PATCHWORK BLANKETS STIR FOND MEMORIES

Thinking about patchwork blankets brought back memory of an incident some years ago that we still look back from time to time with some sadness and regret.
        We were selling our patchwork blankets at a public event outside the National Museum when a young lady was drawn to a particular blanket we were showing off. It was, to us, the least attractive of the blankets we had. But the young lady wanted it, telling us that it reminded her of her grandmother. Unfortunately, she didn't have enough cash with her and there was no ATM nearby.
        As she was contemplating what to do while clutching one end of the blanket, other customers were pressing forward to look at our blankets. A man then offered to buy the blanket we were holding. Not wanting to miss the chance to sell off that 'unattractive' blanket, we decided to let him have it. We told the young lady to get in touch with us, assuring her we would get our elderly to make her a much nicer blanket.
        Sadly we never heard from her after that.
        Looking back, we realised why the young lady never contacted us. That particular blanket that she wanted must have looked very much like the one her grandmother made for her when she was a child. And when she saw it, it must have connected her instantly to her childhood and memories of her loving grandma. No other blanket, no matter how pretty, would have meant the same for her.
        If only we had been more enlightened then, we would have let the young lady take the blanket first and pay us another day. To this day, we cannot forget the dejected look on her face as the blanket, which likely held much memories for her, was sold to someone else.


P.S. If by any chance you are the young lady in the story who is reading this, please get in touch with us.

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This being the month that MOTHER'S DAY is celebrated, it seems only right that we showcase our PATCHWORK BLANKETS ~ the one thing that often stirs fond memories of mothers and grandmothers. Our patchwork blankets are made by different elderly in their own unique style, hence the different designs you see below. In almost all cases, we supply the fabrics so that the elderly do not have to incur any expenses. They make the blankets at home at their own time, own pace, with absolutely no target to worry about. They are paid for the blankets they made and the amount is equivalent to 80 to 90 percent of the profit. Our aim is to just make enough to be sustainable and let our elderly earn most of the profit.


What you see below are just some of our current patchwork blankets. Every time a new blanket is made it has a different combination of fabric patterns and colours even though the style may be the same.

MDM ONG'S PATCHWORK BLANKETS

Mdm Ong's style is characterised by small triangles forming the square blocks that form the blanket. There are 32 small triangles in each 11x11-inch square block. That's a lot of work compared to the more straightforward patchwork which has only 8 triangles per square block.

Regular blanket sizes include Baby sizes (33x33ins, 44x33ins, and 44x44ins priced at $40, $48 and $55 respectively) and Adult sizes (77x55ins, 77x66ins, 77x77ins priced at $115, $125 and $140 respectively). We can also custom make other sizes.

Mdm Ong's popular patchwork has 32 small triangles in every
square block. A queen size blanket is therefore made up of 1,344
small triangles. That's an incredible amount of work involved.

MDM MOK'S PATCHWORK BLANKETS

Mdm Mok's patchwork consists of star-shaped patterns set against a background of small square fabrics. There are blankets made entirely of checked fabrics suitable for boys and those made wholly of floral fabrics. Each square block is 12x12 inches, thus making her blankets relatively larger than other blankets.

The regular sizes include Baby sizes (36x36ins and 48x48ins priced at $40 and $55), and Adult sizes (84x60ins and 84x72ins priced at $115 and $125). We can also make other sizes.

Mdm Mok's checked patchwork popular for boys.

Floral patchwork blanket with black foral-star patterns set
against a background of square floral fabrics.

MDM ANG'S PATCHWORK BLANKETS

Mdm Ang's adult patchwork blankets come in two styles. One style consists of hexagon patterns while the other style has windmill patterns.

The adult sizes are roughly the size of a queen-size mattress and cost $115 for the hexagon pattern and $100 for the windmill pattern. The child-size patchwork blanket (roughly about half of a queen-size mattress) is done in a slightly different style and costs $55.

Mdm Ang's adult size patchwork blankets with hexagon patterns (left)
and windmill patterns.

Mdm Ang's child-size patchwork blankets with cartoon fabric
patterns (left) and with floral fabric patterns.

MDM KUM'S PATCHWORK BLANKETS

Mdm Kum's patchwork blankets are formed from numerous tiny squares of different patterns and colours. The tiny squares have to be neatly sewn together so that the blanket maintains its rectangular shape when completed.

The Adult blanket is approx 70x60ins and costs $110 while the Baby-size blanket is $48. Other sizes can also be made.

Mdm Kum's patchwork formed from numerous tiny square fabrics of
different colours and patterns.

DANNY'S GRANDMA'S PATCHWORK BLANKETS

A friend's granny, who is in her 90s, make this unique style of patchwork blankets with a distinctive pattern of red stars. It is available only in one size (slightly broader than the queen-size mattress) and has either red or blue checked fabric for the border and back. Price is $110.

Danny's grandma's patchwork with it's distinctive red-star patterns.
Different coloured fabric patterns are used for different blankets.

NOTE: The best place to view and buy our patchwork blankets is at the PaTH Market at VivoCity, held every first and last weekend (Sat & Sun) of the month, from 11am to 10pm, at Level 1, around Lobby A to C area. We can also visit your home to show you our blankets for you to choose and purchase at no extra charge. Contact us here.


