Sarah Appleton - Textile Artist Blog

Hello there my voyeuristic chums! You are wondering why I have been so absent aren't you? Well I'm going to tell you - I'm applying to do a BA in Textile Design next year, along with all the other courses I'm studying (art x2, fashion and sign language), so I've been mentally and physically getting all prepared! But today I am bringing you something old which is new to you. In May/June I whipped up this little beauty to wear to my Grandma's 80th birthday and haven't shared the pictures yet so here you are! Aww, that's me now! I used Burda Style pattern 7494 and the fabric was from Fabric Land . Nice, huh?! I like how it turned out although I only wear it when I'm in a wallpapery mood. I haven't yet finished the lining but that's OK because I wear a slip underneath for discretion. I got a lot of good feedback from ma familia so I felt pretty swish. That's about it, gotta run back to my application!

Well last time (if you remember) I promised that when I finished some half way decent sketches on my City & Guilds course I would post pictures, so here we go: Three Pairs I did this one in charcoal, I was pretty happy with the results. One lady in my class commented that it reminded her of the phrase 'two's company, three's a crowd'; except she phrased it more like 'two talk, the third will walk', which (being a notorious loner) I rather liked. The shadow of the stalk (bottom left) is my favourite part. Here I painted my Peace Lily , this time using Indian Ink, which I'd never used before. I liked that I got to start with a clean slate using the ink and I had a lot of fun making this painting! It's not the most technically correct piece in the world with regards to shading and what have you but I like it because the composition works really well. I am kind of pumped to see that I am actually improving somewhat! Additonal: free Halloween

If I've been a quiet little mouse lately (more than usual) it's because I've started 4 new part-time adult learning courses and don't have much time to craft (or blog). This [obviously] makes me very sad indeed, but in the long run it'll all contribute towards my crafting skills. The courses I'm doing are: City & Guilds in Drawing Skills: Portfolio Level 1 City & Guilds Creative Techniques in Mixed Media Level 2 Fashion for Beginners Ascentis Entry Level 3 British Sign Language Signature Level 1 As you can imagine, between homework and working part-time, not to mention eating, sleeping and breathing in and out I am quite busy! So I thought what I would do to keep the blog going was share some of the work I'll be doing in class. Whether this will be interesting and exciting to anyone but myself I have no idea but I guess that's what blogging is all about, hey. Our first homework for Fashion was to create a mood board based on a current fas

I'm taking part in some kind of huge online craft swap via Nelly's Treasures, ch-check it out: What's going down: The first three people to comment on this post will receive a little gift - something personal from me to you. Within 2 months I'll create something unique to share with the first three people to comment on this post. But in order to receive your present you have to play along. Spread the love on your own blog promising to send a little special something to the first three people who comment on your post. You get 72 hours to re-post, or I'll have to move on to the next person. Please only comment if you're willing to pay it forward. If you want to receive something unique from me in the mail and if you are willing to do the same for others, leave a comment below! Please leave your email address so that I can contact you directly! And blog URL so that I and others can visit your blog! Again, I want to emphasize that please only comme

Did you stay tuned in to find out what I'm doing with my textile samples?! Well last week I managed to rustle up some nifty ol' cushion covers: These were made from a couple of my screenprinted samples. Shabby chic to the maxtreme! The lacy edging is vintage which I managed to pick up from Judy's Affordable Vintage Fair a while back. It's got kind of an art deco design: While I think the rose design on the purple version reminds me of the Yorkshire Rose: Maybe?! Anyway, they're both over in my Folksy shop ! Also here's a picture of my work hanging up at Number 83 , just because! Proud like Mother Hen

My lovely friend Kawaii Helen from Nelly's Treasures sent me link a few days ago to a tutorial for overhauling old penny loafers . Which excited me in my tummy department. Behold before: Behold after: Rawr Much more tinglifying I think? The only things I did differently from the tutorial was that I used a flocked/velvet/furry fabric that I had lying around (as opposed to felt) and I used this kind of UHU glue because I thought a) it might work better on patent leather b) it is transparent so if I get it all over my hands/shoes/face it's not too much of a big deal. You can hardly tell they're DIY'ed (unless you are kissing my shoes) and best of all this project took around 20 minutes, despite being slightly fiddly! And it's like having new shoes without having to pay for new shoes! Yessssssss! Made to the tunes of The Detroit Cobras - Baby!

