Kira Jones

2010-01-06T13:22:00.005Z

New year, new start...

Well here we are in 2010 with a slightly rounder tummy after the sedation and feasting of Christmas and a rather fuller pile of books by the bed due to the lovely presents of craft books that I received. The holidays went by in a flash so all my plans of sewing, designing and planning for the future didn't come to as much as I hoped they would. I did manage to finish a jersey skirt which I might show you once I've ironed it for the photos, re-hem and dye some jeans and do some snow dyeing:

I layered up a few pieces of fabric and piled the snow on top then drizzled dyes onto the melting snow. I couldn't find the right type of dye but didn't want the snow to go before I'd tried this so I used Jacquard Lumiere and Dyna Flow dyes.

The results are a little bit paler than I would have liked because it was the wrong type of dye but I did get some nice marbling in areas and I think that the fabrics will make good backgrounds for stitching on.

Now to the new start ... I've decided to move my blog to wordpress. I can host the blog on my own domain, so have a simpler address, and there are more tools that I can use to make the blog what I want it to be. From now on you'll need to change your bookmarks to: www.kirajones.co.uk/blog . See you there!

2009-12-23T20:49:00.003Z

The end of the silly season and time for snow

Well, relaxation has come a little bit later than I thought but I'm finally on holiday! It's been a difficult winter season with a very slow start to the Christmas sales but in the end it turned out well and I even had people calling me wanting to order jewellery. I did 2 commissions for charm bracelets and delivered a couple of fine silver pendants to a customer, then I took a range of my work round to a friend's house this morning and she bought 3 necklaces. A very good end to the run up to Christmas and now I'm looking forward to a few days off then some time to experiment. I find that when I'm trying to make work for craft fairs I stick to what I'm used to and what I think will sell - as I'm sure most of us do. It's good to spend some time away from the craft fairs ignoring commerciality and just trying new techniques and new colour palettes. I'll also get some more sewing done in January :)

Things have been a little bit harder in the past few days by this:

It's very beautiful but makes travelling around rather difficult. Skidding down a hill that I was trying to drive up was interesting! Luckily I didn't have to go many places (isn't it lovely to work at home) but the big drive comes tomorrow night - 2 3/4 hour drive to Dorset on Christmas Eve. I hope that everyone reading this has a great Christmas and I look forward to showing you more of what I've been doing in 2010.

2009-12-11T17:30:00.002Z

Crawling Towards Christmas

Well it's been a hectic couple of months with the Christmas craft fairs and re-stocking galleries but it's nearly over and I'll be able to get back to normal soon. I always call this the 'silly season' because my memory goes, I walk around in a complete daze and I feel like I'm just crawling my way towards Christmas. I know it's the same for all of us professional crafters but would we have it any other way? I have a craft fair this weekend at Duffryn Gardens, near Cardiff then possibly a small one next weekend. After that I can relax! Sometime in between I do need to write some Christmas cards and actually get my decorations down from the loft, though...

2009-11-18T21:15:00.003Z

I am still here..I promise!

I feel really bad that I've been away from my blog for SO long! That city & Guilds course that I started has really taken up my time - loads of practical work and loads of homework. It's fun getting back to messing about with paint and doing wax crayon rubbings (the initial module is on the basics of colour, line, texture, shape and form before we move on to the textile work) but it means that I haven't had much time for other things. And now the Christmas craft fairs have crept up on me! I have a good amount of stock but there's less winter stock than I would like. I have been working on it in between making print blocks from foam and textures from sticks but almost everything I've made recently has gone to re-stock galleries.

The first fair is tomorrow night at the Christchurch Centre, Malpas, Newport. It's only a local charity fair so I think that the work I've got will be sufficient. I did make some new handbag charms that are a bit chunkier than I normally make. That's something I would like to work on as my jewellery has always been quite fine and delicate looking in the past.
My next craft fair is Saturday and Sunday (21st and 22nd November) at the Norwegian Church in Cardiff Bay. I had a great fair their in the summer so I'm hoping for great things but the weather forecast isn't looking good. Finger's crosssed for people!

2009-10-10T17:09:00.003Z

Finally a summer top

Only a season too late but at least it's finally finished!

I made Simplicity 4695, a supposedly simple little shell top. Actually the pattern went together really well but I used the wrong interfacing so the facing around the armholes looked really stiff and felt awkward. Trimming back didn't help so I ended up unpicking it and top stitching around the armhole instead. I think it looks okay now and I'm really happy to have finished the top in time for next summer!

