Custom Creations- Think Pink.

Occasionally I am asked to create a completely unique item for a customer, the most recent of which was a bespoke purse for birthday present. Word of mouth was instrumental in this one, with the good folks at Really Now pointing the client in my direction.
After some discussion about styles and shapes of purse, using my Flickr album for reference, the customer decided on one of my embroidered snap purses, with a flamingo on the front and pink polka dot lining, all excellent decisions!

With something more figurative like this I try to do some research first, so I know what I'm aiming for. I find Pinterest really useful for this, as I don't need to go printing out sheets full of birds for just the one project.

And now I've remembered what flamingos actually look like, not always pink it would seem, I can start scribbling.

 

Once I've got a general idea of the design, and it's placement on the purse, I use the iron on transfer pencils to get a simple outline on the fabric to work from.

A Flock of Bluebirds

At the end of July I was contacted quite out of the blue by someone I used to work with about a potential commission for their new business. Since I worked with her in Liverpool Krisi had set up her own company, Bluebird Tea Co, with partner Mike and they'd been busy building a following at fairs, festivals and events all over the country. (You can read more about their story on the brilliantly written blog ThatBluebirdGirl.) Obviously in July we were all thinking about Christmas, right? Well, I know I was, and so were they because they very kindly asked if I'd be interested in making some decorations for their Christmas gift packs!

As I'd never done anything quite like this before in terms of the size of the request (currently 320 birds!) I tried to keep the designs simple but interesting. Fortunately Bluebird have a very strong brand identity so there was a lot to work with, and we decided to create a little felt bluebird the reflected the company but would also be something special to hang on your tree. I started with some Pinterest research, and then a bit of scribbling.

 I tried out a few shapes and stitching samples.

 When I had a shortlist of four birds I sourced materials, costed each design and sent the samples off to the guys at Bluebird.

After a brief back and forth of messages on Facebook we came to a final design, and I soon got to work!

How I go about cutting repeat shapes is constantly changing as I try to find the quickest method.

Production line.

Sepearating batches of bird parts into bags has been very helpful.

Perhaps I would get more done if I didn't waste time doing things like this?

Nearly there!

See all those threads? I have to tidy them off, one by one...

A stack of finished birds, complete with my labels.

If you want some funky loose leaf tea and a little handmade birdie too then keep an eye on Bluebird Tea Co's website for their Christmas gift packs or go and visit them at one of the many events they'll be doing. (I did spy on their website that they'll be stocking up Turl Street Kitchen in Oxford with their teas, so if you're in the area you should get down there, the food is delicious!)

City Break, Part 1.

Last Friday I took myself on a day trip to Manchester, somewhere I do not visit anywhere near enough, considering it's only 40 minutes away on the train. I'd spotted the adverts for the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair a few weeks back, and then a newsletter for the First Cut exhibition at Manchester City Gallery landed in my inbox. Add to that a long overdue visit to Platt Hall Gallery of Costume and I had a cracking day planned.
A minor 'gas meter battery failing' incident (no hot water and a head full of shampoo lather, rinsing my hair with kettle water in the kitchen sink, four wrong gas emergency hotline numbers and far too much hold music) threatened to scupper my plans, but I made it to Manchester reasonably early. Too early in fact, as Platt Hall doesn't open until 1pm and I hadn't checked the opening times. There isn't a huge amount to see in Platt Fields Park, except the ducks.

 I saw a signpost for the 'Teenage Village' but daren't investigate further, and I found myself unexpectedly detained by a friendly, if slightly odd, man who insisted that you couldn't work in fashion without learning sugarcraft and that I was in town with the Labour conference and friends with Nick Robinson. I politely declined a request to be his penpal.

Platt Hall itself is a beautifully restored Georgian mansion, a testament to the success of Manchester's textiles industry in the 18th century.

 

I Want It Now.

 The costume collection at the hall is fairly wide ranging, from the 17th century to the present day, and covering men's, women's and children's wear, with an impressive array footwear, hats and bags. My personal highlights were the dresses by Biba and Ossie Clarke from the 60s and 70s, and as always the 19th century held my attention for sometime.

