Lucky Cats ! Maneki Neko.

As you may, or may not know,  I am a member of a Face Book group called The Arts and Crafts Emporium. This is a fantastically supportive collective of artists and designer/makers who,once a month, create work towards a common theme. This can be anything from Home & Garden to Fairy Tales and beyond. For this month's event the eclectic title is Coffee, Cakes and Kittens. I was a bit stumped until suddenly I had a light bulb moment. I looked over at the chest of drawers in my bedroom and a favourite collection caught my eye and imagination.

My lovely lucky cats, gathered from China town, charity shops and friends. I thought this would be perfect and as I drew and designed I decided I wanted to know more about the significance of the cute felines.

When we want to know something what do we do ?  We look to a well known search engine and it came up trumps with a blog all about the varieties of Maneki Neko or Lucky Cat. https://luckymanekineko.wordpress.com/.

The origin is primarily Japanese, but the cat has been adopted as a good luck figure in China especially for businesses. The meanings of the different colours have developed and changed over time, but to summarise; a white cat is for purity and happiness, gold for wealth and prosperity, green is for success in education, pink for romance, red to protect from illness, black to ward of evil and a three colour cat is traditionally for general good luck.
The raised paw invites money and good fortune and the cat's bib, collar and bell are for protection. Some cats carry a golden coin, or koban, this again relates to wealth.
I find the whole tradition fascinating ,  so my new cat design was born. The brooches are around 7cm, made in pure silk very appropriate for a Chinese cat don't you think ? They have lots of embroidered details and are finished with hand beading and a tiny golden bell.

 White for purity and happiness.

 Gold for prosperity and wealth.

Green for academic success.

The cats will go on sale on September 13th at the Face Book event and afterwards in my Etsy shop or by ordering directly.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1471646356465063/
https://www.facebook.com/ACEmporiumgifts?fref=ts

Wedding Belles

I have noticed in the past few months a real upsurge in the number of my hatchlings that get to attend weddings. I suppose it's that time of the year. Whether they are nestling on a guest's outfit, hitching a ride on a delicate veil or have centre stage on the bride's dress, they are certainly getting more invites than me this Summer.

It all started with a small collection of delicate ivory and gold butterflies; these particular ones also had a layer of applied lace and dinky, micro sequins too. The end result was very classy and they were destined to flutter on a lace veil.

Earlier this year I was delighted to receive a commission, via my Etsy shop, for a complete set of Lepidoptera. These were for a bride who adored moths. Her dress was classic 1950s, with a fabulous, layered underskirt in burgundy. My brief was to create a sash for the dress, to match the bridal flowers, and a collection of smaller moths to hover in the underskirt and hairdo.

I based the design on a Rothschild Silk Moth, very appropriate as the various sizes of moth were all made in differing shades of 100% silk taffeta and satin.

The hair moths.

The sash.

 

Another fun commission was for a group of Liberty Belle Gem butterflies, in jewel colours, that are to be worn as an alternative to flower buttonholes.

I think this is a great idea as it also provides a keepsake for the wedding guests too.
I have also created bespoke hatchlings for wedding outfits, I loved making the moths in the picture below.

The lady had put together a gorgeous lace dress and incredible shoes and wanted a little something to perch on her hat. I love these colours, they somehow remind me of Marie Antoinette.

Other smaller items make perfect bridesmaid gifts, like the little pastel brooch or a scented butterfly heart.

Whatever you ideas, drop me a line, I like a challenge and as you can see my hatchlings just love a wedding.

The Dorset Blues !

Hello everyone, long time no blog! Work has been wonderfully hectic but I really wanted to share with you an exciting collaboration that has been happening since the beginning of May.

I was approached by a very lovely couple who were opening a garden themed shop/gallery in the gorgeous village of Corfe castle in Dorset. I just knew it was going to be something very special so I decide to create an exclusive range of work for them.

Based on the blue butterflies that inhabit the area of the Purbecks, the Dorset Blue collection was born.
I looked at 5 different species, the Adonis, the Chalkhill Blue, Speckled Blue, Holly Blue and Small Blue butterflies.

I started sketching first, creating the patterns and shapes. The next stage was developing them with individual characters, using a little artistic licence to make them suitable different. I made them first in layers of pure silk, with reverse applique, embroidery and beading.

This was closely followed by another collection using different Liberty fabrics in various blue tones.

Holly Blue and Chalkhill Blue- Liberty Collection.

 

The butterflies are available as brooches or as framed collections.

The collections and more loveliness can be found at Seasons Green, 14 West Street, Corfe Castle, Dorset, BH20 5HD. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Seasons-Green/922594654427657
A website is coming very soon.

