You can now buy my products online!

A quick update to say the shop element of London Property Makeover is now online with four of my designs available for purchase.

London Property Makeover has teamed up with Stylist to offer this fantastic competition, check it out here.

I am also gathering information on a number of potential stockists within the Lancashire area of the UK. Fingers crossed something will come of this. I’ll keep you posted…

Q and A with Karen Stones

Karen from London Property Makeover asked to do a question and answer session with me for her blog. Take a look here. Hope you enjoy an insight into my thought processes and creative practice.

If you like what you see you might also want to 'Like' Sarah-Jane Embroidery and London Property Makeover on Facebook

Have your cake and eat it...

So I know it’s not textiles related but I guess it’s still creative. A couple of weeks ago it was my friend Susie’s hen party. As it was quite a civilised occasion, I decided to make hen party themed cupcakes. We had 'L' plates and then pretty glitter and flowers too...

London Property Makeover

I am now listed on this website London Property Makeover. Take a nosy at this London-based interior designer who spotted my work at New Designers. She sent an email explaining that her own website was undergoing a makeover and she was hoping to have a retail section and ‘hot new designers’ section to her website. I jumped at the chance and sent her some fabric swatches for my degree show collection, ‘Mapping Nature’. She came back asking if I was able to make cushions using similar ideas. I sent some samples which she loved! (YAY!) I’m in the process of creating some more designs and the retail section should go live in the next month. I’ll keep you posted. For now, check out my profile.

Course 2: Soft Furnishings

On Monday I had my first class of Soft Furnishing, another ten week course. I’m hoping to learn how to make curtains, roman blinds and basic things like zips & button-holes. Soon I’ll be able to add curtains and blinds to my repertoire! I hope!

This week we began wish the basic cushion (Which I am already capable of as you have seen!) but this cushion involves buttons for the fastening, now that I can do! I shall upload a picture when its done.

The Trend Boutique: Freelance Workshop

Yesterday I travelled down to Nottingham for an intense four-hour workshop on freelancing. What you can & cannot do the legalities or being self-employed, costing, working to a brief and allsorts in-between. It was an incredibly useful course but so intense! My mind was a mush afterwards. I shall have to have a good read through of my 34 sides of notes and 56 slide hand-out…

Course 1: Adobe Illustrator

So as my CAD skills are pretty rubbish I decided I should invest in improving them. So after looking through my CAD folder from uni I realised I probably had what I needed Photoshop-wise, it’s just a case of practice makes perfect…hopefully!

Illustrator on the other hand I realised I knew even less than I thought I did. So I enrolled on a course. Tonight I have my third class of ten and I am beginning to get the hang of it. Fingers crossed I remember it and it doesn’t seem to vanish from my brain like the Photoshop did…

WOW!!!!

On Wednesday I posted my first set of cushions which are to sold online via the website of a London-based interior designer. Today I received an email from the lady:

“I just picked up your cushions from the post office and I absolutely LOVE them! I love the quality…I would be proud to put them on my website as they are such good quality.”

WOW!!! I’m absolutely ecstatic! So, so happy! And she wants more!

I shall post the link as soon as I have it.

The Festival Of Quilts, NEC, Birmingham, 13th August

The Festival of Quilts

Whilst I was putting up my degree show exhibition, one of the lecturers who I rarely see suggested that I submit work for the Festival of Quilts exhibition. However, when I got home and checked the internet I was too late for this year. So I decided it would be worth going along to this year’s exhibition so get a feel for the type of work submitted etc.

I went to the exhibition in 2009 after winning tickets through Embroidery magazine. I wondered what it was going to be, imagining drab, old-fashioned patchwork. However, it was quite beyond my expectations. Yes, there was plenty of traditional patchwork to be seen, but there were also more contemporary pieces, many involving fabric manipulation and folding techniques, which I thought, were lovely. It was this visit it 2009 which influenced the quilting and white-work elements of my second year work.

So off I went with a fresh head going to check out the competition so to speak. However, I was a bit disappointed to be honest. There were so many pieces that I thought, “I’ve seen that before.” There were so many pieces, which were very similar to 2009 exhibits just in slightly different colour ways. It certainly didn’t give me the inspiration that the 2009 event had which greatly disappointed me..

So who knows whether I will give the 2012 Festival of Quilts a go, maybe. I’m just not sure my quilt-works are not too contemporary – I guess my pieces are quilts in as far as I use two pieces of fabric with wadding sandwiched between…but that’s as far as it goes…

There were a few pieces which did stand out though:

‘Hot Africa’ was a winning piece, by Janneke de Vries-Bodzinga (Winner of Art Quilt, Pictorial Quilt and Best in Show). It’s not my cup of tea in terms of the style but it is beautifully done and it must take some skill to patch together shading and toning like that. I would certainly struggle! My favourite part of this quilt is the sun which I have taken a close up image of. The detail is amazing!

