NEW HOLIDAY WARDROBE

 

At the end of the week we're setting off on our winter holiday to Tenerife and I'm really looking forward to some warm sunshine. 

We've been to this Canary island several times before and each time I have bought myself a couple of sarongs from the weekly market at Adeje, with the intention of making a summer dress. I already have four and when I found another untouched sarong in my drawer I decided it was time to make another one.

 

I copied the design from another dress that's cut on the bias which gives a lovely drape and fit and set to making this dress. The fabric is a synthetic of some sort that's very light and uncrushable which is perfect for packing.  Sorry but I can't seem to turn the photo!

 

Here is a drawing from one of my holiday sketchbooks showing a lovely long dress that's very comfortable that used two sarongs with enough left over for a scarf.

 

 

In a previous year I bought two different coloured pieces and even planned the layout to make the most of the limited length of the sarong.

 

 

It was quite a challenge to get a frock out of barely 2 square metres of  fabric and I sometimes had to add a different lining to the bodice to complete the garment.

 

I'm always on the lookout for pretty fabrics and when I found this scarf at the local Red Cross shop for only 50 centimes I just had to buy it!  As you can see it's quite large so I had plenty to play with.

 

 

After the success of the blue dress pattern I thought it might work well for a summer top so I used the contrast hem to make the pointed front and cut it all on the bias again. 

 

 

A friend recently gave me a sarong that she didn't want when she was packing up to leave the country and thought it might suit me being my favourite colour.  I managed to make a shirt out of this one with three-quarter sleeves that perfectly match my summer trousers.  Isn't it handy when everything co-ordinates!

Well that's it for now, hope you've enjoyed this glimpse into my holiday preparations, see you in April with some sketches from the trip.

A bientot!

BAGS OF BAGS!

 

After a lovely long hot summer, the weather has changed and rain has come to water the garden and I started to think of making things for next year's garden party.

I have a lovely collection of fabrics given to me by friends and family and it seemed a good idea to make some lingerie bags.

 

 

I had already made these two for Justine to use for her holidays and also seen some pretty ones at an art expo last week so a couple of afternoons work produced what you can see in the top picture.

I appliqued orchids from some organza or broderie anglaise using bondaweb and zigzag stitch to finish the edges.

 

 

Then I used some crinkly brown cotton with a matching print to make a pair of shoe bags which turned out big enough for at least two pairs.

 

 

My sister and niece had asked me to make them bags like mine for their birthdays so I set to and made the larger ones you can see here.  They measure approx. 42 cms wide by 26 cms high.

 

There was plenty of fabric left over to make a pair of smaller ones too which measure 30 cms wide and 20 cms high.

 

 

All the bags have internal pockets for pens or phones and a plastic inner base to give support.

 

 

I'm really pleased with my rainy day efforts and I'm already planning my next wet weather projects, maybe some sketchbooks.

MY 300th BLOG!

Hello friends and followers, I've come to a landmark, my 300th blog post and I've decided to celebrate with a look back over the last 5 years of blogging.  This hydrangea was the first picture I posted on Nature sketchers after I was invited to join by Cathy Johnson who runs the Artist's Journal Workshop group on Facebook.  She had seen my drawings and thought I might be interested in contributing and to qualify for the group I had to have my own blog, hence the birth of Colours in the Breizh.

In January of 2012 I started to keep a nature journal to record the happenings in and around my home here in Brittany.  I really enjoyed the discipline of going out every day to find something to draw in my sketchbook and then later I re-visited all the pages again to post on the blog.  I've shown the book to several people here and I hope I've inspired some to start the drawing and observing habit too.

By the end of 2012 I was looking for a new project and discovered the 75 day challenge organised by Brenda Swenson, a watercolour artist and sketcher in America. The aim was to draw for 75 days using only pens, so I sorted out my rather large collection and found I had all sorts from fine liners, through brush pens and markers to biros.  At the end of the challenge I received my 'Artistic License' from Brenda and a nice handwritten card congratulating me on completing.

I found a black sketchbook at a car boot sale locally for 1euro and after covering it with a pretty fabric it became another occasional nature journal.  It's quite a challenge to find the right colours that stand out on black paper but I found it a useful learning experience.  I was using my newly discovered Museum coloured pencils which have a rich pigment that works well on a dark background.