I'd like to make this top again but in a more relaxed fabric (this was a quilting cotton) and I'll lower the armhole slightly as it seems a little snug. I also find the collar too high at the front but maybe the discomfort comes from the stiffness of the quilting cotton. I might try lowering it by just 1cm for the next top.

I don't kow how much time I will have to make clothes from now on (I know I haven't been that brilliant at it anyway!) as I'm just about to start a City & Guilds course in creative textiles. I'm sure that it will take up a lot of my spare time but it should also increase my confidence in my abilities.

2009-09-29T20:32:00.002Z

Textile Journeys

Just a quick post to tell you about an exhibition I saw on Saturday. It was actually the launch that I attended so there were lots of lovely artists to talk to but the work will be interesting even on a rainy Tuesday afternoon with no one else around. To celebrate their 10th anniversary Fibre Art Wales has created a touring exhibition entitled Journeys and from 25th September to 8th November it's stopping at Rhondda Heritage Park (which is just up the road from me). As it's a collaborative event the work is really varied, from a combined crochet and video piece to a jewelled, wirework shoe and whimsical embroidered vintage hankies. I love this sort of thing and maybe you will too so if you're in the area, go take a look :)

2009-09-21T19:41:00.002Z

Double Published

I've got 2 articles in the latest issue of Making Jewellery magazine which was in the shops on Friday. The first is my regular page on artists and their inspirations. This month I spoke to Joy Funnell, the first person to become a Craftsman of the Guild of Enamellers using metal clay. Her Venetian Mask inspired pendant is so vibrant and really inspires me to try out enamelling for myself.
The next article I wrote is my own tutorial on making a Swarovski crystal cluster necklace.

Let's hope that people enjoy my work :)

2009-09-19T19:29:00.004Z

What a busy time!

I can't believe it's been so long since my last post. I've been doing a lot but don't have many photos to show for it I'm afraid. On 9th September I went to the International Jewellery Show at Earl's Court. It was my first time there and I found it really useful to speak to lots of suppliers and pick up all their brochures. I was particularly looking for new boxes to go with my new look and I've almost decided on a supplier. There were also lots of suppliers of lovely gemstones and I spent a lot of money on beads. It's definitely worth another trip next year.

Then on Saturday I had a stand at the Usk Show. Another first for me and I wasn't sure what to expect - how big it would be, what kind of footfall etc. I had to get up at 5.30am (!) in order to be set up in time but it was worth it. The show was massive with marquees for show fruit and poultry, a number of show rings for the livestock and loads of stalls. Even from the first moment there were loads of people wandering around, although it did take until the afternoon for them to really start spending. I ended up having a very productive day and it was well worth the early start!

Without time for a breather I then drove to Leicestershire on Sunday so that I could attend a seminar at Ferrers Gallery the next day. In a group of 12 artists I learnt about marketing for creative people - no boring business speak in sight! I learnt lots of things that I will be putting into practice as soon as I can. Finally my husband and I got a day off and went to Calke Abbey again in Leicestershire. A brilliant, quirky place - a manor house that got stuck in a number of eras and has been frozen in time. Finally some photos! Here are a few pretty pictures of the gardens:

And now it's back to the grindstone. I've got 4 galleries to re-stock so for the next few weeks I'll be concentrating on making.

2009-08-31T18:29:00.004Z

A few festival photos

Over the August Bank Holiday I took part in the Talgarth Festival in the Brecon Beacons. I set up my jewellery stand in the countryside section which is housed in the cattle market. Each stall had one cattle pen and there was lots of variety to the stalls Including demonstrations of various crafts, people selling their own work and information from organisations like CADW and Glasgu. There's a lovely community feel to the festival and everyone chats to each other like old friends. I also sold quite a lot of jewellery which made me happy :)

My jewellery stand and a view of the cattle market. On the right side of my stand I had a sale section with reduced jewellery but also various beads and findings that I don't need anymore. I put them in rummage boxes with a separate price for each box and I sold quite a lot.

I fell in love with the alpacas! Such brilliant characters and looks on their faces.

Other animals that were being shown - 3 little ducks and Tigger and Bluebell the very well-behaved donkeys.

Demonstrations of country crafts.

2009-08-28T16:12:00.003Z

New and improved...

Kira Jones Jewellery has been re-branded by a proper graphic designer and my new business cards have just arrived!

Clean, white front with only the details that are required and a simple logo then a picture of one of my new pendants on the back. I've got 1000 of these so I'll be giving them away at any chance! Website still to come...

