Showing posts with label design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label design. Show all posts
Monday, December 13, 2010
A Tribute to McQueen
A stunning tribute to the late designer Alexander McQueen by photographer Nick Knight, with music by Björk. Knight uses a series of black models wearing important McQueen gowns to celebrate McQueen's creativity, while Björk wails as only she can.
Friday, November 19, 2010
The Golden Age of Travel Design
While web surfing recently I discovered David Levine's amazing collection of 1920s and 30s travel ephemera (luggage labels, advertising, timetables etc). Interested in graphic design and the romance of the travel of the era, Levine has amassed a huge collection of travel ephemera on paper. These pics are largely scans of his collection, rather than ones Levine found on the internet. The design of the website itself is quite simplistic but whoa, it's quiet some collection.
Travel brochure Ook Uverwacht men in...Sportpark en Natuurbad Biltsche Duinen, 1933.
Sabena Airlines, 1938.
Timetable Adriatic Service, 1938. Yugoslavia.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Rainy Day Beauty
It's been a dull and rainy day today in Sydney, fluctuating between drizzle and downpour it essentially hasn't relented all day. As a consequence I've been relentlessly sedentary all day. It was the least I could do. The most active thing I did was get started on knitting a new scarf for myself, while I watched Season 4 episodes of Mad Men or surfed the web.
While I was surfing the web I came across a fantastic UK website choc full of visual arts and design collections, VADS: an online visual arts resource. Wow. Designed as an educational resource it is a compendium of collections owned by various educational institutions. I'm still trawling through the thousands and thousands of images, but some of my early favourite collections are:
The British Library's Russian Visual Arts, 1814 - 1909 collection.
I'm also loving two of the London College of Fashion's collections, firstly the Woolmark collection.
Secondly, the awesome Paper Patterns collection.
Next I plan on staring open mouthed at the loveliness in the Central St Martins Museum & Study collection, the The Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi (Medieval Stained Glass in Great Britain) collection and the Charles Rennie Macintosh's Northern Italian Sketchbook collection. To name just a few...
While I was surfing the web I came across a fantastic UK website choc full of visual arts and design collections, VADS: an online visual arts resource. Wow. Designed as an educational resource it is a compendium of collections owned by various educational institutions. I'm still trawling through the thousands and thousands of images, but some of my early favourite collections are:
The British Library's Russian Visual Arts, 1814 - 1909 collection.
Zhar-ptitsa’ by Polenova, Elena Dmitrievna, (1850-1898)
I'm also loving two of the London College of Fashion's collections, firstly the Woolmark collection.
Hardie Amies, 1956.
Chloe, 1966.
Secondly, the awesome Paper Patterns collection.
McCalls, 1936.
Vogue, 1957.
Next I plan on staring open mouthed at the loveliness in the Central St Martins Museum & Study collection, the The Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi (Medieval Stained Glass in Great Britain) collection and the Charles Rennie Macintosh's Northern Italian Sketchbook collection. To name just a few...
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Husband Material
Every now and then, amongst a sea of black/grey/brown/navy menswear modelled by hollow cheeked 20 year olds with 28" waists, I'll spot something different that makes me sit up a little straighter and take notice. Anthony Keegan of the fashion label Commonwealth Utilities spiced up my morning when I spotted this trio of hockey player-thighed Fantasy Husbands he sent down the Fall 2010 runway amongst the bevvy of whippet thin 20 year olds.
I'm getting a Sunday morning just rolled out of bed and threw some socks and knitwear on over the long johns to grab the paper/let the dog out for a pee/put the coffee maker on sort of vibe.
With a bit of a honey, while I'm up do you want sourdough toast or a bagel? thing going on too.
Or maybe that's just me.
I'm getting a Sunday morning just rolled out of bed and threw some socks and knitwear on over the long johns to grab the paper/let the dog out for a pee/put the coffee maker on sort of vibe.
With a bit of a honey, while I'm up do you want sourdough toast or a bagel? thing going on too.
Or maybe that's just me.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Inspired
One of my favourite design blogs Desire To Inspire has a weekly feature that is absolutely slaying me. Simply called "Pets on furniture" it does exactly what it says on the tin. There's pets, and they're on furniture.
But oh, the puppehs. (And sometimes, oh the furniture!)
