Floral Repeat Pattern

I am currently working on a floral collection and am experimenting with putting my designs in repeat. Much of my previous work, as with most embroidery designs, has been single motifs or illustrative scenes. I am therefore taking the opportunity to do some repeat work whilst familiarising myself with features of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator that I have not made great use of so far.

Above is a sneak preview of one of my repeat designs. I shall refine it in Illustrator and then experiment with colourways. I am aiming to compile a collection of floral print designs with embroidered co-ordinates.

Children's Designs - Repeat Patterns

Today I have been experimenting with repeat patterns. I have been using motifs from two of my favourite designs - 'Fairy Cakes' and 'Patchwork Dogs'. I have manipulated the images and played about with placement creating repeats using Adobe Photoshop.

As previously mentioned on my blog, I really love the idea of my designs being used on stationery and giftwrap. These two repeat designs are my first step towards achieving this. I am pleased with the results yet eager to experiment more to perfect the designs and get to grips with quickly creating seamless repeat patterns on Photoshop using my embroidered motifs.

New Business Cards

My new business cards have arrived! My brother Michael was kind enough to take a whole new set of photographs of my work for me last weekend so I can use the images for promotional purposes.

I have had new business cards and postcards printed by Moo Limited (http://www.moo.com) and am really pleased with the result. Their website is really easy to use and enables you to use a different image for each card, my order was also processed and delivered within 3 days - very efficient!

Appliqué Characters - Fairytale Princesses

I thought I would post a little patchwork of details from my Fairytale Princess designs today. I quite enjoy creating fairytale designs with castles etc but have to keep reminding myself to keep it simple - it is very easy to get carried away with turrets and flags!

I hope to be able to do a really detailed fairytale princess design at some point that will be a framed artwork. I would like to spend lots of time on it and focus on detail such as fancy windows and rambling roses climbing the castle tower. I will probably use the traditional poses of the princess in the tower and the prince on a horse but will try to make the overall effect quite different from what I have done before.

Appliqué Characters - Mermaid

These images show details taken from my mermaid appliqué artwork. The colours are fresh, the characters quirky and overall I like the effect. I carefully selected the fabrics for use on this design and have made use of some really nice textures including metallic sheers for the mermaid tail and rip-stop fabric for the jelly fish. The bubbles have been created using transluscent sequins with a tiny bead at the centre. This design would work well for either an interiors collection or stationery.

Children's Embroidered Illustration

Today I am posting a couple of sunshiney embroidered and appliquéd children's illustrations. Firstly a summertime picnic and secondly a unicorns design. I like the fresh colours I have been able to source for these designs and the rainbow as a focal point. I think I shall use rainbows more in my children's designs as they are great for a splash of colour.

Accessories - New Bags

I have two new bags to share with you today. The cream bag at the top is a trial of a new pattern I have developed this summer. I am happy with the size and shape. It works well as a book bag or extra shopping bag. Once again I have made use of a really lovely Shinzi Katoh print and have plenty more where that comes from so keep your eyes peeled for more bags in the future.

The bottom bag is a re-vamped linen bag that I was sent as a free gift. The bag was huge and I could not think of a use for it so I cut it down in size and added this lovely Liberty print lining. I have folded the lining fabric over the top of the bag to create a border and then disguised the seam with a satin ribbon. I added a button to fasten the bag and hey presto - a spare bag to keep with me ready for emergency shopping trips!

Appliqué Artworks - Cats and Dogs

Having recently sold another children's animal design I thought I would post some of my avaiable cats and dogs designs. For the patchwork dogs design above I have kept the number of fabrics used down to make it an easy design to reproduce in bulk production.

For this design a really soft brushed cotton has been used for the kittens. The patchwork fabrics are all is pastel colours making this design suitable for younger children - possibly a nursery design.

I have produced this cats design in a more classic style and colour palette to target an older children's/ adult market. The shapes have been kept very simple but hopefully capture the character of each cat.

All images shown are small details of larger appliqué artworks.