Creating my own Kate Tulett art

At the South of England Show this year, in the pouring rain, I stumbled across the very lovely Kate Tulett in one of the craft marquees. Kate is an art teacher, artist and generally a splendidly bonkers lady! I thought her collages were fab, and longed for one of her creations myself, but settled on a one-day textile course held at the school she teaches at in Oxted. But unbeknownst to me, my great hubby sneakily arranged for me to receive one of her aquascapes for my birthday, knowing that I have a particular penchant for all things sea related.



It was done in great haste as we only 'discovered' Kate a week away from my birthday, and the collage was a surprise, so it involved secret emails, and a hand-over on a garage forecourt.
I love my picture, it even has lines from a poem that Steve wrote for me many years ago!

Those who know me are well aware that I am a hoarder as far as fabric, buttons and ephemera go, and I like art which is both textural and three dimensional. So having a go at creating something as fun as one of her pieces was quite a challenge. Letting go, and allowing myself to empty my head of science and bees and such, even for a day, is not always easy. Nature accompanies me where ever I go :o)

And despite being amongst many (many!) children on the course, Kate was patient with all and sundry, no matter what age or temperament. I have done some machine embroidery before so I am reasonably comfortable with a sewing machine, but am always open to new techniques.

We looked at the work of Sophie Standing, a very clever textile artist and Kate explained her techniques, before embarking on our own projects. And although I haven't finished it, I'll show you how far I managed to get today.

First a sketch on muslin, then acrylic paints washed over the canvas

Here's one of Kate's pieces in progress

And two stages of other pieces of Kate's work!

Next the fabric stage, and here the photo of my garden for inspiration

Kate's desk!

My collage beginning to take shape with fabric scraps

Oh, oh! Small people upturning the giant fabric box and hiding amongst the multitude of textures and colours! Great fun!

But, of course, bees are always in my heart, and always part of my garden...

You'll have to wait to see the completed article, as there is more to add to my master-piece. However, I am pretty chuffed at the way it is progressing, and even the din of enthusiastic noise from what seemed like a hall full of halflings didn't deter my enjoyment of the day.

Many thanks to Kate and her two peachy assistants!

A perfectly peachy pinny

In true creative style, when I saw a cute tea towel at the charity shop I decided then and there that I just had to use it to make a pinny like the ones shown in the fabulicious Tiff and Rachelle's ultra fun crafty book, Granny Chic. If you haven't poked your nose into their handy dandy book yet, do go ahead, there are many peachy projects using pre-loved fabrics, braids and trims.

The finished pinny

Here are examples of the fun Granny Chic pinnies!

The tea towel cost me the princely sum of 30p, and together with an embroidered lacy doily (20p) taken from my huge stash of vintage lacy doilies, tray napkins and table cloths, and a piece of lace and some bias binding from my crafty drawer, I set to making my very own pinny. Oh, and I do really have a few, I confess to being a bit of a magpie when I see such handsome pieces of hand crafted loveliness in a forlorn bargain bin in thrift and charity shops! I may not have an immediate use for such treasures, yet they somehow find their sneaky way home and join my fabric stash, with the premise that such a grand piece of history will somehow weave its delicateness into a future crafty endeavour.

Starting with the tea towel 'Wedding Anniversaries'. It has the look of an embroidered sample and is made of linen.

A doily which is folded over and sown on the tea towel making a pocket

Lace is added to the bottom, and then bias binding is added to make ties

And hey presto the finished article! And in Tiff's words - I immediately felt peachier about my daily chores, because how can you not - in such a pretty pinny :o)

As you can see I am quite partial to a pretty doily or two, and change my little displays regularly, adding seasonal flowers and quirky items to create a colour themed corner.

Hope you have a crafty moment or two this week!

Some of my favourite things..

At the moment these are some of my favourite things:

A very sweet skirt, with lovely embroidered twittering birds! I found this scrunched up at the bottom of a plastic bag with other bits of linen in a thrift shop for 50p

A great find - an original piece of art - found in a thrift shop some years ago, it remains a favourite item, there's always something new to discover when you look again...

An ever changing little corner filled with treasures - including bowls from Anthropologie and a selection of bird skulls :o)

Pretty embroidered cushion

Vintage patchwork knitted blanket, and a Christmas present cushion from my good husband

My white roses from my lovely hubby

A really nice book about growing plants with edible flowers

My latest haul from my favourite charity shop, appropriately in spring colours!

Interestingly, few of my current 'special' things are new; they are mostly pre-loved or hand-made. I am not really a bling girl, nor do I particularly go for the boutique look!

Do you have some special peachy things at the moment?

A rather peachy lampshade

For some time I have had a couple of lampshade skeletons languishing in my crafty room. I picked them up for just a couple of pounds from a charity store, after being inspired to do something 'fabricy' with lampshades following a lovely trip last summer to Charleston House, the home of the Bloomsbury set - an influential group of associated English writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists, the best known members of which included Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster and Lytton Strachey.

Among the Bohemians: Virginia Woolf (centre) outside a summerhouse with her house guests, economist Maynard Keynes (right) and Angelica Bell, Vanessa Bell and Clive Bell, 1930s.

In 1916 Charleston became the home of the artist Vanessa Bell, her fellow artist (and sometime lover) Duncan Grant, the writer David Garnett, her two young sons and an assortment of animals. The two men were conscientious objectors and had come to do farm work.

picture: photolibrary.com

Conditions at the house were primitive with only the basic plumbing and no gas or electricity, but the three adults gradually decorated the walls with murals and filled the house with their paintings, ceramics and painted furniture. Their work was influenced by Italian fresco painting and post-Impressionist art and the unique ambiance they created is still obvious today. Vanessa was a dab hand with fabrics too, and created curtains and lampshades for various rooms in the house.

My interest in doing something with the lampshade was re-ignited when, for Christmas, I was given Tiff Fussell and Rachelle Blondel's new book, Granny Chic from my rather peachy friend, Gaby. Tiff and Rachelle both love the eclectic mix of granny style fabrics and lace, but often give their crafty creations a modern twist. Granny Chic is a lovely book, and quite sweet in nature, with it's flowery language and retro look.

So I gathered some fabric scraps from my stash, and began winding ripped strips of fabric around the skeleton. You have to be both patient and dexterous! But it soon came together and then it was just a case of sewing a stitch or two in the loose ends of fabric strips to neaten the inside of the shade.

So there...a unique shade for the princely sum of less than £2.50. That's thrifting at its best. You could make a similar stripey lampshade, or use tones of the same colour, or indeed just use a single fabric to match other accessories in the room.

Have a good week

Boys can sew too!

As time is hurtling towards Christmas, it's also time to get creating home made presents for loved ones. BB decided he'd like to have a go at learning to sew on my sewing machine, and so he cracked on with gifts for his grandparents.

Being an 'engine', I thought he might well engage with the sewing machine, and, actually you know, I think it's good for boys to be able to sew! He quickly mastered the art of straight stitching and zig-zagging too.

First of all cutting all the pieces needed for the project

Zaf being his usual helpful self!

Here sewing pieces of fabric together

BB used offcuts from my fabric stash and odd pieces of lace to create something I hope his Grandma and Nana will like! So, obviously, I can't show you the finished items yet!!

I think for a 10 year old computer-mad boy, small projects which he can easily finish, is probably the best option for him. Making presents also teaches him the value of giving, which I hope will bring pleasure and pride to him when he gives his creations away on Christmas day.


I hope a few home made presents make their way under your Christmas tree too!