Case in point:
"Here is my dog Baron on our Chesterfield. Sometimes I come home and see him sitting like that waiting for me! He's about 100 pounds at 18 months and cuddly like a teddy bear."
- Jeanette
I need to cuddle Baron immediately, once I've fetched him his pipe and slippers that is.
But oh, the puppehs. (And sometimes, oh the furniture!)
Case in point:
"Here is my dog Baron on our Chesterfield. Sometimes I come home and see him sitting like that waiting for me! He's about 100 pounds at 18 months and cuddly like a teddy bear."
- Jeanette
I need to cuddle Baron immediately, once I've fetched him his pipe and slippers that is.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
A Little Piece
Nomotta yarns were right, a little piece of you does go into everything you knit!
Here's a pic of something that a lot of me went into, the 'Logan' oversized neckwarmer that I designed and sample knitted for the Autumn fashion windows at the store I work at:
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It's not overly complicated, essentially just a huge tube of 2x2 rib, but I wanted it to be something that was dramatic and a real statement piece. (This is not a child's mannequin I shot this on, but a full sized adult one. This thing is BIG.)
I was inspired by some of the chunky knits that have made their way down catwalks recently, and by some of the early works of Sandra Backlund, so I worked this in 2 strands of 8ply (aka 'double knit') held double on chunky circular needles. Even with the chunky needles it soaked up the yarn like a sponge (12 balls in total) and took me quite a while to knit. Knitting to a deadline is not as much fun as knitting for pleasure, and as the deadline for the window display approached I spent much of my free time knitting this behemoth.
I was originally going to make it a bit smaller, but our in house designer suggested I really go for it dimensions wise. I was worried that it wouldn't work after I cast it off as being rib it stretches out to a HUGE size when you hold it up, but I always imagined it as something that could be twisted up dramatically like this, or pulled up as a hood. Combined with the other 4 garments in the window (all variations on this tubular neckwarmer/cowl idea or big textured wraps) it makes a really dramatic statement and is probably one of the more high fashion windows we've tried. I've noticed lots of younger women stopping to look at them, and we've already had offers to buy the samples outright (including one woman who wanted all of them).
We've had a whole second set of samples made for our Melbourne store in different colours (their "Logan" is a warm French grey), which thankfully I didn't have to knit. Tomorrow I'm catching the red eye to Melbourne to do a store visit, look at how we can improve their visual merchandising in general, and help install their version of the windows. Fun!
Except for the bit where I have to be at the airport at 6.10am...
Monday, December 07, 2009
Suits You, Sir
Photo by David Siljper for the NYTimes.
Photo by David Siljper for the NYTimes.
Photo by David Siljper for the NYTimes.
Moschino, F/W '09-'10
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Roughing It
Aside from my involvement with the knit in for Wrap With Love, a few other things have collided recently to make me think a lot more about the plight of the homeless.
A month (or so) ago I was watching a kind of naff, but still tearjerky, show called "Random Acts Of Kindness" on our local tv. I hadn't watched the show before, but I knew the way it went down. I've watched Oprah, Backyard Blitz et al. I knew the drill, people who work tirelessly for others/have special needs/have suffered a tragedy are given things/money/a new backyard to thank them/perk them up/put them back on the road to recovery. Yes I sound cynical, but in truth I'm kind of a sucker for these sorts of things and I always end up in floods of tears. Even when it's only a new outdoor entertaining area/bbq/poolside Indonesian style cabana/beds of ubiquitous cordylines.
So I was watching "Random Acts Of Kindness" when they did a segment with a woman called Sarah Garnett. One night, while Sarah was helping out by serving meals to the homeless, she spotted a homeless man reading a paperback novel under a streetlamp. She started to bring him other books to read, and from that was sown the idea of the Bejamin Andrew Footpath Library. By 2003 the library was born, bringing a weekly collection of books to the street for homeless people to read. Hopefully they return them, but they're not under any obligation to.
The show did lots for her and her volunteer organisation, gave them storage space, petrol vouchers, a new minivan, a computer, etc. Obviously lots more than she expected, and frankly all sensible things that would make the organisation thrive and her life easier. But it was the idea that blew me away. Books for the homeless.
