Design Dilemmas and the Magic of Social Media Feedback

What do you do with designs that go nowhere?

Last spring I started work on a bunch of ideas for possible projects to celebrate the Royal Wedding. I stitched and shared a simple cross stitch sampler pattern and put lots of work into this design for a cute embroidery pattern...

... but then I ran out of time and it never got made and now I'm not sure what to do with it.

Over the years I've worked on a LOT of sketches, doodles, prototypes and project ideas that never turned into anything. This is just part of the creative process! I usually squirrel them away for the future because you never know what might end up being useful as source material for another project, or what might end up working after all when you revisit it with fresh eyes in the future.

This particular design, however, was so specific that I was convinced that it wouldn't possibly ever be remotely reusable. But I also really liked how it had turned out thus far and didn't want to just chuck it away (and have, as a result, wasted all that work).

So, after finding the pattern in a pile of paperwork this weekend, I posted this pic on Instagram and Facebook and asked everyone: "what the heck could I or should I do with this??? "Should I take the time to neaten it up a bit and share it on my blog in case there are some Harry & Meghan fans out there who'd like to (very belatedly) stitch themselves a wedding souvenir? Or just recycle it??"

And, thank goodness for the magic of getting feedback via social media, because everyone immediately had such great ideas.

Some people suggested sharing it to celebrate their upcoming anniversary, and lots of people suggested updating the pattern slightly so it could celebrate Meghan and Harry's baby, which is due this spring (I had totally forgotten that they're expecting a baby!). This could totally work for the royal baby!

Other people suggested doing something just with the lion and unicorn on their own (maybe even adapting the whole design to be a customisable nursery sampler)... which I had somehow not thought of as a possibility??? I do love those little guys, though, they're just so cheerful and sweet and the unicorn took me absolutely ages to draw (because I am the world's worst person at drawing horses). I'm picturing the lion holding birthday balloons, maybe? Or the unicorn standing next to an awesome rainbow birthday cake? Something happy and fun and colourful, anyway.

What do you guys think? I'd love to hear which of these suggestions you like, and if you have any more ideas for ways I could revisit this design and (finally) turn it into a finished project. 

UPDATE: this embroidery pattern is now finished and available in my shop and my Patreon pattern library.

Subscribe for a small monthly fee and you'll get access to a growing library of PDF patterns and tutorials, with an email whenever I add a new project. You can cancel any time.      

Click here to check out my Patreon page and sign up!

 

 

 

 

January in Pictures: Rainbows, Sketches, and a Seaside Sunset

One month of 2017 finished already! How did that happen??

My January was rather busy. I've been juggling DIY and deadlines, doing my best to fit everything into my days and working around all the mess and general chaos created by DIY projects. We've been getting a lot done, but there's still lots to do!

I've begun to settle into my new home, but I have to admit that I'm missing being able to easily pop into London for the day. I've been pining a little for the big museums and places like Liberty...

... but I've been loving being able to take daily walks along the beach and seafront, especially at sunset. Aren't those colours just heavenly?

Here on my blog I looked back at 2016, blogging about last year's crafty projects and Nice Days Out (including a very special trip to Bamburgh), as well as a wonderful walk I took with my dad.

I've also made a start on editing more Nice Day Out photos ready for future blog posts, including photos from the two highly enjoyable photowalks I went on last year. This is one of the photos I took at Chiswick Park station during the first photowalk - I can't stop noticing these kinds of details now!

For my New Year's Resolution, I resolved to read more books and joined the local library to help me do so. I'll be blogging about how I'm getting on sometime soon. Spoiler alert: not having a television or home broadband (because one's in a box and the other hasn't been connected yet) definitely helps you find more time to read!

I've also decided to try and do more sketching and to not be afraid to a) sketch in public and b) show you guys some of my sketches instead of just my finished designs. It feels a bit weird sharing my messy sketches, but I'm going to do it anyway.

This month (apart from secret sketches for things I can't show you yet) I sketched lots of spring flowers as inspiration for some new projects...

... and I did some sketching at the British Museum, too. It was lovely having a busy day in London at the end of the month but I also really enjoyed taking a bit of time out to find a quiet corner* of the Museum and focus on some sketches. The end result might not be perfect, but the process - my goodness, what an absolute pleasure it is to just take the time to draw things.

