hand-made flower needle book...

as mentioned in the previous post i made a needle book or tidy for my friend's birthday sewing kit gift and wanted to show a step-by-step guide. i tend to make things and don't put them on my blog but thought i would and as i've found most of my inspiration on pintrest i thought i'd put it on there too :) so here goes. this is the finished product..

i found the pattern from this lovely blog (the link takes you straight to the tutorial). i thought it was the easiest and prettiest one i could find (her birthday is on tuesday). so thought i would give it a whirl. 

      

   

as i didn't have any ink in my printer i couldn't print off the free pattern so i just drew them my own with white paper and continued to cut out the shapes in purple and green, i wanted pink and light green like in the picture but as i wondered around the empty high street on a sunday i settled for a £1 fely pack so i comprimised on the colours but think they work really well together

   

so after i cut out the pieces i just placed them together to see what they would look like and this is the result. now in the tutorial there is a cute yellow centre for the flower but as i used one in my daisy pincushion and i had these fake flowers laying around i thought i'd put them to good use and sew them to the front of the book and make it a little more pretty..

 i just sewed lots of petals onto the front and held them in place with some prety aqua colour beads as i thought it went really well with the pinky purple colour, i sewed them close together so they would almost bunch up and make a 3D bouquet kind of shape! i simply then sewed the purple and green pieces together at the fold and ta-da! the last two images are the finished project, closed and opened! i still want to add some sewing needles, maybe onto the safety pin page but there you go, it was super easy to make and i'll let you know the outcome when i give it to my friend!

hope you liked it too :) 

Samantha xx

daisy pincushion...

today i started putting together a sewing kit for my very best friend's birthday for tuesday! she's been sewing a lot recently and whilst i was planning to get her some really pretty scissors i was on pintrest and came across some lovely sewing kits in jars so i thought i'd put together one for her and customise it with a hand-made pin cushion and needle tidy/book. i've also bought some other bits and bobs like thread, an unpicker and thrown in some spare buttons and its starting to fill up and look really pretty! i will upload some pictures when i've completely finished it but for now thought i'd start with the daisy pincushion and will blog about the needle book with instructions and more pictures next!

this was possibly this easiest thing to make, i just made a flower stencil, cut out two white flower shapes, one small yellow circle, sewed it onto the first piece then using blanket stitching went round the whole thing stuffing with cotton wool as i went. its not as full as other pincushion but think it definitely does the job. 

i hope you like it!!

Samantha xx

j'adore chanel..

i want/need everything featured in chanel's pre fall collection '12. 

so so pretty. sigh. 

Samantha xx

p.s images can be found here

pre-collection illustrations...

     

yep so these are a few images from my pre-collection, i guess i rabble on about doing menswear but then don't back myself up, i was inspired to put up some illustrations after seeing a striped shirt come into store today that took me back to this collection sooo i thought why not... 

the inspiration from the collection started with images of circus freaks, it later progressed and i took just one element of my original concept idea. for me, lionel the lion man was that one element. i played around with replacing the stripes in my fabric with coloured fur, using stripes in different thicknesses, directions and colours.

i'm hoping to add some more images soon as well as up and coming work, as my hours have dropped a little it will give me time to do some illustration work and be a lot more creative..

Samantha xx

i heart print...

topman spring/summer campaign '12 and i am in love, if only all our shoppers would walk round in these lush shirts! might have to make some purchases myself.. watch this space!! anyone else like them? 

Samantha xx

happy accident phone photos...

i don't know if anyone does this, but i am forever pressing the camera button and taking photographs without even realising. maybe they could be a new art fad, i love the coloured stripe one and love the fact i have no idea what it is!? 

hope you like them as much as i do and does anyone else have any happy accident beauties on their phones? 

Samantha xx

spring 2012 menswear favourites...

well i thought it would be cool to have a look at the up and coming menswear spring collections for 2012 and here are a few of my favourites for the upcoming season, hope you enjoy them as much as i have..

etro spring 2012.

etro are probably one of my favourite designers. i love their playful use of colour and print and the way they clash and put the outfits together. i particularly love the printed collar in the first picture and what is not to love about a polka dot suit!!

burberry prorsum spring 2012.

colour, geometric shape print, skinny fit and amazing shoes. what else could you ask for in a menswear collection. love the fur trim on the jackets and the teal and other autumnal colours featured in the collection but with a fresher twist ready for spring. definitely would wear everything here, if i was a man that is but really love the cut of the trousers and the shoes, where can i get them from!!

3.1 phillip lim spring 2012.

not a designer i've really looked into that much and it caught my eye as it was the first image on the page and it features ombre effect garments.. if it's good enough for my hair it's definitely good enough for this collection! love the top shirts, would be amazing in a purple or turquoise...mmm! but aside from the ombre i really like the use of layering and although the collection is casual, looser in cut and lacking a lot of the colour and print in the previous collections- i really like it!

kenzo spring 2012.

final collection i'm going to talk about but thought i'd end it with a whammy of a collection. tropical print, stripes, clashing and colour blocking. i like this collection very much. love in fact. really fresh colours and prints and with matching scarves. one of each please. 

well all this admiring has left me feeling inspired. think the new year will be a good time to start a new design project and get my portfolio in order, too much eating to do first with christmas being only 4 sleeps away :)  

Samantha xx

p.s all images were found using the bible that is style.com