In addition to the permanent collection there was a temporary exhibit of West African textiles, which included this beautiful loom.

Clickety clack, clickety clack.

One day I WILL learn to weave.

 The First Cut, an exhibition of works in paper by contemporary artists is housed primarily at the City Gallery, but there were a few costume related pieces at Platt Hall, including this dress by Violise Lunn. Suspended in one of the upstairs galleries, it is a beautifully delicate piece that seems very much at home in it's opulent surroundings.

 Hopping on a bus full of students back in to the centre (including a brush with that ubiquitous C list celeb, the ex-Hollyoaks actor) I made a beeline for the City Gallery. I hadn't actually looked too hard at where it was so my beeline was none too straight.
I was running out of time by this point as I had planned on attending a talk by Louise Gardiner at the GNCCF, so I dashed past the Pre-Raphaelites and went straight for the paper. Most well known in the exhibit would be Rob Ryan and his silhouette papercutting, represented in some large works and originals of his popular greetings cards. My own favourite was the work of  Claire Brewster, who uses old maps to create intricately cut birds, by themselves or in a huge flock taking flight across the gallery wall, the maps of northern towns give these garden birds a tropical hue.

The First Cut exhibition is on until the 27th of January, and is completely free, so if you're in the North West I strongly reccomend it. I'm certainly going to go back and take it in a bit more slowly, along with the rest of the City Gallery's permanent collection.
I'll be covering my visit to GNCCF in my next post, expect sherry and drum n bass. You have been warned.

A Quick Word Before I Go

I've been a bit quiet recently, and I'm headed back to the Shire for the Easter weekend, but I promise I'll write a proper post soon!

In the meantime here's a little taster of what I've been working on the last couple of weeks. All these will be available in the Made Here Pop Up Shop in Keys Court, Liverpool One.

Retail Therapy, Part 2

In Christmases past I have tried to be superwoman and make all my gifts, or at least make one thing for each of my immediate family. I enjoy being able to make something specific for someone and know that it's exactly what they'd like and when time isn't an issue it's well worth the effort. But sometimes there just isn't time, and that was the case this Christmas. Instead I resolved to buy each of my family something handmade, and support my fellow designer-makers. Here are my handmade Christmas Highlights:

Both of these beautiful items are by Chatty Nora, a graphic designer based near York. The tote bags she makes are all so beautiful, it took me an age to choose one for my older sister, but as we are a family of cat lovers I think any one of them would have been perfect. I particularly liked the scrolling Art Nouveau text on this one. The Jane Austen quote poster was for my younger sister, and the picture here doesn't show just how much work went into it. All her posters are hand drawn in pen, so each one is unique, and I can't imagine the time that must take, I certainly couldn't have found anything better for my Austen addict sister!

This lovely sock yarn from DyeSpinKnitUK is hand dyed by Kerry, a fellow Merseyside Etsy Team member, and with another skein I bought, made the perfect present for my Mum, who's been knitting and crafting for as long as I can remember.
The colours in the yarns are so beautiful, and there's lots more amazing colours in her Etsy shop, it was hard not to choose things for myself while I was shopping for gifts!

I had a similar problem when I went to Landbaby, so much to look at and so much to want! It might sound odd but I always forget to look up in shops, eye level is buy level as the saying goes. I thought I'd seen everything there was to see  and was struggling to choose, and then I glanced up at the top shelves and saw so much more!   I managed to restrain myself though and only came away with presents, a lovely pink felt brooch by Love Ruby Red, and some amazing birdie hair slides by Layla Amber for my friend Jo. I don't have a picture of them but here's some lovely budgie studs, and you can see other lovely illustrated items in Landbaby or in her Etsy shop.

I'll admit I struggled with my Dad, handmade for men is always a little trickier, but I'd seen this for sale from one of the exhibitors at the Liverpool Design Festival, and it seemed just the thing, not handmade but definitely not high street either, a happy compromise!

Next time, a tale of retail woe....