What must it be like to spend days and nights on the streets? Largely invisible to everyone, with few people to talk to and little opportunity for social contact and just some escape? Like Sarah I agree that books can be affirming, entertaining, life changing things and why not bring a little of this to someone who is on the streets? Aside from food, shelter and fatigue, boredom and isolation are apparently some of the hardest things for the homeless.
The other thing I saw on tv was a woman called Jean Madden who brought in her Street Swag to compete on the "New Inventors" show. She didn't win, but she did win the people's choice award and according to a radio interview I heard with her today, she's the only Australian who has been invited this year to take her invention to a prestigious international design competition.
In her dealings with the Brisbane homeless she discovered that fatigue was a big issue for those roughing it on the streets. Many of the homeless have managed to suss out obtaining food, but shelter and rest are much harder. She had the idea to take the great Aussie swag (a portable bedroll and shelter in one) and refine the design so that a homeless person could have a portable shelter during the evening, and a discrete bag to carry belongings in during the day. (Including a book, perhaps?)
She designed a few prototypes, designing them to be simple and cost effective to make, and gave them to some homeless folk she knew, using their feedback to improve them. Making them a camouflage colour so they are hard to spot in greenery at night, and reducing the thickness of the mattress to make more room for possessions, for instance. She has now distributed thousands of them to homeless in many parts of Australia, and has them made by prisoners in jail who in turn receive credit towards a textiles manufacturing certificate.
Again, what an amazing idea. Both ideas aimed at improving the wellbeing of people on the streets. Food and shelter are the obvious fundamental things one thinks of, but boredom and fatigue would have enormous impacts on the mental and physical health of the homeless. Simple ideas making big quality of life changes. I take my hat off to these amazing women.
A month (or so) ago I was watching a kind of naff, but still tearjerky, show called "Random Acts Of Kindness" on our local tv. I hadn't watched the show before, but I knew the way it went down. I've watched Oprah, Backyard Blitz et al. I knew the drill, people who work tirelessly for others/have special needs/have suffered a tragedy are given things/money/a new backyard to thank them/perk them up/put them back on the road to recovery. Yes I sound cynical, but in truth I'm kind of a sucker for these sorts of things and I always end up in floods of tears. Even when it's only a new outdoor entertaining area/bbq/poolside Indonesian style cabana/beds of ubiquitous cordylines.
So I was watching "Random Acts Of Kindness" when they did a segment with a woman called Sarah Garnett. One night, while Sarah was helping out by serving meals to the homeless, she spotted a homeless man reading a paperback novel under a streetlamp. She started to bring him other books to read, and from that was sown the idea of the Bejamin Andrew Footpath Library. By 2003 the library was born, bringing a weekly collection of books to the street for homeless people to read. Hopefully they return them, but they're not under any obligation to.
The show did lots for her and her volunteer organisation, gave them storage space, petrol vouchers, a new minivan, a computer, etc. Obviously lots more than she expected, and frankly all sensible things that would make the organisation thrive and her life easier. But it was the idea that blew me away. Books for the homeless.
What must it be like to spend days and nights on the streets? Largely invisible to everyone, with few people to talk to and little opportunity for social contact and just some escape? Like Sarah I agree that books can be affirming, entertaining, life changing things and why not bring a little of this to someone who is on the streets? Aside from food, shelter and fatigue, boredom and isolation are apparently some of the hardest things for the homeless.
The other thing I saw on tv was a woman called Jean Madden who brought in her Street Swag to compete on the "New Inventors" show. She didn't win, but she did win the people's choice award and according to a radio interview I heard with her today, she's the only Australian who has been invited this year to take her invention to a prestigious international design competition.
In her dealings with the Brisbane homeless she discovered that fatigue was a big issue for those roughing it on the streets. Many of the homeless have managed to suss out obtaining food, but shelter and rest are much harder. She had the idea to take the great Aussie swag (a portable bedroll and shelter in one) and refine the design so that a homeless person could have a portable shelter during the evening, and a discrete bag to carry belongings in during the day. (Including a book, perhaps?)
She designed a few prototypes, designing them to be simple and cost effective to make, and gave them to some homeless folk she knew, using their feedback to improve them. Making them a camouflage colour so they are hard to spot in greenery at night, and reducing the thickness of the mattress to make more room for possessions, for instance. She has now distributed thousands of them to homeless in many parts of Australia, and has them made by prisoners in jail who in turn receive credit towards a textiles manufacturing certificate.
