'POPPY-ROSE DRESS' my favourite design...

(Scan from my Interflora leaflet)

Finally finished! My first real garment from '...in an English country garden' collection. This unique special occasion dress began its origins from a simple beautiful bouquet of bright pink flowers teamed with the natural acid green of its leaves. The fabric was a end of line roll with limited amount of metre-age available, so I had to work with what I had. This inspired me to design a collection themed on English country gardens, and in turn this particular design can be also available in Ivory soya silk as a elegant unusual wedding dress.

....From design illustration to actual garment. The crochet is made from random flower patterns which I have written from Rowan Lenpur Linen, Debbie Bliss cashmere and cotton, and deadstock 100% cotton. Therefore yet another Eco-idealology dress from end of line and natural fibres.

....The main design feature is the back 'bustle' detail, with a montage of textural crochet flowers forming a hip emphasizing shape, enhanced by the curved darting. I am really please by this outcome but GOSH! did it take some work....

The edges of the hem and armholes are trimmed with picot crochet in cotton, which is a pretty good match to the woven satin.

..the front and back waist has been treated to pin-tucking which helps to pull in the waist area. The top is shaped with a scooped neck, reminiscent of Edwardian necklines, it in turn is covered with '...an English country garden'.

...The side view shows how the 'bustle' area is quite textural and stands out from the main dress...

..the side view shows fine lace crochet inserts at the waist area to add interest. Overall this is one of my personal favourites as the dress has such impact both in colour and texture. It will be on a display stand to view at the forth coming Twisted Thread, knit and stitch show at Alex. Palace, London in early October. Please come say hello. x

...This design can be ordered to be bespoke made, in any colour of fabric or yarn and size desired.

'MINI-ME' BACKBONE CARDIGAN

(Cable stitch for back-bone back detail in cashsoft cotton)


Whilst also working towards my products to be launched at the Twisted thread shows, 8th-11th October at Alexandar Palace, I managed to fit in a smaller version of my previously blogged 'Back bone cardigan'. This mini-me was for my daughter for a friends wedding.

...this mini version used padded love-hearts for the fastenings instead of the previous vintage heavy brooch....a wee bit more child friendly!

...the cardigan used mohair, silk and cashmere in a soft mixture of muted pinks to form an interesting mix. The sleeves ironically used old bones rib.

...the back cable detail follows on from the shawl collar and ends underneath the lower rib. This not only adds unique detailing but serves to help anchor the collar.

PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY FOR DISORDER MAGAZINE

Last year I was lucky enough to be chosen to take part in a photo shoot for Disorder magazine....

....These photographs are just a small selection from this shoot; I rediscovered them when I was in the process of reinstalling my images after my virus...

....The twinset was hand knitted from Cashmere, Silk, Mohair and Alpaca.....and was themed from the images of how beautiful the inside of the body can be for the collection , Hung, Drawn & Quoted...

...I have a wedding invite in a few weeks time, and have decided to finally grant my 8 year olds wish and make her a mini-me version to wear to it....

....I have bought some different yarns for it, this time being a very beautiful yet expensive silk with mohair from knitwitches and pure new wool from Wensleydale sheep shop, I will combine these with my left over yarn when my ROWAN competition pattern writing has been finished which uses Rowan organic pure cotton. This will give me a pretty but more unusual blend of soft and raspberry pinks; my plan is to create a face made up of little raspberry coloured strawberries! for a more suitable fastening for a little girl rather than the vintage brooche utilized in the original catwalk version.....Hopefully I will have time!

SELF-IMAGE REVISITED & RECYCLED!

(Finally I am back! Had a Bug.....a laptop bug and took a while to sort out and even longer to get all my programmes back up and running)


Quite a while back I had an art and design project entitled 'self-image' in which I delved into the idea of what makes me me and played an emphasis on what it means to be a woman. I included my night time ramblings (You know! the ones which play through your mind as you are trying to sleep.....the things that worry you, the things that didn't get done)

I covered the basic self too, as in genetics and genes, this evolved into a me corset from 'Mod rock' modelled around my-self and embellished with photographs of people who mean something to me in the guise of the genetic code. The top part of the corset was hand crochet in a pattern which resembled the cells. See lower picture....