2009-08-26T12:51:00.002Z

Free Patterns

Just a very quick post to share a link to another blog where the writer has collated a list of free patterns available on the Internet. There's a whole heap of dresses, tops, bags, children's wear so if you do any dressmaking, click on the link below and go take a look!

Elizabeth Caroll

2009-08-24T11:33:00.003Z

Quite amazing quilts

I've downloaded the images from the Festival of Quilts that I took on my mobile phone and, while the colour reproduction isn't perfect and the focus isn't top-nothc, they're not as bad as I expected. Here's a very quick snapshot...

Isn't the quilt above amazing? There were a few quilts where people had created very accurate portraits - incredible! One section had 3D quilts and I thought that this peacock cape was gorgeous. Something for me to try to replicate in the future?

2009-08-23T17:58:00.003Z

Quilts, quilts and more quilts

Well I'm just about caught up on everything so I thought I'd tell you about my trip to the Festival of Quilts at the NEC on Friday. I haven't been to this show before and was a little overwhelmed when I was faced with rows and rows of amazing art quilts! There was too much too look at so I wandered off to look at the vendor's stands instead. I enjoyed picking up little bits and pieces rather than large quantities of fabric and saw some fantastic work. I didn't realise how artistic some of the art quilts can be! I didn't think to take my camera with me but I did take some shots on my phone so I'll see how those come out. For today I wanted to show you what I bought, won and was given.

First of all what I bought. A lovely array of fat quarters, lutradur, postcards and printing materials. I also bought a fantastic book that shows how Gail Lawther translated photographs of a trip to New Zealand into beautiful art quilts. If you get the chance to see it - do take a look!

I took a short workshop called Threadplay while at the show. We were faced with 12 sewing machines all set up with different needles, thread, feet etc. We had 3 minutes to try each set up then a whistle was blown and we moved onto the next machine. The time went in a flash but we tried out some great combinations that we would just never get around to trying at home. This is my sample - we wrote numbers next to each stitch and at the end we took away a numbered list of all the combinations. Great fun :)

They even gave us a goodie bag with 3 full-size reels of threads and a sample of fabric wash.

I also entered a raffle to win a 'Little Gem' mini art quilt to raise money for a charity and I won! I was really pleased as I don't have anyone else's work to encourage me and to compare my own work to. It was especially good that my winning quilt was a very cheery number so will look beautiful in my studio. (The quilt looks much neater in real life but I didn't flatten it out properly before I took the photo.)

Hopefully I'll have some good mobile phone photos of the quilts to show you tomorrow.

2009-08-22T20:32:00.004Z

Tenby Terraces

Well, it's been a really busy week this week so still not much creating being done but lots of fun stuff to share with you. On Wednesday I piggy-backed on my husband's business trip to Tenby and I had a very rushed 1 1/2 hours to site-see. I took lots of photos of paste-coloured buildings which I hope will be the source of inspiration for a future project.

I'll leave the next post about my busy week until tomorrow because it's 9.42pm and I still haven't completed the magazine article that I had hoped to send in 6 days ago!

2009-08-18T16:47:00.004Z

Very happy day

I had a great day today and most of that happiness arrived with the post lady. First of all I received a package of bezel cups for me to play with resin collages. The next package was issue 6 of Making Jewellery magazine with my Inspirations article in. As always the article looked lovely but there was a surprise for me on the last page where I was credited for inspiring a jeweller to write in about himself and his own inspirations.

The third surprise for me was a lovely little package from Wendy, a very active textile and multi-media artist from the Cloth Paper Studio Yahoo Group. It was a reward for posting my decorated rock in her challenge and it is very much appreciated by me.

Look at all the lovely colours in there! My rock was the first thing I had posted to this group as I tend to not be very confident about my creativity. Hence the gift being so welcome as it's a really good reward for me being brave and putting my work out there. Thank you Wendy!

2009-08-17T19:12:00.004Z

The best laid plans are always scuppered by missing dye and a lack of time!

Well the whole week of creativity things was a bit of a washout. I didn't find those 4 little bags of dye and I didn't finish the top I was making and I really didn't feel like I got that much done. One little thing that I did do is dye pair of jeans that I wasn't wearing any more. I've come to realise that stonewash isn't a great colour on my pair-shaped hips. So I decided to dye them red!

The dye took in a really interesting way. Where there was a little bit of indigo dye the red hardly took giving the jeans a two-tone effect.

The stitching on the back pockets is much more prominent now too.

I hope I've got something to go with them now!

Somehow the week got away with me and all of a sudden it was Sunday. We attended a craft fair that was held in an old Norwegian Church in Cardiff.

