A Valentines Collection

I've just finished listing a small collection of new pieces especially for Valentine's Day (February 14th in case you were wondering) and yes, you're right, that is my birthday too! How good of you to remember!

I've chosen another version of Capel for these pieces, the bright red one which I've been lusting after for some time now. It's a really true red which works brilliantly for V-Day.

I'm most excited about a couple of new designs I'm trying out, seeing which is most popular before I go into production on my Spring-Summer collection.

Both of them are based on a really simple figure of eight knot, this first one made of four knots in a symmetrical arrangement, suspended from chain either side.

 

 The second is more like my a-symmetric reef knot necklace, with the two knots extending into a continuous 'collar' which fastens with a clasp at the back.

 Which is your favourite? I'm leaning toward the first design, but I'm easily swayed, I'll definitely be taking one of them into next season's collection, and I've got some exciting new prints lined up for it too, so watch this space!

Back in the Swing of Things

After a month long immersion in the theatre world, followed by my sister's wedding and then a stinking cold, I have emerged on the other side, ploughing ahead with new work. Coming back to a studio with nothing but Christmas decorations in stock and having gotten to the end of all my 'good' fabrics (by no means the end of all my fabrics, that will take a few years yet) was more than a little disconcerting. It reminded me of Phillip Pullman's writing habits;

"I write three pages every day (one side of the paper only). That's about 1100 words. Then I stop, having made sure to write the first sentence on the next page, so I never have a blank page facing me in the morning."

I had come home to the BIGGEST blank page, and it took me bloody ages to write anything on it. For the first week I was just scribbling pictures in the margin and underlining the title 4 or 5 times, and the week after that I'd lost the page under a pile of snotty tissues. Thankfully I had some non-design tasks to get on with over the weekend, workshop planning and so on, which has given me a bit of momentum to get my act together today.

One useful thing I did achieve in my first week back was to choose a palette and shortlist some new prints to choose from for my A/W collection. I started with the colour trend report from Pantone, just so I wasn't trying to narrow down from an infinite selection of colours.

I have a feeling Etsy might reference the Pantone colour reports when they set the front page treasuries so it's a handy thing to keep an eye on. The other source I was working from is a still from a fantastic film by Wes Anderson.

If you haven't seen Moonrise Kingdom yet you really must, and if you have you should go and watch it again! Somewhere between these two things I have found my palette, and after much trawling of the site where I get my Tana Lawn I have chosen my prints.

 This first one is Tatum, a classic Liberty design that I haven't used before, the contrast between the dark purple ground and the acid yellow leaves is nice and fresh without being too summery.

I've been desperate to use Capel for a while now, I thought it would be good to have something a bit more solid in the mix and I think it'll really show off the detail in the knot jewellery.

 

This is a Betsy Ann, a smaller, less brash version of Betsy, full of nice stormy, autumnal tones.

This is a Claire Aude, another Liberty classic, but in a colour way I haven't used before, it's a bit softer than the other prints with some nice orangey leaf tones in it, I'd agree with my friend JM that it's a bit 1930's, no bad thing!

This last print is Nina Taylor, it's a seasonal design from the A/W 13 collection and was a last minute pick as I was searching for something with a bit more orange in it to tie the whole collection together, which this does perfectly. You should search the Nina Taylor print as there are some other beautiful colour ways available.

So now I'm waiting for everything to arrive before I can get making again, but if you are interested in ordering a piece of jewellery in any of these prints I am now taking orders over on my Facebook page at slightly discounted prices for the next two weeks. Just message my on FB with your contact details, the print you'd like and the style of necklace or bracelet and I can get started on it as soon as everything arrives, and it'll arrive in it's own Handmade by Bunny Bosworth gift box!

Snippets

I'm back in that hut at the bottom of a garden in Oxfordshire again, this time for a production of Great Expectations. I'm going to share a few of the costume highlights so far (a trip to Bristol Costume Services is on the cards for next week, I LOVE hire companies).

 First up, fabulous military jacket covered in braid, mmmmmmmm braid.

Next, a couple of delicate embroidered blouses. The first one is commercially made (as opposed to being made for theatre or by a costume company).

The embroidery is really fine, in a pale blue variegated thread on the latte colour silk crepe.

I haven't got round to doing the ironing yet.

