My first festive apron. I really loved this fabric when I saw it in Rolls and Rems, but it took me a few weeks to ‘take the plunge’… then I went back a few days later to buy the fabric with the tiny red stars for the contrast fabric.
This is a new apron, with two neck ties which knot at the back – this is for more length or coverage adjustment.
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Actually this apron was made weeks ago, but I couldn’t get a decent photo of it – we had much better luck today it was so beautiful and warm! I particularly like James photo taken from behind the geraniums!
Listed a new No 4 House Apron on Folksy. Dark denim with white top stitching, which is tricky to sew but I like the finished effect. I’ve made a No4 Artisan Apron too, in the same fabric, but haven’t managed to get a decent photo of it yet!
Confirmed over the weekend that I’ll be selling at the Christmas Market – 57 Gallery, SE13 London. 6-7th December 2014. I’m so exited I haven’t done a Christmas fair for years. I had a lovely morning rummaging about in boxes, sorting out little paper bags, labels, pegs (for attaching info/prices) etc into one box.. Here’s a photo. Now I’ve got to start making some Christmas decorations etc so that I have a range of prices, my desk is covered in fabric and packet of sequins trying to get some new ideas!
Just added “Apatosaurus’ to the Folksy shop.
A hand sewn and embroidered dinosaur appliqué,the 17 piece appliqué is made of cotton jersey fabric, with embroidered eye and toe nails. This dinosaur is one from a set of 3 I did a while ago; another one from the set, the ‘Spinosaurus’, was bought by Mini Boden for the Winter 2013 range – they used all my original colours which is always nice.
Dinosaurs are really popular with children especially boys, so when I decided to design some dinosaur logos I had to do some serious research. I studied lots of fossil skeletons as well as artist impressions. When I was growing up this dinosaur was referred to as a ‘Brontosaurus’ now its called an ‘Apatosaurus’. No one knows what colour dinosaurs were, artists impressions usually make them grey or green, I wanted to use some colour so I looked at brightly coloured snakes to get some ideas.
I’m not sure how the ‘college style’ lettering came about, it just worked! This is rather a time consuming applique but fun. I’m very fond of Apatosaurus and I’ll do the third dinosaur in the set, Triceratops soon; after that I feel quite inspired to some more dinosaur design work.
Very jolly ‘Smilies’ repeat logo t-shirt added to the Folksy shop last night.
The nine appliqués are made from the same cotton jersey fabric as the t-shirt and hand stitched with yellow and brown embroidery thread. This is one design from a set of ‘repeat logo’ designs I did nearly 3 years ago. I sold another from the set, ‘orange goldfish’, to Mini Boden it was used in the Winter 2012 range. Quite pleased with the freehand drawing on the photo too!
Here are a few photos of the making process. I had to back each circle with fusible cotton interfacing so that the dark embroidery thread didn’t show through as it carried underneath. You can just make out the lines of the air-erasable pen I used to mark details, the lines disappear in a couple of hours. I discovered these pens when I was on a short embroidery course (St Martins School of Art) a few years ago – such a brilliant solution to lots of making problems!
‘Rabbits in the Garden” t-shirts are now on the Folksy shop. These bunnies are called Olive and Basil.
This is the first of a set of ‘pets in the garden’ designs inspired by the lovely flower shaped sequins from Josy Rose which come in a staggering 67 colours! The rabbit appliqués are machine stitched with hand embroidered eyes and pink ears; they are surrounded by over 90 flower sequins which are sewn on by hand.
As ever had trouble photographing the colours…. and spent ages devising backgrounds!
Added a second t-shirt to the Folksy shop today. This one took ages to photograph properly, wandering around the house trying to find somewhere where the light didn’t bleach out the blue. It’s an eleven piece appllqué with a slightly revised ‘Sparky dog’ logo, mostly machine stitched apart from the hand stitched crosses on the eye and exclamation mark dot.
I was inspired to design more ‘Sparky’ logo t-shirts by a nice email I got from a Folksy customer, who spotted the fact that ‘A Dog Like Sparky’ is a song title from the band Cardiacs (he is also a fan). My original dog logo was Inspired by the song, I knew he had to be anarchic, full of fun and mischief. A camping theme seemed approriate for the photo illustration.
There are a few more ‘Sparky’ tee shirt ideas still in the pipeline….
A new t-shirt inspired by my own ‘pony mad’ girl. I’ve just put this new T-shirt in the Folksy Shop; it features an applique in the same fabric as the T-shirt, with hand stitched design in blue embroidery thread.
The applique, which is stuck to the t-shirt with Heat ‘n Bond provides a nice firm, non-stretchy, base for the stitching – rather than sewing directly on to the t shirt fabric which would probably get ‘baggy’ in sections especially later after several washes. 
I finished these last week but only just got around to photographing it. This is almost the same as the cross-over back No4 Artisan Apron, I’ve changed the pocket design and I think I will use prints or woven surface patterns for this one. I wear my dark tie-dye No4 Artisan Apron all the time; the cross-over back feature is great, it’s so comfortable and easy to get on and off – particularly useful with my ‘frozen shoulder’ and recent tummy operation.
Unfortunately it’s a bit hard to see the very nice fabric from the very small photos on the Folksy shop, they look pale grey, hopefully people will click to look at a larger image.
