Daily Mail's Charlotte Kemp - Thanks!

So, I have just spent the last hour traipsing around every possible newspaper outlet in this corner of North Yorkshire trying desperately to find a hard copy of today's Daily Mail as the lovely Charlotte Kemp has written an article about Sew Iconic and ... well, it's not every day I get to be in a national newspaper is it?! So... here's the online version of the article... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2155503/Sew-superstar-wardrobe-Fancy-dressing-like-Marilyn-Audrey--breaking-bank-A-new-book-shows-.html 

I have to say the Charlotte has done a great job with the project and even if the end result is not necessarily the most professional of finishes, I am delighted to have inspired her to have a go and rediscover something about herself - making clothes is actually an absorbing, fascinating and very rewarding thing to do. Making them for someone else, I'd wager, is probably even more exciting. I love doing it and would happily spend every day engrossed in these projects.

So, one happy little bunny can settle down for a lovely bath with three copies of the article - so what that it's raining cats and dogs outside? So what that my dear husband of 32 years (who is referred to simply as my 'partner' in the article - a source of great amusement to him!) has had to drive at break-neck speed through five villages and a small town (Malton) to help me out, because I was too excited to actually drive? I only hope that the squeals of delight that accompanied my finding the article didn't completely deafen the poor chap who was innocently purchasing petrol at the petrol station - he'll get over it I think! Yay!

It's been a good day.

Radio interview with Hannah Murray

Hannah Murray

I've just got off the phone with the rather delightful Hannah Murray, from Talk Europe Radio who wanted to chat about Sew Iconic on her afternoon show about latest book releases. You can listen here... http://www.talkradioeurope.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=649&Itemid=117 
 and find the hour for Thursday 7th June 2012, between 14:00 and 15:00 - it starts about 15 minutes into the programme.

It is interesting talking to people about this book, because they all want to know how it came about, what gave me the idea in the first place and it strikes me that it is the spark of creativity that provides an endless source of fascination for people.

I firmly believe that everyone has that spark in them somewhere, and maybe even that's one of the main purposes in life - finding your own spark of creativity. Maybe that's why we're always intrigued by novelty and uniqueness, although some interpretations of this concept may be rather narrow.

I would like to think that we can look upon every day with new, fresh eyes, seeing innovation and originality at every corner and being open to the possibilities that abound, if only we take the time and make the effort to really *see* them. That's what a good day looks like for me!

A good day

How exciting has the past couple of weeks been? Well, as if the weather is in tune with my life, things just get sunnier and more sublime by the day! I am delighted to report that an article I wrote for Colleen G Lea's Fashionista Sewing Blog  http://www.fashionsewingblog.com/ will be published on Monday (I am told) - thanks Colleen! I'll post the link when it is up and working.
In addition, the Daily Mail's Charlotte Kemp and I had a lovely chat a few days ago and I'm hoping her article about Sew Iconic will be published in SheMail sometime very soon - watch this space for details. 
I'm not sure how much I can say about another very exciting project that I am in discussion with organisers about, but it will combine my love for desiging and sewing stuff with my passion for talking about it till the preverbial (knitted or stitched - I don't mind which!) cows come home. I am also thinking of expanding this blog to accomodate some tutorials and other aspects of my work. I've no idea how this is all going to fit with everything else, but that's half the fun of it I think!
Onwards and upwards my friends!

Exciting reviews for Sew Iconic

Wow! It really amazes me that I have actually accomplished the hitherto unimaginable feat of actually writing a book... and the best part is that some people actually have enjoyed reading it so far. Check out these reviews... http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13239392-sew-iconic It is so rewarding to have people make positive comments about something that is, after all, akin to giving birth.
I am eternally grateful to Alison Hissey, at Quintet, for all of her fantastic work in cajoling and gently persuading me to produce this finished product.
My only regret is that I didn't record the process as I had intended - to blog or not to blog was defintely the question, but there are, it seems, only a finite number of hours, minutes, seconds in each day and it was this forum that took the hit I'm afraid! Perhaps now I can get back to sharing thoughts from the sewing room. Gotta love this life eh?

Iconic screen costumes galore!

The trouble with agreeing to write a book is that you do, at some point, actually have to start with the putting words together in some sort of recognisable, familiar order in order to create an interesting and hopefully stimulating body of information that may, possibly, vaguely be of interest to some other human beings on this planet. That is, as opposed to the rather strange and disconcerting beings that occupy the classrooms where I spend much of my days, attempting to impart knowledge, concepts, skills and deeper understanding in any capacity to frequently unwilling learners who would, frankly rather be watching the cartoon network. If any of them were to hear that I was writing a book, they would be astonished. Not because they'd think me incapable or that this might be an unachievable ideal, but because they simply don't connect the physicality of an actual book with real people who create them. So, I don't intend to tell any of them.
I was looking for inspiration and typed the title of my book http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/displayProductDetails.do?sku=8253675 into a popular search engine and it came up as the first item (yay!). On clicking through to the appropriate link, I discovered that *shock* - someone had beaten me to it! There is was in glorious colour, with a synopsis that eerily rang as familiar as my clean socks - someone had already written my book, or at least everything I had intended to write, already, and they had published their book ahead of me! Every detail, every concept, even the cover looked exactly like the one my publisher had shown me. Then I scrolled back up and determined to find the name of this usurper. I felt a complete and proper charlie when I realised that it was my name on the author line... this was MY book, and all I have to do now is actually write it. Quite a relief actually!
So now, it's fabric sourcing and designing time. Perhaps I should go do that then!