Latest uni work

To finish off my 3 week printing project after drawing in Kew Gardens and producing some heat transfer print samples, I photoshopped some of my designs onto images from Elle Decoration, and the internet. Usually I just visualise my designs for interiors, but this time I thought I'd try some out for fashion as well, and I quite like the results!

There's now less than two weeks left of my first year at university which is crazy! Feels like I just moved into my student halls and now I'm moving out! I can't wait to get back to London and relax though. 

xxx 

Colour

Been doing lots of colour exercises lately to build up a folder of inspiring colour schemes and I've really enjoyed it. It makes me feel like a child again, getting to just "play" with mixing paints and making my favourite colours.

Finally fully recovered from tonsillitis and back at uni, so should have more time to blog once I've caught up with work!

xx

Paris illustrations

I'm in the middle of my three week embroidery block, learning machine and hand embroidery techniques. The title of the project is "architecture" and I chose to look at Parisian architecture - I just think it's so beautiful. Here are some photos of pages in my sketchbook... most of them were done quickly due to the length of this project!

And here's a little Eiffel Twoer that I sewed while learning how to applique. I think it's quite cute :)

I'm going to Paris in 3 weeks with my university and I'm so excited! The trip has landed on my 20th birthday, which will make it even more fun. I can't believe I'm going to be 20! No longer a teenager...

xx

Uni work

Some quick snaps I took of my sketchbook a couple of weeks ago the day before my deadline. This was just a 4 week drawing project, so I haven't completed any "final pieces" yet, but I will do for my current project. I've been doing transfer heat printing for the last two days which has been really fun!

Thank you for all your lovely comments in the last post. They made me feel a lot better!
xxx

Exhibition Space

Hello my lovelies!

Sorry I haven't done a proper post for a few days! I've been super busy with my exhibition. There's only 2 days left of it and then I'll be free! I can't believe how fast this year has gone. It will be kind of sad to be leaving this university, but I'm looking forward to starting at a new one soon! I took some quick photos of my exhibition space with my point and shoot before it ran out of batteries.
You can see some of the developments of the project here.

My hammock is hung kind of strangely because of the lack of space. I was actually lucky enough to get more space than a lot of people!

I set up a "picnic" underneath with my printed blanket, napkins and my sketchbook and comments book. It was fun reading the comments people have left so far. Someone wrote "Where's the food?". Haha, that made me laugh.

I also found out my grade for my whole art foundation on Friday and it turns out I got a distinction! :) It's graded either fail, pass, merit or distinction, so I'm really happy.

I just wanted to show you the cutest card ever that my friend gave me...

The dog came in a normal sized envelope and stands up. And it is holding a mini letter in its mouth! So cute. Mini things make me so happy!

My best friend is coming back from her gap year travels in South East Asia today! She's been there for five months, wow. I hope you have a happy day in this hot sunny weather (if you're in the UK!)

xxxxxx

Let's have a picnic

Here are a few photos (taken by me) from the photoshoot of my fabrics.

A hammock, two floor cushions, picnic blanket (unfinished!), paper napkins, placemats.

I plan to line the picnic hamper with the fabric that I for the picnic blanket for my exhibition. It was basically a spare piece of fabric that I did a quick and simple print on at the end.

Unfortunately the model is sitting on my favourite cushion (my fault!). But you can kind of see it in another photo.

I'm also going to colour co-ordinate all the plates and things for the exhibition.

It was such a hot day!

Let me know what you think - positive or negative!

A close-up of the paper napkins

lots of love xxx

My studio space

Thursday is my last day at college, when we have to clear out our studio. So I started taking some my samples and worksheets home today and we took some photos. It was really sad clearing out all the work for the last time. My friend and I share a table (I'm on the left and only my side is shown). My work just kind of spreads over as much wall space as I can get away with! There's basically no storage space apart from a tiny locker outside so this is the only way I can keep my paper flat!

My friend and I have 13 big pots of printing ink mixed up between us...

The strip of fabric where I sample my colours as I mix them (as you can tell, it took me a long time to get the "right green"!)...

At home I'm such a neat freak, so I don't know how this happened...

Whenever my friend or I need to do some cutting on a mat, or a drawing, we have to go to someone else's desk to do it. Because ours is literally about a foot high in fabric/ paper/ chocolate wrappers.

I don't want to leave college :( It feels like I've only just started! A year isn't long enough.
Last week I had soo many ideas for posts. And this week my brain is empty. So I hope this isn't too boring! I'm sure some ideas will come to me soon. I have plans to do some shopping this week so maybe I'll post my purchases!

Lots of love xxx

3 textile design books

Hey hey lovelies! So this is the first post where I have done a review/ comparison. I thought it might be useful if you were interested in textiles, whether professionally or if you just admire such things! These books also make lovely presents/ coffee table books/ to flick through for inspiration. These are three up-to-date textile design books that I have obtained in the last 3 months. The first I got for my birthday and the other two I bought myself from Amazon. I apologise in advance - this is going to be quite a long post!

1

Firstly, Textiles Now by Drusilla Cole, published in 2008. This is a beautiful, good quality book with gorgeous flocked trees on the cover. It is split into three chapters: Constructed Textiles; Dyed, Painted and Printed; and Mixed Media and Stitched (I've taken a photo of a page spread from each chapter).

This book has the most diverse range of textiles, with more fine art-style pieces as well as product type designs. There is a detailed description of each piece - how it was made, its materials and size.

Right now I am concentrated on printed textiles at college but this book will be useful for me next year when I have to try out embroidery, weave, knit etc. I have to say I do prefer Patterns by Drusilla Cole, but that is simply because I'm more interested in patterned textiles.

2

Print & Pattern by Bowie Style (published 2010) is my favourite book out of the three. It has a gorgeous layout and design but most of all, it's the choice of textile designers that makes me go WOW. If you're unsure whether or not you'll like this book, check out her blog, as her style and taste is very consistent. This was actually the first blog I ever came across after my art teacher recommended it to me 2 years ago, and I am still following it now.

Back to the book.. it contains well-known designers and companies as well as less famous ones, arranged in alphabetical order. I like the way the background of the artist is often mentioned, for example at which university they studied textiles. This is really interesting to me as I'm just entering the world of textiles!

The page spreads are truly beautiful - I found it hardest to narrow down the photographs from this book! Each page shows a few designs from the artist/ company and some information about them.It is more commerical textiles based than the previous book, but that is the type of design that I am interested in!

I think that anyone arty would enjoy this book. It is lovely to flick through and have a quick read. It would make a good "coffee table book!"

3

Patterns published by BooQs is slightly different to the other two books. It is not a British based book (it was published in Belgium and is translated into 4 different languages throughout). It is less clearly laid out but there are so many diverse patterns that it is so useful. I think this is perfect for a printed textiles student as it's so easy to pick up and flick through for inspiration - there are so many different styles of mark making and design that there is always something to link to a project.

It is split into four chapters: Inspired by Nature, Animal World, Man and his Magical World, and Kaleidoscope. This is useful as, for example, I looked through the Animal section for help for my project at the moment and found plenty to influence me.

There is no information about each pattern or the designer, but their name and website is next to each pattern so it is easy to look them up on the internet and do more research on them if needed.

This book is best for students studying printed textiles, designers, or just anyone interested in pattern!

(I apologise for my fingers in these pictures! It was impossible to keep open without holding it! And you can tell I had just tried out my friend's nail polishes!)

So overall my favourite is Print & Pattern, as I love so many of the designs and I think that so many people would enjoy this - not students and designers!

xxx