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Just a quick post tonight as it’s late and I’m back at the day job tomorrow.

I decided to get back into the design competition groove this week after reading about MUMEDI’s ‘To Death With A Smile 2011′ Competition. The brief caught my eye: “It is about death, a personal consideration or approach, the meaning in your own culture, how we fear, celebrate ir deal with it. It can be reflected in a serious or playful way.”

Without sounding morbid/emo teenager, I think death is an interesting subject matter. It is a universal truth but its something that everyone has a very personal response to. Just so we’re clear; I’m not religious in any way. I don’t follow a belief system. Regardless I’ve always had a hard time trying to define how I feel about it.

I was watching one of prof Brian Cox’s documentaries (Wonders of the Universe), and I was struck by how beautiful his description of how he viewed life and death. I can’t actually express it in a better way, so I quote him instead “… Every atom in my body was once part of something else. So, an ancient tree, or a dinosaur, or a rock, in fact definitely a rock. And the reason that the rocks of the Earth can become living things, and then living things will return to the rocks of the Earth, is because everything is made from the same basic ingredients. Those ingredients are the chemical elements. The building blocks of everything on Earth. Everything in the world is made up of the same basic sets of chemical elements, just assembled in different ways…”

I think this is beautiful. It’s the nearest thing I’ve heard/read that captures how I feel. I like the idea that my body could have been somethign else, and just because I die, my body will again become somethign else. I hope my illustration captures this.

It’s late and I could ramble on forever, so I’m making the conscious effort to stop and just show you my picture. I’ll pop it in the post in the morning.

Night!

Greetings!

I am feeling all proud this month, as I have learnt a new skill (kind of).

Knitting has always been something that has evaded me. I vaguely remember trying to learn at school once and I remember sitting on my grandma’s knee and trying to copy her. But I was always hopeless. Everything about knitting felt complicated and confusing. All the looping, and catching threads, and counting stitches….made my mind melt. I think as a child I had resigned myself to the fact that me and knitting were simply not meant to be.

After years of looking forlornly at the knitting department in craft shops and filling with wonder (and jealously) as my friends revealed exquisitely knitted cashmere jumpers. I decided that as winter was drawing near, I would at least try and knit a scarf. So with the help of youtube, Ravelry and the ‘knitting lady’ from Rowan in John Lewis (sorry I don’t know your name, but you are a legend!) I have managed to knit a scarf! Yay!

And I’ve now developed a bit of an obsession. Looks like everyone’s getting knitwear for Christmas…..

Today I was having a discussion with a colleague who commented on the current value of letter writing/sending post in a world driven by shiny instant technology.  She was of the opinion that in a few years time post/letter writing will become a thing of the past. This made me pause and think. How ridiculous! I love writing letters and sending parcels to my friends and family.

It made me think of an illustrator called Harriet Russell. She published a fab book a little while ago called ‘Envelopes’ which was a project where numerous envelopes were posted via Royal Mail with disguised addresses. Sometimes the destination was hidden in a crossword, sometimes the address was written in mirror writing…no matter how cryptic the design the envelope still reached its destination nearly every time.

In the book there is a foreword from Royal Mail:

“…This book highlights how the Royal Mail’s postmen and women often go beyond the call of duty to deliver poorly addressed mail. Each week they successfully deliver 15 million badly addressed letters, and our Return Letter Centre-where items are opened with the hope of finding a return address-handles a further 72 million undeliverable items a year…”

Here are some of my favorite envelopes from Harriet Russell’s book:

Here are a few of my decorated envelopes:

If you enjoyed these you should also check out Post Secret.

Happy Weekend Everyone!

Happy weekend everyone!

After the success of the Derby Etsy Craft Party last month, we decided to do regular meet ups. This evening we got together at QUAD to learn how to make felt brooches with the lovely Britta from JaguarSnail.

Here are a few of her awesome brooches (note the crazy good beading detail).

I decided to make a cupcake brooch out of felt and appliquéd cotton:

And was pretty chuffed with the results!

Thanks to Thisisbazzar for getting us organized and Britta for her time and resources.

If anyone is interested in crafting with us send me an email and we’ll let you know the details of our next session! Or keep your eyes on our Facebook Group: Make and Mingle.

The past few weeks have been a bit of a blur for me. A super fun and exciting blur!

A few weeks ago I went to the annual international Etsy Craft Party held by the Derby Etsians. I haven’t met any of these crafters before (and kind of turned up unannounced) but was really pleased to have made the trip. The lovely Bee from This is Bazaar organised the whole shindig and it was a real success. I met some very talented souls, here are a few snaps from the evening to feast your eyes upon:

You can view more pictures here:

http://www.facebook.com/craftybazaar#!/photo.php?fbid=10150278228335110&set=a.10150278224705110.379656.22544975109&type=1&theater

Not one for keeping still I also visited the beautiful country of Moldova for a friends wedding this month. These pictures don’t really have a lot to do with my design work. Apart from the dress I made for the occasion:

But here are a few pictures of beautiful things from our trip for visual stimulation/viewing pleasure:

I have also been visiting the Tea Corner gang in Buckinghamshire for a well overdue get together. I made this dress for the occasion and ran about like a five year old. Great fun!