It's not a very good photograph because it was taken on my mobile phone but I think my stand is looking better than at any other fair. The event was quite profitable too and include a couple of sales before lunch, which is practically unheard of for me.

So, a slow week but a good end.

2009-08-09T20:57:00.002Z

All the best plans...?

I've had quite a busy week so I haven't done a lot of creative work lately. I did get a necklace finished but it's too dark to photograph that right now. Other than that I just started to plan out a fabric journal that I'd like to do. I haven't made one before but I'd really like to give it a try and I thought I'd use the theme of "Moulin Rouge" as I love the Baz Luhrmann film. The graphic qualities and depth of feeling should transfer well to fabric. I'm also having a 'camp creative' week this week. I have no appointments other than a craft fair on Sunday so once I've finished the cleaning and gone to the supermarket on Monday I've going to hide in my studio and do everything I've been meaning to do. I want to make a piece of jewellery every day, try some new techniques, sew up a top and a skirt, and do some silk dyeing - if I can find the dyes. I have a seemingly ordered studio and yet the thing I want right at the moment always manages to go missing. I may just spend the whole week looking for 4 little bags of powdered dye.

2009-08-01T17:38:00.005Z

Playing about

As well as the fun shibori workshop I've also been doing little bits of art/sewing at home. I bought a cheap hat in the sales but it just looked too folorn as it was - plain black paper straw with a plain black band and bow.

It looks much better with a piece of a charity shop scarf and a marcasite brooch sewn on to the side.

And here's a picture of me wearing it while having bad hair!

One of the Yahoo Groups that I follow was having a rock decorating challenge during July which I decided to participate in. I keep wondering what to draw on it and putting off the drawing because I wanted it to be 'right' until one day when I was having a nightmare with some paperwork. I just took out my sharpies, sat on the floor and enjoyed myself. Here's the result:

It's rather 'naive' but it's cute and it was really therapeutic so it makes me happy :)

2009-07-31T19:25:00.003Z

And here they are...

This post is an update on yesterday's shibori samples. I've untied the last 2 samples of the shibori and they're looking good.

The first sample was wrapped around screws so there are quite high peaks and lots of lines where the thread was wrapped up and down the screw.

This is possibly my favourite sample. I wrapped the fabric around rawl plugs in the same way as the screws. Once the shaping was set and while the fabric was still damp from the steamer I 'splodged' dye on with a brush. The colours are really dark on the peaks but have spread and lightened due to the wetness of the fabric and I think that graduation and mixing of colours is lovely.

I don't know what I'm going to do with these samples. I might just note down the techniques used and mount them into a book for future reference.

2009-07-30T16:52:00.005Z

Oh, such fun!

I had a brilliant day today at a shibori workshop in Cardiff. It was really relaxed with 7 of us in the class and we just played all day! Why isn't play a necessary part of being an adult? We seem to forget about it when we 'mature' and start to do sensible things like jobs but it's absolutely necessary to keep fun in our lives. I feel regenerated and lively after a day just trying things out, experimenting with different fabrics and different bits and bobs.

Here's what we did - no dyeing involved (apart from a few drops onto a pre-steamed sample). We took whatever we wanted - buttons, found objects, keys, screws etc. etc. - and tied them into bits of fabric. The fabric was then steamed in a basic kitchen steamer to heat-set the shaping and we un-tied the fabric to see the patterning that resulted.

I'm sorry that the images aren't great but I haven't worked out how to create a link to show larger images when you click on them! I'm sure I'll work it out in time. Anyway, this first image shows a sample that I hadn't finished on grey polyester satin. I was tying paperclips into the fabric and trying to cluster lots together to give a really textured look but I ran out of time. I'll finish this one at home. The green sample is actually green organza overlayed with purple net. It still has the items tied into it as it's wet and I'm leaving it to dry before removing and checking the shaping. I used a penny, a heart shape and a thimble.

Above are 2 samples that have been heat-set and untied. The one on the right has been coloured by the rusty bolts I used for shaping. The sample on the left was pressed after being untied to give it a different feel.

I distressed the organza before tying pennies in for this sample. I really like the results :)

This was an attempt at origami. The organza was folded inside a piece off paper for support and was heat-pressed after being steamed to try to make the creases crisper.

This last sample is still wet from the steamer so I'll leave it to tomorrow to untie everything. I also have 1 more sample that is drying over the bath as it's the one that I splodged dye onto. I'll let you know the results!

2009-07-22T14:13:00.004Z

My work in an exhibition!