...fast forward to June 2009! Now I am working on some Bridalwear, incorporating crochet lace. I am using the lace traditionally and untraditionally, and this has manefested into a few shrugs to give the arms some modesty.

.....so the phrase, "here's one I made earlier" crops up, as I found the 'self-image corset' and recycled. I detached the crochet work and retouched the edges, taking off the ice queen look! beading. I then opened up the neck line and added a tie fastening.

The shrug would look well with a Bridal dress which has a touch of red or in a wedding party with red bouquets.

...IN A COUNTRY GARDEN-new collection

One of my many ongoing projects! Finished title 'In an English Country Garden...' A collection inspired by the lovely flowers of England and the way the images of cells of the body can often mimick flower style. Crochet plays a huge part in this collection with Lily, Rose, Poppy, Daisy, Bluebells (my favourite flower along with Poppies) and Foxgloves all having a say.


...I am working on this project to have finished A3 size samples and 1-2 finished garments for my launch at The Knit and Stitch Show at Alexandar Palace, London in October. But its hard going as I am also working on 3 other collections to have samples made for this. Including Bridal, Vintage (inspired by iconic figures) and Harajuko dolls (Younger funkier collection, which if I have enough time! will take part in the Leeds Fashion Show 2009). So far at least on this 'In a Country Garden...' collection I have all the 9 design boards finished and am working on the A3 swatches.

...The collection includes use of curved seams and natural fibres, with silk, bamboo and milk yarn crochet details.

...This image shows my workings so far on Poppies, Roses, Daisy and Bluebells, all in crochet in Sirdar Juicy bamboo on a 3.5 hook.

...Image depicts mood board for the collection.

....I will be launching my designs at the forth coming Twisted Thread, Knit & stitch shows 2009. http://www.twistedthread.com/pages/exhibitions/listExhibitions.aspx

ECO - THE NEW STRING VEST!

This was a project close to my heart. The research of how fashion and knitwear can be ecological. I looked into not only materials but production and employment

I loved the idea of string! and found some organic biodegradable string from a local shop...this gave me the idea of playing with the stereotyped string vest

It took many hours to de-ply the strands of string to create a crochet lace weight yarn

Other fibres I chose to work with were banana fibre, bamboo and Soya silk

Some of the fibres I sourced from Wingham wools, Yorkshire and had my local spinners group spin it into suitable weights, before hand dyeing with natural dyes

This banana, possum and bamboo fibre yarn was dyed using beetroot.

.......

I will be showing at this years Twisted Thread exhibitions......http://www.twistedthread.com/pages/exhibitions/listExhibitions.aspx

PARCHMENT CRAFT FOR LACE ILLUSTRATION

One of my ongoing projects are bridal designs using crochet lace, made from Eco-ideal materials. I am sourcing organic silks/cottons and my favourite is Soya Silk in both woven and yarn. I have also sourced Thai Silk which although it has to travel (It's so hard to tick all the boxes when it comes to environmentally friendly knitwear and fashion...very frustrating, especially on a budget), I have bought direct from the maker. i:e from the farmers who take care of the silk worms and then obtain and spin it using tradional methods. Also this means that the manufacturer is getting a fair price as it is the price they wish to ask.
mmmm...question is what about the poor silk worm.....Should Silk worms have rights?

I am always looking for new alternatives to illustrate my designs and rendering delicate crochet lace when it is mostly in white is always an issue. However I have now discovered that Parchment craft lends itself to this job perfectly.
I intend to photoshop a border with all the specifications and print out on A3 to fit my usual portfolio style, then the parchment can be laid onto this, with tiny actual fabric samples so that it shows through the paper on the circles (as seen in the image) to give close-up style snap shots of the textile.