June | 2013 | Petal & Pins

June 25, 2013

Mon Petit Chou

My garden is rather bare on the flower front at the moment, apart from the beds of Bergenias – affectionately know as ‘elephant ears’ that are just starting to show their winter display of small pink flowers. It’s meant a bit of ‘thumb twirling’ as far as my Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe is concerned.

That is until last month when Mr Petal & Pins gave me a beautiful bunch of flowers for our wedding anniversary, which you may know about from my post A Spring Proposal.

The bouquet was a divine surprise – pinky mauve roses, heavenly scented freesias and brassica – yes that’s kale or cabbage!

Wedding Anniversary Bouquet

Brassica sounds much more sophisticated than cabbage – but so does the french endearment ‘Mon Petit Chou’ than it’s english translation!

What ever you choose to call them they were exquisite and gave the bouquet a dramatic edge. One month on I’m still enjoying some of the brassica in a vase (they out lasted the freesias and roses) and some gave new inspiration for my Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe.

I think I’d like to plant some in my garden … as for Mr Petal & Pins – well he’s ‘Mon Petit Chou’ x

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June 24, 2013

An Elf In My Letterbox

I love an ‘old fashioned ‘ handwritten letter that comes via the postman, I have a collection tucked into boxes too special to discard after delivering their message. So when I came across Ziggy Shortcrust and her personal challenge to revive the lost art of the handwritten letter I was intrigued and excited to participate.

Ziggy’s letters are not just handwritten – they’re illustrated with elves!

Working from home I can hear when the postman arrives – and sometimes there is a slight sense of excitement that today he has slipped something special into the letterbox – lush fabric swatches from abroad, a postcard from a friends travels, a thank you note from a client…………or a letter from Ziggy Shortcrust with my very own elf!

Inspired by my blog, Ziggy conjured up an elf adorned with ‘sweet scented blooms’.

My elf is beautiful, and I wrote back to thank Ziggy and tell her it reminds me of the school formal dress I made for my niece which was adorned with tiny handmade tulle flowers which she also wore in her hair.

petite handmade tulle flowers

dress detail

My niece is coming to visit in September – this is her final year of high school and again I’m delighted to be creating a special dress for her. I will show her my letter from Ziggy, I ‘m sure she’d like her own elf – one inspired by her talent for fire twirling.

Flower Elf by Ziggy Shortcrust

You can read about Ziggy’s wonderful letter writing project here.

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June 20, 2013

Take Another Look In The Window

A stroll back in time, another stroll past my window.

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June 17, 2013

Japonica

There is a sprinkling of japonica flowers in my patchwork hedge – I can’t decide if they’re early or late. The leaves are turning yellow or have already dropped and there is a rather impressive display of crabapples in the hedge too.

I created this dress for my Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe last Spring.

June 15, 2013

Retro Raffia In The Golden Quad

Blumarine Window Display Milan Summer 2012
© Sandra Alcorn 2012

Strolling around the Quadrilatero d’Oro in Milan last summer I took some photos of the fabulous window displays.

This Blumarine one caught my eye not least because of the fabulous clothes but also the great bag adorned with raffia flowers – it reminded me of the ‘flower loom’ I was given as a child and still had tucked away somewhere at home.

A year on and the idea of playing with my flower loom was lost amongst all the other inspired ideas from my trip – until last week when I was looking at Edwina’s blog re:retro.

It wasn’t difficult to remember where the flower loom was stashed and I even managed to unearth some raffia – just enough for one flower!

Until I get a bigger supply of raffia I created myself a virtual bag.

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June 12, 2013

Russet Tones

A few weeks ago I composed this still life with remnants of an embroidered silk, my grandmother’s teacup, apples & seed pods.

It captured all the Autumn russet tones in my garden and around the neighbourhood.

The maple tree by my front gate that I can see from my studio window.

A florists window display – taken on a weekend away in Melbourne.

Now most of the trees are bare and I spent Saturday raking piles of leaves to reveal the green tips of bulbs pushing through to catch the winter sun.

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June 5, 2013

Window Dressing

When I closed my shop front and moved my studio home people would often remark ‘I miss your windows’. Being in a street dominated by restaurants and open exclusively by appointment had given it an aura of otherness in a town like Hobart.

I enjoyed dressing the window in the same way I now enjoy making my Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe designs – a chance to play with ideas (or simply a chance to play) by draping fabric lengths on a dress stand.

Over the years I was there I had some interesting conversations with people who regularly went past to see what was in the window and they stopped in to express their enjoyment even if they were not likely to become a client.

One was a woman who said her mother had been visiting from interstate and on returning home asked her daughter to describe the latest ‘gown’ in the window when ever she wrote to her – how I’d love to read those letters.

Another was a man who had a weekend ritual of strolling to get the newspaper and stopping to photograph my window. He enjoyed the challenge of taking an image through glass without reflection and the dress stand and fabrics reminded him of his mother who had been a seamstress.

I thought I’d add some ‘window dressing’ pictures to the Petal & Pins mix so you can travel back in time and stroll past my window too.

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Month: June, 2013

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