I have had a wonderful opportunity this summer being an intern with Zandra Rhodes in London. The studio is near London Bridge station and cannot be missed once you get onto Bermondsey Street. The building also houses the Fashion and Textiles Museum:

As part of the work experience I got an opportunity to help out with the screen printing which is all carried out in the basement of the studio. We were working on short runs of prints which were being used to make up samples for the next collection. This print called Star Dust looked fantastic in pink and black:

The walls of the screen printing room were lined with rows of labelled sticks which are used to set the distance between the repeats for each design:

As well as getting involved in re-organising the studio, I also got involved in some design work looking at  supporting designs for the Star Dust print:

At the same time I spent time helping in Zandra’s flat which sits on top of the studio, and which houses all kinds of exciting objects and collections. One of my favourite pieces was this sculpture by artist, and long time friend to Zandra, Andrew Logan.

All the bright colours all around were a great reflection of Zandra herself, including her fantastic clothes and jewellery:

This was a fabulous experience which I shall never forget… Thank you to everyone at the studio for making me so welcome and giving me this great opportunity to learn more about a working studio.

I have not been wasting my time in London! One of my favourite excursions was a trip to the Workshop Missoni exhibition at the Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art in Islington.

Missoni is one of my favourite design houses as a result of their bright and bold designs and innovative knit wear. The first room provided an excellent opportunity to get up close and personal with some key garments as well as watch innovative catwalks and acrobatic videos demonstrating the roots of the company in sportswear.

The second room was dominated by a real time video of a Missoni knitting machine which demonstrated one of the reasons their cloth is so expensive – it is not a fast process. However it would be have been great to be given more explanation of why the process was so slow compared to industrial knitting machines in the mass market…

The other wall provided a colourful display of yearns wound onto large spindles in stripes:

One of the highlights was being  able to get so close to a wide range of knit samples and designs, all in vivid palettes of colour:

Supporting material also provided a histroy of the family, emphasising Ottavio Missoni’s  sporting background including his participation in the 1948 Olympic 400 metres hurdles race final.

Upstairs the exhibition sat side by side to the permanent exhibition including one of my favourite sketches by Italian artist Giorgio Morandi.

In between the paintings there was also an array of knitted figures in Missoni cloth which provided a rather surreal feel:

Including this group under the stairs, dramatic in black and white:

The final room ended, as all good exhibitions should with a video narrated by the timeless Joanna Lumley, as well as a series of knitted portraits of the Missoni empire:

If you are in London and into textiles and fashion, I would challenge you to find a better way to send an afternoon and £5 in London this summer…

I have seen so much in London to inspire me, including these window displays as part of my pilgramage to department store extraordinaire Liberty. These were part of their Prints Charming exhibition  “celebrating all things wacky and wonderful about the iconic Liberty print. From an entire wall of the building being swatched in Betsy fabric and bicycles sporting the micro-floral to this season’s must-have fashion pieces and an out-of-this-world art fabric collaboration, this is a spectacle not to be missed.”

This coincides with the launch of ‘The Art Collection, Liberty Fabric’. The website describes this as “a new and highly innovative collection of fabrics, fusing the compelling work of six established British artists with the innovative creations from the Liberty Design Studio. The contributing artists are Turner Prize winner Grayson Perry, Paul Morrison, Mike McInnerney, Michael Angove, Anj Smith, and Simon Hart.”

I was pretty taken with textile artist Amanda Fatherazi’s hand-sewn boudoir dolls:

And her brooches:

I was also very inspired by Squint’s “collection of lamps, mirrors, chairs and side tables wrapped in Liberty fabrics, including a … baroque chandelier.” This is something that I could definately have a go at myself – I will be keeping an eye open for any nearby skips and car boot sales for furniture to revamp. 

Another interesting exhibit was a Wendy House covered in strips of Liberty fabric developed by “Liberty print enthusiast and art student Helen Benigson” a student of the Slade school of Art (Image from: http://www.fashion-stylist.net/blog/)….

