The Immortal Nasturtium

The nasturtiums in my garden were still flowering yesterday when the first snow came. In their honour I have a new set of flower buttons which are part of a new range to be launched in the spring. These ones will be £15 for the set of four.
Happy Christmas and a peaceful heart to you all.

The Secret Desires of Moths

I have long been inspired by wings , be it birds or moths . When I discovered a book called 'Night Visions ,The Secret Designs of Moths ' I was in heaven !
This set of three buttons showing the vein patterns on moth wings is stem stitched onto silk and is £15 for the set. It is also the starting point for two new pieces of work which will take the best part of a year to complete !

Thankyou !!!

Many thanks to all my new customers ! I recently did the Knit and Stitch show at Alexandra Palace and had a wonderful time ( and was very tired !! ) Many items sold out and I am now busy trying to make some more of the rarer items. The 'Lost Glove' button sold out on the first day so I am now searching for old gloves. The picture above shows the button before I embroidered around the edge with a lovely old rayon crochet thread.....


..and this is the finished button. They are £4.95 each .

A faerie mound

This is what I made today........................if you hear music don't go inside.

All at sea

The next button in my baroque phase ! This time a little galleon sailing in a needlelace sea complete with mermaid and leaping fish.

The Sun King

I recently visited the Baroque exhibition at the V&A and loved the baroque theatre with its moving scenery . This has of course inspired a set of buttons which are three dimensional. The first one is of the sun behind the clouds. The sun is heavily embroidered in a baroque style onto the silk but the clouds are made in needlelace and are suspended in front on little springs.

The Earwig Mystery

I recently discovered that earwigs have wings but never use them. They are folded up some forty times and this is suggested as a reason for them not being unfolded. I think that they are saving them for a special occasion and when that happens they will unfold their silky origami wings and wear garlands of dew drops and tiny silver and gold chrysanthemums ( their favourites) .......and here is the button proof available now on etsy !!!!

In the light

Come and join us !!You can also contact me via this blog.

Abbey Art Centre

My studio is in a secret garden in London where artists have been coming for years !!!

Come away O human child!

One of my favourite poems by Yeats has inspired this embroidered ribbon.
The lines
'Come away O human child ! To the waters and the wild, With a feary hand in hand, For the worlds more full of weeping than you can understand.'
is 'free-machine' embroidered onto silver organza with silver antique sequins and owl feathers. It is then wrapped around an old wooden cotton reel




( available on Etsy from August )

View from the cliffs

The colours in this button look like the coast and sea around St. Ives. The yarn is called gimp and is a little tricky to sew but looks lovely and rugged !
Measures 29mm across , £12 +postage

Little Posies

These are more from my new selection of millefiore buttons........



...all are 15mm across and embroidered in various hand dyed threads on linen ,£8.50 +post each

Knot Gardens for sale

I am currently working on some new buttons based on my millefiore range. These are covered in french knots using lovely hand dyed silks on linen. This first is 'up the garden path', inspired by the little pathways on the crinoline lady embroideries popular during the 1930s. The thread is wool and silk and it measures 29mm across.
£12 + postage


The next are sets of old style ball buttons with hand stitched shanks on the back. They are about 8mm wide and these are in a silk that reminds me of the sand ornaments you used to buy on the Isle of Wight.

set of three £10 +postage


...more to follow.

Two Whole Months !

...from this .....

......to this...
many thanks to Prick Your Finger and Amelias Magazine

The Private View

The corset will be on display for the whole of May at Prick Your Finger and later in the year at other events.

The secret desires of moths..........

There are now six moths in varying shades of ivory needlelace. Each one takes about three hours to complete.

The Boarfinch

...completed , he joins the Mallardoepard , Peapuss , Marbat and Goatle in the garden.

Under the trees....

The bees in the trees in my garden............

The garden at dusk

A detail of one of the six moths , all done in needlelace and loose french knots.

In the garden....

A little creature called a Peapuss waits under the silver apple tree

Growing the flowers

..a small snowdrop in needlelace under a tree in the garden , a variety called 'heffalump' !!

In My Garden I Am Queene

I have always marvelled at the beautiful samplers and embroideries from the past which were made by girls of ten and eleven. The most remarkable are those of Martha Edlin and Hannah Smith who , at the age of eleven , completed the most stunning embroidered boxes. In the seventeenth century there was a fashion for raised work or stumpwork(a 19th C. term).
So , I decided it was time to create something like it of my own on a corset. I began planning at the start of this year and began work at the beginning of March...my deadline is the first of May ! when it will be exhibited.
The design includes some mythical creatures , created for me some time ago by fashion illustrator Richard Gray , the first is a boarfinch......

Valentines and other beloveds

I have been making a few new pieces for sale on Etsy..... old lockets and fob watches filled with mementos ,lace and embroidery and a little haberdashery ring . Inspired by the watch
in 'Little Dorrit' I have collected together old pieces that I could add to. Then I added some of my embroidery together with fragments of old lace or paste brooches. The sentimental jewellery of this era is a great source of inspiration to me and , as ever, what I can't afford I make instead !!!!

Goblin Market

One of my favourite poems is 'Goblin Market' by Christina Rossetti and so I have been inspired to produce various pieces in response. The first was a corset , here photographed in a very old mirror and previously written about when I did a window for PYF. Now some buttons have emerged from the realms of the poem too and are for sale ( see right hand column).


The first is the berry that the sisters are tempted by , the second is a lock of the golden hair that fades as a result. Then the initial of the sisters Lizzie andLaura and the silver coin used to pay the goblins. Finally the last two buttons are a feather and some fur bursting out through torn satin.......goblins !

Happy New Year