I love the natural texture of the graphic prints and the hand of the hemp cotton fabric. I selected the warm colorway and waited anxiously for my package to arrive.
What a cute little packet of "trimmings" .. I sorted through them several times, loving the juicy warm colors and the different feel of the fabrics ..
It was hard to decide what to do with them, but I knew I wanted to upcycle so I headed off to the resale shop to find some natural fabrics to use with my trimmings collection of hearts, cats and leaves. I got home with a large shirt in oatmeal linen and a pair of loose pants in a great orangey coral color.
I laid the Umbrella trimmings out on top of my fabric finds and loved the way they both blended and popped on the oatmeal linen, so with that decision made, I only had to figure out what to make that would showcase the prints and colors ..
I am seriously obsessed with matchstick quilting right now, so I decided to make a mini-size back pack using the quilt as you go method .. and we ended up with "Oreo"... a Fat Cat Backpack that's the perfect size to pack a journal, crayons and a snack or a crafty project for a car trip.
Oreo is made from a simple one piece flat pattern. Her spots are all from my trimmings packet and are attached with the quilting stitches leaving raw edges that work well with the natural fabrics.
I pieced a few of my trimmings into her tail which doubles as the shoulder strap and is attached at the back of one ear with a repurposed vintagey button.
I found a great orange sport style zipper for the back opening and made it as wide as possible. You can't well inside, but she is lined with Amy Butler scraps in coral and limey colors.
You can see in the closeup that she's quilted all over with closely spaced lines using pink cotton thread.
So what is Oreo carrying today?
I packed her with a crochet project I am working on during my lunch hour at work. Tomorrow I may have to do a few rounds of rock, paper, scissors with my daughter though, to see who gets to carry her next ...
The Umbrella Prints competition entry period runs through May 30 (yes, I'm making it just under the wire) ... and then you'll have a chance to repin your favorite entries from June 1—5th ( that's Austrailian time ).
I'm really excited to see what others have done with their little packets of color. This should be fun!
UPDATE! Voting has started over on Pinterest .. go here to see this year's entries and cast your votes for your favorites. Leave a comment and "like" your favorite "makes" to boost them up in the rankings.