Liberty Monarchs also available at Seasons Green.

Hatchling Hearts

Hello again, it's been a long time I know but things are very hectic here at Everitt towers. As you may know I combine my personal embroidery with making masonic banners and both sides of my work are demanding my attention. I wouldn't have it any other way and feel so fortunate to be able to make a modest living doing what I love.

Anyway new ideas are always around, sometimes I get an idea and even though I have other things to do I have to have a 'play'. One of these ideas are my hatchling hearts, these started as a gift idea for Mothers' Day. They are a soft padded heart with a ribbon hanger designed to hold your butterfly brooch when it's not being worn. I always feel a bit disappointed that brooches are kept in a drawer.
So the hatchling hanging heart holder was born, catchy name don't you think ?

The first hearts were made in calico, with toning embroidery and lots of hand beading. I had great fun matching them to butterflies. I'm delighted to say they were a great success.

 

After a little more experimentation, I made my first linen heart. I LOVE natural fabrics and I added a different shaped butterfly, the Liberty swallowtail.

Further developments have been adding dried lavender flowers to the cotton wadding, a new Heather Everitt Embroidery woven label for the reverse and special gift boxes.
There are a couple in my Etsy shop at the moment and I am currently working on a big retail order. So pleased when 'an idea' works out !
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/227720549/beautiful-embroidered-heart-with-silk?ref=shop_home_active_12

A new blog for 2015

I've been quite poor at keeping my blog updated, but my New Year resolution is to improve. So here we go, it was a very busy year for me 2014, I created a new range of work, visited Liberty of London and received my first ever retail orders.

I have been thrilled at the response to my new animal collections, many of which started as commissions.
The hedgehog is made in pure wool, backed with silk and has a feature print from either Liberty of London or Kaffe Fassett. I love the way each one has its own character.

 

I have also introduced a red and grey squirrel, made in the same way as the hedgehog but this one has tiny hand sewn 'nut' beads.

I final change for this year is a re-design for my very popular Liberty Belle butterfly brooch, still a delicate 8cm but this time a new shape and an added detail of velvet eyespots.

All these pieces are available in my Etsy store.
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Heatheremb?ref=hdr_shop_menu

Autumn Winter Collection 2014

I've been really inspired by the upcoming trend in fashion of 'Folklore', a delightful and whimsical theme featuring woodland creatures and elements of craft.

Using pure wool and cashmere mixes creates a cosy feel to my new hatchlings and the stitching positively sinks into these lovely fabrics.

I continued to use sumptuous velvet for my hatchling's body and for extra colour in the wings. Still very much under the influence of Liberty of London fabrics, this time I chose the lovely prints on a wool and cotton mix.

To add an extra element of craft I added lashings of scrummy embroidery stitches in contrasting and toning colours. The images above show my re worked Art Deco moths in a statement size perfect on a wool coat or cardigan.

I also created the wool Monarch butterfly, larger than it's silk cousin, this one has the addition of beautiful vintage mother of pearl buttons on it's wings.

Other pieces are being added all the time, the latest being the Liberty wool bees, they come in two sizes and have wool and Liberty print bodies and wings with embroidery and beading.

All these pieces are backed in pure silk, making them extra luxurious.

My new collection is available in my Etsy store.
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Heatheremb?ref=hdr_shop_menu

New Designs

I've been rather lapse with my blog entries recently but that's because I've been creating new designs.
The first is a new bee brooch, I wanted a bee that was more 3D than my previous design so I set to on the body first. It was made with fabric that was first embroidered with the bee's yellow stripes, hi-lighted with gold threads. The fabric was then gathered, stuffed and sculpted with thread to create a plump little body.

The wings were made from silk organza with tiny sequins added to give the idea of drops of pollen. He has tiny glass beads for eyes and his legs and antennae are made with twisted twine.

 

So the bee was born and then I had a request for a ladybird, this was great fun I love being challenged and this was a great excuse to play. The body was made in a similar way to the bee, the wings were the exciting part. Made in layers of red silk with velvet spots, I covered the wings in shot organza, stitched and did some reverse applique. My signature micro sequins provided little flecks of light. The ladybird also has beaded eyes and cute legs and antennae. I've just been asked to make one as a mini fascinator!

The final new design is a poppy, made using the same techniques as my butterflies I loved getting the petal shapes just right and adding the tiny beads to create the stamens. I have now made them in three colours but I'm thinking of pink, white, purple ......... The possibilities are endless and then there's anemones.

The poppies are in my Etsy store https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Heatheremb at the moment the bees and ladybird are to order only please contact me at mail@heatheremb.co.uk