Sewing Chanel-Style hasn’t been immune for creative vibes, especially not for those of female entrepreneurs owing small, artisan businesses. The idea to promote these businesses was always there but we are taking it to the next level. We can all do with some extra promotion, can’t we?

My name is Sybille Kramer and I live in the beautiful mountains of South Tyrol in Italy. My daily walks through mountains, woodlands and valleys, inspire me to draw my local natural environment. I am a colour pencil artist and learning coach. In both of my jobs colours and illustrations play a vital role. I have illustrated educational books, products, and recently I have moved into designing fabric prints. At Spoonflower (Berlin) my drawings and designs are printed on many types of fabric. With the help of an online fabric design studio, my drawings have transformed into dresses, tablecloths, face masks, skirts, and pillows.

I am also attracted to artistically exploring fabric design by using fortifying stitches, such as the running stitch, and using coloured, cotton yarn. Using embroidery on printed fabric creates interesting haptic effects (the feeling of a fabric caused by touch). My fabric designs are mainly used as wall hangings and table covers. Hopefully this short insight into my work interests you and will encourage readers to embark on similar needle craft adventures.

Working with thread is similar to drawing with coloured pencils. Line by line you add an idea, by creating shapes, highlighting colours, and emphasizing certain areas. Embroidering on printed fabric gives me the opportunity to add more details and texture to my drawings. When I work on several copies of the same fabric, each time a unique piece is created.
 
This photo shows one of my projects. I drew Black Fairy as a collage. Its small parts were drawn, cut out, and added together.  I had Black Fairy printed on fabric, after which I set out to add stitches. I scanned this piece of fabric again and used its design as a postcard. This is how I worked my way from paper to fabric and back to paper again enriching it with embroidered embellishments.
 
Printing one image on fabric or designing a repetitive pattern demands a different approach. I prefer to work with individual images, which each tell a story, express a mood, or carry a message. For about two years I have been working on a series of embroidered pictures that I would like to present at an art exhibition.

I might have to wait a long while due to Italian Covid restrictions. As an artist, I focus on better times by staying creative!

A Brand New Initiative by Sewing ChanelStyle!
Sewing Chanel-Style hasn’t been immune for creative vibes, especially not for those of female entrepreneurs owing small, artisan businesses. The idea to promote these businesses was always there but we are taking it to the next level. We can all do with some extra promotion, can’t we?

Mindfuldrawing is Paula Kuitenbrouwer’s website for freehand and commissioned art. Paula loves to draw. Monuments, birds, pets, bookplates, or mandarin ducks, Paula’s drawings are in graphite and full colour, elegant, and old school.

Do Mandarin ducks have something in common with Sewing Chanel Style? Not so much with Chanel but all the more with sewing.
 
Paula Kuitenbrouwer, a Dutch artist, has drawn and painted mandarin ducks for years. Mostly as wall decoration but also because in Feng-shui, the Chinese art of landscape and interior design, mandarin ducks symbolize love and loyalty and should accordingly decorate a living or sleeping room of a happy couple. 

In Feng-shui it is said that having Mandarin Ducks in your home (painting, a photo or a statute) attracts love and loyalty. And why not? When guests or partners enter a room, they notice this picture of love and loyalty and that is subtly stored in their minds and hearts. They don't see a print with one object, but with two birds that love each other and are committed for life. It sets the mindset or mood for a start of a deep friendship or love. Having a mandarin print in your home is supposed to attract love. Maybe it isn't a myth at all. In traditional Asian culture, mandarin ducks are believed to be lifelong couples, unlike other species of ducks. Hence, they are regarded as a symbol of love, affection and fidelity.

Paula currently offers mandarin duck mini fabric prints to her Etsy customers. You could buy an art card with the same mandarin ducks (or different couples) and send this fabric print inside such an art card to somebody for a gift. Both ducks are standing in resting position, closely together to confirm their bond. Soon they will tug their bills between their feathers, close their eyes and wait for the next day to come. The next day that they will spend together. In fact, they will spend their whole life together.

The type of fabric is Organic Cotton Knit Brava and the piece of fabric is 20 cm x 20 cm piece of fabric: the printed image is about 12 by 16 cm (8 by 8 inches: image size is about 5 by 7 inches). It is washable, but please, iron the non-printed side.
 
Are you short of ideas? What about adding this textile print to a fabric DIY book cover? Or to jeans or a backpack?

Read more about Sewing ChanelStyle supports small female businesses:

Sewing Chanel-Style hasn’t been immune for creative vibes, especially not for those of female entrepreneurs owing small, artisan businesses. The idea to promote these businesses was always there but we are taking it to the next level. We can all do with some extra promotion, can’t we?

We met so many wonderful women ever since we set up Sewing Chanel-Style. Take FriendsthatRhyme! How impressed we are with their elegant clutches, as well as their businessplan, customer service, and their products. It didn’t take long to decide blogging about FriendsthatRhyme with led to spontaneously promoting each others creative businesses on social media. 
 
We are equally delighted to promote Petra Roth’s modern earrings and her company Sma.p-roth. Petra Roth’s versatile 3D printed earrings are masterpieces of modern jewellery.

Mindfuldrawing.com is Paula Kuitenbrouwer’s website for freehand and commissioned art. Paula loves to draw. Monuments, birds, pets, bookplates, or mandarin ducks, Paula’s drawings are in graphite and full colour, elegant, and old school.

Artisan Women Supporting Each Other . We like to feature your business or products too. Contact us with your story when:

• You are a woman or your creative business is run by a female team.
• Your company qualifies as a small business and
• Your products are handmade and preferably sustainable.
• It surely helps when your team is nice and you are kind! :-) 

We love to meet you. Contact us at.......