I fear this one may be showing my age a little, and speaking of age, am I too old to get away with this one?
My Little Pony T-Shirt
I’ve waited a long time for the right pony T-shirt , so when I found this in Primark I couldn’t pass it. Featuring an original 80′s first generation pony (Firefly), and some seriously 80′s stylings I knew this was the one for me. It’s quite a long T-shirt (not great when you are a short-arse ) so I’m including another full length pic of this one so you can get the full effect.
Ponies Forever!
So what do you think? Can I pull this off? Or am I pushing it? LOL
I’d never noticed til now just how 80′s my T-Shirt tastes are. And I have many more that didn’t make the cut this week. Enough T-shirts for a sequel, T-Shirt week 2!!! So it’s over to you, leave me a comment if you want to see more 
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1 comment | tags: 1980's, firefly, Hasbro, my little pony, nostalgia, retro, T-Shirt | posted in Design, Geek
Put’s on best Bowie voice -”I’m the space invader, I’ll be a rockin’ rollin’ bitch for you”….
Space Invader Skull T-shirt
Not sure why I got so excited about this men’s T-Shirt from Primark. Maybe it’s because it marries two of my favourite T-Shirt motifs ? (80′s retro and Skulls on everything. ) Or maybe it’s directly related to my reading Ready Player One right now. Either way, this T-Shirt (which is practically a dress) really made my day! Pass me the John Hughes Box set…;-)
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1 comment | tags: 1980's, fashion, nostalgia, retro, skull designs, space invader, space invaders, style, T-Shirt, vintage gaming | posted in Design, Geek
An oldie but a goodie, this one’s for all the punks!
‘Punk Kiss’ by Simon Gane
I bought this T-shirt some years ago from a very talented illustrator called Simon Gane. It was his collection of ‘Punk Strips’ published by (the now defunct) Slab-o-Concrete, that first caught my eye. I really loved the attitude and his stylish line work! He’s come a long way since then, you can check out his very sophisticated drawing skills over on his blog : www.simongane.blogspot.com
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Leave a comment | tags: alternative, comic illustrator, illustration, punk, T-Shirt, tattoo art | posted in Design, illustration
This is an old favourite, bought on a weekend away in Galway for 10 euro. The subtle colours and tattoo motifs are what attracted me.
Reproduction Rolling Stones’ Tattoo You’ 1981 North American Tour Tee.
I’ve never really been a fan of gig T-shirts or of wearing band logos, and when this became a trend a few years back it felt kinda disingenuous. I don’t feel comfortable wearing a T-shirt of a band I’m not actually a fan of. However I really like some classic band logos, they kind of take on a life of their own and stand for more than the band, they stand for rock and roll itself! So I was just about able to let myself off with this one (after all who doesn’t like the Rolling Stones?)
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Leave a comment | tags: 1980's, band logos, MUSIC, nostalgia, Pop culture, retro, Rolling Stones, T-Shirt, tattoo art, tattoo motifs | posted in Design
I need a little bit of time away from the blog to do some drawing so I thought I’d keep this week picture based. I enjoyed having a theme to work to last week, so I now declare this T-Shirt Week! Everyday I’ll share a photo of a favourite T-shirt and in so doing will probably give the game away about how much of a geek I am. Anyway here goes:
Lydia from BeetleJuice is Utterly Alone, by Megan Lara
I’ve been seriously addicted to T-shirt designs lately and finding websites like TeeFury have only fuelled the fire. This is an excellent site where each day they present a unique design for sale for 24 hours only. For only $10! Its amazing! I promise you’ll have a total geek out at some point on there when you flick through past designs. I saw this Beeltejuice design by amazing digital artist Megan Lara and had to have it. (I ordered mine too large and had to customise it, so now more a tank than a Tee now. Not bad though eh? )
God help me if I see Labyrinth designs !!! (This site is a heart breaker when you’re poor!)
