Work in Progress

 

Stripe-less party ring. (as if being without electricity for the day wasn't bad enough)

Always there when you need him.

Blackout.

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!)

Hot Off The Press

When I was doing my A Level in Textile Product Design we all had a go at using some fabric that you could feed into an inkjet printer and print onto like paper. I think the technician had to cut the fabric to size and there was a solution you had to soak it in and leave to dry for it to work. Also, you had to feed it into the printer from the back. The results were reasonably successful, but I imagine it was a awful lot of faff and that's why we only ever did it once. Luckily some smart person has simplified the process greatly and you can now buy pre-cut, pre-treated sheets of A4 fabrics, both washable and non washable, and in cotton, linen and silk. Amazing!

I'd been planning to try some out for a while so I ordered a starter pack from this site, which inlcudes an A4 sheet each of cotton, cotton lawn, linen, silk and silk organza. One of the things I wanted to do was try and reproduce my hand embroidery on decorations and accessories. I love embroidering and how fluid it is compared to, say, sewing purses or folding books, but it takes a long time and that increases the final price considerably. I'm not at all against charging lots of money for things when it's justified by the work involved, but I don't want to sit at a stall for hours on end with lots of beautiful things that no one can afford. (sometimes it's hard enough with very reasonably priced work, but when people think a craft market is basically the same as a jumble sale there's not much you can do) Wouldn't it be nice, I thought, if you could have the look of a hand embroidered piece without spending a fortune on it?

As we are over the middle of the year 'hump' it is sadly acceptable for me to start thinking about (whisper it) Christmas. So, my first experiments are of a decidedly festive nature, and for that I apologise. Using some of the leftover linen from my vintage tablecloth and red stranded cotton (and 3 episodes of The Sopranos, and lots of cups of tea, and Poirot) I produced these:

Redwork heart on vintage linen. Lazy daisy, chain stitch, running stitch, french knots and back stitch.

The heart was first and quite restrained. The tree had a couple of false starts in green but the red seemed to make more impact on the white, and I didn't plan any of it out to start with, just added and filled in gaps as I went along. I've found Pinterest to be a great help when looking for embroidery inspiration, partifularly for less formal approaches than you'd find in books on the subject.

Redwork Christmas tree on vintage linen. Chain stitch paper chains, lazy daisy flowers, french knots and running stitch.

 With the embroideries complete I gave them a good iron and then scanned them and uploaded the images to the computer. After a little playing around in Photoshop this morning and a few test prints on paper I was ready to go with the fabric. I used the cotton lawn for these, a nice smooth weave and natural feel. The fabric comes backed with paper and goes straight in your ususal paper tray, paper side up. Set your print quality to Best and away you go! I find it easiest, once you've printed and left for 30mins or so, to mark your cutting lines on the paper and cut them out, then peel the backing off.

 With my printed designs ready I tested two ways of making hanging decorations. First up I used some gorgeous red 100% wool felt from Myriad and wundaweb-ed it to the printed lawn, finishing with a machine stitched edge, I prefer the zigzag, but think either would be better in a white or off white thread so as not to distract. The tree has an extra layer of medium interfacing between the layers too which makes it hang straighter. I like the simplicity of these, but I'm not sure if the tree has too much of the car air freshener about it, what do we think?

Next up I went for a tried and tested 'stitch and stuff' method, using red polka dot cotton for the back. I like the squishy-ness of these, and it's great to substitute the stuffing for lavender or other aromats. I'm currently on the lookout for festive smelling things if anyone has any tips on that? Perhaps steering clear of anything too pine-y as we'll be back in car freshener territory again.

As a start I'm quite pleased with how these have turned out, might have a couple more stabs at this idea and then settle on a final method. The other fabric sheets I have plans for too, there'll be more on those in future.

Today I realised I've also passed the 1000 mark on my blog views, woo hoo! I'll be doing a little giveaway to celebrate that in the next week or so, so stay tuned!

Go Wild in the (west) Country

Had myself a little holiday this week! My good friend Jo moved down to Bristol last summer and terrible friend that I am I hadn't visited yet, so while I had a little time and a little money I booked my trains (excellent opportunity for uninterrupted knitting) and off I went!

While I was down there we took a day trip to Bath, first stop was Wool, a fabulous little knitting shop tucked away on a side street and brimming with beautiful yarns and handmade items. Another crafty pilgrimage we made was to The Makery, full to the brim with fabrics, ribbons, stamps, buttons...Took us a while to find it, but on our wanderings we found a fantastic bakery so all was not lost.

Another gastronomic feature was Gillards of Bath, a tea and coffee merchants in the Guildhall Market, perfect for presents.

A trip to see the Royal Crescent is a must, I was looking forward to some Jane Austen fantasising and architectural splendour and I wasn't disappointed.

 But I wasn't expecting all the personal touches, like rambling roses;

 ..and idyllic courtyard gardens.

 I did feel a touch bad as we peered through the railings, snapping away with our cameras at peoples homes and gardens, but if you live in one of the most famous Georgian wonders in Britain I expect you get used to it!

