We have a winner

Today was the prize draw of the final giveaway, the new book "Sewing clothes kids love" from Nancy Langdon and Sabine Pollehn.
Leoni helped picking the lucky one, I don't know why she closed her eyes though, she couldn't read the entries anyway, maybe it made it a bit more exciting...

I'm a little sorry that there could only be one winner, but I promise there will be another prize draw, someday...

And this is the lucky new owner of the book:

Congratulations Lorna!

Final Giveaway

This is the last week of our prize draws and as I said, it's going to be something nice, different, something not available in my shop, something I actually haven't seen myself yet. Just because it's not available yet. We give away one copy of this new sewing book:

written by Nancy Langdon (Studio Tantrum) and Sabine Pollehn (Farbenmix).
And if you are familiar with their sewing patterns you know what you can expect from their book :-)
It will be available from about mid February.

So if you want to win this inspiring book, send us an email with your comment and your name and you will be entered into the prize draw. The winner will be announced on Sunday, 31st of January.

Good luck!

This weeks winners

These two fabrics were in the prize draw this week, lovely jerseys from Hilco.

And here are the two lucky winners:

Campechano red/pink - Nerea, Getxo, Spain
Campan blue - Julia, Huddersfield, UK

Congratulations to you both!

Patchwork cushion

At the beginning there was slightly chaos...
...should I use the blue or the red one, or maybe all in pink?...

After that decision was made and the squares were cut out, it looked like this...


...and this is the result:

A birthday present for Leoni, I hope she likes it!

Summer is coming

Here is a little preview of what will be in the shop soon...

...Hilco part I arrived this morning.

It's fabrics this week

In week three of our prize draw we give away 1m each of these lovely

Jerseys from Hilco.

Just email your comment and the name of the fabric you would like to win and you will be entered into the prize draw. The competition ends on Sunday, 24th of January, and the winners will be notified by email.

Good luck to you all!

This weeks prize draw for the Farbenmix ribbons took place this afternoon. The lucky winners are:

Outer Space Ribbon - Sam, UK

Paisley Ribbon - Millie, Co.Offaly, Ireland
Multi-Coloured Ribbon - Sharon, Penzance, UK

Congratulations to you all!

How it all began

Today three years ago my webshop dotsnstripes went online. And I thought, I'd tell you a little bit about the story behind it, the how and why. So if you are curious keep reading:

Before my daughter was born, I worked in a travel agency. Then Leoni came along and I stayed at home to look after her. I was very fortunate that I didn't have to go back to work, thanks to my dear husband. I enjoyed being a mum and still do, but there came a point when it wasn't enough and I wanted to do something. I didn't want to go back to the office job as it would have been a bit difficult with childcare arrangements and going back to work only to pay the childminder seemed a bit silly. So it had to be something I else. At that point I wasn't really thinking of working, just doing something for myself, a course or something.
From a very early age on I enjoyed knitting, but never had any interest in sewing. So to learn something new, I took up a sewing class at our local college, that was in 2006. My mum thought it was a good idea. I then told my gran and she was absolutely delighted: "That is a fantastic idea, a wife needs to know how to sew". I suppose she was thinking of all the mending of worksuits that she had to do for my granddad!
Anyway, I went to the class and got hooked! The only thing that I was struggling with was finding some nice materials. I must admit I was spoiled by all the lovely fabrics that were available in Germany. So at the beginning I ordered lots of ebay Germany for my private use. And people kept saying what lovely fabrics I had and where I got them from. And so the idea was born: why not selling them myself! I got in contact with the German and Dutch suppliers and they were all very helpful. A friend of Alan built my website, which took about 6 months. Believe me, I had a few sleepless nights thinking: am I doing the right thing, will people actually buy anything from me, what if they don't like the material, etc.
And on the 15th of January 2007 I started trading. I still remember how excited I was when I had my first customer! And this lady is still a customer, isn't that nice?

Look at this gorgeous little monster:

Marie from Heartfelt Handmade sells these and lots of other cute things in her folksy shop. You want to know the purpose of this wee monster?
It's a tooth fairy cushion and you can put the tooth into that little green eye pocket. Now we only have to wait for Leoni's first tooth to fall out....

Ribbons to win

Here is our second prize draw: this week you can win 2m of one of these

Farbenmix ribbons

Just email your comment and the name of the ribbon you would like to win and you will be entered into the prize draw. The competition ends on January, 17th, and the winners will be notified by email. Good luck to you all!

Prize draw winners

Thank you very much for all your lovely comments I received over the last week! I was really amazed how many took part in the first prize draw. This afternoon, Leoni picked the four lucky winners of the Farbenmix patterns

And here they are:

OONA - Michal, Yokneam Ilit, Israel
FEE - Angela, Gurteen, Ireland
JADELA - Ingrid, Black Notley,UK
DANA - Maks, Netherlands

Congratulations to you all!

ANTONIA shirt in printed nicky velour...

...VIVI skirt in babycord deep fuchsia..

...and matrushka applique, OTTOBRE issue 1/2009.

Happy Birthday!

The Dots N Stripes fabric shop celebrates its birthday this month! It's been three years now on the 15th of January exactly, when the site went online. And I would like to thank all of you for your support over the past years. I've met so many lovely people, some in person, some over the phone or through email contact. You've been just great and without you Dots N Stripes wouldn't be where it is now!

And we want to celebrate our anniversary with you. Over the next four weeks you have the chance to win patterns, fabric, ribbons and something really special ( psst, not telling you yet:-).
The prize draw this week is for four

Farbenmix patterns.

Just send me an email with your comment and the pattern you would like to win. The prize draw will take place on Sunday, 10th of January and the winners will be notified by email.

Good luck!