1950s

For my last college project I was looking at 'Fashion eras' and decided to focus on the nineteen fifties.

Moodboard

I started by doing some research on events, themes, artists and designers from the era and inspired by the fifties.

 

One thing I found particularly intersting was the fact that the structure of DNA was discovered in the fifties along with other advances in science. This inspired me to create some prints taken from the structure of different cells.

Mono printing

Another key theme in fifties print was abstract florals, I had a go at creating some of my own...

I also experimented with other printing and textile techniques.

 

I wont bore you with my entire sketchbook! Here are a few pictures of my final piece.

It's difficult to see in this picture but the dress below comes with a detatchable transparent PVC overskirt! And the blouse has a PVC collar.

 Also there is a dandelion print on the hemline of the capri pants and dress.

Thanks for reading,

M

x

Mothering Sunday gift ideas

Here are my top 5 Mother's day gift ideas, allready?! (which actually could work for valentines gifts as well but they are not really orientated towards men?? well...maybe some men). But they are not really in any sort of order so maybe we'll call it 5 Favourites :)

As lovely as flowers, chocolates and bath smellies are, I have tried to find things that are a bit different and all £10 or under!

These Cath Kidston brooches are adorable and at £8 not a bad price for a gift.

(Please excuse the glare in the photograph!)

Cute <3  ?
http://www.cathkidston.co.uk/

Oooh pretty ribbon!

Am I the only one who gets excited by a nice ribbon??

This 3m spool of ribbon is a great little gift and available for around £5 and comes in lots of lovely designs.

http://www.dotcomgiftshop.com/search/site/ribbon?page=1

Pretty useful. Mums love useful AND pretty things, don't they? Or maybe it's just my Mum who has an obsession with boxes and tins.

You get three cases in alternating sizes and I belive it was £10 for the three from the British Heart Foundation shop.

And if you are feeling particularly generous you could even buy a case and fill it with lovely little gifts?

Tea for one.

I wish I could buy this for my mother only she tells me she doesn't like tea. Sad times.

I think I will have to start drinking tea so that I can collect teapots, it is my ambition in life to become an old lady who collects teapots and garden gnomes. They are the best kind of old ladies.

http://www.dotcomgiftshop.com/tea-for-one-spotty?ctid=5104&pos=0

At £9.95 that's another gift for under £10

And finally...

what about a set of fabric badges for £3, or maybe you could make your own??

http://www.folksy.com/items/2836874-Four-Toadstool-Fabric-Badges

I hope this has been sufficiently inspirational.

Happy Shopping and Thank you for reading,

x

Valentines and Mother's day cards

I have been busy making stock of cards ready for Valentines and Mother's day. Over a month early!!

So here is what I came up with...

Lots of these designs use hearts as a base for flowers, butterflies and wreaths.

I think lots of these would be suitable for both occasions or even general birthday/greeting cards and as allways they are available from the gift shop 'for you' in Felpham village. Also, I am currently looking into opening a Folksy or Etsy account to start selling online. It would be good to know if anyone would be interested and what sort of items would be desired so please leave a comment or e-mail me at milliebutler-hiorns@hotmail.co.uk

x

Cartography and beautiful places

For my next project, I will be looking at maps and places around the world and how they can affect design. In preperation I have started to collect loads of maps for inspiration and maybe even drape them as garments!?

Some maps collected from charity shops and kindly donated by fellow students :)

Some examples of maps used in fashion...

These pieces are by Elizabeth LeCourt who folds maps to suggest garments.

The attention to detail here makes such a difference to the piece, with the collars, cuffs and even little buttons!<3

I think her work is lovely and so effective as art...but I do wonder if it's possible to make actual wearable clothes out of maps?? But I'm sure I will find that out!

The following pieces are by Clare Tough

Clare Tough is an edgy knitwear designer who combines constructed knitting with streamlined silhouettes. Here she has used skylines in a contemporary yet urban way.

 Wow! How much do you want this backpack!?

Oh, the possibilities...

I will be posting at a later date to show you what I come up with!

:)

A good book and other inspirations...

So I know I promised to post my faviouite finds each month...but clearly that didn't work so here are a few books I found as a way of a catch up!

The Liberty book of home sewing

This can be purchased form Amozon but I bought it form 'The Book People' and I am sure it is widely available.

 A lovely book with some simple sewing projects. The projects I thought were much like any you would find in a standard home sewing book (not that that's neccessarily a bad thing), but what made it stand out to me were the print pages which featured some of Liberty's beautiful patterns.

This was definately my faviourite page in the book-'The print Glossary'

and it features a floral fabric that I own and it is one of my faviourites!!

 And here it is (bottom right) as a bird perching on a cage. I purchased the fabric from 'Fabrics galore', they don't have an online shop :( but they do have a shop in London (search 'fabrics galore' to find the address) and you can catch them at craft and textile shows- I found them at the Festival of quilts at the N.E.C. They buy end of line fabrics from Liberty so you can get them at a reasonable price! The other fabric is from C and H fabrics and comes in other colourways.

Vintage books

I found this World Atlas at R.F.R Charity shop in Queensway Bognor Regis (one I have come to visit rather often!)
They have soo many books that they had to put them on a 10 for £1 offer just to make space!!!

So of course I had to buy some!

 The map pages look charming in their colour and font.

It would look lovely to cover a book with or as some sort of background...but I'm far too attached to it at the moment!

And most exciting of all was what I found when I go home! Two portraits that were hiding in the index!

 :O And look at the year they were sketched!-1940!!





And last but most certainly not least is 'The Vintage Tea Party Book'

I think this is probably my faviourite craft/cook book...ever.

Although essentially an eccentric cookbook with many weird and wonderful recipes, it is full of inspiration for throwing the perfect tea party from invitation ideas to making an apron and styling hair and make-up.

 Wonderfully British and truly eccentric. I loved this book!

 And it is full of charming illustrations.

This pretty little Robin illustration inspired me to paint a Robin myself. I used a poem called Robin Redbreast as a background. 

This also got me thinking about Christmas decorations so I made a Robin tree decoration too!

I used woolfelt form 'Blooming felt' which has a lovely texture and rigidity to it. I am really happy with my Robin, who is yet to be named so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I am going to experiment with scale and features and some brief instuctions and plan to post that before christmas.

Wow this has been quite a long post; I hope I haven't rambled but I'm far too excited by all the lovely things I have found.

I hope you have enjoyed reading,

Millie

x