Here's a fitting song tribute to all mothers to end this post.

Textile Teddies & Doggies in Soft, Sweet, Soothing Pastel-Coloured Checked Prints & Stripes

Almost every week, we're out combing the textile shops to get nice fabrics for the many fabric products that we make. We have traditional patchwork blankets, beans sprout husks pillows and bolsters, floormats and tablemats made by the elderly; FABulous fabric journals made by two young ladies and their full-time housewife aunt; and our ever popular Textile Teddies and Doggies made by a team of bear makers from humble backgrounds.

As we want our fabric products to be affordable to the general public, we have to constantly scour the marketplace to find the best fabrics below a certain cost. Priority is always given to the small 'mom and pop' fabric shops that we want to benefit. These are run by elderly or poor families. From these shops we get most of our fabrics for our elderly enterprise products mentioned above.

For our textile teddies and doggies, we will spend more on fabrics as the emphasis is on the beauty of the print. We still need to watch our cost which means we have to search harder and farther for the best designs in the price range we can afford.  It was on one of these searches that we came across these fabrics in soft sweet soothing pastel colours. The fact that they are not floral prints offers a nice change from our usual designs of Textile Teddies and Doggies.

Here they are. Hope you like them:

Our Textile Teddies in three sizes ~ Jumbo, Big, and Small with keychain.

All seven patterns of our Textile Teddies.

Textile Doggies in Big and Small sizes. We ran out of fabrics
for the doggies, so these are all that we have.

NOTE: As usual, we only make just one Jumbo size with each fabric pattern, 2-4 Big size, and less than 10 Small size. Each Textile Teddy or Doggy is now priced at ~ Small ($8), Big ($17) and Jumbo ($29) for purchase online or at the social enterprise PaTH Market at VivoCity. In retail shops the prices are a little higher due to the higher operating cost.

Crocheted KOOLLY BEARS and GANG

Idiosyncratic, unusual, peculiar, odd, strange, eccentric, unpredictable and always INCREDIBLY CREATIVE ... all these describe the unique characteristics of our KOOLLY BEARS and GANG. And the wonderful person behind our quirky collection is a young lady with an equally kool name, Third.

As a child, Third would watch with fascination whenever the aunty in her neighbourhood sat down to crochet. By age seven, she had learnt to crochet from the aunty and was soon crafting scarves and sweaters for her mum.

Third makes a humble living from her craft; and it has been a joy to work with someone so full of ideas and passion to make our series of quirky KOOLLY BEARS and GANG. We're also tapping into Third's talent to develop some interesting products together with a voluntary welfare organisation in Singapore which helps children with special needs. We'll have a posting on this community project very soon.

For now, please meet our wonderfully quirky KOOLLY BEARS and GANG:

TO ORDER, please email georgewong@teddythotz.com to find out what we have and their prices.

FABulous Fabric-wrapped Journals in beautiful Oriental/Japanese Prints

We first developed our FAB Journals in November last year (see our post in November 2010 for the story behind this project) and they've been a hit. There's just an amazing range of FABULOUS FABRICS (hence the name FAB Journals) in the marketplace that we can't wait to use them for our FAB Journals.

In our latest selection, we focused mainly on fabrics with beautiful Oriental/Japanese prints. Here are some examples:

We also have some FAB Journals in other types of fabrics and prints:

TO VIEW all the designs in this selection, email georgewong@teddythotz.com for our PDF catalogue.

Handcrocheted HOODY BEARS

From the early days of our social enterprise, we have tapped into the crochet skills of coconut plantation workers, rice farmers and working mothers who crochet during their free time to earn extra money.

In this posting, we're proud to show off the excellent crochet skills of Ole, a young working mother who crochets in her spare time to supplement her family income. Ole learnt to crochet when she was a little girl from her mother.

Ole's mother, who lives in a farming community in the countryside, helps with the crocheting whenever we have an order. At times, the neighbours, who are farmers, would also be engaged, thus drawing some extra income from the business that we generate.

Showcased below are our popular HOODY BEARS ~ teddy bears in the hood of different animals and other characters. We introduced the "Hood" concept to Ole who was at the time crocheting only cute animals; and she has made a great success with the idea as can be seen here:

Our family of HOODY BEARS in three sizes ~ small with keychain, medium and large.
A few of the bears have their hood pulled back so you can see the bear face.

Hoody Chicken Bear and Hoody Doraebear (medium and large).

Hoody Cow Bear, Hoody Panda Bear and Hoody Zebra Bear.

Hoody Frog and Hoody Elephant Bears.

Hoody Giraffe and Hoody Pig Bears.

Hoody Kangaroo and Hoody Monkey Bears.

Hoody Rat, Hoody Dog and Hoody Rabbit Bears.

Hoody Spiderbear and Hoody Ultrabear.

Hoody Tiger and Hoody Robin Bears.

Our range of small Hoody Bears with keychain.

TO ORDER: Please email us here to request for our latest catalogue to make your selection. Prices have been revised slightly from those indicated on our website.