It’s March and in the NorthEast, where I live, that means hellebores are starting to create their hidden blossoms and crocuses are popping up. I can go on a walk outside and feel warm sun on the back of my thighs. It’s such a fun awakening even after experiencing it 44 times in my life. Spring is for new and fresh and delightful surprises. March also means it’s time to reveal the next in the Artist Series! Feel that bubbly, spring-y, enthused feeling? It’s emanating from these fabulous block printed espadrilles from the illustrious Jen Hewett.
Jen is a printmaker, surface designer, textile artist and illustrator as well as an author. I’ve admired her work for YEARS! In fact, when I started creating espadrilles kits I ordered Jen’s fabric as soon as I possibly could. Her designs are simple but eye-catching; she plays with scale and color in a way that elevates the simple and accessible to magnificent and she’s done the same with this espadrille design.
I’m so proud to be able to offer the exclusive kit for creating spectacular espadrilles in the Jen Hewett style!
These kits come with EVERYTHING you need including ::
+ Full-color, photographed instructions for block printing including the exclusive design from Jen
+ A Carving Block
+ Lino Cutter Set for carving the design
+ Red and Blue printing inks
+ Canvas outer fabric
+ Light Blue lining fabric
+ Tracing Paper
+ 2 Foam Rollers
+ One Yard of Interfacing
+ Instruction booklet for the espadrilles
+ Shoe pattern from size EU 36-42
+ Shoe soles
+ Accompanying tools including pins, needles, yarn, wax and needle pullers.
This is a great project for learning how to not only make espadrilles but also learn how to block print. Jen’s instructions provide a clear and beautiful how-to that walk through all the steps for block printing. My espadrille booklet follows-up with directions on how to create the shoes.
Note: If you already have all the block printing supplies you need and just want a basic show-making kit (without fabric) just order the I GOT IT kit from my shop and leave me a note with your email and I will email you the Jen Hewett how-to!
If you have never done block printing before you are in for a real treat. As you know from my previous post, block printing is one of the ways I de-stress and reconnect to the joy of making. It’s such a satisfying afternoon project spent carving, spreading ink and stamping. It requires a kind of focus that removes you from the world around you. Now, multiply that by turning your prints into shoes! Mwah! Magic!
As is always the case with my Artist Series kits, these will be on sale for one full month only! So, be sure to grab yours now in my Etsy shop. They will be there until April 3rd, but why wait?! You are gonna want this kit by your side when that sunny afternoon presents itself with the perfect slice of time for a dive into something new!
Jen Hewett is a printmaker, surface designer, textile artist and teacher. A lifelong Californian, Jen combines her love of loud prints and saturated colors with the textures and light of the California landscapes to create highly-tactile, visually-layered, printed textiles.
Her clients include Cotton + Steel Fabrics, Princeton Architectural Press, and Fringe Supply Company. Her work has been featured in print in Better Homes and Gardens, UPPERCASE, and Pressing Matters, and online on Design*Sponge. Her first book, Print, Pattern, Sew was published by Roost Books in May 2018. She is currently working on her second book, This Long Thread: Women of Color on Craft, Community and Connection, to be published by Roost books in Summer 2021.
When she’s not creating in her San Francisco studio or teaching her popular block printing classes, she can be found hiking with her high-strung dog Gus, cycling on San Francisco’s less-hilly streets, or hiding out at her neighborhood wine bar.
Leave a Reply