Fabric Painting.

 This is a new project I completed this week. It's an idea I have had for quite a while. I am glad I finally downloaded it outta my brain into the 3D universe!

I think of it as a fabric painting. Not painting ON fabric... Painting WITH fabric. And leather and ribbon.... I love the different textures and fabrics and the tactile physicality of the piece. 

I can envision making a piece like this for someone, using colours and fabrics they loved.. or using fabric from an old skirt or item of clothing that was special to them in the piece. Or how about one for a child's room using material from some of their baby clothes or bedding in the artwork? That could be cool and personal and special. Another way to display and retain memories. 

I think I will definitely expand this idea and create some more Fabric Paintings.

What do you think? 

Julia Satchel and Lou Lou Toe and The Persnickety Post

These two lovely ladies are now listed over at the Etsy Shop.  

Julia Satchel

Lou Lou Tote

I think Julia Satchel and Lou Lou Toe sound like the names of a pair of plucky girl detectives. 
"Lou Lou Tote and Julia Satchel and the Belligerent Bartender"
"Julia Satchel and Lou Lou Tote and the Mysterious Mitsubishi"
"Satchel and Tote and the Arrogant Armchair"


Alliteration is the key to a good teen girl detective novel....


My sisters and I used to love Trixie Belden books. Trixie was a freckly ginger who fell ass backwards into trouble in every book. 

We also loved the lesser known Dana Girls Mysteries. There was a blonde one and a brunette one. They were sisters. I think that was the core of every book....

And, although he is not a girl, I can't forget the plucky talking dog detective, and master of alliteration, Tee Bo!

Persnickety.  

The thing I loved most about these books was the cover art. I loved the watercoloury innocence of Trixie, the retro typeface of Tee Bo and the supermodel elegance of the Danas. I would grab my baking paper and trace the covers of the books, then I would grab my sketchbook and try to draw them freehand. 

As a converted kindle-lover, I do lament the loss of covert art. I do miss the feel of books. I can still remember now, how that Dana Girls book felt- the texture of the cover, the smell of the pages. The slight indentations around the girls figures from frequent tracing...

My kindle feels like plastic. It smells like plastic.  And when I trace it, it looks like this.....

Lame, Kindle. Lame.

Do you miss books? Cover Art? Did you read teen girl detective novels? Do you still read them? Am I asking too many Questions? Does anyone use the word 'persnickety'? Really?

Oh, and I got totally side tracked... Do you like my new bags?

A new girl and a new owl

This my new creation: The 'Drew' Satchel Bag. How cute is she?? I am so proud of her! She is the first satchel style bag I have tackled on my own and she came out fabulously.

She is for sale over at the Etsy store, but I think I will cry if someone buys her. Cos I love her.

I'm a sucky salesperson, aren't I?

"Please buy my bag... but if you do, I will cry and then you'll feel bad."

Ok, so you can totally buy her, and if you do, I will totally pretend that I am OK with it......

In other News, I have a gorgeous new little Owly fabric available for sale over at Spoonflower.

Spoonflower Fabric starts at just $18 per metre and is totally original. 

And this one has owls on it! Owls are awesome!

Ok, that's enough of the shameless self promotion.

In other, other News, my twins are super cute.

Art Therapy Part 3

So, in Art Therapy Part 1, I talked about how the process of hand drawing intricate, swirly flower designs is kinda like a drug for me... it calms me and makes my brain short circuit and stop thinking. And this is a good thing.

Then, in Art Therapy Part 2, I showed how I refined the design and uploaded it to my Spoonflower page and then refined it some more.

NOW, I have finally received the actual, physical, in-my-hand fabric!! Yippee! I hate waiting for fabric to arrive. I know it's gonna take ages but I still have a sad little hope every day that it's gonna arrive. And then it doesn't. And then I wait. 


But then, the fabric does arrive!! And that is awesome. Except then I have to find something else to obsess over..... 


Like, why are the TV channels replaying movies so quickly after they have just been on? Evil Angels was on like 2 months ago!! So was Chocolat! And Fun with Dick and Jane seems to be a weekly event! Do they think we are stupid and that we don't notice?? 


Oh, and do the makers of Days of Our Lives reeeeaaallly think we haven't noticed that the actor who is currently playing Roman Brady played Chris Kosichek (brother of the Salem Strangler) in the eighties??? IT'S THE SAME DUDE! Do they not know we have been watching Days of Our Lives since we were 8 and our mum's pretended they weren't watching it when we got home from school????


Hhhhhmmmm........ I think I need to design more fabric. Or watch less TV.... 

Anyway! I think I may make a small evening size wristlet bag outta this special fabric. I am really happy with it and will definitely be ordering some more. 


Oh, and did it I mention it is totally for sale in my Spoonflower Shop? No? Well, IT IS!


x gillian

New Girls in Town

I have just updated my Etsy shop with a bunch of cool stuff, including these super cute cushions!

