It's Fabric Friday!

I spotted a hashtag on Twitter that caught my attention a little while ago - #FabricFriday! It kind of hit me right between the eyes as a simple but effective idea.

 

I can't quite remember if it was a trending topic or if I just saw it because it popped up in my feed of "textiley twitterers" - in any case, I thought it would make a good theme for a (semi-) regular post on my blog.

If you read this post back in November, you might recall the mention of a quilt challenge... I was aiming to have something finished by the end of this month, but alas, it would seem that I was overly optimistic! I have made a little progress on my ideas and inspiration board for the quilt I'd like to make but hadn't quite anticipated how completely manic December and parts of January would be.

Image via Pinterest

I did a little bit of sewing, it's still in a slightly experimental stage, since I've been kind of making it up as I go - this is what happens when I get an idea in my head about how I'd like to use a certain piece of fabric...

So I suppose what I'm saying is that one of my new year's resolutions is to actually make a proper plan for my quilt, which will hopefully bring it one step closer to completion! (Wish me luck!!)

Image via Pinterest

What are your crafty new year's resolutions? Drop me a comment!

Autumnal Events

So, it's November! How did that happen? ...Come to think of it, where has this year gone?! It's certainly been an eventful one for me, in any case. 

I am enjoying the autumn show of colours and the crisp scent of bonfires in the air. It always makes me glad when this time of year rolls around, because however much the dark days are a little, well, dark, it's comforting to think of bringing all my cosy knits out of hibernation - and maybe finishing a few too. (Though lately that has eluded me somewhat as due to a bout of tendonitis I havent't been able to touch my knitting for a few weeks now - woe!!)

I'm consoling myself by living vicariously through the craft of others and gathering inspiration for wintery projects in the meantime. Cue a Pinterest frenzy! If you want to see what I've been pinning lately, you can find my boards here: http://www.pinterest.com/wildcatdesigns.

One of the projects I'm hoping to work on is my first foray into quilting. I've been fascinated by the industrious creators of patchwork quilts for many years and this year myself and two friends are challenging ourselves to have a go, with the aim of completing a quilt each by January. So I started to collect ideas and ponder designs, as well as having a rummage through my fabric stash. Despite not being an avid sewer, I have still managed to acquire (hoard) plenty of pretty fabrics. I think my degree in textiles might have *something* to do with that...

Photographs featured in this post are of some of the rather wonderful pieces as seen in my copy of Contemporary American Quilts published by the Crafts Council.

Do you have any tips for me, as a novice quilter? I'd love to know your thoughts, and please feel free to post links! :)

All Quiet on the Blogging Front

...yes, there's been virtual tumbleweed blowing around here lately, I confess! Things have been a little crazy but I have lots of inspiring things to share with you in the coming weeks.

I recently started a new job which has got me walking down familiar paths but seeing things in a new light. I'm revisiting many things I used to be so involved with as a textile student - it's hard to believe it was almost a decade ago that I completed my degree in that field!

The wonderful thing is that I still find this area so inspiring even after all these years. I thought I'd give you a visual tour of what's got my creative juices flowing of late:

This is a gorgeous fabric I recently received in the post, as part of the Hillarys Blinds Country Craft Competition. The fabric is called Bird Parade and it's from their Country Retreat range. I have yet to make something with it, at this point I'm thinking my limited sewing skills might stretch to a bag but I love the idea of a skirt, should I have enough material! If you want to find out more about the comp, check out this post on the UK Craft Blog.

Image via Pinterest

The colours of spring emerging from the garden always have an impact on me at this time of year. I love that first sign of delicate snowdrops, heralding new life and fresh growth, which is soon followed by crocus, daffodils and tulips (one of my favourite flowers).

Image via Designers Guild

Give, Craft, Make

Looking for inspiration for a summer craft project? Look no further!

Glasgow Craft Mafia is back with Give, Craft, Make - the perfect event for all you crafters out there :)

On Sunday 12th August (that's this Sunday!) from 12 noon - 5pm at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow, there will be stalls selling lots of crafty goodies to get your imagination going. I'll be selling oodles of yarn, all manner of haberdashery, beads, and some lovely knitting pattern books too.

There will also be craft workshops on the day along with a yarn donation station so if you have any oddments of wool you no longer need, feel free to give them to charity!

Hope to see you there! :)

Make Some Noise...

...for the Beastie Boys! :D


I'm excited to say that a piece of Textile Art I created some time ago has recently been featured on the Indie Fixx blog - a guest post by the lovely Michelle of Craftsville (and several other crafty ventures!) on UK stitchery! Read the article here.


The work was inspired by the Beastie Boys album artwork for "To the 5 Boroughs" - if you're not familliar with it, it features a line drawing of the New York city skyline - an illustration by Matteo Pericoli.



Have a lovely weekend, dear readers! I'm going to enjoy the sunshine while it lasts!

Adornment

Day Seven: Embellish the story.

I can't believe it's the last day of Knitting & Crochet Blog Week again, already! This week has really flown by but it's been a lot of fun and I've very much enjoyed reading the blogs of other crafters taking part too.

