crazy socks

Wear if you dare.

stitch lines

I have a bit of a thing for drawing stitch lines. I think that it actually comes from patternmaking rather than fashion drawing as I often end up drawing a dashed line curve like an armhole shape on little bits of paper. So there is no wonder when this rather reptilian like figure appeared on a bit of paper, that I had to add more than a few stitch lines to her. I decided that she was a bit on the reptilian side via her dress, which reminded me a little of an art deco fashion illustration of a woman in a very reptilian dress. I also decided to differ my way of drawing for a change and tilt her neck forward a little, kind of like the Applet drawings at Inside a Black Apple. I think that I quite like it, but it has put her body out of kilter a little...

Anyway winter is encroaching here in Auckland, and I am kicking into my winter craft- and that means knitting! I am about halfway through a gorgeous dusky pink basket-weave scarf, which I will show you when its finished. And of course I'm adding a little to the blanket that I started last year- but I have promised myself not to spend all winter knitting obsessively!! I am also nursing an early winter cold (a sore throat and the sniffles), so will be in for an evening of chicken noodle soup and knitting tonight...

Sniffles or not this long weekend I am also planning to chip away at my sewing- I hae two projects on the patternmaking/cutting/generally very much unfinished (or unstarted stage). As I have a huge fabric stash, including some rather lovely Liberty fabrics, I'm getting behind the philosophy of the Use What You Have Flickr group. Using up your stash of fabric (or crafty bits) makes perfect sense to me- I now realise that there is no point in being too precious about your fabric and not using it!

And to make you smile I am looking after two of the cutest babysitting charges- my two little niece's mice! They are ridiculously cute (and very speedy on the mouse- wheel!). I will try and put a picture online of them.

Bye for now!

a tree and a babydoll dress

This girl appeared on a piece of paper. I like what she is wearing and thee whimsical landsape that she is in.

deco jewels

This is just a little sketch of a little brooch. It is on a bit of an art deco meets butterfly wings trip, and is to be quite three dimensional. I've brought a couple of little lapis lazuli stones (the blue ovals) which have lovely little flecks of gold (or something gold-y) through them. The blue-y green areas are to be enamelled. So there are a few new things which I will learn through making this. All I've done so far is cut out the plate for the back and daydreamed...

a mottled green dress

I would like an outfit like this. Including the socks.

the black seeds

No, I'm not writing about the band. But this little sketch appeared in my diary not so long ago. I'm liking the idea of working with a seed shaped motif at the moment.

the distraction dangers

Let me educate you on the dangers of distraction. I think I have a distractive personality, you know, my attention can flitter from thing to thing. So as it happens I started drawing this little ballet girl after being inspired by this post on littlepaperbird. And then I got distracted while looking at my sketch this morning and at the same time cutting fabric swatches with a rotary cutter... and somehow wound up cutting my finger. Oops! At least my drawing looks cute (but typing with a plaster on your finger, not so easy).

girl with s curve and lace ruffle cuff

the trouble is, I don't know when to stop

I like to draw, and the trouble is that often I just don't know when to stop adding details, especially on little sketches like this one. There is a very fine line between a good sketch and a bad one. This is a development sketch for my jewellery work, but I'm off on a new tangent now...

back on the jewellery

I'm off to my jewellery class tonight, and I am excited to be able to make some more progress with my work- a cuff that will have coiled fabric draped over and through it. A bit of a challenge I might say. Here are some snippets from my sketchbook (OK diary) to give you an idea of what is to come in a good month or so's time... (I have realised that I really cannot draw hands. This is a little worrying!).

lost sketch

This little sketch of Dorothy and her ruby red slippers was missed from my last post (it wasnt finished)...

A is for Anna; A is for Auntie.

This is the first stage of designing a pendant for my jewellery class. We were briefed to design a monogram pendant, that had areas that were subset from the main piece of silver. For a while I was thinking about not following the brief by creating a cloud- like design that dangled from a corner. However I changed my mind as I explored variations on a simple hand-written 'A'. Thankfully I love typography! :)








To develop the template that I am using I put my hand- drawn 'A' through Illustrator, which gave me a nice clean line to work with- it has helped me save time in the long run as I could go straight into cutting the template out in copper- which is where I am at with the development of this piece
I found it quite interesting to see what my classmates has come up with... strangely I was the only one who has decided to the monogram idea (by then I has decided that it was kinda cool, and was liking my ideas). There were more than a few koru style designs. And I am definately thinking that 'this jewellery business' is going to be a positive contribution to my life.



This girl made an appearance in a notebook of mine at work as I worked on a pattern....unfortunately not of this dress!

Must go. My knitting in its mustard-y yellow glory is beckoning. And a cup of tea too! :)

hello.

This little sketch appeared in my diary about a week ago. It kind of grew from a basic t-shirt sketch- which is why the arms are probably so much out of proportion- normally the arms on my fashion sketches are quite a lot longer... What I really like though is the sugesstion of a face, and the hair together with the bulk of a poloneck top. Nice for a change.