Thursday 26 November 2009

my creative space . . . where it all began!

I've been feeling a bit reflective this week after winding down from my craft fair and a very busy month or so spent mostly making stock for the local Art Gallery shop here in Stornoway (I hope it all sells over the Christmas rush!).

Earlier in the week I hauled these two Harris Tweed jackets out of the back of my wardrobe. Believe it or not I made them myself many years ago when I was actually capable of following a sewing pattern (prior to having two children!) and made a few simple items of clothes for myself. They are both still waiting to be lined as I got a bit stuck at that point!

It was the remnants of these two tweed jackets which inspired me to start experimenting with making soft toys at home. I thought it would be a great fun idea to do something a little creative at home and earn myself a few pennies at the same time (I'm not so sure if the last part worked out according to plan - haha!).

It suddenly occured to me this morning just as I was about to do this post that I still had the prototypes I'd made with the remnants of fabric and here they are!

You can see the same brown and blue Harris Tweed in all the prototypes - they look really funny to me this morning, but I'm glad I kept them intact in their original packaging (I toiled for some time over how they should be packaged!)

It's now pretty much 3 years since I started my little 'tweedie' enterprise - I did my first craft fair on December 2nd 2006 to be exact! I'm not sure where it's all going to go from here but it's fun to look back at how it all started! Off to enjoy our Thanksgiving holiday now :)

More 'creative' types over here!

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving if you are celebrating it!

7 comments:

Swirlyarts said...

Time flies doesn't it! I love those jackets - and I'm impressed with the following a pattern. I haven't tried yet but will do one day!

Biba said...

A very happy enterprising anniversary, dear Alison, I think you're an extremely skilled artist! Your tweed jackets look professionally made (forget the lining...) and the toys are simply adorable. Should you ever decide to sell the little butterfly in the bottom left corner, could you please put me first in the line? Very much appreciated!!!

Jennifer Rose said...

its always interesting to see early work from a person and then what a piece looks like now after changes have been made. its a good indication of how a person improves :)

that blue tweed coat is just gorgeous!

WendyCarole said...

love your jackets. I rarely make clothes any more

Sally said...

Love that little dinosaur :) Too cute.

june at noon said...

Oh, wow, so neat to see the beginnings of this enterprise! I'm glad you saved them too, and thanks for sharing them with us. :)

Aileen Clarke Crafts said...

Such a lovely post. Isn't it great to look back to the beginnings of creative ideas and see how much we move on. I sometimes see pieces that I gave to friends ages ago and remember what I was at when I made that particular piece and how much I think I've improved my skills since. I'm really bad for keeping stuff though. I should put firsts of everything in a folio really.