Sustainable Styling

A New Year...Stitchwort, Stagbeetles and a sorted studio.

2012-01-11T08:15:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year.... and a very exciting one I feel it is going to be. It has been a slow start to 2012 with sludgy motivation and inspiration lacking, but a couple of days of loud music and cleaning out the studio (akin to the inside of my mind) I am raring to go.
Last year ended with a large work load and probably poor time management since I was left with very little time to blog, this year I will be better!
It seems that the endangered species studies I have been doing as part of my Goddess project are very popular...... this little fellow has just journeyed to a new home in Vegas!and the other is a commission for Miriam of Silver and Moor Jewellery.

I am also lucky enough to be starting the year with some wonderful new art work for the studio done by my sister Danielle Barlow see above......ooh and lastly a shiny new camera! so no excuses now not to be fully up and running.
But for the mean time I am off to admire the stock of a lovely local costumier.

Stitchwort Studio up and running

2011-12-19T13:55:00.000-08:00

At last here are pics of my new studio space up and running, after sharing with my sister for 6 months she left for a sparkling new home shed studio. I converted the back room into my 'Frock Room'. It has always been my dream to have a room full of fabulous dresses and costumes, a giant dressing up box, and now I do!

Packed full of vintage goodies

It's wonderfull

The cutting room

Fed up amongst the frocks

A recycling detour and sunburn!

2011-04-17T13:44:00.000-07:00

We will Remember.

I may be procrastinating but I am still keeping busy!....... this display jar has been hanging around at Proper Job the recycling and sustainable living centre that I work.
I have been eyeing it up for weeks.
So now I have sat in the sunshine, a little too long,and filled it up!

I'm not sure that the painting is finished but it was fun to do something different.

The business of skins.....and a little procrastination

2011-04-17T12:45:00.000-07:00

Due to a creative block over the last 3 weeks I have been re-visiting inspiration. The first is my most favourite fairy tale, Donkey Skin by Charles Perrault. This story inspired me enormously as an early reader and as I read it again I still feel the same sense of marvel and wonder. Those beautiful dresses with fabrics that matched the sky, moonbeams and sunshine STILL make me catch my breath.
Oh, I did sooo long to draw one, make one, have one, feel one, even BE that dress!

It got me to thinking about why I related to this story so strongly, aside from Perrault's ability to paint a picture so wonderfully vivid that you can almost smell and taste it.
I found the idea of hidden truths and the disguising of herself under the stinky asses skin exciting and fascinating.
The King's beloved beast hid her beauty and gave her protection yet others perceived her as repulsive and grotesque. What fascinated me the most was the transformation that was possible when shedding her skin and then retrieving it again.

I realised that it is because I have always felt 'in the business' of skins! I create new skins for people to wear.
The clothes we wear, the skin we don, is the story that we are telling to those around us. It can be a statement, a truth, a lie, a defence, a ritual or anything you want it to be. A million words and more.
My new work is a chance to take this concept further. Fashioning a set of skins and using photography to recreate the snapshot moment that happens when you first see/read someone. My plan is to experiment with this storytelling moment using the same set of skins to tell different parts of the story.

....... this is all very well but the creative block is still in place!
so I decided on some instant gratification instead and spent an afternoon making a skirt for myself

A Salwar Kameez and old skirt made into new skirt!

and a pretty dress for a lovely little 1yr old lady in the village. I had found some fabric that reminded me of the work of her budding artist and busy mother Lunar (check out her work here). I thought that a dress might be more appreciated than a half made skirt from decades ago, plus it gave me great pleasure to whip up something pretty and easy!

The Bee Maiden continued......

2011-04-04T07:37:00.000-07:00

I first started this blog last year. It was the beginning of a long journey to create a 'dream collection' inspired by our marvelous bugs and bees and other idigenous creatures that are endangered and dwindling even though they play a vital role in our food chain.
I work exclusively with recycled textiles and clothing and am fascinated by the idea of using "fashion" as a platform for other environmental, non related issues.

Many centuries ago, our society changed from matriarchal to one where men dominated. Women developed a strange facade. Fashion, physical appearance and external demeanour began to epitomise womanhood. No longer was the fact that she was life giver, carer and nurturer cherished. Natural beauty was replaced with clothing and decoration, bodies were covered and contorted and their existence objectified . Yet 'a woman' has not changed and despite these enforced (often self) roles the fundamental aspects of the goddess remained. Maiden, Mother, Crone.

This collection takes a 'holistic' approach to design. Exploring each species in the context of era, it's cultural significance (socially and historically) as well as it's environmental and metaphysical implications.

The first is the Bee Maiden.
Somehow, in recent years, mankind has forgotten to look after this wonderful little creature. The Bee has spent thousands of years being revered, worshipped, loving tended as an integral part of our food chain and documented by some of the greatest minds know to mankind yet in a few small decades all this knowledge has been forgotten or dismissed.

Diminishing biodiversity, intensive farming, chemical pollutants and GM crops = the death of the honey bee.