The second blouse is possibly a one off, there are no labels to be seen, so I don't know if it was a theatre make or a home make that has made it's way into the costume store.

The scallop detailing on the cuff is incredible, but what had me most intrigued was the embroidery on the body of the blouse.

It looks like a simple running stitch outline, with a trellis pattern in the flower centres, but the leaves and petals look more opaque than the surrounding area. At first I thought it was an incredibly small and neat applique, but closer inspection of the reverse shows that this is not the case.

It's not very easy to see in the photo, but the running stitch on the outside is actually the back of a herringbone stitch that has been worked over all the petals and leaves, which is what's making those areas more opaque. I've never seen this technique before, does anyone know if there's a particular name for it? Clearly it's only effective with sheer or semi-sheer fabrics, but it's so clever!

Finally it's this late Regency velvet and damask gown. There are so many details in this dress that I love.

Narrow braid over the curved bodice seam.

Pleated front section, gold piping and a crepe chiffon contrast.

MASSIVE puff over sleeves.

I fully expect to see more of this kind of thing next Friday as I'll be in Bath to see the Laura Ashley exhibition at the Assembly Rooms, expect many photos.

New for 2013

In the months since Christmas I have been busily working away on a new collection of jewellery, with a little bit of help from YouTube and my trusty Good Housekeeping Encyclopeadia of Needlecraft.

 Whilst sitting at my desk for hours playing with string might not have looked like work it was an important part of the process.

 So far, not very impressive.

 Getting somewhere...

I think I'm onto something!

It was also my first foray into the frankly baffling world of jewellery components, which lead to hours trawling Ebay, Etsy and various other sites trying to find the things I thought I needed.

And once that was resolved I had to splash out on (another) new gadget for my machine, though that was much less confusing.

Is owning 3 different kinds of zipper foot excessive?

And you can see the new collection after the jump!

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, Pt 2.

As I mentioned in the first part of my City Break posts, I was in a bit of a rush to get to the Louise Gardiner talk at GNCCF, meaning I had to do some speed viewing in the City Gallery. I think I first came across the work of Louise Gardiner through Flickr or Pinterest, on one of my many internet benders looking for interesting thread work and textile artists. The talk took place at the Manchester People's Museum and centred mainly on her work for the Collect showcase at the Saatchi Gallery. If you're interested there's a video on her website that was made specifically about the 5 canvases she created for the showcase, and gives you an idea of the level of work going into each one, and how she arrived at the concept.

Aside from how extraordinary her work is she was a really inspiring speaker, and a lot of the points she made about working as a creative really struck a chord. In particular how important it is to 'say yes to exciting oppportunities' and that only in doing so can you raise your game. Other wise words being that 'if you start thinking about the end you'll never begin' (so true) and a belief in the virtues of sherry and drum n bass when working on your machine (quite a contrast to my tea and Radio 4, perhaps I need to branch out).

I'd done a little free machine work at school, but nothing since, though I'd been meaning to give it another go. Needless to say when I got home I ordered myself a free-machine foot and now I'm itching to use it. (I took the advice of Caroline at Redneedle Sewing when making my purchase)

As for the rest of GNCCF, I have to admit, it's been three weeks since I was there and I didn't make quite as many notes as perhaps I should have done, so I'll keep it brief and give a little rundown of my favourite exhibitors.

• Lynsey Walters' hand stitched felt jewellery and accessories were beautifully crafted and showed real attention to detail and colour. (Google Image search her name and you'll instantly see what I mean.)
• Rosie's Armoire was a beautiflly presented stall, brimming with furnishings, bags and purses that are hand-printed with images of old letters and documents. One thing I love is old handwriting and paper so this was heaven for me.
• I'm really interested in weaving and there were a some really great stands from weavers, like Sarah Tyssen and Sue Christian.

Shamefully I'm very good at remembering the work I can relate to my own, but, no matter how much I liked it when I saw it ,if it's ceramics or jewellery or furniture I have a hard time distinguishing it afterwards. You'll just have to take my word for it that there were some really incredible exhibitors in all those mediums, I just can't remember which I liked best! The full list of exhibitors is here, so I'd recommend having a leisurely browse through because there's bound to be something you love, and we should all support handmade, and when better than Christmas?

Too early for Christmas references? Sorry, I'll get my coat.