One of the galleries local to us runs an annual Open Art exhibition and I've always enjoyed going to see the work (which is of a very good standard) but this is the first year that I've entered. Most pieces are fairly traditional watercolours and oil paintings so I took in 2 embroideries - 1 was a portrait of my tabby cat done using free machine emboidery, the other was an image of trees and a stream which I mainly hand-stitched but also used small pebbles for the rocks at the edge of the stream and organza for the water. I was really happy to hear that my 2nd picture had been selected to be part of the exhibition and I went to collect the unwanted one today.

The standard was even better this year than previously and most of the work was incredible. I even considered buying a couple of pieces but I'm not sure where I could fit them in the house. It was very strange to see my work on the wall next to these amazing pieces, especially as it is pretty small and a few paintings were a couple of feet across. Although it doesn't look as good to me as some of the other work, I am proud to have it selected and being seen by probably hundreds of people throught the 6 weeks that the exhibition is on for. I know that I won't win a prize but it's still an achievement for me and gives me the impetus to do more work and enter again.The image is a little dark but hopefully you can get an idea of the 3D nature of this picture and the way that the stones and some of the threads overlap the mounting.

2009-07-20T20:22:00.004Z

And it rained...

Yes, as always there was rain at the Caerleon Arts Festival but a lot of fun was had thanks to the friendliness of other stall holders and some great, eclectic entertainment on the central stage when it wasn't raining.

I've still got a lot of improvements to do my stand but it's not looking to bad here. People love the sale stock in the decorated black box as it feels rummagable but without the pound shop feel!

This is how muddy it was inside the marquees! At the top of the field the mud looked like chocolate on the Sunday.

The theme of the fair was sheep so we had some very tame ones in the main part of the field and the sculptures were all based on sheep.

Every year the sculptors are given huge hunks of wood or even whole trees and they use chisels and chainsaws to turn thm into something fantastic.

So a very wet and tiring but fun and worthwhile weekend.

2009-07-15T10:48:00.003Z

AWOL

Sorry that I've been missing in action for so long. I haven't been well for the past few weeks so life has been a little bit on hold but now I'm back and raring to go. One positive is that while I couldn't do much in the past few weeks I have been doing some sewing. Most of it has been adjustments (taking in skirt waistbands etc) but I have been embellishing a dress which has been going pretty well and I hope to show you some pictures soon. I've also bought a hat to do some simple embellishment on and I've been planning some more dress-making.

Now that I'm better I will be attending a craft fair at Caerleon, South Wales this weekend (18th - 19th). I've sold my jewellery at this fair for the past couple of years and I've always enjoyed the friendly atmosphere even though it's rained every year! It's looking like raining again this weekend but with wellies and flasks we'll be prepared and we'll make it a great event again.

If anyone's in the area do drop in and say hello. Its the people that make events like this :)

2009-06-27T19:28:00.002Z

Panic over...

The samples were finished, the meeting went well and I actually have time to breath again, just. Here are a couple of images of what I was working on:

The first sample uses bits and bobs that I've saved including children's sticky-backed foam for the white picket fence, silk used for felting for the foliage, black ribbon and a vintage button on the gate. I also did some rustic-style cretan stitch to give the thatched roof some texture and added beads into the bush for flowers.

The second sample is simpler to give the workshop participants some choice. It's a community project so there will be a mix of abilities and previously known skills. This will be easier for the less able to do as it just involves cutting out simple shapes and fusing them onto the background with Bondaweb.

I'm pretty pleased with these although with more time I think they could have looked better. A community project is more about participating, meeting people and feeling part of something, though, so I don't need to go overboard trying to make gallery-quality pieces. I'm just waiting to hear when we're going to start now.

Which means that I have a tiny bit of time back to hopefully make some jewellery and maybe even try whizzing up a dress (Wedding in 3 weeks - can I make something by then?).

2009-06-23T20:38:00.003Z

Why does my studio never look like they do in the magazines?

Have you noticed how in magazine articles artists' studios are always immaculately tidy with materials stored in beautifully painted vintage dressers and ribbon hanging from easily accessible poles placed strategically over a clear desk. Have you noticed that they all have a knack of folding their fabric samples so that no edges are visible and they're sorted by colour on the shelves? Is this normal? Do their studios always look like this or is there some wonderful set somewhere that they all use for photo shoots. Because if it's real I want to know why my studio doesn't look the same! I've been working on some urgent samples so my studio seems to have exploded this week.

Of course, it doesn't help that my roughly 10ft by 8ft studio is filled with fabrics, sewing machines, beads, findings, art materials, electrical equipment and cats but I still think it would be nice to work in an ordered pastel paradise like those in the magazines.

