Petal & Pins

Tag: dress

June 20, 2017

Pink Skies & Shrimp Tails

winter sky

Winter skies are always beautiful in Hobart around dusk with pink hued clouds alluminated by the setting sun.

The aptly named flowering Shrimp Tail Salvia echos the colours of the evening sky and the leaves turn to patches of burgundy and green like an exotic camouflage print, perfect for the Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe.™

I once mistakenly picked this flower for a floral arrangement,  the strong scent becomes more intense inside and is not at all pleasant – definitely a flower to simply admire in the garden.

botanical couture by petal & pins

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November 19, 2016

Sweet Cécile Brünner

cecile-brunner-rose-in-my-front-gardencecile-brunner-dress-in-the-making-and-petal-pins-card

We’re having such a great season for roses in Hobart and one of my favourites is the sweet Cécile Brünner.

I love to pick petite posies of them whilst still in bud and their size is perfect for creating my miniature flower couture!

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September 17, 2016

Romantic Decadence

tree peony flower

I was quite enamoured by this peony when I saw it, the velvety centre ‘fringed’ in gold and those streaks of magenta on each petal (perhaps applied by a garden fairy’s paint brush!)

The bushes were covered in blooms and my friend gathered a bunch for me to design with.

My own tree peonies are also in the midst of their annual display of romantic decadence which  serves as a reminder that my blog has a birthday – number 4!

Thanks for following or simply stumbling across it and stopping to look around and if you happen to know the name of this peony variety I’d love to know.

peony centrespetal & pins peony dress

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July 30, 2016

Fashionable Flowers

dresses in an exhibitionmannequindress detail

On a recent trip to Melbourne I saw the 200 Years of Australian Fashion exhibition at the NGV and this wedding dress (circa 1952) designed by Beril Jents was just one of the dresses that not surprisingly caught my eye.

Over the years I’ve made a garden full of flowers from fabric myself – from evening and wedding dress embellishments to adornments for lapels or hats. Just lately I’ve been making ‘spring blossom’ out of paper for part of our petal & pins display at our second trade fair appearance.

We’re launching our new Garden Party card collection, a Black Label range of notecard sets and I have designed a new collection of limited edition prints we’ve called Atelier Pétale featuring a vintage fashion inspired sketch with hats I’ve styled from flowers from our garden.

So our garden flowers continue to inspire me creatively and petal & pins continues to grow! We head to Melbourne next week for the trade fair and Mr Petal & Pins and I are getting excited, thank you for following us on this journey you are part of our story!

 

 

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July 4, 2016

Return To The Source

It’s yet another rainy day in Hobart so since it’s not inviting to be in the garden picking flowers I thought I’d share some photos of making a dress with the hydrangeas from my autumn post gathered.

starting a petal & pins dressdesigner Sandra Alcorn starting one of her Garden Fairy's Wardrobe dressesleaf detail on a petal and pins dresspetal & pins autumn hydrangea dress

If you’ve been following the petal & pins blog for a while you may remember that back in February we were planning for our  first trade fair, well now we’re busy preparing for our second – this time in Melbourne!

The theme for this one is Return To The Source and it was inspiring to hear futurist, curator, event designer Genty Marshall talk about the inspiration and motivation behind this seasons event theme at a workshop in June.

‘provenance – what is true – materials – tactility – essentialism – legacy – the idea of journey’ – all these things are important to us and what we do at petal & pins from the designs I create, the paper stock we choose and the decision to print locally in Tasmania.

Our garden not only inspires but also  provides the materials for my Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe dresses, so the seasons, and like today the weather influence when and what I have to design with but that unpredictable and sometime elusive nature is part of the charm for me – it inspires me to try and ‘live in the moment’ more.

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We’ve added some new dresses to The Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe card range and last week I went to see them start to roll off the press – I can’t wait to share them and some of the other creative ideas I’ve been working on!

If you’re a retailer who  loves flowers, fashion and a bit of whimsy we’d love to show you through the petal & pins range – come and say hello – you’ll find us at F24 in First Instyle.