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Leave a comment | tags: 1980's, Beetlejuice, Digital design, fantasy, Gothic, illustration, nostalgia, T-Shirt, Teefury | posted in Design, Geek, illustration
Hello and welcome to the final post on my self-imposed ‘Book Week’ ! Continuing on from Wednesday’s list – Here are books 7 to 10 in my 50/50 me challenge . They are all craft related so I’ve kept them together and I’m sure I’ll be reading more books on this theme before the year is out. I’m totally open to recommendations BTW, so please feel free to make suggestions for great craft books I shouldn’t miss in the comments below!
Books 7 & 8 are the fully illustrated embroidery books Sublime Stitching and Embroidered Effects by Jenny Hart- I think these are the most amazing books for beginners. Simple easy instructions for stitches, tips for working on different fabrics, plus lots of project ideas and iron on transfer designs that come with the books. These would be my go- to books for any embroidery issues except I read them on loan from my lovely friend Louise. (Thanks Lou). Luckily there are a lot of resources on Jenny’s website that I can refer back too! www.sublimestitching.com
Book 9 , The Craft Business Handbook, by Alison Mc Nicol was sadly a let down. I often found the info too vague, and other times downright unnecessary. I don’t want to completely slate this book, but some of the tips here would have you trying to run before you could even walk (its well seen that the author’s own craft business failed). Suffice to say I’ve read much better tips and info on-line through the likes of Etsy and Oh My Handmade Goodness books. Also a book like Screw Work Lets Play is much more motivational for those starting at ground zero. Skip this one.
And finally Book 10, Indie Craft by Jo Waterhouse. (Check out the cover art by Jenny Hart!) This book really deserves a blog post all of its own. This book is an overview of the Indie craft ‘scene’. Loads of great pictures of mainly textile crafts but across various disciplines. I read this to give myself some context of the contemporary indie craft movement, and found that not only is this better than most contemporary art, this work sits very comfortably along side my interests in independent publishing, low-brow arts, and counter-culture. I’m both inspired and impressed at the weirdness out there. Here are some of the delights inside:
I discovered the cute Lumplings of Amy Rue – www.amyrue.com
The ‘manbroidery’ of William Schaff – Click here for his flickr gallery.
The crochetdermy (crochet/taxidermy) of fellow Northern Irish artist Shauna Richardson – click here for gallery
Cross stitch on metal objects and unexpected items by Severija www.severija.it
And many strange creatures! These ones are by Tania Patritti and this is her lovely blog: Ninon
Hope you’ve enjoyed this insight into my recent reading activities, and hopefully it won’t be too long before I’m adding more books to my 50/50 list! Wishing you a fabulous weekend.
b.x
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2 comments | tags: quilt, counter culture, crafts, embroidery, Jenny Hart, craft books, Indie crafts, Jo Waterhouse, contemporary crafts, visual arts | posted in Crafts, Design
While it’s been ‘Book Week’ on the blog I’ve been busy making some customised covered notebooks for my Folksy and Etsy shops. Some of these are extra special as they are covered in my own fabric designs.!!! You can have a little sneaky peek at the note books featuring my fabrics here:
These chunky A6 sized hardback notebooks are lovingly hand padded, covered with fabric. Individually embellished with felt and embroidery, they also include a ribbon for book marking. (Cover is non-removable). These little books are not ruled and can be used for notes or as sketchbooks as the user prefers. Truly one of a kind, even when designs are repeated no two are exactly the same. They make very special little gifts. I’ll be adding more to my on-line shops over the next couple of weeks. The first to be listed is this one :
And she’s available now in my Folksy shop. Click here to see the listing: Pony Fabric Notebook
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1 comment | tags: 1980's, illustration, my little pony, pastle coloured ponies, unique notebooks, customised, Original fabric design, gifts, sketchbook | posted in Crafts, Fabric design
I mentioned a while ago that I’d joined the Fifty Fifty Me challenge, to watch 50 new movies and read 50 new books. Here’s the low down on the books I’ve read so far. Most of them are short, but in my defence most are read for research or review , not just for fun. This first batch of 10 contains kids books, craft books and memoir and flash fiction. (Part 2 will follow on Friday).