I know that once I've finished this project and tidied up the floor my studio won't look half this bad but it's always just waiting to explode again.

2009-06-17T19:20:00.003Z

Trying Out Chain Maille

I've been wanting to try making something out of chain maille for a while but it was only when I say a kit on Robin's Beads that I got around to doing anything about it. I've seen other kits but they've contained sterling rings so were a bit expensive for a beginner chain mailler. The Robin's Beads kits are silver-plated so just right for practicing with and I really enjoyed my first go at it.

I got a lot of comments on it when I wore it to the class I teach today so I think I should buy myself another kit and investigate chain maille some more :)

2009-06-10T16:19:00.004Z

I finally did it! I unpicked my lovely zip and took in that batik skirt. I also added a bit of trim to the hem and I think it really lifts the skirt and makes it feel really summery.

(I'm standing wonkily rather than the skirt being wonky!)

2009-06-03T15:48:00.004Z

I had a lovely day yesterday doing a mini-photoshoot for my new range of jewellery. The weather was gorgeous so we set up a picnic rug on the lawn and took photographs of my jewellery hanging off a picnic basket and in teacups.

I'm really happy with how they look :) Neither of us are used to doing this kind of thing but we have bought a relatively good camera recently and we're determined to get some good photos for my website.

2009-05-30T20:52:00.003Z

I've been thinking a lot about my work and my creativity recently. Because I was brought up to be a sensible office-worker with a 'proper' job and regular money I sometimes have difficulty letting my creativity flow as easily as I'd like it to. It's definitely in my head because I'm thinking about sewing or making jewellery and being inspired constantly but sometimes the ideas get stuck before they reach my fingers. I've also been re-assessing what I want out of life and trying to put some goals in place. Strangely, this isn't as easy as I'd expected. Looking into the future and thinking about what I'd like my life to be like takes a lot of questions to extract the information - sometimes it's like my brain doesn't want to admit to it's own dreams. Could I really became a known artist and write a book? Do I really want to move to a small village in the country, possibly alienating some of my family? Is it achievable to grow all our own veg while both running our own businesses? Will I ever work out a good recipe to use up all the home-grown cabbage?! There are so any questions and I think it's going to take me a long time to work out the answers.

In the meantime I've bought a book to hopefully help that creativity to flow a little more readily. It's called Living the Creative Life and it's by Rice Freeman-Zachery, a mixed media artist who's work I've regularly seen in Belle Armoire and Altered Couture magazines. I love the ideas in these magazines - the freedom of expression and the experimentation that people use with raincoats and shoes and wispy pieces of lingerie, creating fabulous new items that not only have a purpose but have a personality as well. That's somewhere I would like to be in the future. Maybe the book will help me get it...I'll let you know.

2009-05-16T10:16:00.004Z

Well, as I decided at the beginning of May, I have been making a printed skirt. I chose a batik fabric that's been sitting in my stash for years (probably bought in Sri Lanka in 2005) and a commercial pattern (New Look 6649). It's a nice skirt that went together fairly well and even the zip went in first time but when I tried it on before hemming it - it's a whole size too big for me! I was kind of using the batik fabric as a wearable muslin because it has been sitting in my stash for so long and I hate spending all that time making something that I end up throwing out but I do wish that I had made a proper muslin now. I did use the right size for my measurements and I did try pinning the pattern together and holding it up against me but I must have done something wrong. I always have this trouble with commercial patterns so one day I must regain my confidence with pattern cutting and make my own again.

I think it might be salvageable, though. It has a yoke and 8 panels which flare halfway down - the yoke makes it difficult to take in at the seam between each panel but maybe I can take it in on each side and reduce the size of the side panels. It may look a little uneven but I think it's worth a try. The only trouble is I've got to unpick and re-do my zip that went in so well!

2009-05-16T10:06:00.004Z

I've had a bit of a buying habit recently - must be the changing seasons and my new-found love of bright patterns which are severly lacking in my current wardrobe. These arrived in the post this morning:
I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to use them for yet as I didn't go looking for them. Josy Rose sent me an e-mail advertising free postage and there was a shot of these appliques on the side - I just had to go an buy them immediately! I'm thinking maybe dotted around on a simple skirt but they are quite small so my idea may change before I get around to making anything.