Red, White and Blue Owl $20 

Emma Cushion $20

Four Annas Cushion $20

Four Crow Girls $20

Heart Owl $20 

Mr Brown Cushion $20

They are 35cm x 35cm and include the inserts. And they are 100% original!! 


Looking at these cushions and all our other lovely things in our Etsy Shop makes me miss my Tessie partner in crime- Mum. She and Dad are somewhere on the Great Ocean Road in their little caravan having adventures. After almost 50 years together, they are still having adventures together and are still each others favourite person. That is so cool. (We miss you too, Dad!!)

x Gillian

Pretty girls and things on books

So, the old Blog feels like it has been very family/ personally focussed lately and not so much on the Art/ Craft side.... Not that there's anything wrong with that... my family are awesome and fabulously entertaining!


 In between Away Husband, Crazy Two Year Olds, Visiting Parents and my own Social Retardation I am still trying to find my direction with Tessie and to get myself organised!!


I am currently working on a set of printed book covers- very exciting. I have ordered the first run from Spooonflower and can't wait to see them!! The concept is to cut down on the sewing involved by designing the cover more fully in Illustrator- right down to ribbons and buttons!! Mum and I had an awesome designing session before she left*- we always spark off each other and she pushes me forward in my designs in ways I wouldn't achieve alone. This always leads to some great stuff.

Here is the front cover image of another product featuring the Beautiful Anna. The book cover are all A5 size. Perfect for a diary or a journal or a notebook.

Platform shoes are my favouritest..... my favouritest shoes that I used to wear every day when I was young and fabulous. The thought of wearing ANY shoe that is not flat and unattractively comfortable now makes me wanna puke... But I can still draw them, can't I?

I have also ordered a sample of this fabric. I will share some pics when it arrives, so you can see how the design translates to fabric. 


Now, I will go back to obsessively watching the letter box, waiting for my fabric to arrive. Oh, hang on, maybe the mailman is coming..... NOW! Or, maybe, he is coming.... NOW!! 


Maybe I should rearrange my owl collection again instead......




X Gillian

Pretty new shopfront

Spoonflower has had a facelift! My little Fabric Shop is looking really cute.

After an inspiring lunch with my Linda a few weeks ago, I have developed a daydream of opening an actual brick and mortar Fabric Store (maybe in Maleny......)

Just a little shopfront, with a studio out the back where I could design and create.... and a super cute little shop where customers could buy original, cool fabric. have you noticed how hard that is to find in this Spotlight-dominated retail fabric market?

Services like Spoonflower are such a liberation for the designer and for the fabric buying customer. I only wish they would open a branch in Australia!! Maybe in Maleny.... I'll sweep the floors and make the coffee....

X Gillian

Dressing the books

I received a new fabric order from Spoonflower last week, and got inspired!!

I am focussing on products to take to the Mummy Tree Markets in October, and my first goal is to create a collection of Book Covers. As far as I'm concerned, all books NEED TO BE CLOTHED!!! That is my mission.... dressin' the books, people. Nude books are so last century....

So after getting all my bits together (jelly beans for colour inspiration only, of course) me and Mrs Janome got to work....

Owly Journal Cover 

I have actually had this fabric sinvce the very first Spoonflower order we ever did. I think this is the perfect project for it

Teapot Journal Cover

This fabric was inspired by my Teapot Collection. I think it works really well with this upcycled upholstery fabric from Reverse Garbage. 

Patchwork Journal Cover

I am so in love with this patchwork fabric. I've used some of our Spoonflower fabric in conjunction with odd bits and pieces of upholstery fabrics and other scraps... I find the process really therapeutic and calming... But, man it take a bloody long time!!! I think its worth it though. Love the look.

All of these Book Covers are now available for sale over in my Etsy Store.
They are A5 size, reuseable and all come with a lined 200 page notebook.

Unfortunately, I ate all the colour inspiration... or I coulda thrown some o' them in too.....

Cheers,

Gillian for Tessie Girl

Art Therapy Pt 2

So, after more tidying and tweaking my design in Illustrator, I created a repeatable tile. This is a tile that you can repeat. Really? No shit Sherlock... Whatevs, smartass... it's a tile that matches up on all four sides. Which is WAAAAYYYYY tricky and awesome and I love myself sick every time I create one.

My repeatable tile in black and white.

The tile is then uploaded to Spoonflower. Here is when I can see if the repeat is working, if the design is consistent and flows well.

After I uploaded this tile, I decided there were a few too many straight lines formed, creating squared off areas that weren't pleasing to the eye. I also didn't care for that dominant black tri leaf shape- it's just too strong in the repeat.