After two hours of happy browsing, I was very restrained and ended up leaving with half a metre of Anj Smith’s Detritus, D, Tana Lawn Liberty Fabric to make into hankies perhaps…

Although I was also drawn to Grayson Perry’s Sissy, D, Tana Lawn Liberty Fabric…

I have just come back from two very exciting weeks up in London on a design placement with the wonderful Zandra Rhodes. As part of the placement we got to go to the Fashion and Textile Museum which is in the same building as the studio. Their current exhibition Undercover – the evolution of underwear was very glamorous, typified by this retro dressing table which I am inspired to recreate for when I find a new pad down in Brighton:

 My faviourite piece was this wedding (!) dress designed from black lacy knickers and bras. Titled ‘I AM wearing underwear “it is a honeymoon ball gown constructed from 200 embroidered lace knickers and 85 bras.” Designed by Vin and Omi, the brief was to “use only underwear; no other fabric. A second multicoloured gown was also made for the bride to change into mid-honeymoon”.

I also feel in love with these reform corsets with all their button detailing and pin tucking:

This deconstruction of a bra also demonstrated the amount of work in making underwear, and the number of pattern pieces involved:

There was also a display of designer lingerie and corsets imaginatively suspended from the ceiling.

For those who want to know more, here is the description from the museum website:

The FTM’s exciting new exhibition Undercover traces the evolution of underwear from health garment, shape definer to fashion ‘must have’. It explores a number of themes such as boudoir to everyday glamour – ‘Stars and their bras’ looking at celebrity branding; research and innovation’s impact on the types of underwear we wear; and how the changing face of underwear advertising and marketing meshes with social and cultural changes.

The exhibition presents a visual demonstration of how female underwear has evolved as women’s role in society changed. It encompasses the changing trends from the ‘flatten it’ to the ‘push it up’ to the ‘let it all hang out’! Undercover contains some exquisite pieces from a wide range of private and public collections that  read like the Who’s Who of underwear; M&S, Triumph, La Perla, Christian Dior, Elle Macpherson, Myla and Wonderbra – to name just a few.

From the risqué to the radical, pieces include an original Merry Widow corset inspired by Lana Turner in the film of the same name; renowned burlesque artiste Immodesty Blaize’s corset; a spectacular gown made from bras and briefs by designers Vin & Omi and a La Perla bra encrusted with Swarovski crystals.

On our second day in France we went to the food market in Esperaza in search of provisions. Once loaded with pain, olives and tomatos we then came across the delightful Hat Museum. We started with a fantastically dated 1980s video explaining the process, however some of the explanations may have been lost in translation.

There was a small but perfectly executed display of the different machines involved including a beret knitting machine: 

A carding machine for the start of the felt making process:

A felting machine to make the initial cloches:

And a rather exciting looking pummeling (?) set up:

A wide range of moulds:

Some shaping machines which wouldn’t have looked out of place in the early James Bond films:

 And a rather gorgeous copper steam (?) contraption:

Finishing off with a display of antique French hats:

Good food and culture in the same day – who could ask for more…

I have just come back from a relaxing stay in the Corbieres region in the South West of France. Our gite was a delight and I think you may be seeing some blue in my upcoming work as I was pretty taken with the shutters where we were staying and elsewhere in the region:

I would thoroughly recommend where we stayed – Sliabh amharc (Mountain View) which is a 17th century stone-built long house which sleeps six. Marg and Jim are wonderful hosts and more details about the gite and the area can be found at: http://www.cubieres.co.uk/. We flew from London Stansted on Ryan Air to Perpignan which is a pleasant 1 hour drive away.

As well as finding time to relax and going swimming in the nearby rivers and gorges we also found time to do some sight seeing visiting the pleasant but very very busy Carcassonne with its fairytale medieval city.

The architecture and colours provided lots of inspiration:

As well as the quirky detailing:

And the independent potteries which were abundant in the region:

One of our favourites was L’Atelier in Esperaza, which also serves crepes and runs day classes. Fortunately I was with companions who were equally happy to do a last minute ‘u-turn’ to go and have a rummage in the Brocante (second hand) shops and yards which we passed. However somethings I just couldn’t fit into my hand luggage:

The brocante market on Saturday morning in Perpignan was a treasure to find:

And I also found some more antique linen to add to the embroidered table cloth and set of 12 napkins I had already procured in Lagrasse from an antique store (more details to follow in future posts):

Of course we also fitted some time in for some boutique shopping, and particularly feel in love with a shop – uBu…la suite in Perpignon which stocked my favourite brand Odd Molly and also had a lovely cafe/restaurant. If you are in the region I would definitely recommend a visit (especially during the sale season).

