Tuesday 29 November 2011

Comfort Sewing.


Autumnal poppy fascinator bands., originally uploaded by Wychbury.
My loft studio is often cold in winter and I drive my entire family batty by gradually migrating downstairs through the course of the season! What I have noticed in recent weeks is that my style of working has altered to accomodate this, right down to the type of pieces I am designing and producing. My Remembrance Poppies involve only handstitching and no machine so can be produced curled up on the sofa with a blanket and a cuppa!
The Poppy range went mad this year and all I seemed to do for weeks was to sew black seed beads onto deep red flowers. What was suprising to me was that rather than being bored I was actually rather comforted by continuously repeating the processes of making such a familiar and well loved design.
Designing and making individual pieces, although inspiring is sometimes daunting to me too. What if no one likes it? What was I thinking? That was really hard to make - is it worth it? The poppies though, no such worries. The are beautifully tactile, richly coloured, tried and tested and honestly - a delight to make. I'd already dipped my toe in the idea of producing other versions of the Poppy design through the Ghost Poppy/Grey Lady Fascinator band I made around Halloween time so when Goose and the Moose Gallery at Malton asked for more fascinators in other colours, it seemed a good time to make some more. I love the big faceted bead on the the 2011 Remembrance Poppies so ordered some other colours with a view to making some rich, Autumnal combinations. I've also used bugle beads instead of seed beads on some designs to add to the opulance of the design for the Christmas season.
These fascinators have gone off to Malton now but I feel I have a new reason to stay by the fire and am producing corsages in these designs. These will be available shortly on Folksy and Etsy as well as our fantastic stockists all over Yorkshire.
Keep warm this winter, grab your work box, put the kettle on and get comfy!

Paula x