My work space

My work space, quite messy, but organised at the same time. I have all my fabrics inside the window box seat to the side of the desk. In the white drawers I have haberdashery bits. On top of the desk in the left hand corner, I have my collection of inspiration figures, such as Tim Burton characters.

Luella display

I went in the Luella shop on New Bond Street, the current windows and interior displays are lovely. One of the display designers is Brooke Hilden. The clothes are displayed on cardboard cut out manequins with painted illustrations for the faces and hair. On my wish list at the moment is the Kurt pink cashmere cardigan.

Stuffing and wood supports

To give my dolls support inside they are filled with stuffing and have a wood support through the body, neck and head. The stuffing is loose carded polyester from upholestry.com. The wood supports were handmade by the production team of Harvey Nichols for me.

Craftacular Summer Fair

I went to the craftacular fair yesterday at York Hall in Bethnal Green. Some of my favourite items I have shown above, from the top is the party ring necklace in yellow and pink by Biscuit Boutique, from Cabbages & Kings. I also like the flamingo broach, made by Love From Hetty and Dave. And the lovely hand sewn pork pie girls, by The Cat In The Shoe.

Doll Faces

The 24 faces I have sewn, the mouths are going to be changed slightly. With the circle mouths, I am going to stich through the middle to create 3D lips.

Simon Foxton

I went to Simon Foxton exhibition When You're a Boy, currently on until the 4th October at the photographers gallery. He is a influential photographer and stylist, working primarily with menswear. His work features in Dazed & Confused and online on Show Studio.

Pieces I particulary liked was smash babylon mind control from I.D magazine issue february 2005. See photograph above, of male models, in clashing prints of roses and ice creams. I also liked the photography from the shoot act kind of random stand off sampler 2004. Where the location for the shoot was a carpet shop, which gave humour to the poses, the designer clothes juxtaposed with the textiles of the carpets.

Pattern pieces

I finally sewed all the pattern pieces together to form figures. So each figure consists of 10 pieces, front 2 arms, 2 legs head and body and the same for the back. I cut and sewed 260 pieces in total.

Textile sculptures

From a recent trip to the Saatchi gallery, I came across the artist Agathe Snow, part of the American contemporary art exhibition. Part of her work on show (top photograph), the cross series captured my attention. I like her use of textiles to depit human forms in an abstract way. I did not like her religious connotations.

Snow's work reminded me of Annette Messager's work, (bottom photograph) from the Hayward Gallery last May. She also makes use of textiles, including stuffed toys. Both are fine artists that interpret the use of textiles in a different form to craft.

Mock up life size doll

My mock up life size doll, for Harvey Nichols. I used floral fabric for the front and cream velvet fabric for the back. With a combination of yellow, green and pink exposed stiching.

Singer sewing machine window display

I have visited the Westfield shopping centre in Shepherds Bush a few times. With the tall cellings, the majority of shops have been designed to make the most of the height. I particularly like the Allsaints shop, which has one side of the building full of original singer black sewing machines. I found this advert from the thirties, which shows the same style machine. There is also a range of wooden tailors dummies within the display.

Harvey Nichols mannequin

The mannequin that was courier sent to me from Harvey Nichols, Knightsbridge head office display department. Female size 8 over 6 foot tall, the same style mannequins can be found in Liberty's displays.