Again, what an amazing idea. Both ideas aimed at improving the wellbeing of people on the streets. Food and shelter are the obvious fundamental things one thinks of, but boredom and fatigue would have enormous impacts on the mental and physical health of the homeless. Simple ideas making big quality of life changes. I take my hat off to these amazing women.
Monday, August 03, 2009
Imitiation, The Sincerest Form Of Flattery Or Not?
I would say, not.
I had my own little experience with plagiarism when a Belgian craft company ripped off one of my knitting photos from Flickr to use in their product catalogue. Something I never would have spotted if an eagle eyed Flickr viewer hadn't spotted the picture, thought it looked familiar, tracked it down to my profile, and even scanned a copy of the brochure and then sent it to me as proof. I've got to tell you, I didn't feel flattered, I felt really pissed off.
When I used to be involved in historical re-enactment I wrote a series of articles for our local group's 'zine about hat making and garment construction, only to find out through a reader that another group was photocopying them right out of the 'zine, cutting and then pasting them into their own 'zine, without ever having had the courtesy to ask. I would have sent them originals to use if they had only asked, instead I got bent out of shape and told them to stop.
There must be many, many instances where creative people have their images and ideas ripped off. However, ripping them off for advertising or products just increases the likelihood that someone, somewhere along the line is going to spot it. So I find the blatant plagiarism documented on this blog post and this website astounding. Thankfully there are plenty of someones out there doing the spotting.
I had my own little experience with plagiarism when a Belgian craft company ripped off one of my knitting photos from Flickr to use in their product catalogue. Something I never would have spotted if an eagle eyed Flickr viewer hadn't spotted the picture, thought it looked familiar, tracked it down to my profile, and even scanned a copy of the brochure and then sent it to me as proof. I've got to tell you, I didn't feel flattered, I felt really pissed off.
When I used to be involved in historical re-enactment I wrote a series of articles for our local group's 'zine about hat making and garment construction, only to find out through a reader that another group was photocopying them right out of the 'zine, cutting and then pasting them into their own 'zine, without ever having had the courtesy to ask. I would have sent them originals to use if they had only asked, instead I got bent out of shape and told them to stop.
There must be many, many instances where creative people have their images and ideas ripped off. However, ripping them off for advertising or products just increases the likelihood that someone, somewhere along the line is going to spot it. So I find the blatant plagiarism documented on this blog post and this website astounding. Thankfully there are plenty of someones out there doing the spotting.
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Alchemy
While I've been sitting at home with my cold, or waiting for the phone to ring with offers of highly paid and fascinating employment, I've been knitting. There is something so therapeutic about the gentle interplay of needles and thread. The rhythmic click and clack, the unwinding of some more yarn from a ball or spindle, the feel of the yarn as it slides over and through your fingers. While I've been staying in and trying to gently shepherd my precious (as in scarce!) financial resources, knitting has provided a useful barrier between me and daytime tv.
Dumb tv is only half as dumb if you're only half watching.
Even better if you hit upon a project that grows like Topsy, instant gratification knitting! Two thin Japanese threads, one a slubby silk and the other a silk wrapped stainless steel filament, held together and knitted on chunkier 5mm needles. 20 stitches wide in simple garter stitch and going like the clappers!
Knit. Turn. Knit. Turn... A long, long skinny scarf with asymmetrical ends to be wound around and around, with a beautiful drape but a curious texture and heft from the stainless steel thread. A scarf that says part art fag and part this wearer knows their Rei Kawakubo from their Yohji Yamamoto. A scarf in haiku.
Not exactly spinning straw into gold but there is some sort of alchemy at work here. Stainless steel into fabric. Who would have thought?
Dumb tv is only half as dumb if you're only half watching.
Even better if you hit upon a project that grows like Topsy, instant gratification knitting! Two thin Japanese threads, one a slubby silk and the other a silk wrapped stainless steel filament, held together and knitted on chunkier 5mm needles. 20 stitches wide in simple garter stitch and going like the clappers!
Knit. Turn. Knit. Turn... A long, long skinny scarf with asymmetrical ends to be wound around and around, with a beautiful drape but a curious texture and heft from the stainless steel thread. A scarf that says part art fag and part this wearer knows their Rei Kawakubo from their Yohji Yamamoto. A scarf in haiku.