I also visited the lovely Doughty fabric shop in Hereford last weekend. I was very restrained and, along with some boring haberdashery that I haven't shown, I bought these fabrics and pattern:
I'm hoping that the heart print won't look too much as a tunic. I only bought 1 metre of the pink flowery fabric as I wasn't feeling very flush but I'm thinking of making a shorter version of this Amy Butler top with it and using some plain black as well to stretch the fabric. The rate I'm sewing at expect it in about 2 year's time!

2009-05-02T20:15:00.006Z

I've had this idea in my mind for a month or two but have just got around to trying it. I had a pair of jeans that used to be skin-tight but over the years the stretch has given out and they looked neither tight nor loose - so rather yuck in fact. I decided to do a bit of decorating to see if that made them look better at took 'steampunk' as a vague theme.

Here's a before and after...

They're not bad but I had hoped they'd be better. The sample I did before-hand was done on cream calico so the colours come through a lot better and the images are more visible.

I think they'll be ok, though.

Next I'd like to make something from scratch - maybe a printed skirt or a kaftan - something for the nicer weather we're now getting.

2009-04-03T18:46:00.003Z

Well, I've had a great day today. First I drove to Swansea and met with jewellery designer Tanya Igic to discuss her article in the magazine I'm writing for: Making Jewellery, then I spent an hour gardening which is always relaxing for me, finally I tumbled the silver that I kiln-fired the other night and finally have a couple of pieces of new jewellery to show you. They're the first of a new range of fine silver jewellery that I hope to have on sale pretty soon but you're getting a sneak preview.

They're only quick photos and I think I might need to use larger jump rings but I'm really happy with them and I'm looking forward to getting them in production.

Images and ideas (c) Kira Jones Jewellery 2009

2009-03-30T10:27:00.003Z

Unfortunately I've been too busy to get much creative work done recently. On the jewellery side I have made some new, simple styles and I've been developing a new range out of PMC but that's unfinished. I had a mini disaster in the kiln and lots a whole batch of pendants but once I re-make them I'll post them on here. On the sewing front I did finish a little capelet. The fabric is a mystery fabric from my stash. It seems to be synthetic and it has a subtle swirly pattern in black on a black background. I really like the fabric but I'm not sure how well the capelet actually suits me. I think I'll make a longer version, past my elbow, and that might look better.

I haven't put a clasp on this cape but I've used a vintage brooch to fasten it. It's a little awkward but I've bought a clasp with a similar feel to use on the next cape.

2009-03-15T18:20:00.006Z

Well, in the past couple of weeks since I last posted I've been developing a new range of jewellery that I can't show you yet (not long to wait!) and fixing the odd bit of clothing as well as attempting to do some dyeing. This hasn't worked particularly well...

This white shirt had rather a hint of pink to it after being accidentally dyed in the wash. I tried to use one of the coour remove products but it made barely any difference so the solution was to dye it a nice bright colour - red. I love red and wear it quite a bit so it seemed like a perfect solution...

I chose the reddest dye I had and followed all the instructions to the letter but somehow ended up with a coral shirt. I know it's quite a trendy colour for this summer but with my dark hair and pale skin I'm not sure that it's a colour I can wear. I did buy the dye on special offer but I didn't think that powder dye could go off - am I wrong?

I was also trying to rectify a bad dye job on a cerise T-shirt. I just threw it in the bucket and didn't agitate it properly when I first dyed it. I thought that I could make a feature of the patchiness by overdyeing with red while scrunching it in a tray to give an interesting pattern. I used some of the leftover dye from the shirt above...

Do you see the scrunch effect? No, me neither. The supposed-t0-be-red-but-really-coral dye hardly shows on top of the cerise. Have to come up with another idea for this.

And finally, I wanted a small amount of red cotton lace to trim a T-shirt so that went in with the shirt at the top. Again it came out coral so I threw it onto my dress stand to ignore until I decided what to do but look at this happy accident...

What a lovely colour combination! I altering this jacket to fit my skinny back and that's the black T-shirt that I'm going to cut down then add red lace to. Maybe I need to re-think this idea...

2009-02-24T17:15:00.004Z

I was meant to blog about this last week but I was so exhausted when I got home that I'm only just catching up with myself - I spent a few days in Cornwall at the Mid Cornwall School of Jewellery completing level 2 of the diploma in PMC. It was brilliant fun and I learnt loads but it was really challenging to get it all finished in the set time. I really enjoy going down to Cornwall and working with other people that are interested in jewellery and it's great to learn from teachers who actually sound like they have knowledge about their craft and will give tips based on their experience. Here are some pictures of what we made:

The first image is of 2 rings we made - 1 continuous band with a scribbley slip texture on the outside and 1 matt finish, textured with a skeleton leaf.