So, here is the updated design. I minimised the size of that tri leaf shape- it now blends in with the other shapes. I also worked on removing a lot of the straight lines- the design now flows a lot better. And, I have started playing around with colour. I seem to be drawn to browns at the moment. I find them the easiest to work with. I am thinking now that the white outlines I have used here is diluting the design slightly- I may revise them.

Come check the design out over at Spoonflower- you can see how it looks on a larger area of fabric. Yippee!!

x Gillian for Tessie Design

Art Therapy

 I have always found that repetitive, stream-of-consciousness type drawing is a great way for me to relax and to turn my brain off. I have been dong this since I was a teenager. I have always had issues with depression and anxiety and while I, in no way, have these issues beaten (hence going AWOL from this blog of late) I do have a few go to tricks to reboot my brain and make it stop the insanity... although sometimes it seems Houdini wouldn't have enough tricks for that... just ask my Lovely Husband...

This kind of drawing also lends itself beautifully to fabric design. SO, I am going to show you the process I use to make a therapeutic-stop-acting-crazy drawing into a beautiful fabric design!!

This is the original raw drawing. Drawn in my sketchbook with whatever coloured pens I had available. While watching CSI New York in bed. Do you think they will just keep making CSI shows in different cities until they run out of Who songs for the opening credits?

After I have scanned the drawing, it's converted  to black and white, then imported into Illustrator. I then Live Trace the drawing, converting it into vector.

 Then I can clean it up and smooth out any lumps and bumps. This is also extremely therapeutic. I love turning my brain off and just getting lost in the lines and points and curves.

I have always loved repetitive tasks. It's my slight OCD coming out it think! When I worked in Visual Merchandising, one of my favourite tasks was sorting out all the nuts and bolts and nails and screws. I should have worked on a production line in a factory. Like Laverne and Shirley. But that was beer, so it was probably smelly. Maybe more like Goldie Hawn in Swing Shift. She had a cuter head scarf...

SO, that is the start of the process. Next, I'll be finishing the clean up, then I will start thinking about how to repeat the pattern, and what colours I will use. Rock n Roll.

X Gillian for Tessie Designs

Circus Girls are super cool

Here is my entry for Spoonflower's Fabric of the Week Contest- Circus theme.

I have been told previously that some of my designs featuring girls have been too 'sexy' for the Spoonflower market, so I hope these girls are are cheeky, saucy, but still classy.... like me. 

A circus is a funny thing. I remember going to so the Moscow Circus when I was about ten. The enduring memory I have is the bears. They rode bikes, wore clothes, acted like idiots... and they looked so very sad. They seemed to have enough intelligence to understand how pathetic and cruel their 'career' was, but didn't

have the ability to change it. It was like they were resigned to the fact that their life sucked. Sad.

I prefer a human only Circus- like Cirque de Soleil. Although, I could do without the weird fat woman shrieking on the side of the stage, who seems to be in every show. She kinda freaks me out.

I choose to believe that my cute Circus Girls are part of an Awesome Cool-Chicks only Circus that rocks the trapeze and when the 52 Clown Girls get outta the tiny car, each on is cuter than the next. And they all have fabulous shoes. 

SO come over and Vote for my design. If you like Circus Girls in cute shoes. And you think bears have no place wearing waistcoats.

x Gillian for Tessie Designs

Coffee and Shameless Self Promotion.....

Spoonflower.com's Fabric of the Week competition theme this week is 'Coffee'. Being married to the Coffee Man, I have a little bit of a soft spot for the subject!

(And, oh my goodness, in other news, Coffee Man's Coffee Machine is broken!! He wanders around the house looking lost and confused... mumbling ... bumping into stuff... He is out at the moment, and I really hope he comes back with a goddamn Coffee Machine... before I Google 'Coffee Suppository'....)

ANYWAY...

SO, go check out my design, and if you reeeeeeealllyy wanted to be totally awesome, you could sign up for Spoonflower, go to the Contest Page and VOTE FOR ME!!! I'll be your best friend.... I'll even get my Coffee Man to make you a coffee with his new Coffee Machine!

Coffee Flowers Fabric Design by 

The Spoonflower Competition is open for voting until Wednesday.

x Gillian for Tessie Designs

Pretty covers for my pretty things

I made myself some presents.

 A4 Sketch Book Cover

Sketch Book inner. Buttons. Yeah , Man.

And because I am the luckiest wife in the world, my Lovely Husband gave me a Kindle Book reader for my birthday. It is incredibly cool and I am a little bit in love with it. Ok, a lot. I downloaded Nick Hornby's 'Juliet, Naked' and am finding it really easy and comfortable to read.

So, I made it a cover!! Doesn't it look happy?

Emily Dickenson was a Tessie kinda gal

I used my patchwork material- I have been saving it, waiting to make something special. 

I love making little pouches and covers and cases for my things. I like carrying things with me that I have put love and time into and that are totally original.

Have a lovely Saturday!!

x Gillian for Tessie Designs