Herro, I'm not beating the bush around today, I'm hitting you hard and fast and now! Miffy got slimed! Goo goo muck Orrr Miffy got iced / frosted (if you're American) like a delicious cupcake. In bag form. If you like it so much that you want to eat it you can get it here . In the meantime have a very similar picture to the one you've already seen: Maybe now is a good time to tell you that I submitted two of my printed canvas' to Number 83 in Westbourne, Bournemouth: It's Tower Bridge! Tuppence a bag So the above are now available in there, and one of the lovely ladies who work there was kind enough to correct my ignorance that the former is not London Bridge as I have been calling it, but is in fact Tower Bridge! Oh Betty!

Hello cyber space rangers! Remember a while ago I said I was pining to do more embroidery pieces like the days of yore? Well, I have been stitching long and hard for the last two days solid (not kidding) to bring you this fine work: I used the textile sample I was harping on about here . OK I know it's a little wonky at the bottom but I'm not re-doing it because I made it for me and I don't tend to mind if things aren't 'perfect' when they're for myself. The next step is probably to turn it into a cushion cover but for now have some more pictures as it stands: A long time ago, in a blog far far away... Aaaaand for fellow needle nerds; the back of my work: This post was inspired by Rice Krispies, not enough sleep and mix CDs!

You can now 'like' my Things (and see pictures of my Things all in one convenient place) over on Fakebook . Please also feel free to love, adore, cherish, admire and worship my Things.

Well in all my excitement at blogging about Nothing New yesterday I forgot that I do, in fact, have Something New to blog about! How silly! It's actually technically not new either since it's a refurbished second hand garment; unfortunately I forgot to take a 'before' picture but here's the 'after': Suits you sir Now you will have to use your brainbox to imagine this shirt with no collar at all; just a plain round neck. Retro-a-go-go, but not terribly flattering. My mum made this shirt many moons ago (I don't ever remember seeing her wearing it); she'd even hand sewn all of the hems; and earlier this month I found it shoved in a 'to go' pile! Whuuuut! Obviously I was not going to cut this bad boy up, so a collar was the only option. I confused myself totally with the button / placket situation, so I made the collar finish short of that area and then created a bow tie effect to fill in the weird-looking space. I am really pumped with h

Here's an update on nothing new! I've added all of the following to my online shops: Super Kawaii! Feed dem birds The Sally Bag Keen readers will recognise these from previous posts, hence the nothing newness. I am slow at adding things to my shops for some reason... Of course my favourite is still The Sally Bag , which is the son of Wilma Flintstone and Andy Warhol. My online shops are here and here (no, I still don't know why I have two). Not much else to report, I have a few exciting upcoming personal projects but don't want to say too much for fear of jinxing it all. This post was fuelled by Mickey Lee Lane, Ainsley Harriott's Cauliflower Cheese flavoured cup soup and vegetarian moussaka!

Hexopus is back (did he ever go away?)! This time he has dressed up as David Bowie (or Cherie Currie?) with a sparkly lightning bolt just like thisssss: Well maybe not just like it but a good affort anyway, well done Hexopus! If you like him so much that you want to take him home go rescue him from here ! And if you're thinking you might have seen something like this before; maybe you are thinking of this ! This post would not have been possible without the help of Jurassic Park III!

Hey y'all Cast your collective mind back a wee while and you may remember that I took a screenprinting class at AUCB and then promised to show you all the work I'd done and then forgot. Well today I have remembered! I have turned 4 pieces into canvas wall art: Feed the birds St. Paul's Cathedral - being a ginormous Mary Poppins fan, this is a big favourite You're Westminster Crabby Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey shabby chic negative print Tower Bridge This has to be my favourite - an accidentally 80's Tower Bridge. Apparently I am a subconcious West Ham fan as well, who knew? Yes, so these are all samples from my printing class, but I'm not going to tell you anything about how I did them because I am selfish like shellfish. If you luurve them why not check them out over at my Folksy shop ?! This post was brought to you today by Michael Palin, Mary Poppins and International Twin mix CDs

He's back! Back in badge! I was talking to the Hexopus a couple of weeks ago and he said that what he'd really like most in the world would be to be all 3D and come alive to be all up in everyone's collective face. So I helped him and now he looks a bit like this: Badgers or Hexopi? And a lot like this: And then I took him over to Number 83 and the humans there said that he was 'cute' and they'd help him get out and about in the world. We didn't let on about his sinister secret plans or anything. If you want to visit the Hexopi you can see them at Number 83, Poole Road, Westbourne - I also plan to make some for online very soon!