Most folks are covering "your knitting and crochet time" today, but as I did a post last year which I feel would be a bit too similar, I have gone for the wildcard topic which will hopefully make for a more interesting read!

I'll be honest here, I don't really do huge amounts of embellishment on my knits as I like them to have fairly clean, classic lines. An obvious example is these shell buttons which finished off a pair of shoes neatly:


There have been, however, have a few memorable occasions where I have had a bit of a play around with some ideas!

When I was working on pieces for my degree show, I experimented with knitting on huge needles and creating my own yarns from strips of fabric sewn together - I decided to make the stitched joins a feature, using zig-zagging contrasting thread:


Around the same time, I also tried various ways of embedding fibres into knitted woollen fabrics, using needlepunch and hand felting techniques:






...and finally: you'll probably think me a little bit nutty for including this, but I'm going to incorporate it anyway for the fun factor!


In case you're wondering, they're meant to be 'textile art' and were made for a Comic Relief challenge project several years back ;)

Winter Contemporary Textiles Exhibition

Hi there, I thought I'd share some exciting news with all you lovely readers!

My work has been selected to be included in the Winter Contemporary Textiles Exhibition at the New Ashgate Gallery in Farnham, Surrey - a gallery specialising in Contemporary Fine Art & Craft.


The exhibition will run from Friday 19th November 2010 (Private View) until Saturday 22nd January 2011.

Beautiful Texture

I have to admit, one of the things which really inspires me and gets my 'creative juices' flowing is texture. Unsurprising, I suppose, as I am a Textile Designer after all. I think it's something I've always subconciously been drawn to.

In fact, I remember when I was preparing my portfolio for art college, my Art teacher at the time suggested that I consider Textiles, having noticed a textural theme in my sketchbooks. Oh how right she was! Strange though, that I never spotted it myself before, and yet now I can't believe I didn't realise sooner, as it is such an intrinsic part of my nature.

So, without further ado, here are some rather beautiful examples of texture that have caught my magpie eye recently.



Ruched Leather Bag from Pixie Market - Just the description 'crackled leather bag with ruched leather' makes my mouth water! Such a gorgeous grey colour and an almost crinkly look to it.



Sonia Rykiel AW 2011



Deconstructed Corset Top from Elizabeth & James - This is simply divine, grown-up feminine glam but a little bit rough around the edges. Rock chick chic!

Ah, if only I could afford some of the loveliness above... *sigh*

Fabric Crush

I was idly reading the Conversation Pieces blog today (including a fab post about a Las Vegas wedding idea!) and was intrigued by the mention of Ikea fabrics...


Which inevitably, led me to looking at the fabrics available on the Ikea website!

Sure enough, there was loveliness to be found:






(All fabrics can be found on the Ikea online catalogue under Textiles: Fabrics & Sewing)

Purple Soup

I decided, for one reason or another, that Saturday would be the day to dye. There's a pretty cotton knit I made a while ago, and I wanted to breathe new life into it. Note the very slight smudge of blue on the cream (argh!) in the photograph below, which I did by accident... I hoped that dyeing it a darker shade would redeem the wrap.



So I of course realised I didn't have enough salt in the house, which meant a trip to the shop. I walked and as it was a lovely day and wandered through the beautiful grounds of Lauriston Castle, an Edwardian stately home, as a little detour. Which turned out to be well worth it as the cherry trees in the Japanese garden are in blossom, and when the wind blows it looks like pink-tinged snow falling. Very pretty!



After having weighed the fabric dry, washed it and left it damp, I prepared to dye. First I had to get a bucket, filled with enough cold water to comfortably cover the fabric and be able to agitate.

Next, I pricked the little pot of dye and dissolved that in hot tap water and added it to the dye bath. Then I dissolved the salt and dye fix in hot tap water and mixed it into the dye bath contents.



At this point the damp fabric gets added. I just loved the inky deep purple colour I got in the bucket, it looked like some kind of odd purple soup stuff.



For the next 10 minutes I donned rubber gloves in order to "swish" the fabric around in the dye bath, aka bucket. Sore arms!!

The knitted fabric was in the dye mix for around an hour, with regular swishing intervals. I rinsed out the dye with cold water and then stuck it in the wash (separately!) to get rid of any excess dye remaining.



I'm really happy with the result, as the dye took really well and it's a nice saturated purple now :)



Colour is one of those things that makes life worth living, don't you think?

I Heart Haberdashery

I've been buying some gorgeous new supplies lately, with the excuse (as if I needed one!) that they will, in turn, inspire me to create new stuff. That, and well, I just love haberdashery. I even like the word - though it's almost dismissive somehow - making me think of frippery a little...it's amazing what you can make with some simple pieces of haberdashery and a dash of imagination.



Particularly irresistible I found, were the wonderful new range of ribbons by V V Rouleaux (such a grand name!) at my local John Lewis - I especially loved these jacquard ones below (which came in several beautiful colourways), and there was some gosgrain ribbon in colourful vintage stripes which caught my eye and conjured up romantic images of Cambridge: blazers and straw boater hats. I had to leave before I bought a bit of everything!