(*Well, I thought it was a quiet corner - I was in an almost-empty gallery to start with, then a tour of the gallery began and at one point the whole tour group were standing around the same cabinet I was sketching in front of! Eek! It was nice listening to the tour guide as I sketched, though, and I can only hope everyone was paying more attention to her words and the contents of the cabinet than to my scribblings!).

So much of January was dark and grey, I was craving bright colour. I started two new Instagram hashtags for colour lovers and got crafty with a rainbow of felt. I've also been cheering things up by using some of the novelty pencils I bought as a kid, including this fine fellow. All the serious business professionals are using troll pencils these days, dontcha know. 

That felt rainbow became a felt rainbow wreath tutorial, kickstarting the Year of Wreaths I'm designing for The Village Haberdashery. I also started a series of fruity tutorials here on my blog - I'll be posting a new one every week or so this month.

I can't wait to show you February's wreath! I delivered it by hand, since I was in London for the day. I managed to (coincidentally) time my visit for the opening day of The Village Haberdashery's new, much bigger shop. It's such a gorgeous, colourful space - I mean, just check out their yarn wall!

Blimey, that blog post was over almost as quickly as January was. Here's hoping February doesn't fly by quite so fast...

I'm lauralupinhoward on Instagram - click here to visit my page and follow me. You'll also find me on Facebook and Twitter.

Sketching

Here's a quick snap of my desk today:

Well - part of my desk, anyway. There's been lots of sketching going on, and erasing of messy pencil lines!

If you look closely, you'll see that I really really need to buy a new pencil eraser :)

Getting Ready

It's my book signing tomorrow! Yay!

I'll have copies of my books for sale at bargain prices:

 

I'm also putting together some free crafty project sheets to hand out during the day. I don't have a snap of the project sheets because they're not finished yet (oops! bet you can guess what I'll be working on today!) but here's some of my sketches.

I want to give people a taste of some of the tutorials they'll find on my blog (because, shockingly, not everyone in the world reads my crafty ramblings! haha), but also share a few new things.

My assistant is sadly too busy snoozing to help out. It's a hard life being a cat, isn't it? 

Starting and Finishing

This week I've been doing lots of work involving piles of paper and pencils.

Starting a possible new project by sketching designs for project proposals (fingers crossed some of them get accepted!)...

... and finishing up the work on my new book. Working through the proofs to check all the text is correct = a pretty boring job, but it's great to see how the finished book is going to look. Roll on the autumn! :)

Sketches

I love working on my own projects, but it's always nice to be asked to submit tutorial ideas to be included books and magazines.

It's flattering to be asked, fun to work on the ideas, and awesome if the projects go ahead and I a) get paid to do something I enjoy (yay!) and b) get the thrill of seeing my work included a book, etc, and showing it to my mum (double yay!)

It can be a bit scary too though- especially the moment when you click "send" and email an editor a page of rough sketches (eek!)...

... plus it makes me rather a dull blogger cos you guys have to look at photos of pencils instead of actual crafty things. You forgive me though, right? :)

Sketching

I've been feeling a bit under the weather this weekend (ugh).

I have managed to tick a few small things off my to do list, like catching up with a few emails, buying some embroidery thread for sewing more owl masks, and finally ordering some cushion inserts so I can finish the knitted cushion covers that have been in my WIP pile since January... but mostly I've been stuck on the sofa watching DVDs & lots of very highbrow (haha) TV like the X-Factor.

I am quite happy though that in my less foggy-brained moments I've been (quite slowly) doing a bit of sketching / doodling / planning for some new projects. It's always good to get new ideas down on paper and to begin the process of turning them from a vague idea into an actual finished item.
 

These have all got quite a long way to go, but it's a start!

Sketches, Poppies and a Blanket Update

This week I've been doing a lot of sketching of new ideas, and planning of new projects. Unfortunately this means I've mostly been working on things I can't show you...  so here's a photo of some newly sharpened pencils instead :)

In the evenings I've been sewing lots of poppies, but that's temporarily been put on hold as I've run out of black thread! Oops. 

One of my "big" tasks for this year is to take new photos for all my current designs, and get all my shops looking their best with snazzy new pics. I'm still not brilliant at taking photos, but I've definitely improved over the years and some of the older listings definitely need a bit of a revamp. Plus there were all those days when I took a "temporary" photo to get something listed quickly and never got around to going back and taking a fancier one (tsk tsk). 