My main love of sketching is to draw when we are on holiday and as we go to so many different places in our camping car I usually fill a sketchbook each time we go away.  I take photographs too but they don't get looked at nearly as much as the sketches which are also a useful way to identify places and dates when we're discussing them later.  In fact this sketch of Chinon chateau is different from the one I drew several years earlier before the extensive renovations were undertaken.

Another challenge I took part in was the 2015 January challenge where a different subject is posted for each day of the month.  It was fascinating to see all the other participants' interpretations of the same subject as we all posted them to a special page on Facebook.

When we go to England to see the family I love to draw my surroundings as well as trying to sketch live portraits. Joanna had moved to a new house in 2014 so I drew the lounge while we all relaxed on a Sunday afternoon.

Just occasionally I copy photos to complement the 'plein air' sketches, especially when there isn't time to draw everything I see!  These sheep at a farmer's festival were such fun to capture as well as the horses and the snail I drew afterwards.  I have a small tin of coloured pencil stubs that I take on our travels so my palette is limited which means I have to be a bit creative with my interpretation, as you can see I've used a lilac for the shadows which I think makes the picture more interesting.

I love to make my own clothes and I'm always on the lookout for interesting fabrics so when I found a stall in the market at Tenerife selling pretty sarongs I couldn't resist. In fact over 4 years I bought several different ones and each year when we returned I went to show the girls on the stall what I had made, needless to say they were delighted.  This is the latest one which I eventually made with 2 sarongs so there was a nice long piece left over to make a scarf.

In January 2012 I took a bookbinding class so I could learn how to make my own sketchbooks and it has changed my life.  Now I'm always looking out for interesting fabric to cover them with and unusual paper to draw on.  When a friend gave me a stash of old maps I made some of them into a couple of sketchbooks with hand-made drawing paper samples stuck to the plain back of the map and a square of gesso on the map side to draw on. The gesso was a bit hard on my drawing pens but I had a lot of fun trying out the different papers with different media.  Another trial and error experience!

I have a friend, Rose Jones, who is a brilliant photographer who has given me permission to use her photos as inspiration,  This one is done in pen only using triplus pens in different colours.  It's quite exciting to try out new products recommended by friends and most of them work very well for me, although there are a few lying untouched that I keep trying but then abandon again!

My family are my greatest love and drawing their portraits gives me a lot of pleasure.  I have a revolving gallery in our hallway where I frame the latest drawings as they are completed.  This one of Sarah with her cat Odin in graphite is a favourite.  I have a folder with all the portraits in and it's fascinating to see my progress over the last 15 or more years.

In the last year or so I've started to move in a different direction with my art thanks to my friend Luba who was the director of the Belarus fashion company. She gave me bagfulls of  samples which have inspired me to start using them as stitched collages using my sewing machine.  Each time she comes back from Minsk she brings another batch of amazing silks and linens, wools and jerseys in fabulous colours and textures that I can't resist playing with and turning into interpretations of my photos taken on our travels, like this one of Roussillon.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed our trip down memory lane, maybe if you have any friends interested in seeing what I do you could pass on my name, I would love to increase my readership.

A BITS AND PIECES WEEK!

 

It's been a funny week, I couldn't quite get down to some needlepainting so I decided to sketch my bunch of tulips from Lidl instead and straight away I came up with an idea for depicting them in fabric.  I got out all the bits of fabric and made a pile ready to get on with later, but first I had to finish off a few other projects.

 

Here are 2 new A5 notebooks ready for the garden party in April.

 

 

And half a dozen sketchbooks filled with proper drawing paper in 3 sizes.

 

 

I found a fascinating fabric backed cork textile in the sewing shop recently and designed a sketchbook to cover it with which incorporated a beautiful wrapping paper I've been hoarding for years.  I made the end papers with the turquoise as well as putting some on the cover, I just love this colour combination, don't you?

 

Yesterday in the post a lovely parcel of silk fabrics arrived from Kirsty and Justine and I couldn't wait to get started on making a couple more sketchbooks.  I've already torn and folded 7 large sheets of drawing paper and cut out the covers.  I'll be hard at work stitching and glueing this afternoon while Bob enjoys the rugby.

 

I've been wanting to recover this little lampshade for years and I finally got around to it this week on a rainy Wednesday morning.

So as you can see I've been very busy doing lots of  bits and pieces and maybe next week I will catch up with the portraits and a bit of needlepainting!

 

 

 

MORE SEWING THIS WEEK

 

It's been a wet and windy week here in France so I've been very happy staying indoors playing with my sewing machine.  I realised at the garden party last year that I needed to come up with some new products to sell as the hand bound books have slowed down in sales.

