Although this wasn’t a natural dyeing experiment as part of the kit I told you about yesterday, I had dyed the silk layer of this skirt with blackberries from our garden, and I love the foresty print left on the fabric! It could be part of a pretty Mori girl style outfit. I’ve just added this new fairy skirt to the Etsy shop, if you’d like to take a look for more photos and info.
I loved experimenting with a variety of natural dyes in the summer, and one that was very successful was logwood chips – they produced this gorgeous shade of purple on the pure silk I used to make this fairy outfit. There is more of a toned down version on the cotton that lines the pixie skirt.
I decided to split the outfit into two listings in case you would rather wear the top or the skirt in a more casual fairytale manner, rather than a complete adult fairy costume. The silk cami top, for example, would look great at a Christmas party worn with smart black trousers; or with jeans at a summer music festival. The purple silk skirt would look lovely with a simple grey t-shirt or a chunky knit jumper worn with leggings underneath and boots.
Or, of course wear the top and skirt together for a pretty and unique fairy outfit that would look amazing at a special fairytale event, or even an ordinary muggle party! Here is the Threads of a Fairytale Etsy listing for the pure silk cami top; and here is the listing for the pixie hem skirt.
Hi! I’m just starting to realise quite how many items of clothing I’ve made this year, and how behind I am on listing all of them in the Threads of a Fairytale Etsy shop! So apologies for the frequent updates at the moment letting you know about the latest additions. Today we have a unisex fairytale frock coat made with beautiful green and purple two-tone brocade satin. If you haven’t got a fairy ball to attend soon, this would actually make a perfect unique jacket to liven up a simple black outfit at a Christmas occasion with bohemian flare. It would be a great conversation starter!
Threads of a Fairytale took to the road, but I have to say it wasn’t the best year in the world for the New Forest Fairy Festival 2019, unfortunately! The high winds meant that the festival was cancelled on the Saturday, which was such a shame. I spent all morning making sure my stall was safe for visitors, and then the decision was made at lunch time not to open at all. I am exhausted from standing there for the rest of the afternoon and evening, holding onto the roof of my gazebo, trying to stop it from breaking. Sadly many other traders had to give up completely.
However, Sunday was a lovely calm and sunny day, so it was great to see everything go ahead as normal. I just felt so sorry for those handmade traders who couldn’t open at all. Preparing for a festival like this one takes so much time and effort and to only have the income from one day instead of two is a bit of a killer.
And I feel just as sorry for those who travelled far to come to the New Forest Festival, and who couldn’t come in on Sunday instead – that must’ve been such a disappointment.
So anyway, the stress and exhaustion is starting to wear away, and after a week, I think I’m now ready to empty the camper van of all the stall paraphernalia! Some of it goes in the basement; some in the garage, and some in the spare bedroom. Then there’s things like the S hooks I borrowed from the kitchen; and the mirror from the guest room!
I’ve just written a post on my blog, When I Grow Up, with more all about it, including a few photos I found time to take whilst there. I hope you enjoy the read!
Hello! I hope you’ve had a lovely week! Just popping by to let you know I’ve started using the Stories feature on my Instagram account more lately. I’m using the Highlights function to save them all to a group called ‘In Progress’. I’ve been showing little clips of me sewing, pinning, and patch-working together the fairytale clothing I’ve been making in the last couple of months. So if you’d like to see a little of what is going on behind the scenes, please take a look at Threads of a Fairytale on Instagram. I’ve made a pretty purple and green dress with colours taken from a lovely crepe fabric with a tropical leaf pattern. Then a fancy frock coat to go with it. And then as I had plenty of the tropical fabric left over, I started another dress to match the first, but much fancier to be more of an alternative wedding dress or fairy ball gown, with added tutu net and lace. It’s almost finished and I can’t wait to show you!
Hello! Just letting you know that I’ve posted a video on my YouTube channel showing how I made the lilac fairy dress that I’ve recently listed in the shop. Hope you like it!
Yes it is too late really, but Happy New Year anyway! I’m sorry things over here have been a bit quiet lately, but I have been busy in the background making new and exciting plans for 2019. I’ll be honest, last year Threads of a Fairytale didn’t have all my attention as I spent a lot of time over in America, and I even thought I’d be moving there for a while and would have to close this business down. However, that’s not happening now, so it’s full steam ahead! My stall at the New Forest Fairy Festival is already booked, so I’ll be making lots of goddess dresses, kimonos and fairy skirts for that. I’m also working on a new jacket design inspired by the goblin king in Labyrinth! And I have a couple of tabs open with different eyelet and press-stud machines available. I’m thinking of investing in a good one to make adjustable wrap-around skirts.
