Coming soon......Barkcloth Bliss

Exciting news fabric lovers. You know I love my vintage barkcloths. Whilst blathering on about them I'm acutely aware that I very often don't ever seem to do them justice. Neither in my written description of their colours or with the visual image.

On checking in one day at Emma Lamb -my favourite crocheteer's blog, it struck me what was needed.

Emma Lamb Pincushions

Emma has for a long time now created the most inspiring of colour palettes often from the simplest of objects. Now there's a lady who understands and appreciates colour- aha!

Luckily a bundle of barkcloth swatches has been enough to seduce Emma to join forces on a project we have nicknamed Barkcloth Bliss. Tomorrow Emma will be taking the first of what we hope will be many vintage barkcloths and creating their very own colour palette.

Until tomorrow here's Emma in her own words to tell you more about the inspiration for her gorgeous colour palettes and the process she uses to create them.

"Hello fabulous Folly & Glee readers!

I am so thrilled to be doing this wee blog collaboration with lovely Polly! Although we are only just starting I am already feeling hugely inspired by the idea of exploring the array of delicious colours this nubby barkcloth has to offer.

But first a wee bit about me and why I'm so passionate about seeking out beautiful colour and creating colour palettes...

Throughout my creative career the first thing that I am always inspired by is colour. It doesn't matter if I'm looking at yarns, fabrics, magazines/blogs, wildflowers or the shelves of my local charity shops if the colour of something is beautiful I will be inextricably drawn in to find out more. Knowing that I could happen upon that 'something' at any moment is kind of thrilling and when I do it's one of those wonderful epiphanous (Google tells me this is a word but my spellchecker has a different opinion!) moments that gives me such an urge to create. Sometimes it isn't always practical to get crafty and make something right away, so often the best way to document those epiphanies is to pull together a wee colour palette story for future reference.

Some of my most favourite palettes to date have come from unexpected finds such as 'beach debris'

Beach Debris Colour Pallete by Emma Lamb

which features a wee collection of gorgeous pebbles and pottery found while walking my wee man Spanner, my English Cocker Spaniel, along our local beach.

Another is 'button stash' 



Button Stash Colour Collage by Emma Lamb

I love vintage plastic buttons because their colours are so vibrant and unique much like those of barkcloth.

As I said, I am very much looking forward to exploring the beauty of Polly's delicious barkcloth swatches through my colour palettes. I know they are going to be an endless source of inspiration.

I do hope you will all love 'Barkcloth Bliss' too!

Emma, x"