 I can’t remember which piece this was from and don’t seem to have a whole quilt photo either which is a pain. It’s the texture that I love, all those pleats and folds have been masterfully created; beautiful.

 Embroidered fabric envelopes – wow. What a beautiful idea. These would be wonderful for storing little bit and pieces in, jewellery perhaps. It’s a lovely eco-friendly idea, we could all re-use our birthday envelopes – obviously highly impractical if posting and it might help if cards were a generic size…  This was a project from studio 21 a co-operative of artists who create continuum pieces. They had a workshop area with huge lengths of fabric which you c thought it would be a brilliant idea for a community project particularly for children allowing everyone to make their own mark.

  ‘Heartache and Hope’ was inspired by the Threads of Feeling exhibition at the “Foundling Museum and the thought of handing your child over, hoping to be reunited in better times” (Creative Exhibitions, 2011, The Competition Catalogue) I visited this exhibition back in January. It’s a lovely piece and I thought it was nice to see something which came about through a response to such an emotive exhibition. Well done Jackie Smith! 

Home Sweet Home

So I’m back from a lovely holiday in France, chilled out and relaxed. Now it’s back to the grind stone!

I took my sketchbook on holiday with me. The place I stayed, Pechambert is somewhere I have been to for the past eight years with my family and I have often taken my school/college/uni textiles work with me. It has always been quite an inspirational place to be, set it the heart of the French countryside. All you can see you miles around are field after field after field and a lot of sunflowers. :)

This year I didn’t draw as much as I would normally. I think my creativity took a holiday this time too (First time in a long long time!) It was wonderful to chill out though and actually read a book for once (‘The Peppered Moth‘ by Margaret Drabble – I’m still not sure where it’s going three-quarters of the way in!!)

Beauville, the village near Pechambert where we go to get fresh bread every day is beautiful and idyllic. I’ve always thought it to be very beautiful and quaint. I think this year will have been my final visit to Pechambert so I thought it would be a good idea to stock up on interesting photographs of Beauville for a potential future project. Watch this space!

Here are a few of the photos:

New Designers

Well what a week New Designers was! Such excitement but so exhausting!

The Monday and Tuesday were spent setting up our stand. The tutors had a vague plan of who’s work would be where and we got started. The plan was to hang one or two of my larger fabrics with them flowing onto plinths and then have the remainder of the fabrics folded on the plinths.

I tried one arrangement and left it to think about overnight.

On the Tuesday I came back to it and after a discussion with my tutor, we decided it was not right. She suggested having my fabrics folded as this would show them off more for their intended use: interiors.

The Wednesday was all about judging, press, awards, and celebrating! Laura Davenport from the Textile Design course at Huddersfield won an award, the ‘New Designers Wilkinson Award for Commercial Surface Design’. We were all so happy for her! The award meant it brought lots of people to our stand and so perhaps helped the rest of us gain more interest? Who knows but it was all wonderfully exciting.



Laura receiving her award



The whole New Designers event was sponsored by Absolut vodka, so yummy drinks for us on awards night!

After New Designers had closed there was an after party at a local bar for all exhibitors. We popped along for a few drinks and a dance after a quick bite to eat.

Getting the tube home again.
(L-R: Sophie, Claire, Laura, Melody, Khadijah)

Thursday was the first main day in terms of visitors. This is when New Designers opened to the public. Friday was busy too with employers, press and a lot of school groups. Saturday was the quietest with less press/employers around.

I made some excellent contacts and received some wonderful feedback which I found very encouraging. I have followed up all my contacts today so fingers crossed I hear from them soon! Wish me luck!

I got a 2:1!!!!

It was results day on Tuesday and I have officially graduated with a 2:1 BA Hons in Textile Crafts!!!!

For my final major project, I got a first too! Absolutely over the moon!

Press Pack

I collected my press pack from the printers today all ready for New Designers next week. It looks great! I am so happy with it. Now let’s just hope the press want it and someone does a feature on me.

Opening night!

The VIP opening of the degree show was held on Friday 17^th. It was such a lovely evening, showing off our hard work and celebrating with family and friends. Everyone got dressed up for the event and we all had a wonderful evening (even if our feet were dying by the end of it all!!!)

Me & Nicola

Me & Cat

Granny came to see my exhibition :)

Granny having an inspection of my work

I have a place at New Designers!!!