Not exactly spinning straw into gold but there is some sort of alchemy at work here. Stainless steel into fabric. Who would have thought?
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Lane Walking: Weekes Lane, Newtown
Looking at the bright clear light in these pictures it seems almost impossible that I only took these last month. I heard someone on the tv say that we've had 8 days of rain in the past 10 days. Really? Only 8? Blech, Winter I am over you already. Thankfully the Winter Solstice was a few days back and now it means we are on the gentle climb towards Spring.
Anyhoo, Weekes Lane. I love Weekes Lane! One of my friend's has a back garden courtyard and back gate that opens onto Weekes Lane, and the first time I visited I realised that Weekes Lane was something special. A bit of an art gallery of street art that is frequently changed and renewed. I have even seen guided tours of the lane during Sydney festival events. Some of the works I shot have gone already, been defaced or painted over.
But that is entirely the nature of the art. And one of the reasons I find it so exciting!
For me photographing these is a way of ensuring that when they are painted over or defaced, they can live on in my archives. With my memories of a bright sunny afternoon wandering with my camera.
[Click to see them full sized on Flickr.]
Anyhoo, Weekes Lane. I love Weekes Lane! One of my friend's has a back garden courtyard and back gate that opens onto Weekes Lane, and the first time I visited I realised that Weekes Lane was something special. A bit of an art gallery of street art that is frequently changed and renewed. I have even seen guided tours of the lane during Sydney festival events. Some of the works I shot have gone already, been defaced or painted over.
But that is entirely the nature of the art. And one of the reasons I find it so exciting!
For me photographing these is a way of ensuring that when they are painted over or defaced, they can live on in my archives. With my memories of a bright sunny afternoon wandering with my camera.
[Click to see them full sized on Flickr.]
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Speaking Of Jackets...
I love this jacket from the Fall 2009 collection by clothing label Rag & Bone. When I say I "love" this jacket... I mean I LOVE THIS JACKET. I want to make it my boo and leave it little love notes.
Want.
Actually, the whole collection is pretty faboo. Especially if you're a willowy boy with hollow cheeks who can carry off the funky 'ninja pants'. I have a soft spot for this classy long line jacket too:
Nice. Not terribly apropos for those of us blessed with hobbit proportions, but nice.
[Check out the rest of the collection on men.style.com]
Want.
Actually, the whole collection is pretty faboo. Especially if you're a willowy boy with hollow cheeks who can carry off the funky 'ninja pants'. I have a soft spot for this classy long line jacket too:
Nice. Not terribly apropos for those of us blessed with hobbit proportions, but nice.
[Check out the rest of the collection on men.style.com]
Monday, May 25, 2009
Project Rungay
Here's the way my mind works. I have a big, important project with a very definite short time frame - namely, job hunting. In truth I'm finding the thought of it a bit overwhelming. So of course I've been spending my time... learning pattern drafting and starting to design a jacket for myself. See how that works? La la la I'm not listening. Oh look, shiny!
(Actually I have sent off one application, and left a couple of messages with my old temp agency... but frankly I could be doing more.)
A few months back I bought a fab book Metric Pattern Cutting for Menswear by Winifred Aldrich. Winifred (don't you love it?) teaches you how to use standard measurements, or your own, to design all sorts of basic pattern blocks which can then be adapted to create unique designs. Given that my own shape is a somewhat unique design (short and stocky) I decided to use my measurements and draft some basic garment blocks.
First up the 'classic casual jacket' block, a close fitting jacket block with minimal shaping. So it's slightly boxy without being oversized. The shoulders fit the natural shoulder line, and the chest and hips are fairly close fitting. I also drafted the 'basic one-piece sleeve' block, then cut them both out of some scrap cotton I had and bunged them together. The cotton is a bit lightweight and wrinkly for the job, but it's what I had on hand. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that not only did the sleeve fit the armhole like a charm, but the entire thing fits me brilliantly.
Since then I've been tinkering with different collar designs (the one above is the 'standard convertible collar'), jacket length, whether to have a button or zip closure, pockets, and even epaulets. I have a lovely lightweight navy wool and I'm thinking of making a slightly military style hip length jacket, with epaulets and possibly 4 patch pockets. Fun! Thank you Winifred.
