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.

Etsy Picks: Christmas in July

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, or are a regular visitor to my Etsy shop, you may know that I am currently taking part in a UK team promotion for 'Christmas in July'. Don't panic! It's not a campaign to change the date, or extend the festive season well beyond it's welcome. Christmas in July is a North American marketing event that promotes festive shopping in the summer months when there aren't any national holidays to boost trade. As an Etsy shop owner it makes sense to take advantage of international shopping trends, especially as the site is so popular in the US and Canada.
So, the Etsy UK Promo Team have coordinated a discount campaign, with those shops taking part, including mine, offering 10% off for the whole of July with the code CIJUK10, and it's not limited to Christmas items! Here's a few of my non-festive picks from the shops taking part.

Nadolig Llawen Welsh Christmas Stag Greeting Card, £1.50 from DyfalDonc

 I lied, this one is a bit Christmassy, but only if you're Welsh. I love the collage style and I can never resist a stag.

Cherry Blossom Ceramic Coaster, made to order by DamsonTreePottery. £12.

I only discovered the Damson Tree Pottery through this promotion but everything I've seen has been beautiful.

Vintage Glass Jewel Deco Wedding Necklace, AlteredEras. £45.

This vintage Art Deco necklace oozes Gatsby glamour.

Oat, Honey and Ginger Soap Bar, WitchWayBeauty. £4.50.

Good enough to eat!

River Crossing

 I posted off a special parcel today, complete with my new logo.

 

It was the first shipment of my pieces to go to a new stockist, the Cetra Studio and Gallery over the water in Heswall. The shop is part of a larger business providing photography services for weddings and other events. 

Some of the beautiful work on sale at Cetra already from their Facebook page. I love this tealight holder by Karen Turner.

I was very excited to be asked if I'd like to display my work there, and 

got together a mini collection of bags and purses just for them.

 An oversize envelope clutch in ecru ticking with a Liberty needlecord flap.

3 little a-symmetric purses with vintage button fasteners.

 A trio of shiny gold framed coin purses.

 A trapeze clutch in vintage Liberty wool.

And another little clutch in pink, pure wool tartan.

Of course they are all completed with my surprising linings!

I think my stitching has found a happy home at Cetra. If you're over on 'the other side' why not stop by and have a look at all the beautiful local work on offer!

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.

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!

Reinvention

A few weeks ago I shared some pictures with you of the beautiful things I found at a vintage fair in Liverpool. I've had a few weeks to play with them and now I thought I'd show you what they've become!

The pair of Liberty curtains and the Sanderson furnishing fabric have become simple shoppers (along with a pretty Ikea floral) It's the first time I've done this style of bag and overall I'm pretty pleased.

The hand embroidered table cloth has had a few reincarnations. Firsty, these lavender hearts, all with a different patterned cotton on the back and a ribbon and button detail on the front. The little motifs left behind from cutting these out have become covered buttons (and my old threads serve as great dressing for my product shots!) I've got four large panels cut out as well ready to become cushiosn, but more on those another time.

Lastly, one of the lace table runners has become a very delicate coin purse, I used pink cotton behind the lace for a hint of colour and echoed it inside with a pink polka dot lining.

There's plenty more pieces left as well so I'm sure I'll find lots of exciting things to use them for, especially with three big events coming up this summer. This Sunday I'll be at Stalls in the City, an arts market run by Open Culture in Liverpool One outside the Hilton. The first fair I ever took part in was one of these markets last September and it was a great day. I'll also be there on the 4th August and 2nd September, so it you're in the area why not pop down and say hi!

Bunny Bosworth: Treasure Hunter

Every few months or so Decorative Fairs put on a big Vintage fashion and textiles fair in Liverpool and it is always worth a rummage, even more so today as it was in the beautiful St Georges Hall.

Although I was on a fairly strict budget, and was absolutely not allowed to buy anything for myself, I still picked up a few pieces that will find their way into my work soon.

Hand embroidered table linens.

 A large piece of Sanderson furnishing fabric, fantastic blousey flowers!

 

Beautiful, old, cream lace, a crisp white lace insert doily and some wooden spools of cotton. (Frivolous Pink!) 

But best of all...

A pair of Liberty of London curtains for a mere £15! There's plenty of bags to be made with that, so watch this space.