So if I had any worries about having run out of inspiration after my HND course, I really needn’t have worried as I now have a wonderful range of rich imagery and fabrics and ribbons to explore over the coming months…

After all the sunny weather in Scotland combined with a holiday planned in Greece I spent this weekend making a summer dress. I treated myself to my favourite Cath Kidston mini strawberry print and went for a very girlie and simple smock dress.

And here is the back view:

I was originally inspired by the 8 Dollar Dress Tutorial on Burda Style, however I ended up following the directions in the brilliant Making Stuff: An Alternative Craft Book. The smocking involved winding shearing elastic on the bobbin of my sewing machine and using a co-ordinating thread on the top. As I sewed around in circles using my machine feet to measure an equal distance from the previous row (avoiding the need to mark lines on the fabric), the fabric naturally started to gather up giving just the effect I was after.

The pattern was very simple and involved creating a rectangle that was comfortably wider than my hips (the widest part of my body) and 5cm longer than the length I was after to accomodate the hem and seam allowances. The final measurements of the rectangle were 115cm wide x 85cm and seem to work for a 10/12 dress size.

As ever I wasn’t happy just leaving the dress at that and started playing with some ruffles. First along the bottom hem:

And then down the skirt:

And then along the top edge:

Despite the experiments, as someone who tends to put off decision making I have kept the dress plain for the time being but have kept the ruffles close by for when I feel inspired to get my sewing machine out again….

To celebrate the end of the HND in Fashion and Textiles we were invited to take part in a fashion show at funky glasses designer Oscar and Fitch. Seeing all the glasses laid out was like being in a sweetie shop:

And the shelving very eye catching:

The clothes were all modelled by the degree Dance students at Telford who were fabulous and whose confidence really showed off the clothes.

It was great to see all the outfits coming together:

The dance routines were great and suited the theme of Full of Eastern Promise perfectly:

The show also included the First Year HND Little Black Dress projects – wearing of course some very striking glasses:

And the Botanics project completed earlier in the year:

And our shirts from the 1st year also had an outing. I loved the way that Mark carried off my shirt with its over long sleeves and peter pan collar.

For more photos go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/bellacranmore/sets/72157619498218554/

For my latest artist date I have been playing and creating fun headbands and fascinators. This was inspired by the short introduction to millinery on the HND and is well timed with the opening of craft superstore Hobby Craft in Edinburgh which has proven to be a good supplier of headbands, ribbon and fabric glue etc. Here are some rather ‘arty’ photos which demonstrate that I have never really got to grips with the timer on my camera!

And a close up of the feathers and the covered headband:

And as every girl knows, if one feather headband is good, two must be even better…

This close up shows the different colours of the feathers with blue and purple highlights:

And of course with the summer wedding season getting into full swing, something a bit more over the top is also going to come into good use:

And with all the Suffolk puffs I have been making it was inevitable that one made it into one of the pieces:

And who could resist such a  healthy plumage of feathers and net:

If you are interested in having a go yourself feathers can be bought from C.J.Milinery and from etsy shops such as Do You feel the scent? However one of my next projects may well be making my own feather pads. Since I have started wearing my feather headpieces friends and family have started offering me bags of feathers…

It all came together over the last week or so… Here is my organza top complete with three chains of fabric roses:

The fabric roses are made of a fair bit of fabric and so have a good weight. This means that I did not have to attach them to the top itself and was able to create three separate necklaces that could then be styled in different ways. For example, with a single strand…

With a long and a short necklace:

And with two longer necklaces:

I made each necklace with a tie closure so that the length could be adjusted as required. Each end of the rouleau loop was then finished with a cover button – tying in with the details on the harem trousers (see below…).

The top itself is light weight and attached with a tie at the back of the neck – inspired by the scarves worn with Salwar Khamis style suits.

The finished trousers are certainly eye catching and not for the faint hearted:

I am really pleased with how the buttons up the calf and outside leg worked out. The printed facing on the outside links in with the printing used for the roses themselves, and works well with the cover buttons and rouleau loops.

We have a fashion show next week in town so hopefully I will get some pics of the full outfit on a living breathing model!