Books 1,2 & 3 were Big Break Detectives, Death by Chocolate and Six Million Ways to Die, the graphic novels for kids by lovely Irish writer and illustrator Alan Nolan, which I read while researching my interview with Alan for Inis Children’s Books Ireland. (Me and my 11-year-old nephew both liked ‘Six Million’ best). Alan’s latest book in the series has just been released and you can read all about it here: Destination Homicide
Book 4, was also a kids book from O’Brien Press ’Marco Moves In‘, printed for world book day. Sometimes I read kids books just to sample the market, (I’m still labouring under the illusion that I will one day create one of my own.) This is a story of a bear who shows up one rainy night on the doorstep of a lonely boy. Sweet, but wasn’t over awed. It would have been nice to see the illustrations in colour too.
Book 5, Confessions of a Conjurer by Derren Brown, the first novel length book on the list! I really enjoyed this unusual memoir, it made me laugh, it made me think . Its gives some very confessional insights into personal quirks that I think we can all relate too and it occasionally made me frustrated by Brown’s unorthodox use of lengthy footnotes. But that would be just like him, distraction is everything in a conjuring trick.
Book 6, Dave Eggers Short Short Stories. Since I’ve been on a six-week flash-fiction stint on Elephant Words, I decided to read some highly acclaimed short fiction to see how the pro’s do it. This was a very engaging and entertaining collection of x short stories published as part of Penguin’s 70th anniversary. One of the stories in particular took my breath away. You can read it here: What The Water Feels Like To The Fishes
Thus concludes part 1! Join me on Friday for Part 2 featuring ‘Craft Books’…
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4 comments | tags: children's books, Dave Eggers, Derren Brown, embroidery, Flash fiction, illustration, irish, kids comics, literature, o brien press, writing | posted in illustration, Writing
I’ve never had a topic for the week on this blog but I think this week’s theme may be books! Keeping with Friday’s vintage vibe today I wanted to share with you my latest second-hand book buy- ‘Odhams Big Book of Needlecraft’.
Now a few weeks ago my friend Julie of Whos Got the Button blog shared a post about the two versions she owns of this book (one from circa 1930 and one from the 1950′s she reckons, although it can be hard to tell, the books weirdly have no author credits and frequently no publishing date printed anywhere in the book.) I think mine may be from the late 50′s/early 60′s judging by some of the styles:
Groovy stuff, what decade is this?
I bought this book on-line and had no idea which edition I was going to get. It’s a fabulous handbook for tips and techniques, a real ‘text book’ if you like. Primarily I bought it for the embroidery info:
But as you’ve probably guessed from the title, the book features all sorts of needlecraft including dress making, alterations, patchwork and quilting:
Suggestions for quilting design, and patchwork and appliqué patterns.
Not much has changed eh? I really liked these simple patterns for overall quilting designs-
Simple but effective quilting stitch patterns
Much as I’m thrilled with this book, (that cost me less than £5 including the postage). I still lust after the 1930′s version that Julie posted about. Consider me on the look out- this book hunt ain’t finished yet!
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1 comment | tags: book review, crafts, embroidery, needlecrafts, patchwork, quilt, second hand books, vintage | posted in Crafts
Lily of the Valley – vintage embroidery pattern
I’m all about the Vintage embroidery this week. I recently discovered this fantastic free resource for vintage embroidery patterns: Hoop Love Vintage Transfers group. Their sister group New Embroidery with Vintage Patterns run a monthly stitchalong for which I stitched up this vintage Lily of the Valley design. It was so simple and elegant it just spoke to me. And I just knew it would me my first project to try out on black.
I’d originally intended to fill in the stitches, but the clean lines just looked better so I left it this way. Clean and simple, but difficult to photograph on black!
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Leave a comment | tags: crafts, embroidery, floral designs, home decor, illustration, lily, nostalgia, retro, stitches, vintage | posted in Textile Project
