Google Chrome Advert

I saw the latest Google Chrome advert the other day, it show the potential of using the Google products as a newtorking and business promotion tool.

It focused on the British company, The Cambridge Satchel Company and shows how the company has but up from how the idea came about to where the company is now.

When I did a bit of research on the company I found out that the Julie Deane (the lady who started the company) did this because her daughter was being bullied and she wanted a way to be able to send her to a private school. The company now makes over £12million a year.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2245651/Cambridge-Satchel-Company-mum-afford-daughters-school-fees-makes-12m-year.html

I really like these bags, and love the colours and funky twists on the good old Satchel.

Looking for new blogs!

Got my new Sew Direct magazine this week, and it had this really pretty dress on the front cover (Butterick 5882). This pattern is one of the new vintage range of patterns from Patterns by Gertie." I think I may have to treat myself to this.

While I was looking around for other blog and was googling "sewing blogs" the first blog on the list was http://www.blogforbettersewing.com/ and as I scrolled through the blog I discovered that this was actually "Gertie's" blog, the lady who designed the above pattern. How spooky is that. :) TTFN

Does anyone think I'm obsessed with turquoise and red??

Further to my blog about hats.....and showing off my new fabric here's a wee pic of the dress I made. And its even had an outing to my friends engagement party....i went too of course :P xxx

Say hello to my little friend.

One of this years red noses......hmm does he look like my geek pic? :-P Say hello to T-spex

Making Hats :)

As I have said before for our millinery project we were given the subject of "Dangerous Dames" Having looked at the hat fashions of the 1930's and 40's, American detective novels and film adaptations and the Art Deco movement of the time I came up with a number of designs which were whittled down to 3 and here they are.

This first design was based on the Orchid. In one of the first scenes in "The Big Sleep" we see Humphrey Bogart's character Phillip Marlowe meets General Sternwood in a greenhouse full of orchids.

This design was taken from the balcony railings at the Hotel Martinez in Cannes.

 

Ant the third design from the "wing" shapes on the exterior of the Eastern Building in Los Angeles (often a setting for film noir films and hard boiled detective novels.

This design is the one I am going to use for my finished piece. I just need to make some samples (now that I have my fabric) and then get on "blocking" my hat. This is the finished layout size for my hat.

While I was in Rejects in Kirkcaldy getting fabric for this project I found this really pretty fabric and treated myself. Am in the process of making it into a dress in this style.  

I love this patterns and have used it about 4 times now......I really need to wear more dresses. TTFN

It was a sunny day so what else do you do......

...with a 2 hour lunch break  ........You hit the beach oviously, even if it is only the 1st of march.

While Renn and Rachel were paddling in the sea (yes they are mental.....i think) I spotted that my converse trainers made an interesting geometric patters in the sand. So I snapped a pic for my graded unit. :)

Apply some bleach or paint and walk over some paper.....could be interesting. TTFN

Additional paper folding

I attended an exhibition by NUNO in Edinburgh last yeah which had some folded fabrics as part of their presentation.

Polygami : 100% Polyester

When I took these pictures last year I never though I would be doing this myself. In fact I'm sure I thought that this would be far too fiddly to do and I'd never have the patience for it. I was a bit wrong about that....they are a bit fiddly but when it works it's pretty satisfying. TTFN

Paper Folding: I may be a little obsessed.

This blog finds me 2 thirds (ish) through the first year of my HND (HNC) in textiles. One day people will talk about me the way they do about Stella McCartney and Frank Gehry toady. But until that time though I have a Graded unit to pass so I can progress on to the second year of my course and complete my HND. For graded unit I selected the Tri-dimensional trend.

Sculptural shapes are reshaping women because of the manner in which they stand away from the body. Double faced scuba style fabrics are softly folded into asymmetric, organic forms of creases to give an urban, engineered sharpness. Lighter weight volume is explored in rhythmic layers and die cut in simple geometric shapes for modern strata effects.

Reading about the trend brought various things to mind including architecture, biology, nature and origami (The Japanese art of paper folding). While doing a bit of research on paper folding and manipulation I came across this book.

It was a little bit tricky to get into but now I've got it I think I'm hooked. Here's just a few examples of the samples I've made.

This has given me a number of ideas for design development. Taking these folded papers and then cutting into, adding, tearing, piercing, colouring and burning.

So if anyone hasn't seen me for a while and sees a pile of folded stacking up in the corner please come and rescue me. :)

Am such a geek!!!!

As part of our Professional Design Practice unit we are required to look at how the craft sector/designers/artists use social media networks for brand promotion, communications and social networking.

Being new to the world of blogging I thought I’d start this project by finding out a bit more about blogging. There are a number of websites offering help to set up a blog – covering everything from what a blog is and if it right for you to making money from blogs and creating blog networks.

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/02/14/blogging-for-beginners-2/

Right now though I’m only interested in the basics.

What is a Blog?(http://www.computersprintersrepairshouston.com/glossary_of_terms.html)

 

From "Web log." A blog is basically a journal that is available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is "blogging" and someone who keeps a blog is a "blogger."

There is also a discussion about what niche topic you should chose for your blog.

Are You Interested in the Topic? (http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/02/15/how-to-choose-a-niche-topic-for-your-blog/)

A friend of mine explained it this way recently:

“Probably the best place to start thinking about what your blog should be about is to consider what YOU are about.”

Perhaps that’s a slightly awkward way of saying start by identifying your own interests, passions and energy levels for topics. While it might be tempting to start blogs based on what other people are interested in or what makes commercial sense there is little logic in starting a blog on a topic that you have no interest in. There are two main reasons for this.

Firstly if you want to grow a popular and well respected blog it can take considerable time and you’ll be needing to take a long term approach to building it up. As a result it’s well worth asking yourself ‘can I see myself still writing on this topic in 12 months time?’ If you can’t I’d suggest finding another topic.

The second reason is that you readers will quickly discern if you are passionate about your topic or not. Blogs that are dry and passionless don’t tend to grow – it makes sense really as no one wants to read something that the author doesn’t really believe in.