Tuesday Talent - Eszterda

Eszterda is the brand of Eszter Dobo, a very talented lady from Gyor by the Danube in Hungary.  She makes wonderful dolls, creatures and the best cats.

I love embroidery and the embroidery on these kitties is just so pretty, I like the style and the way she catches that cat look you get when they are planning something. All the facial detail is embroidered and the eyes are embroidered applique. Her cats have either a pretty skirt and shirt combo often with a little collar or they have an embroidered body with a little skirt.  I find them very appealing.

Her shop is on Etsy at 'ESZTERDAdesign' and there are lots of creatures and little dolls all featuring her embroidery - sadly no cats.  She has a strong presence on Pinterest if you want more cats and her pretty cat & doll combinations with matching embroidery. All well worth a look.

The Fabrics I Use, Part One

Flo's Garden Daisies

 I find that my choice of fabric drives the design of the doll, quite often the fabric choices come together before hair or eye colour.  So it is very important to me.

I love fabric, I really do and seldom a week goes past that I don't purchase a new pattern.  As you can imagine I go through a lot of fabric. I use mostly quilting cottons because I like the patterns and plains you can buy.  They are so versatile. Last year I made a conscious choice to try to buy British or a least British based design.   Particularly heritage designs or inspired designs from the Victorian and Edwardian periods.  For modern patterns there are some wonderful British designers out there and their fabrics leave me spoilt for choice. I like quirky and British design quite often delivers that.

Two of my go to companies of choice are Lewis and Irene, shown here, they are based in Hampshire and design original, quirky fabrics with floral motifs and motifs inspired by the British countryside.  Their colours are often muted and each design theme has enough interest to make beautiful dolls that have lovely combinations of pattern.

The second company I would recommend is Makower fabric, again a British design group based in Maidenhead and they supply interesting fabric with a twist that often makes me smile.  Again a good range but not as consistent as Lewis and Irene.  There are amazing quilting cotton designers out there and I love Kaffe Fassett, Tom Holtz or particularly Moda and sometimes I cannot resist their pull but I am trying to fly the flag and support home grown talent.  If you don't know Lewis and Irene or Makower have a peep at their range, you may be surprised.

Flo's Garden Lily of the Valley

Flo's Garden Bluebells