Well thats all I have to report of for a little while folks. Enjoy the rest of the week and the sunny weather!

Ciao!

Hi folks!

Remember me? No? Im not surprised. I’ve been very absent from Blog-land for some time. My grip on time/outside world tends to bend and slither out of my control sometimes. I’ll quite often start an evening with a bit of sewing and before I know it my clock tells me its 2 am and I have to be at work in 6 hours. Not my favorite scenario, but a situation I find myself in frequently. I’m working on it. Promise.

Anyway, I think an update is long overdue.

Recently my world has looked like this:

I think pictures are better than my fumbled words. Here’s a few snapshots of some of the things I’ve been working on:

Shadow Puppets for a proposal for some funding to run community art workshops.

Whats that? More Cushions? Certainly.

A new sundress-Made from cream broderie anglaise. Fully lined. 28 piece pattern.

First ever attempt at a maxi dress-I made the pattern up as I went along. Risky. Learnt my lesson. Never again.

The neckline (front and back) is ruffled and hand finished.

My world sounds like this:

Catch you next time everyone!

Over the past two weeks I have been obsessed with two things….the colour red and the Sixties. Red is the best colour in the whole entire universe. Fact. The Sixties thing is mostly about silhouettes and colours rather than the micro-mini skirts and dodgy poly fibers. I’ve also been inspired by floaty crape fabrics that seem to be all over the high street (and now in my wardrobe *ahem*) at the moment. On one of my late night Wednesday pilgrimages to the haberdasheries I spotted a beautiful non-regimented cherry red with white and blue polka dots crape. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to have it! As it was so sheer (literally see through) I also brought some red silk lining fabric to protect my modesty.

The following evenings were spent planning a new dress. The final design doodled like this…

The finished article looked like this…

Im really happy with the final dress…but it was a long drawn out battle. At first it seemed like it was going to be a breeze. I deliberately designed it without any zips or awkward button holes-just a super sized keyhole in the back held together with a single button. The shape was simple, there weren’t even any plackets or waistbands or collars. What could possibly go wrong. Surely a dress this simple would be done in a couple of hours? Ha, so much for my optimism!

The fabric was the problem. Beautiful, certainly. Easy to work with, most definitely not. Every time I made a cut it turned into a race to overlock it before it totally unraveled and disappeared! Many cups of tea and biscuits later the dress was finally done just in time for a family party next weekend. I even had some left over fabric to customize some ballet pumps! If anyone has any hints and tips regarding sewing with crapes I would be very grateful!

I often get a lot of inspiration from a blog called ‘The Sew Weekly’. It started last year, and was one womans mission to make a new outfit every week, with a goal to having 52 dresses/outfits by the end of the year. She met her goal and now has started a whole community of weekly sewers! Its fun to read and lust over all the nifty dresses (often using old vintage patterns). I recommend a gander!

I am an avid follower of the so-called chappist revolution. If you have never seen or read The Chap Magazine I urge you to go to your local newsagent and track a copy down, you won’t be disappointed. It encompasses many of my favorite things…styled facial hair, cravats and (most importantly) tweed! In my world tweed is king.

Imagine my delight when I received a request for a commission for a tweed gents bag! It was designed as a large satchel; enough to fit an A4 document holder, textbooks or even a laptop. Designed with a busy young man in mind, lots of pockets to stash notebooks, pens, and gadgets. It had the strength of the tweed, which benefited from some additional reinforcement and was lined with a pistachio silk and cotton stripe.

I am not skilled enough to stitch leather (nor do I have the space in our little city apartment for the machines). I found a small independent saddlers in Buckinghamshire who could provide the strap.  The bag is finished with antique brass buckles, and magnetic clasps.

I am available to take commissions for bags, please feel free to email me for prices and timescales. Each bag is unique and can be constructed from a wide range of fabrics and materials.

Greetings interweb blog faces, welcome to the new home for creative musing from  Gina’s chaotic and chintz obsessed brain!

For the past six months I have filled my world with textiles, creating my own patterns  and collecting interesting fabrics, buttons and trims. A couple of weekends ago I collaborated with my very good friend and ex-housemate on a series of photographs featuring my recent creative stitchings. Well, when I say collaborated…I mean sat about drinking tea and biscuits and gossiping. You can have a gander at Miss Windridge’s lush blog; to sea in a sieve and follow her creative exploits.

Very shortly my products will find their way to my new website www.luluandyou.com and you will be able to buy them/or commission me via my etsy store. But for now here is a sneaky peak at some of the items that I have created for S/S  2011:

My previous blog is still alive, and I intend to leave it running but will cease to update it. I will hopefully keep this blog updated on a weekly basis, so keep checking back for new musings/creative exploits/sewing adventures/other lovely beautiful things…..

Cheerio

Gina x