Design Inspiration

I find inspiration in lots of things around me, the sky, my garden, what the person is wearing sitting opposite me on the bus! I love looking through archive material, whether that is in books, films, photos or fabric archives in a museum. One of my very favourite museums to visit is the Victoria and Albert's Museum of Childhood here in London. 

Here are a few of my favourite things from my own archives! 

A photo of Christian Dior and the Queen, in his atelier in Paris. It is interesting to see their expressions, and the fifties decor with all decorative swags. I also love the vast array of gift boxes and the typeface of the logo.

A patchwork quilt from the 1930's that my mother inherited from her grand-aunt and she gave to me, as she knows how much I love the colours and prints of these thirties fabrics. It is one of a pair, and i cherish them both, as they are slightly different but sit together so well. I believe all of the fabrics in these quilts were re-used from dress fabrics.

I have been knitting since I was a child, and in my teenage years came second in a Sunday Times knitting competition. I especially loved finding archive knitting patterns, and knitting for my own children when they were young, and small enough for the knitting project to grow quickly!

Here is a picture of the Princesses, Margaret and Elizabeth, in the thirties wearing matching dresses. It is such a trend today to have 'mini-me' pieces, and I have always loved matching, either for me and my daughter (she used to love this too!) or for my 3 children when we went out. Matching them was always useful when i need to be able to recognize them quickly in a crowd! My daughter used to say "Are you siblings if you don't match?"

I am sometimes lucky enough to be able to see and touch exquisite archive pieces such as this thirties dress with ruffle bodice made out of the finesse cotton organdie with a powder blue sash. The workmanship and attention to detail, as well as the colour combinations are such a joy to me!