Bee Maiden, a work in progress

This piece harks to the 1950's and is layers of recycled silks embroidered with bees and spring flowers. Each outfit is designed to show the duality of women and their roles. They are to be photographed and modelled to show the formal exterior conforming to the image of a woman of the era and then to show the hidden truth of what a womanhood.

A Leap of Faith

2011-03-01T09:07:00.000-08:00

Welcome... once again, to my blog. Last year life took over and death, illness and injury turned it upside down and inside out in ways we never expected.
This has heralded a new venture..and a leap of faith! Although it seems like self indulgence (of the scarey, non-paying sort!) It was time to follow my dreams and do exactly what I want!

My New Workspace!

So here is one new, centrally located studio. A fabric filled cutting room, machines,space for designing as well as great company .....in the shape of my sister! a painter and illustrator who inhabits the very back room.
I intend to spend some time designing and creating beautiful pieces of wearable art.
I think that we can utilise fashion (modern and vintage) as an alternative medium for tackling environmental issues. My aim is to design a collection of garments that not only use recycled fabric and tackle the landfill issue but raise awareness of our current natural and social plights...... so watch this space!

Embroidered bee's... some more

2010-07-12T04:30:00.000-07:00

Free hand machine embroidery is one of my favourite things, It can be more satisfying than a pencil and paper and the rhythm of the machine and the continuing drone is like that of the bee covered bushes in my garden. Very therapeutic!

busy, busy, busy

2010-07-12T04:23:00.000-07:00

It seems that even though we are having a far better and warmer summer than previous years, the sales of my Blow-pipe products (recycled childrens's jacket)s has picked up a month or two earlier than usual? So regardless of all my forwards planning it is a busy time in the workshop at the moment, fortunately I have extra hands to help me manage...........

My beautiful assistant Kesella and my multi talented cousin Hugh!

Summer workshops

2010-07-12T04:09:00.000-07:00

I have been teaching a few workshops at the Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural world.

People of all ages can come along with items they have bought or are provided and re-fashion them into something new and groovy! Aside from being really good fun, it was great to work with a bunch of teenage girls aged 13-16.These are the biggest buyers of high street 'disposable' fashion and much less inclined to re-use their clothing. There is almost no market what so ever for second hand clothing in this age group and therefore an area that I am keen to develop

The story continues..... bees in white and a duvet cover

2010-07-12T03:21:00.000-07:00

After these many crazy weeks of summer events and trying to regain a lot of the work that I have lost when my harddrive died, it is time to catch up.
The story of my time travelling duvet cover was picked up by the national and local press! so it is on the next stage of it's journey with a folder of press clippings and is now moving into being re-worked as garment and included in my bee collection!
I have started freehand machine embroidering flying bees on to the cut pattern pieces. I am working it into a child's dress, the delicate colours of the fabrics lead blends in very nicely with the apple blossom inspired section of the collection.

Me in the London Metro! a tad cheesey I know!

Angus arrives.....

2010-05-07T11:42:00.000-07:00

I have another 'At Last'.......Time in the workshop to start ruminating on bee's...... Although the pictures are shockingly bad, I have eventually got the scissors out and started chopping. Last month saw the first workshop session with my trusty assistant and patient model Kesella!
She has started construction on her first pleated bottomed mini skirt and I on re-modelling mens jackets, all still on the bee theme and part of our ongoing project.

I have taken a rather beaten, honey coloured woollen jacket and started chopping it about in an attempt to make it into a more contemporary, funky menswear item. It is a fabulous Irish woollen woven jacket, with flecks of yellow and brown and a fine brown check.It is so exciting to be able to work with this level of quality fabric, fibre and construction (ok, there were a couple of moth holes!) that is so hard to come by these days. After the hours I spend handling masses of low quality, mass produced textiles it is pure joy when the old gems come in, no matter what state, you know that they have already out lived most items produced in the last 10 years!
This item doesn't yet feature a bee, but I am working on a small emblem to be sewn onto the pocket flap and maybe a covered button. I am aware that most fashion savvy men would not feel comfortable sporting an oversized bee statement..... although I am working on this!

Workshop helpers?

2010-05-07T10:51:00.000-07:00

Whilst rummaging around in the corner of my workshop the other week I made a discovery....... A small group of sewing things that had been collected in a cobweb bag. I took some photo's to put on the blog but unfortunately these were lost when my laptop died so I returned to re- photograph today and there seems to have been even more items added! what immediately sprung to mind was "I've got Borrowers!" It looked just the way I imagined Ariette's stash. For those of you unfamiliar the Borrowers is a wonderful children's book by Mary Norton...... and also a film!

It certainly looks like an industrious spider and his miniature friends have been busy. It seems every time I leave my workshop for a while another creature moves into share it!

Time to catch up!

2010-05-07T03:46:00.000-07:00

At long last I am able to start blogging again! My computer died taking everything with it,so I am starting again from scratch with a brand new one........
This week sees the launch of our new website at Proper Job, Our pioneering community re-use and recycling centre for sustainable living, where I run a textiles recycling project.

Here it is possible to see full details of the kind of projects we work with and services we provide.