 Clicky below to read the story behind one of my birthday gifts and read my amazerad friend Helen's Highly Recommended amazerad blog: Nelly's Treasures: Collar Me Good : So this week it was Miss Appletini's birthday. A very good friend of mine that moved away last year to the south coast. I miss her terribly... Yeeeooow!

Hoot! Today I bring you offerings, offerings of gold (not frankincense and myrrh though, I couldn't afford those too). Here he is because he really needs no introduction: Hang him on your wall so he can watch you sleep Iesu Gwdihw And if you are still like 'who the heck is that?' then it's Owl bloody Jesus of course! The wisest of all creatures decorated in a religiousy kinda Jesusy kinda way. Isn't he lovely?  Owl Jesus is a hand embroidered textile wall art piece, I used metallic gold thread for a pop and to give it that super expensive religious look like from the icons of Olden Days, which I really love and am obsessed with since we studied them for GCSE art (yeah, I went to school - sometimes). I used as many different embroidery techniques as I could for a fun and textured finish. That's all I have to say about Owl Jesus!

My mum wanted some bunting to decorate my parents' hallway so I offered to make her some. My dad is currently working on/off in Dubai so I thought it would be a neat-o idea to combine something for him with the bunting for my mum, so this is what I did: I used scraps of fabric I already had, plus some that I picked up from charity shops. Then I used white felt for the lettering. I made it double sided so that she can have it plainish if she wants to: How d'ya like them apples? Although I almost feel like it's too plain and boring so I might tell her she can add to it if she likes. Again I used scraps and for the apple shape I drew around a cookie cutter. This didn't turn out as one of my neatest projects but since it's a freebie / family thing and I've been kind of under the weather I don't think it'll matter too much. Tough anyway!

Howzabout my new range of birthday cards designed especially for nerds (it's OK for us to use that word to each other): Pink Power Ranger Zubat Ivysaur Krabby Caterpie My favourite of course being the Pink Power Ranger Kimberly Hart! Girl Power! V These are all unique, single items available in my Folksy shop . I can cardly believe how fun they are!

Ello Poppets! For those of you just joining us I attend a weekly craft club on Saturday mornings; so here's the latest projects I've been working on there: Flag Queen For the Jubilee we made Union Jack flags using applique and a stencilled cameo of some lady (if you want to read about my stencilling technique it's best described here ). I left my edges a bit rough and ready because that's my style. Then I wasn't entirely sure what to do with it next, so I gave it to my mum. Aww. Hippo to be triangle Nextily we worked on some bunting - we are lucky enough to be partially fuelled by donations from local people who no longer have a use for their old supplies so three of the fabrics I used were vintage ones picked out from our hoards! I used orange binding tape because I liked how it picked out the oranges of the fabrics and contrasted with the purples and blues. Yeah! Then I used some purple ric rac which I scored at a charity shop a few weeks ago on top of

After the successful success of my previous tie bag (available in my etsy store) I decided to make another one all for me! I had this skirt which I bought at a jumble sale because I loved the kalidescopic/Op Art fabric: Because of the shape and the limited amount of fabric I decided that the best way to use it might be as a bag. Then I had some fun, bright flowery 60's fabric from Fabric Land so I decided that the juxtaposition of bright and monochrome would be good; and I ended up with this: Hey Mr. Lizard! Hey Mr. Cat! I've had the retro / Cadillac car tie for a while and have been desperate to use it, I quite liked the semi-mismatched patterns so I decided this was the project for the tie! The bag is reversible, so that I can be either colourful or a bit less colourful. The other not-so-exciting project I finished recently was 2 t-shirt resizes: Dark Side of the Coop From Large to AppletiniTiny! Terrible pictures but you get the idea. If you'd l