For Finished RAD Garments:
To keep things fresh, I prefer dry cleaning for finished garments. However, like the raw fabric, theycan be washed in water. I advise hand washing in cold water with phosphate free detergent, then hang drying and ironing. This will best preserve the garment. 

DO NOT put these garments into a washing machine or dryer. While they have fully finished seams and will not fall apart, the fabric will fade because of how rough the machines are on the material.