Spanish bees

2010-04-06T04:22:00.000-07:00

Having just returned from spending some time in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, Spain, I had a chance to start attempting to photograph bees to aid my design process! after being inspired by www.thehoneygatheres.com. ( my photos are nowhere near his quality!)
I have never seem spain so green at this time of year, the olive and almond terraces are carpeted with luminous growth of green grasses and vetches providing incredible nutrition and a surreal Alice in Wonderland like effect.

This really is a garden of Eden, every plant that grows wild provides food, fruit or medicine enabling one to live off the land in a traditional sustainable manner. I was lucky enough to stay with Yair and Ziza at Armonia Alpujarras for a couple of days in their beautiful Yurt where nature loudly echos around the hills, tiny bright birds chatter, toads boom in the gully beneath, enormous black bumble bees cruise past like low flying aircraft offering a glimmer of their irridescent backs.......creatures and critter lovers heaven!

Beeginnings

2010-03-16T10:58:00.000-07:00

As the first posting on my bee journey there is not much to show just yet, I am putting pen to paper, gathering fabrics and garments in piles around the place waiting to be transformed, emroideries starting to be sampled.......
I am starting with my spring inspired queen bee, simplifying a basic bee shape that would work as a life size, block colour embroidered emblem all over my spring flowers. Then mirrored in a paler colour on the heavy green shot silk underskirt........more to come

My very own time travelling tale

2010-03-16T09:13:00.000-07:00

Although many of the other staff members on site at the recycling centre groan when they see the mountain of textiles spilling out of bags, I (mostly) feel excited at the endless posibilities of what could be in them. I often find that no matter how bad a mood I am in, a fabulous find makes my day, it's like finding the pot of gold!We work in a reasonably small community so from time to time it is no surprise to come across items that you recognise but the other day I made a remarkable personal discovery.
I dragged a rather faded, worn and frankly not very attractive piece of floral fabric out of a bag, which somewhere in the depths of my mind triggered a memory.I took the fabric home and waved it around in front of my mother (who remembered nothing) and my sister who, having spent all her time at the local riding school recognised it as batch of duvet covers our mother had made for them 22 years ago!
What was even more remarkable about this particular item was, at the time we were living over 300 miles away from our current location!
On closer inspection we found that this particular piece had my name on it! and realised it had been an extra duvet made for me when I was at school in the East of England, somehow this cover had been used, passed on, travelled and made it's way back to me 22 years later....... still in one piece!

Time Travel

2010-03-16T00:26:00.000-07:00

As part of my day job I run a textiles recycling resource at our local centre for sustainable living, Proper Job. Here I get to handle vast amounts of textile from clothing to household, in an attempt to stop them going to landfill. We sort and grade for re-sale, re-use and re-cycling.
This is my ideas of heaven! as a designer and and a recycler this pile of waste is a mountain of opportunity and fascinating stories.
It is an incredible insight to our society, a catalogue of constantly changing stories. It tells me the history of our day to day textiles, occasionally as far back as the Victorian era!
Some days I might find a beautiful mended and restored piece of nursery textiles that has been lovingly cared for and repaired over the years serving many generations of a family,or a groovy 1960's party frock that still holds a mark of the original owners party times.

It is possible to come across clothes that have seen so much of our history, experienced our wars, travelled from overseas and seen births and deaths. It catalogues the changing faces of the textiles industry, documenting arrivals of new materials and fibres and even dyes as they have evolved as well as trend resurgences of natural materials culminating in the arrival of the disposable fashion industry.

More recently it provides me a current and interesting consumer story. What I have seen in the last few years is the fastest changing story yet. I am able to observe the changes in textile quality over the years, even within specific brands, which labels provide the country's working wardrobe and I am guessing (if spent time doing the sums!) even be able to gauge the financial implications of all of this.
The most obvious issue is the growing percentage of new garments (tags and all) thrown in the bin, A rise in supermarket labels and more recently a new trend towards 'eco' textiles.

All of this throws up environmental questions and perhaps the most interesting one is 'eco' textiles? the implications of disposable brands and mass producer creating low cost 'eco' clothing....... but that is a new can of worms I shall leave for next time

Art, Ecology and the Economy

2010-02-24T07:31:00.000-08:00

To see examples of my work as a recycled textile designer and stylist visit
‘Art, Ecology and the Economy’
A new exhibition featuring Artists, Craftspeople and Businesses who undertake sustainable practices and who are conscious of minimizing their environmental impact.

This exhibition is running simultaneously at two venues, both aiming to showcase innovative solutions to environmental and economic challenges. You will find examples of my work at both CCANW, Holden Forest Park, Exeter and Duchy Square, Princetown. This will feature current stock as well as new designs and photographic displays of our other sustainable textiles projects within the community.

If you would like to attend a launch they are Sat 23 2pm-4pm Duchy Square and Sun 24th 2-4pm CCANW.
‘Art, Ecology and Economy’ is funded by Arts Council England, Devon County Council and Greater Dartmoor Leaf

2010-02-24T07:08:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Sustainable Styling.

At long last I have managed to start a blog! A platform from which to delve into my world of sustainable textiles, fashion, styling and recycling.