I haven’t currently got my bottle bags and cup carriers on sale in my Etsy shop, but I will chat soon with the lady who arranged to sell them at Glastonbury Festival a couple of years ago, and see if that’s possible again. And my other plans for the year are to develop my collection of special occasion dresses; update this website, and completely re-photograph some of my older items. So a busy time!
By the way, I am on the look-out for models to collaborate with; so if you would like to be involved and receive professional photos for your portfolio and are in the Somerset, UK area (Or possibly Connecticut/New York state) please get in touch. I’d love to diversify the look of my shop so that everyone feels welcome here; so I’d be particularly interested if you’re a person of colour.
And one of my main goals for Threads of a Fairytale in 2019 is to keep you updated in this news section! I’m currently working on a tropical leaf dress, and have just started an ‘In Progress’ Highlights on my Instagram for little sneak peak stories at how I’m getting on!
If there’s anything you’d like me to cover here, or have any questions, please let me know. 🙂
From now on we’re called ‘Threads of a Fairytale’. I just thought I would make my life a little more complicated than necessary and decide to change the name of my clothing business, which has been called Oshun for so many years, I can’t even remember since when! I think I began late nineties / early noughties, so this is going to take a while to get used to!
Please bare with me for a little while as it’s obviously going to take a bit of time to change everything. At the moment I’m having to appeal the change of name of the Facebook page, so that’s why that is still saying Oshun. However the transition on Etsy was 
fortunately much simpler and my original Oshun Creations shop on there is now called Threads of a Fairytale. I hope it’s not all too confusing! Also, of course, you may be wondering why the title here is still saying Oshun – well my programmer tells me that it’s not as simple as just changing the wording of the title; it’s made up as a whole picture. Therefore, if we’re making a new picture for the title, now is the time to figure out logos and branding and all that sort of thing. This isn’t something I want to rush, so look out for gradual changes. It is of course, lots of fun doing this bit!
One of the changes I’m looking forward to the most is dropping all the other Oshun Etsy shops (along with Oshun Creations, there’s currently also Oshun Occasions, Oshun Costumes and Oshun Kids.) I think I’ve mentioned before how I’d planned on closing Oshun Kids anyway. All the handmade children’s clothes will eventually be listed on the Facebook page. The vintage items from Oshun Costumes are on my depop shop, (soon to be sold off as a job lot) and the handmade items moved to the new Threads of a Fairytale (formerly Oshun Creations). Also, all the clothing and accessories on Oshun Occasions will move to the same shop on Etsy as well, under the category of Occasion wear. It will make it a lot easier for me to keep on top of updates and news; and a lot easier for you to see everything I make. I’ve honed my style of clothing over recent years and I think the shops will blend nicely together now.
So, the reason why I’m changing the name? Well, there is one big thing that has bothered me right from the start of the existence of our Oshun business, and that is, very few people know how to pronounce it! It’s simple matter, but a very annoying one! (So if you are thinking about naming a business, keep that in mind!) Even we pronounced it wrong for many years, saying it like ‘Ocean.’ You Tube didn’t exist back then, so there was no way of hearing other people say it. It is in fact, pronounced Oshoon, if you were wondering! However since Beyonce played homage to the goddess Oshun in her Hold Up, Lemonade music video, and then again at the 2017 Grammy Award show performance, the name is better known. The flip side is, it has suddenly become massively popular and whereas we were originally the only ones with a shop in the world called Oshun, in the last few months, suddenly shops called Oshun this and Oshun that have popped up all over the place. I recently had to deal with someone who was blatantly copying the name along with materials and style of clothing, and although most of the other new Oshun shops are selling beauty products or jewellery, I can see how there might be confusion with us. I’ve talked more about this on my latest weekly vlog on You Tube.
So I thought, if ever was the right time to change the name of our clothing business, now is the time to do it. I’ve recently made a new collection of velvet cloaks which are about to be listed; a fairytale wedding dress; and have started a collection of raggedy pastel goth Cinderella-type dresses. I’ve got so many ideas in my head for fairytale clothes I want to make this year and I’m very excited to take my business forward with its new name, Threads of a Fairytale.