I'm hoping to have a few big photo-taking sessions later in the year, but in the meantime I'll be snapping a few pics here and there on sunny days and updating my shop listings when I can. I just got the first listing updated today - the large red poppy brooch.

Oh, and I started sewing my sky blanket together! Yay! 

I'm sewing the squares in date order from left to right along each row (like a calender). The long strip is a little tricky to photograph, but this photo should give you an idea of what the blanket is going to look like:

It's very exciting to see how the patchwork squares look sewn together, and to start to get an idea of how the finished blanket will look.... and, of course, it will be so much easier sewing the squares together / sewing in all the ends bit by bit instead of having to do it all in one go at the end of the year. 

Plus, though I've always loved the idea of knitting this blanket I have to admit that I was a little bit worried about ending up with a very strange looking object at the end of it, but I think all those mottled blues and greys look rather lovely together. 

UPDATE: My poppy design is now available as a sewing pattern! Visit my shop to see all my printable PDF patterns

365 / 163 - From Sketches to Patterns to Prototypes

We had a super-slow day at work yesterday and I spent rather a lot of time sneakily sketching British butterflies:
Of course, I was then so excited at how well some of the sketches had turned out that I had to try some out the moment I got home...
... the yellow one is a Brimstone butterfly, the blue one is Adonis Blue and the in-progress white and orange one is a species called Orange-Tip. I also tried out petal shapes for daisies, and (seriously thrilling) made a prototype Bluetit which is on the wrong colour background and lacking an eye! The idea for the bluetit (and, in fact, for a whole range of British garden birds) came when I was idly sketching possible shapes for a robin back in December, and it is wonderful to have fully realised the idea. Here's a shot of all the sketches I made - initial robin sketches, a sketch working out how to represent bluebird markings, and then a neater drawing to base a pattern - along with the pattern pieces and prepared felt shapes:
Then here's the final drawing and the finished applique for comparison:
He's turned out to be rather a cutie I think, and I'm very glad as the bluetit is one of my very favourite birds. The pages of my bird books will be well thumbed over the next few weeks I think as I'll be adapting the pattern for all sorts of different species....

There won't be any more 365 photos from me for a little while though, as I'm going away for a few days (leaving the boyfriend to fend for himself, haha). I shall still be blogging though, continuing my "featured crafter" series showing off some of the amazing talent in the Crafting 365 group.

PS Yay! My pansy pin got a mention in an Etsy article posted today about Colour Theory - apparently I "used the split complementary color scheme of green, purple and yellow to create a balanced color contrast". This is news to me but lovely to get the mention - particularly amongst so many lovely featured items! I have a sneaking suspicion that my pansy was on the Etsy front page with those items the other day but it sold and I missed it... ah well. Nice to see it turning up on the FP this afternoon anyway:

365 / 133 - sketching new ideas

As yesterday was my 1 year Etsyversary I spent much of the day musing on the past year, the progress of my business and craft and the plans I have for the year to come. It was my New Year's resolution to set up shop on Etsy in 2007 - a resolution made almost on a whim after finding Etsy via Flickr during a dull few days last Christmas. I don't know that I've ever had a resolution that's changed my life more.
This time last year I was unemployed, bored, not sure what to do with my life, making stuff occasionally to while away the hours... and now here I am with my own little crafty business, 133 days into my daily crafting & blogging project and with my house overrun with felt...
In 2008 I hope to be more serious about all this - to be more business-like (setting up a proper office space, doing my accounts etc) and less lazy in promoting myself. I'm only just starting to become confident about saying to people "this is what I do, look", don't even do simple things like wear one of my brooches on my lapel, and have been out of stock of my business cards for months so there is lots of room for improvement! I'll no doubt be wittering on about all this over the coming few weeks and months so I shall shut up about it now.
I am very excited about the plans I have for the New Year but above all I'm excited about turning all my sketches and schemes into real felt lovelies. It is just so awesome taking an idea in my head, drawing it over and over until it's just right, and then sewing it together for the first time. Lots of my ideas are still secret works in progress, but as I did a whole bundle of sketches yesterday here's a sneak peek:
I'm working on a range of English Woodland items, you see - botanical stuff to go with my oak leaves etc but also lots of cute woodland creatures. As you can see, this will include a slightly crazy-looking fox!