I am incredibly lucky to have been selected to take my degree show collection down to part 1 of New Designers. I could not believe it. I was desperate to get a place and worked so hard in the hope I might get a place, you cannot imagine how excited I was when I found out!

So there I shall be, 30^th June - 2^nd July on stand T4 with the University of Huddersfield. For information on tickets follow the link below.

New Designers Tickets



Exhibition!

Putting up the exhibition was a mammoth task and far more tricky than I could have imagined. I went in with an idea of how to display my work; I wanted it suspended from the ceiling, hanging away from the wall, with pieces overlapping each other.

It ended up suspended but on an angle so the piece were parallel to one another but coming away from the wall diagonally into the room.

I’m really happy with my exhibition. I feel it shows my fabrics off wonderfully and bringing them in together really emphasises that they are a collection.

Exhibition space with supporting work

Final Collection, Photo shoots and Contextualising

As my work can be seen in a number of contexts, after a discussion with my tutor it was decided that it would be good to create a number of visualisations to show which context my fabric collection could fit into.

I’d already thought that a photo shoot would be a good idea, taking my finished fabrics back to the woods where the inspiration came from.  Before-hand, I went to check out some locations, looking for trees with low enough branches to drape fabrics from and areas of dappled sunlight.

I decided that if I was able to get one, a model would be an excellent idea to show how my fabrics could be used for fashion rather than doing this as a visualisation.

The whole photo shoot experience was so much fun! I got some really great shots and really enjoyed the styling process. Maybe I’ve found a new direction?!

Visualisation of Intended use: Fabric wall feature

Visualisation: Alternative interiors use.

Visualisation: Alternative interiors use.

Sample 11

As part of my degree we have to produce an exhibition catalogue. The course does one which you can take part in (for a cost) or you can produce your own. Everyone this year took part in Sample 11.

We were allocated one double page spread each and we had to figure out how we wanted to assemble our pages.

When we received the images from the photoshoot, I played around with numerous layout ideas. We were also asked to include a quote which summed up our practice.

The theme on which a piece of work is based is not always explicit…it allows the viewer to use their imagination and form their own ideas.

This is what my page looks like. We received our catalogues last week J

Photography: ©andrewf.com
ISBN: 978-1-86218-095-6
Publisher: The University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, Huddersfield HD1 3DH

Photoshoot

As part of my course at uni, we have an exhibition catalogue which goes alongside the final degree show. As part of the process we take part in a professional photoshoot.

I was given 45 minutes to set up my work, followed by a 45 minute shoot. The experience was fantastic! I’ve never done anything like that before so it was a really useful experience.

Before the shoot I looked at my studio space and the way I worked and displayed my work around me. I saw that I had quite a busy space with lots of layering going on and with draped fabrics.

I thought about how I could use some of these ideas for my photoshoot, knowing that the venue would not allow us to pin our work into the walls. I thought about finding some form of batton or pole to drape my fabrics over and experimented with this idea by making use of the piping running along the studio walls.

After discussing ideas for the photoshoot with my tutor I decided that because I want to work on commissions it might be a good idea to present my shoot as though I was having a meeting with a client. I could lay my designs out on their dining table as if to say, “Look, this is what I am capable of.”

So then I went off and looked at tables. Firstly, it had to be something I could easily get hold of for an afternoon. Secondly, it would have to fit in a car. Thirdly, I wanted it to look like a dining table, but not a cheap looking one – something that was old, and loved and you might find in the house of my clients. Based on the fact that my work is so detailed and time-consuming, my clients would need to have a large disposable income. Therefore, I felt this should come across in the table.

Now I had a look at two tables in particular, the old dining table from home which I now use as a desk. This table has been passed on through three generations so I expect it is quite valuable. This was the table I envisaged using when I first had the idea of using a table. However, I had to consider whether it would fit in a car in order to get it to Huddersfield for the shoot.

The next table I looked at was one belonging to my grandma. It’s a gate-leg table so I knew it would fit into a car.

I settled on using the first table from home. So on the day of the shoot, my Dad drove over to Huddersfield with the table and a chair. I found a suitable place in the room to set up my table beneath a window. In the room we were using for the shoot I found a pin-board which just fit into the window frame – perfect! I used the board to pin fabrics to and recreated my studio space.

Each student was assigned a second year student to help us. I asked Clair to take photographs for me as we went along putting up my work and throughout the shoot. I was very lucky in that I had my Dad at the shoot too so I asked him to bring his camera and take photos. Between the three of us I ended up with over 200 photos!

Here are some of the shots from the day...