Tomorrow, job hunting. I promise.
(Actually I have sent off one application, and left a couple of messages with my old temp agency... but frankly I could be doing more.)
A few months back I bought a fab book Metric Pattern Cutting for Menswear by Winifred Aldrich. Winifred (don't you love it?) teaches you how to use standard measurements, or your own, to design all sorts of basic pattern blocks which can then be adapted to create unique designs. Given that my own shape is a somewhat unique design (short and stocky) I decided to use my measurements and draft some basic garment blocks.
First up the 'classic casual jacket' block, a close fitting jacket block with minimal shaping. So it's slightly boxy without being oversized. The shoulders fit the natural shoulder line, and the chest and hips are fairly close fitting. I also drafted the 'basic one-piece sleeve' block, then cut them both out of some scrap cotton I had and bunged them together. The cotton is a bit lightweight and wrinkly for the job, but it's what I had on hand. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that not only did the sleeve fit the armhole like a charm, but the entire thing fits me brilliantly.
Since then I've been tinkering with different collar designs (the one above is the 'standard convertible collar'), jacket length, whether to have a button or zip closure, pockets, and even epaulets. I have a lovely lightweight navy wool and I'm thinking of making a slightly military style hip length jacket, with epaulets and possibly 4 patch pockets. Fun! Thank you Winifred.
Tomorrow, job hunting. I promise.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Ludwig Hohlwein
New obsession! I love really strong, graphic poster design and I have always been especially drawn to those with an Art Nouveau or Art Deco flavour. Whether they are vintage Aussie travel posters, modern retro styled posters like the work of David Lance Goines, or vintage Russian posters, I love 'em all. I just discovered the work of German illustrator/designer Ludwig Hohlwein, 1874-1949. Hohlwein did all sorts of work in a variety of styles, including lots of propaganda posters for both world wars.
I'm not so drawn to his works of the little house painter, the evil creature that would bring his twisted ideology to the world. I do love his other works though, especially those like the ones above that use interlocking flat planes of colour and negative space to great effect.
His character driven advertising images were very popular, and personally I like it best when he used the looser style of flat watercolour washes.
I really like his graphic use of light and shade, and composition, and I think this beer ad is especially effective. Kind of brutal, but effective. (Pink, naked muscles and beer. Happy Mardi Gras everyone!)
Pretty birds! See, not all propaganda and big lugs with a beer attitude.
Try searching Google images for "Hans Hohlwein" and marvel at the variety and sheer volume of the man's output.
I'm not so drawn to his works of the little house painter, the evil creature that would bring his twisted ideology to the world. I do love his other works though, especially those like the ones above that use interlocking flat planes of colour and negative space to great effect.
His character driven advertising images were very popular, and personally I like it best when he used the looser style of flat watercolour washes.
I really like his graphic use of light and shade, and composition, and I think this beer ad is especially effective. Kind of brutal, but effective. (Pink, naked muscles and beer. Happy Mardi Gras everyone!)
Pretty birds! See, not all propaganda and big lugs with a beer attitude.
Try searching Google images for "Hans Hohlwein" and marvel at the variety and sheer volume of the man's output.
Monday, March 02, 2009
Stitch, Bitch.
Look what I made! I like to fool myself into believing that all I need to get organised is the right stuff. Plastic tubs. Things with dividers. Compartments. Pockets!
So I made myself a little knitting needle roll. Actually, I made two because I wanted to try making one to see if I could come up with a design that might be sell-worthy in the (soon to be) Etsy shop, and then I decided to make another as a birthday gift for a friend. They took a couple of evenings to make, in part because I was figuring out the design as I go.
I decided to use a fab thickish natural linen for the outside, and a funky retro styled fabric in greens and blacks that I bought as a remnant recently. It has 11 narrow pockets to hold a variety of needles, and I made the length of the pockets graduated from short to long to go from little sock needles to big like-knitting-with-a-pair-of-dildos chunky ones.
Do we like? I couldn't be happier with them if they bought me coffee and toast in bed, and then vacuumed. Oh yeah, and for the curved corners a cocktail glass turned out to be just the right diameter. THEY ARE SO USEFUL.