 

I have a lovely collection of printed fabrics that I use to cover the books and the idea of pencil cases or cosmetic bags came up.  They are so easy to make and only require the purchase of a matching 20 cm zip to complete.

 

I already had some iron-on stiffening to give the fabrics some body and by the end of the day I had made this lovely collection to put on sale next April at Justine's charity garden party.

 

I had a lot of fun photographing them too as I've only recently discovered, quite by accident, the 'creative shots' button on my camera.  It takes several views at a time, zooming in and cropping and changing the angle of the view.  I really love this last one, especially as it features the poppy bag, perfect for yesterday, November the 11th.

 

 

Here is the latest collection of sketchbooks I made and already some of the match the bags so I might be able to sell them as a set....

 

And finally here is a pretty summer top I made for my friend Carolyn after we bought some fabric while we were on holiday together in September.  We were at Rochefort-en -Terre and found a delightful craft shop selling handmade items as well as the fabrics and findings to make them yourself.  We had a wonderful time browsing while our husbands waited patiently outside on a bench, thankfully not worried about how long we were and how much money we were spending!

I couldn't resist making another little bag for her too as you can see in the background.

JUSTINE'S FANCY DRESS PARTY

 

I've just returned from my annual autumn visit to England to see my family and fortunately for the first time it coincided with Justine and Kevin's firework party.  They hold this every year with a different theme and this year it was Game of Thrones.  I had never seen the programme so I researched the costumes on the internet and discovered a wealth of beautiful mediaeval dresses with pointy sleeves and wrap over fronts. 

 

 

I had a search through my fabric box and came across Bob's old Japanese kimono with a dragon on the back.  He hadn't worn it for over 30 years, preferring something with less encumbering sleeves.

I completely dismantled it, keeping the red lining with each piece as the outer black fabric was very thin and slippery, and recut a long wrap over jacket using a dress pattern I converted.

 

The dragon just fitted on the front as the main feature and I used the front corners of the dressing gown to make those fabulous pointy sleeves.

I edged the neck and sleeves with some gold lycra from the stash and had a lovely couple of days sewing and fitting my new design.

 

The collar of the gown was lined in the red and long enough to be used as the ties which wrap across the front and pass through a hole in the right side seam so they can be tied at the back.

 

To finish off my outfit I decided to make a necklace using a bit of snake printed leather and the rest of the lycra.  I used a piece of Bob's electrical wire to stiffen it and make the spiral, then added some extra glitter paste to make it sparkle.

 

Justine said "wow!" when she saw my costume as I emerged on Saturday evening ready to party and I said the same to her in her amazing warrior costume and blonde wig.  Kirsty had also made a beautiful dress and here we three are waiting for the guests to arrive.  Everyone had made a special effort to dress up and after watching a few episodes of Game of Thrones on Sunday afternoon I could recognise a lot of the characters who had been represented.  By the way that's a dragon on my shoulder that was lent to me in my role as the "Dragon mother-in-law"

We had a fabulous evening with a very professional display of fireworks by Kevin and I was able to catch up with all of Justine's friends I've got to know over the years.

IT'S SUMMER AT LAST!

 

The sun's been shining here for a few days now and we're keeping our fingers crossed that it will last long enough to feel like a proper summer. 

The hydrangeas in my garden and all over the town are in their full glory in all shades of blue through pink and red to deep purple.  I picked a wonderful bloom the size of a football from one of my plants to draw as part of my flowering shrubs series.

 

These Hypericum plants flower for a long time with new flowers popping up every day.  The leaves have a delicate fragrance when you crush them and parts of the plant are also used as a drug to treat depression.

 

This happy looking plant with silvery leaves is called Senecio.  The yellow daisy like flowers only last a couple of weeks before the dead heads have to be cut off so that the surrounding hydrangeas and hypericums can take up their own space.

 

I've been out and about with my sketchbook, drawing the beach at Tregastel before a nice lunch out with friends.

 

The lanes are full of wild flowers at the moment and I managed to pick a good bunch before the council came along and mowed the verges.

 

We love to go walking along the lanes and paths by the sea at this time of year and I realised that I needed a shoulder bag to carry my sketchbook and water in.  As soon as we got home I had a rummage through the fabric stash and came up with some fake suede and a colourful print for the lining.

 

I measured the sketchbook and the water bottle to make sure the bag was just big enough to carry them without being too large.  I'm really pleased with the result and I've been using it nearly every day.