To know when the new designs will be available online and in stores subscribe to our newsletter here.

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June 24, 2016

Unexpected Colours

vintage flower dress

We were sent a beautiful bouquet of flowers at the end of May and I put them in the hallway to enjoy in passing and to avoid the rapid decline that a vase of flowers can have in a room that is heated during winter.

I try to remember to change the water and snip stems regularly but sometimes it’s easy to forget in the bustle of life. I also like to let a vase linger past its prime – there is beauty in decaying flowers – shapes change and unexpected colours appear.

Ahead of the weekend I decided to empty that hallway vase and another, but not before turning the aged beauty they contained into a Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe dress.

In my Meet The Maker interview I spoke about my childhood ‘dress up box’ and my inspiration for this particular Garden Fairy’s dress was the idea of it coming out of such a box or an old suitcase – transformed with age and time into something quite different with a special beauty.

There are bergenias, lilies, proteas and gerberas in the mix, can you imagine it brand new!

floral decay 1
blue tinge

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April 11, 2016

A Floral Gift

petal & pins hydrangea gown print

Sunday May the 9th is Mothers Day in Australia and a print from my Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe range would make a lovely gift.

Pictured is the Hydrangea Gown – Hydrangeas remind me of my grandmother, I remember watching  and learning from her what to do with the stems before putting them in a vase.

Nasturtium flowers are one I associate with my mother – I have designed and written about them previously in Slightly Defiant & Carefree .

My signed art prints are made with a high quality digital inkjet printer using fine cotton rag art paper and water based archival inks for beautiful long lasting images.

Available in A4 and A3 sizes from the petal & pins online shop (we ship worldwide) and  selected retailers .

In May you can also find me at the following design markets –

Sunday 1st May in Hobart at the market.

Friday to Sunday 6th, 7th & 8th May in Adelaide at Bowerbird Bazaar

Is there a flower that reminds you of your mother or grandmother?

 

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January 25, 2016

Renegade Luxe

Jean Paul Gaultier catalogue prêt-à-porter S/S 08Some fashion collections stay with you long after the season has past and the designer has presented others.

It could be the silhouette, the fabrics or the combination of colours – which is what it was for me with Jean Paul Gaultier’s prêt-à-porter Pirate Collection from Spring/Summer 2008.

We were in Paris that Spring and went to the Gaultier boutique on avenue George V.
I lingered at the pieces that caught my eye to drink in the details and gently run my fingers over the cloth. Khaki, brown and olive green in plains, stripes and camouflage prints were given a touch of renegade luxe with the combinations of fabrics and embellishments.

This summer, while looking out my sunroom window down onto the plum tree and the ripening elderberries that memory was stirred by the similarity in colours and contrasting textures.

I pulled out the catalogue brought back from Paris to revisit the collection and was also inspired to design some plum leaf and elderberry dresses for my Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe.

plum tree foliageelderberriesinspiration from Jean Paul Gaultier's prêt-à-porter collection S/S 2008petal & pins Garden Fairy's Wardrobe dress

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January 19, 2016

Short & Sweet

hydrangea mannequin

I had  planned to write about something all together different – I’ve had a post half written and something new from my Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe to share for well over a week… best laid plans and all that.

So it is just going to be short and sweet – a bit like this dress I created this morning on the miniature dressmaker’s stand that usually sits on my workroom mantle piece.

 

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December 9, 2015

The Ugly Duckling

delphiniumIf the French epithet ‘joile laide’ could apply  to a flower I think this delphinium would be a good candidate.

The lone stem in a bucket full of blue caught my eye when leaving the local farmers market, I turned on my heels and retraced my steps to have a closer look.

It was a bit of an ugly duckling surrounded by that magnificent blue yet strangely elegant – if there were more the same I imagined you could create a very sophisticated floral arrangement mixed in with white flowers and greenery.

delphinium detail

Now I have a self imposed ‘rule’ not to buy flowers to design with for my Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe’ but this lone stem was impossible to resist  – it’s petals patterned like they’ve been drawn on with charcoal captivated me and once home inspired several dresses too.

delphinium dress from petal & pins

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