So I made myself a little knitting needle roll. Actually, I made two because I wanted to try making one to see if I could come up with a design that might be sell-worthy in the (soon to be) Etsy shop, and then I decided to make another as a birthday gift for a friend. They took a couple of evenings to make, in part because I was figuring out the design as I go.
I decided to use a fab thickish natural linen for the outside, and a funky retro styled fabric in greens and blacks that I bought as a remnant recently. It has 11 narrow pockets to hold a variety of needles, and I made the length of the pockets graduated from short to long to go from little sock needles to big like-knitting-with-a-pair-of-dildos chunky ones.
Do we like? I couldn't be happier with them if they bought me coffee and toast in bed, and then vacuumed. Oh yeah, and for the curved corners a cocktail glass turned out to be just the right diameter. THEY ARE SO USEFUL.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Joy Of Toile
This week so far has been a rough one, lot's of angst, pressure and overtime on the work front and tired, listless evenings filled with take-away food and desultory web surfing on the home front. Meh. Oh yeah, punctuated with cussing as my internet connection keeps dropping out. My phone line that was playing up a few months ago seems to be crackly and erratic again.
Anyhoo, the high point of this half arsed websurfing though is discovering a few fantastic new design oriented blogs. With a new sewing machine in my custodianship, and ideas bubbling in my head about remaking, reusing and recycling some of the things in my wardrobe, I stumbled across a cool community of wardrobe re-fashionistas. Like the amazing Finnish 'trashionista' OutsaPop Trashion, and Queen Michelle of Kingdom of Style.
On the yang side of design and fashion Mr Peacock is my new fave. Not a re-fashion blog this time around, but a wonderful curated mix of food, interior design, fashion and interviews with stylish 'peacocks' about town. One recent post that really put a smile on my face was about the tattooed vintage peacocks of doll maker Mimi Kirchner. Mimi has a wonderful blog Doll: The Art & Craft of Mimi Kirchner and an Etsy shop full of goodies.
Kirchner had the genius idea to use Toile de Jouy fabric for the tattooed bodies of the dolls. Genius! The scale and fine line art style of the drawings are ideal and have a great vintage look.
She compliments the fabric with vintage strong-man style togs, and super cute illustration style facial features. Cute non?
I've never been tempted to be a doll collector, but I'd love a couple of these guys. Of course, as handmade dolls the prices (while being reasonable for the work involved) are a little out of my budget for something so non-essential. Although, if I re-classified them as essentials...
She also does a line of other female dolls, like these super cute mermaids, and magical little 'tiny world' pincushions in a tea cup. So clever and inspiring! Aside from having a go at re-fashioning, maybe it's time to get the sewing machine to work on some other fun stuff.
[All photos and doll designs by Mimi Kirchner.]
Anyhoo, the high point of this half arsed websurfing though is discovering a few fantastic new design oriented blogs. With a new sewing machine in my custodianship, and ideas bubbling in my head about remaking, reusing and recycling some of the things in my wardrobe, I stumbled across a cool community of wardrobe re-fashionistas. Like the amazing Finnish 'trashionista' OutsaPop Trashion, and Queen Michelle of Kingdom of Style.
On the yang side of design and fashion Mr Peacock is my new fave. Not a re-fashion blog this time around, but a wonderful curated mix of food, interior design, fashion and interviews with stylish 'peacocks' about town. One recent post that really put a smile on my face was about the tattooed vintage peacocks of doll maker Mimi Kirchner. Mimi has a wonderful blog Doll: The Art & Craft of Mimi Kirchner and an Etsy shop full of goodies.
Kirchner had the genius idea to use Toile de Jouy fabric for the tattooed bodies of the dolls. Genius! The scale and fine line art style of the drawings are ideal and have a great vintage look.
She compliments the fabric with vintage strong-man style togs, and super cute illustration style facial features. Cute non?
I've never been tempted to be a doll collector, but I'd love a couple of these guys. Of course, as handmade dolls the prices (while being reasonable for the work involved) are a little out of my budget for something so non-essential. Although, if I re-classified them as essentials...
She also does a line of other female dolls, like these super cute mermaids, and magical little 'tiny world' pincushions in a tea cup. So clever and inspiring! Aside from having a go at re-fashioning, maybe it's time to get the sewing machine to work on some other fun stuff.
[All photos and doll designs by Mimi Kirchner.]
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