For centuries women have used cloth as a tool of comfort and as an expression of beauty within their homes. Creating cloth for warmth, cloth for shelter, our female predecessors embellished these linens with hand stitch using laborious and time consuming techniques thereby enhancing the functional beauty of objects which enveloped and protected their families. Inspired by these women I hope my creations pay tribute to and recognise the devotion expressed in cloth by our female ancestors .







''the use of traditional often time consuming process alludes to the devotion of a mother''. c K. A. Ruane 2007







Tuesday, October 25, 2011

sketchbook






Hi everyone, I am revisiting some sketchbooks today. These were on here quite recently but I thought it would be good to talk about them as opposed to just letting you stare at the pictures without any extra information. You may see them in a different light after hearing something about how these things come together and who knows, you may get inspired.
There are lots more detailed pictures of these pages over here.
My visitors went about an hour ago and the house is strangely quiet.....Helen adored her cloth, truly loved it and it is now on it's way to London. We had a great weekend, hectic but good. Now I just have the house to put back together.....I brought both my kids up in this tiny house we still live in, we had plenty of room. Now If an extra person comes in...well there is nowhere to put them or any of their stuff......strange......
I was hoping to make a big announcement today but I can't, sorry. It is dependant on somebody else making an announcement and they haven't done it yet so we wait......

10 comments:

deanna7trees said...

Interesting to see how you go from inspiration to putting it down on paper.
thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Fascinating!

Mosaic Magpie said...

Thank you for going in-depth on the video! That is exactly what I wanted to hear. Such as Vivian Westwood's items that inspired you. Even the straps on the boot! Mixing all the shapes. I throughly enjoyed this!
Deb

Elizabeth said...

For me these video's add so much in understanding how you think and work. Isn't it great that we discovered our ability to make a video, lol!

barbara l. hale said...

Loved the journey through your sketchbook!

Tina said...

I really am enjoing having a look at your sketch books-

I do have a question-do you ever sketch anything for your new cloths? I know you said you had not worked in the sketch books for about a year-but I wondered if you get ideas or "grow" ideas in your sketch book?

Montreat Designs said...

Looking forward to hearing your news, and I owe you a medium sized letter I know!!!!! ;)

Susan

Jules said...

Love seeing your sketchbooks in detail and peeking into your creative process. I love seeing how other people work, it really inspires me and sometimes I can take bits and pieces that help me. I'm having a day off work today to do nothing but sew and I watched your vid at 9:00am to inspire me! Great stuff Karen!
Jules

Magpie's Mumblings said...

Well, after seeing your great sketchbooks I know for certain I won't be showing mine anytime soon! Thanks for sharing and showing me how it SHOULD be done!!

Janice / Dancing with Sunflowers said...

This really adds a lot to just seeing the photos. I do remember them from first time around. The Vivienne Westwood one isn't for me but I ADORE the other two. Very interesting to see how you build up ideas from a source. Thanks for sharing this Karen.
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