Laura Ashley - Bella Butterfly Design

This morning I received the new Laura Ashley catalogue in the post and as usual it contains a wonderfully stylish mix of classic and contemporary designs.

I was also really excited to see the extended Bella Butterfly range. I designed this Girl's bedlinen range for Laura Ashley back in 2005 for a Spring/Summer 2006 launch and am thrilled that it continues to do well. Wallpaper, printed fabric and a rug have been added to the range this season and they look great alongside the existing products.

Please visit www.lauraashley.com to see more of this range and the other beautiful children's designs they have available.

Appliquéd Floor Cushion

Happy New Year!

Now that I have made all of my festive visits and passed on all of my gifts I am able to show you images of this floor cushion that I made for my brother. It is a 65x65cm cushion and has been made using corduroy and pre-washed wool base fabrics making it attractive yet robust. I really like this combination of green/teal/natural with brown and have used a stem appliqué design that co-ordinates with the smaller cushions I made for our house.

I am pleased with this mini 'collection' and look forward to developing it further producing handmade cushions for sale. I shall be setting up and online store this year so keep your eyes open for more details soon. In the mean time simply email me at studio@clairehurd.co.uk if you would like to purchase anything you have seen on my blog or if you would like to commission me to make something for you personally.

Christmas Gifts and Commissions

Firstly - I hope you have all had a very Merry Christmas!

Now that these handmade items have all been passed on the the relevant people as Christmas gifts I would like to show you a few presents I have made this festive period for friends and also as a private commission.

This wash bag was designed and handmade for Aimée. The tortoise fabric was bought mail order from Japan and is a really fun, bright print.


This Ipod case was designed and handmade for my friend Laura. I have a shop-bought one that is great for my Ipod but is a very tight fit when I add my earphones so I made this one with plenty of room for both. The silk lining was bought in a market in Shanghai.


This bag was designed and handmade for a private commission. It was a Christmas present for a 5 year old girl with a love of fairies. The wool base fabric makes it nice and strong whilst the deep pink colour makes it practical for a young child to use.

Greetings Card Collection (part 2)

Following my previous blog post regarding the production of a collection of greetings cards suitable for any occasion here is my range contemporary floral cards. These have all now been passed on to the customer and I am pleased to have positive feedback.


I have also produced a small range of fish cards suitable for any occasion but mainly designed for the male recipient where a floral card is less likely to be appropriate. The images have been created by printing from a perspex plate on to which the fish have been etched by hand based on original drawings.

Christmas Cards 2008

The image above shows the appliquéd and embroidered christmas fairy that I made for use on this year's Christmas cards. The fabrics have been secured using freehand machine-embroidery and satin stitch. The features have been hand-embroidered and button, sequin and ribbon bow detailing has been added by hand.

I have not been able to take a photo showing the background fabric well (it is difficult with so little natural light at this time of year) but it is a white-on-white print with a little floral repeat pattern reminiscent of snowflakes. There is a nice contrast between this crisp white and the bright red resulting in a cheerful fairy motif that I feel would work well on many Christmas products from stationery to tableware and ceramics.

This is a much more simple design that I have also used this year. The Christmas tree has been created by first applying ribbons and ric-rac trim to a green wool base. The tree motif was then cut to shape and top stitched around the edges to prevent fraying. The fabric motif was then applied to the card base and hand-drawn running-stitch detail and 'Merry Christmas' text was added as a finishing touch.

Calico Shopping Bags - Update

Today I am posting an update to the calico bags collection I mentioned last week.

The bags shown above complete the collection and once again have appliquéd vegetable motifs and hand-guided machine-embroidered text. The only exception being the bag at the top left which has no embroidered text. The bags are all made using pre-washed calico and have double handles suitable for going over the shoulder.

Calico Shopping Bags

This is the first design from my calico shopping bag collection made using the appliqué vegetable motifs I showed you last month. The bags are made with pre-washed calico and have double shoulder straps making them comfortable to carry.
The appliqué vegetable motifs are complimented with a freehand machine-embroidered comment such as 'shopping', 'vegetables' and 'eat your greens'.

Christmas Stockings

As I have many gifts and commissions to make this month I thought I would sneak a little treat for myself in before it got too late. I had already made the grey snowman stocking for my partner so this weekend I made the pink snowflake one for myself.

I am practicing on friends and family at the moment whilst I perfect the shape of my Christmas stocking pattern. Next year I shall be making these stockings to commission.

So...... if you like to be prepared (very) early for the festive season and would like a 2009 Christmas stocking handmade and personalised for yourself or as a gift for someone else, please contact me via email (studio@clairehurd.co.uk).

I shall be posting more details and designs next year in plenty of time for Christmas so you will also be able to place an order then.