Pabrika at Dorly Designs

Last month Pabrika Handmade began selling its famous pillows at Dorly Designs in trendy Leslieville. And a few weeks later we were thrilled to be invited to showcase our jewellery as well!

And just in the nick of time -- I was just about to take off on work / holiday travels when the news came. So I packed up all of my jewellery inventory and lugged them over to the store to set up shop. Here’s a sneak peak at what sorts of lovelies you can find in the store from Pabrika Handmade:

The World is not your LItterbox

I think Felix the cat says it best here, "The world is not your litterbox". And so to do our part for a cleaner, greener future, Pabrika Handmade has launched its newest series of "Upcycled" pillows.

We have rescued old T-shirts and transformed them into beautiful pillows. I got the idea a couple years ago when my American Eagle "Just Bee Yourself" shirt, with a screen-printed cartoon bee on it, became too small on me. Thinking that the cartoon bee would make a great pillow design I stuffed that T-shirt with a pillow and it was like a light bulb went off in my head. Unfortunately at the time I was too pre-occupied with other things to develop the idea further... (During that time I was just starting up Pabrika Handmade and the original line of hand-painted pillows). And so the T-shirt-turned-pillow idea died.

The idea was revived when I was asked if I had any pillows of eco-friendly materials (organically grown cotton, hemp, natural water-based dyes, etc.) And I thought it was a great idea to extend my line and offer products that were environmentally friendly. I did my research and looked for suppliers of organic fabric, but did not end up going through with it because the cost of this fabric was astronomical! And then I thought back to that "Just Bee Yourself" t-shirt that sat in my living room stuffed with a pillow, and decided that there should be no reason to go out and purchase new materials when there is already a myriad of materials out there (i.e. t-shirts) just waiting to be discarded.

And here are the results of my little craft project. There are still many more to come! Click here to shop :)

The Care Bears are my favourite :)

Pearl Crazy

So I went a little pearl crazy at the bead store -- because I hate when I run out! Or when the store runs out and only has the oddly-shaped, oddly-coloured pearls. So to justify the strands upon strands of newly acquired freshwater pearls, I got busy. I actually made these a while ago and haven't gotten around to posting them until now. I guess I didn't want to cause a frenzy in my shop just before my summer vacation. Because yes, in my grand imagination, I envisioned my store to be busier than a Macy's boxing day sale. (Or Canadian equivalent to Macy's?) I mean, I just may have to hire a security guard to control the crowds!

I am pleased to present (clockwise from top left): Olivia, Elizabeth, Fatima, Jacqueline, Fiona, and Rachel. Please hold your applause ;)

NEW: "La Promenade" Cushions

So on boxing day, instead of battling the crowds at the mall I went to the fabric store. I was intent on making some "gender neutral" pillows, because some people have been requesting some. But, hey, I'm a girl! So I couldn't help but buy this pink/black/grey fabric.

I actually already had these designs in my sketchbook and just didn't have the right fabric to apply them to. So I was excited to start sewing and see how it would turn out. I think it looks pretty good, don't you? My mom likes it :)

Don't you worry, I'll be sure to make my next pillows in army camoflauge ;) Well I don't actually have camo fabric, but I have an insect pillow in the works, so stay tuned... It's very manly.

Bracelets Galore

I myself am more of a necklace person, but in the spirit of expanding my horizons, here are a few bracelets that I just made. I fell in love with these stones I found at the bead store: pink jade, blue lace agate, and chrysocolla. I loved them so much I put all of the beads I bought into each bracelet. I need to go back to the store asap ;)

After posting these bracelets on my facebook page, my friend pointed out that they look an awful lot like my dad's trellace of grapes back home. Maybe I was subconsciously homesick when I thought these up? What do you think? uncanny ;)

My dad is internet-shy, so I cropped him out of this photo, except for his hand. But he's smiling big in this picture showing off his home-grown grapes!)

New Necklaces!

So since I am on HOLIDAYS (woo!), I've been able to design a few more necklaces... my best yet (if you ask me)! Without further ado, may I present (clockwise from top left) The Kathryn Necklace, The Melody Necklace, The Chloe Necklace, and The Lynn Necklace:

More to come...

Pretty Blue Beads!

So after a long day of work, I decided that I would not be a lazy bum and plop myself in front of the tv, as I normally would. I did the dishes, folded the laundry, took out the recycling, paid the bills, swept the floor, and then I rewarded myself by... plopping myself in front of the tv. But determined to make my couch potato-ing more productive I pulled out my box of beads and started making. And three reruns of Friends later, voila: the Taryn Necklace.


I had blue acrylic beads from a bead store in Vancouver that I picked up a long long time ago, but never quite knew what to do with them. This piece was Cleopatra inspired (can you see it?). I was going for a colourful collar kind of look, and I think it turned out! Three strands of silver chain with beads scattered throughout. Well, not scattered... I precisely picked each bead location to make the illusion that they were scattered. It's the engineer in me... I can't do random.

Summer Breeze Pillows!

So I just finished these new "Summer Breeze" pillows, and I have to say that I've outdone myself this time! hehe... No seriously this is my new favourite design -- although usually when I come up with something new it becomes my new favourite design until I think of something else. They are made of a fabulous linen fabric with intertwined gold accents, which is also lightly painted in brown and white flowers and leaves. The satin flower is appliqued on, and I used glitter paint to do the flower detailing. (Who knew I would find a use for that tube of glitter paint in my drawer?) The pillow backing is a soft brown microsuede material.

Featured Seller!

I'm a featured seller on sellonetsy.com! Yay!!! That's the big news for today. Go check it out!!!

The Flower Patch

So this latest innovation was dreamed up on the subway ride home while trying to pass the time... I thought it would be cool to applique different layers of fabric together to make flower petals and this was the result :) I had picked up this brown wool fabric at the annual fabric sale at the Textile Museum of Canada quite a while ago, and had always pictured putting one or two large bright flowers in the corners, but I never got around to working on it until this weekend. I like the bold colours and the simplicity of these covers. The idea was to use the brown fabric that has a vintage / retro feel to it, and contrast it with fresh vibrant colours.

Instant Messenger Pillows!

I just finished up more of my Instant Messenger Pillows, with the new addition of "OMG". (And I also discovered that it looks kinda cool if I just photograph the cushion cover without the inserts, so you may be seeing more of my pillows photographed this way.) The text is in Courier font, outlined in black stitching and hand painted with black fabric paint. These would make a perfect accent to your office, or even living room. For the inner geek in you.... :)

Introducing True Tiffany!

Well, I am back from vacation and already hard at work! I lucked out and found this aqua-coloured material at the Fabricland inventory sale, and I just so happened to have thick white ribbon at home from previous crafty endeavours... So, I couldn't help but try to replicate that little blue box that make girls so giddy.


And the bow isn't just for show, it's used to close the opening and secure the cover around the pillow. I'm quite clever that way :P

Etsy Front Page!

My "Bird on a Wire" cushion covers made it to the front page of Etsy.com today! Yay!!