No guilt at The Assembly Rooms though, a really wonderful destination if you find yourself in Bath, particularly for Austen fans. The ultimate hangout for regency Ladies and Gentlemen, its Ballroom and Tea Room were the centre of Bath society in it's heyday. When I was there it had been festooned with colourful knitted bunting, ready for the jubilee celebrations.

 Inside the building is much as it was, sadly the ballroom and tea room were being used for functions, but the Great Octagon gave a little taste of the luxury enjoyed by fashionable society.

 

And in the basement is somewhere I have been meaning to visit for a while.

 

 The Fashion Museum houses an incredible collection of historic and modern clothing, presented beautifully and full of fascinating information. The collection of sportswear was a real treat; 1920's tennis dresses, Victorian riding habits and edwardian swimwear plus much else. The best part though...

...getting to dress up!

A First Time for Everything

When I returned from Oxfordshire 2 weeks ago I was looking forward to an exciting new venture I was to be a part of, and was anticipating some late nights and frantic making to be ready in time. I fully expected to have to juggle this activity with my day job and, with trepidation, rang work on the Sunday for my hours. This is where the weirdness began, as I wasn't on the rota til the following Friday. Eventually I got a few shifts to cover, because as much as I like the thought of a week and half off I also like the idea of getting paid. After these few shifts in work I realised that all was not as it should be and, without going into details, I suspected the worse. Sure enough, the next Monday rolls around, still with no shifts secured for the following week, and I get a phone call from the owner saying he is closing both the cafe's and I no longer have a job.

That folks is the first time I have ever been made redundant. Hopefully it will also be the last. But as I got off the phone to my former boss I wasn't feeling sad, or scared, or even angry (yet). Instead I felt a little twinge of excitement, and as the day wore on and news spread (the first person to ask me about it being my friend in Bristol, who had heard about the closures via SevenStreets) and my colleagues and I exchanged texts and arranged a last get-together my feeling of excitement grew. For the first time in three years I would be able to focus solely on my creative work. Whether this is a financially viable situation remains to be seen and I still have numbers to crunch and phone calls to make, but for the next few weeks it is my only option and I'm pretty bloody excited!

The other First I have experienced this week is the first time I have had my work stocked in a retail outlet. This is the exciting venture I alluded to at the start, and the reason I think I'm feeling so positive about losing my job. The shop is of the pop-up variety, open initially for two months in a busy thoroughfare in Liverpool One, and is only selling locally made work. It's been organised by the team at Made-Here, who's arts markets I've taken part in before, and the shop is beautifully designed and all the work is fantastic. I'm so proud to be a part of it with so many other talented artists.

If you're in the Merseyside area I strongly recommend stopping by and having a look around, there's such great variety of products in there you're bound to find something you love, and you'll be helping independent makers, like myself, to make a living out of something they love.

Grand Days Out

Last weekend was a very inspiring one for me, with trips to both the Liverpool Design Show and Capstans Bazaar, how great is it that both these events were happening in the city on the same weekend?

Hand printed linens, woven in Burnley, by Thorody.

I will admit I was a little apprehensive of the Design show, I tend to associate 'design' with a harder, more clinical aesthetic, as opposed to the obvious human input in works we describe as 'craft' or 'art'. But that's just my own prejudice, and how wrong was I?! The Design show was a great mix of furniture, jewellery, fashion, textiles and home wares, from individual designers, makers and studio groups, some of whom were there in person presenting their own work.

The standout exhibitors for me were mainly textile practitioners. Orwell and Goode, who's beautiful stag print fabrics, prints and home wares make me drool every time I see them, had a beautifully abundant stand with a huge range of products on offer, if money were no object my flat would be a shrine to all things stag. Thorody had the advantage of being the first stand you saw on entering the hall, and also had the joy of being situated by the exposed tile flooring the hall is famous for. The colours and textures in their hand printed linens looked beautiful beside the Minton tiled floor.

One of Katie Heeks' beautiful 3d gardens.

North-West based designers Katie Heeks and Faye Power both had beautiful work on display, and both had special interest for me as they were using fabric designs I've used myself, it's always interesting to see how other people use the same materials in different ways. Katie Heeks' beautiful  3D scenes, made of fabric laminated plywood were magical and fragile looking in kaleidoscopic colours and textures. Faye Powers textiles and ceramics were beautiful combinations of hand illustration and collage techniques, simple but striking.

Slightly outside of my usual sphere of interest was the jeweller Alice Bo-Wen Chang. Alice's mind-blowingly intricate, sculptural designs appealed to the bit of me that enjoys making 1:25 scale models of tables and chairs (not just for fun you understand, but for my secret life as a theatre designer). Her training as an architect is apparent in the precision and rigour of her work, as well as the manipulation of space and line.

I made a comparatively brief visit to Capstans Bazaar I'm afraid, might have been the lack of cake in my system, or the ill boyfriend I had dragged along with me, but a quick whizz around was all I could muster, that's not to say there wasn't some great work on display here too though. Purlesque, Becka Griffin, Snap and Dazzle and Panda Perdu to name a few. Next time I will make a day of it, drink copious tea, get my weekly cake ration in (preferably Leaf's amazing chocolate brownies, or cheesecake, or lemon cake....) and enjoy a leisurely stroll round!