These are 2 pendants and a little charm. The middle pendant has a bezel set stone and is textured with a hand-carved eraser and the pendant on the left contains a dichroic glass cabachon that is set into the PMC.

I love these earrings! 2 hearts that hang asymmetrically and have flush-set cubic zirconas in the opposite heart bump from the earwire.

These earrings were quite tricky to make as the dry clay had to be carved with mini lino-cutting tools. I think with a lot of practice it would look great.

Finally a pair of earrings made with woven PMC paper. Not really my style!

It's a great course to do and they challenge you each step of the way - only 2 more levels until I get the diploma :)

2009-02-05T15:08:00.003Z

It's my 31st birthday today and I think I'm having a bit of a mid-life crisis! Ok, so it's probably a one day mid-life crisis but it's a crisis none-the-less. There are certain birthdays that trigger you thinking back over what you've actually achieved so far and where you thought you might be by now. I'm always promising myself that I could do this bit of sewing and that jewellery but so often it lies undone and I carry on with the same old same old. I know that technically I can do these things or I could look up a new technique and be able to carry it off. But somewhere inbetween the idea and the practice I seem to freeze and the project stays undone. I'd love to be using my sewing skills for something. I'd at least like to make my own clothes but how about teaching newbies to sew, or selling beautiful work that I've created, or even using my artistic skills in a therapeutic way. So far these have all stayed as dreams but maybe my 31st birthday panic can be of some use. A push to make me do some of these things so that I don't feel the same way next year.

On to a more positive note...something that I have done. When I was tidying up a cupboard the other day I found some jars of old dye. I'd used it for a heat resist transfer printing workshop a couple of years ago then shoved the left over dye in the cupboard thinking I'd use it again. That as about 2 years ago so it was probably past it's best by now. Hating to throw anything it I thought I'd get some scraps of fabric and loosely scrunch them into the bottom of a bucket then poor the left-over dye over it. After drying I ironed them to heat-set the dye and I'm pretty pleased with the results.

I used pink, red and purple dye on the first pieces and blue and yellow on the second. I think they'll make perfect background for all this creative stitching I've now promised myself I'll do!

2009-01-25T16:07:00.004Z

A bit of sewing that didn't work so well this time. The pattern is from www.studiokatdesigns.com and can be adapted to make either a small or a large wallet. It's all quite simple to put together but some sections have a lot of layers to sew through and I just couldn't get the bias binding right. I'm hoping that I just need practice in using the bias binding but I unpicked it so many times that I have to admit a temporary defeat and leave this wallet in the UFO pile.

It could look cute if only I could do the bias binding!

2009-01-18T12:32:00.007Z

I've finally got 2 of the sewing items I was working on over Christmas finished. Yay! I had a couple of problems then got busy as I'm sure everyone did once the new year really kicked in but I persevered and have 2 finished projects (quite rare for me!). I'm pretty happy with them but there's one or two alterations that I might make.

This T-shirt began life as a dress. I loved the fabric but, as I'm slightly pear-shaped, a full-length, jersey halter-neck really didn't suit me. I wore it once to a party before realising what a mistake it was and, not wanting to let go of the lovely fabric, I made a T-shirt from it using New Look 6078. It's straight from the pattern with no alterations except for stitching up another inch of the armhole once it was complete as it looked a little funny. I'm really pleased with this and I will wear it.

My second project is a wrap skirt from the book "Make Your Own Clothes" by Marie Clayton. The book includes very basic pattern-making software so that you can input your own measurements and make the set projects.

I'm less pleased with this one but I think that's due to the material. It's still wearable but the curved hem at the front is rather dodgy. The material I chose was a cheap sarong from Sri Lanka. It's very polyester with a rubbery printed pattern which caused the rolled hem to buckle everytime I went over a section of print. I was only trying out the pattern, though, and it will make a good cover-up by the pool.

So hurray I finished something! Time to find a new project :)

2008-12-30T20:01:00.002Z

Well, then. I've re-started my blog. I first signed up for a blog in 2002 when I had nothing to say so said ... not quite nothing but certainly nothing that anyone would want to read. I'm doing a lot more with my life now so feel ready to bring life back to my blog and start talking once again. I started working for myself 3 years ago in February making beaded jewellery and teaching a few classes in jewellery techniques. The classes have expanded and the jewellery is now much better!! I've also gone back to the sewing that I did at university then left alone. I'd like to share what I'm sewing and hopefully get to know others who are also creating in various ways. Time for a new year and a new start ... same as everyone else :)