I'm now doing tapered lampshades too. I think these french drum shades, which are only slightly tapered, are a very elegant shape for pendants or lamps. I've also gone crazy over these Harlequin Amilie silks. Such lip smacking colours and the fabric is textured and slubby enough to add interest to a plain coloured shade. Beautiful. 
I can do some of my other fabrics in the tapered shape, but as the pattern needs to be cut as an arc, it won't work on anything that has stripes, lines or a 'right way up' that needs to be cut on a straight line. Get in touch and I can tell you if it's possible or not.
As an aside, I love this time of year. Peonies are my favourite flower and you can pick them up so cheaply at the moment. Have stuffed my house full of them. 

It's been an exciting week for Swee Mei. Sarah at Dandy Lane launched our range of lampshades. This has been a few months in the making. The collection was designed and made way back in the summer. Practically as soon as they were done, Sarah found out she was pregnant (congratulations, Sarah!) and it all went a bit Kate Middleton. Thankfully, she's feeling a lot better now and they are available for sale exclusively through Dandy Lane. She's chosen some beautiful fabrics, some of which she uses already in her amazing range of bunting and cushions. 
I was there for a little bit of technical advice and I'll be making the lampshades for her but it's very much her range. She's got a great eye. We've had lots of orders already, in the first 24 hours, which is amazing and I'm really looking forward to expanding the collection with her. I know we've both had lots of ideas already and she's an all-round lovely person to work with too.
The other fantastic news is that I've been accepted as a seller on Not on the High Street. You've probably heard of them. They are a fantastic online store selling all sorts of loveliness from small businesses. No emphasis on the handmade, unlike stores such as Folksy and Etsy, but things that you just don't see anywhere else. They have a fairly stringent selection process so it's a great honour to be accepted. It'll be a great platform to get my work seen so I'm really quite excited. Also a bit scared! Things are moving quite quickly for Swee Mei at the moment. What started as an idea to make a bit of pin money is turning into something a little bigger than that. 
Wish me luck :-)
M xx

So recently I've been looking at rather more luxurious fabrics and decided to get some of this amazing Chiang Mai Dragon fabric by Schumacher. It's based on a 1920's Art Deco era block print and has been around for a few years but remains one of their best sellers. I hesitate to use the word 'iconic' but it kind of is. There is a lot of love for this pattern out there.
I've bought the Aquamarine as seen above as well as the China Blue and Mocha versions. It's table printed onto a beautiful 100% linen ground.
To most of us, the price of the fabric and wallpaper makes it prohibitively expensive for walls, curtains and upholstery (and it's a fairly big statement too, which isn't for everyone but I so would!).

 But what a fabulous splash of colour and pattern as a lampshade and, dare I say it, a less costly way to introduce the pattern into your scheme. Perhaps not cheap... if I were Tesco this would be firmly planted in my Finest range. Let's call it my Premier range ;-)  Hope you like it so far. I'll be adding more fabrics soon.
ps. Once again I excitedly made this lampshade in the early hours of the morning and took the photos before dawn. I'll take some better ones later and list this lampshade in my shop. Because of the size of the pattern, I'll be offering it in a version with the dragon motif and a version with the lantern and flowers motif.

Well hello.
A brand new website. If you're reading this then thank you for taking the time. I had no idea that I could do this myself but turns out that its pretty easy. I'll try to write on here every now and then. Hopefully it won't just be my mum reading but if it is... Hi Mum!