Thursday 27 June 2013

Make A Pretty Little Applique Fabric Flower


Our creative ladies at our Marlborough Fabric shop have made these beautiful little flowers to decorate their windows. We thought we'd show you how they make them so you can have a go yourselves, they're the perfect decoration for summer parties, and even weddings, they could be attached to a cushion or bag or made into a brooch. They are very simple to do - go on, have a go!



You will need:
  • 2 pieces of material approximately 15cm x 15cm (these can be the same or different)
  • A pompom or button
  • Needle and thread
  • A pair of pinking shears
Instructions:
1. Cut two flower shapes from your fabric, one slightly larger than the other














2. Take one flower and gather the petals by stitching a loose running stitch around the centre of the flower















3. Repeat this with the second flower


4. Stitch both flower shapes together and secure in the centre with a button or pompom











5. To hide the stitching, cut a small circle of material and attach to the back of the flower














6. The finished result can be attached to a cushion, made into a string of flowers as decorations, or used as a corsage or brooch.

Wednesday 3 April 2013

Apple Blossom Time

One of Susie’s special times of year in the garden is when her apple trees are in blossom. She has spent many a year waiting for the trees to come out to arrange a photo shoot underneath the branches of blossom that droop so beautifully, only to have a late spring storm dash her hopes at the last minute.

Perhaps with this in mind she has taken to recreating the look on ceramic! On her latest trip she spent some time working on her ideas to perfect the range, which is now here in the UK.





As with many pieces, the process starts with the intricate cutting of sponges which make up each tiny element of the design.

These are then painstakingly applied colour by colour, piece by piece until all the sponge work is complete, and finally the design is finished with free hand painting.





A before and after of our Apple Blossom Rose Jug...




We think the finished effect is stunning, and look forward to more pieces being added to the range throughout 2013. You can view our full range of Apple Blossom pottery here


You can also view our 'Under The Apple Blossom' get the look here, where Susie combines pottery and cushions in this delicate design.


You can view our full collection at www.susiewatsondesigns.co.uk or alternatively, visit one of our shops.

Tuesday 5 March 2013

Embroidered Fabrics by Susie Watson Designs

On her recent trip to India Susie was developing new designs in embroidered fabric. These will be additions to the Animal Magic range which features ceramics and fabric accessories with gorgeous designs already such as Boris, Frank, Monty and Maisy, which have proved so popular.

The new characters which include Owlbert and Owlberta the Owls, along with Owlbertini the baby are making their debut and are utterly adorable.


Susie first draws the design on paper before the outline is transferred to fabric by tracing.


The drawing will have been finalised after much debate and deliberation, which will include artistic as well as practical production considerations.

Her skills of design and colour really come to the fore in this process and finally she can give the go ahead to start running samples of the design. 




In the photo we can see what will become one of our embroidered fabric packs which can be used for curtains for example. 


All of the decorative pieces are then cut, applied by hand and stitched into place according to her design. 


Once she feels that she has everything in the right place a completed sample can be taken away. This can then either be made into product immediately or brought back to the UK for further feedback and development. 


You can watch our short film on how we make our textiles here.

In addition we have these delightful characters on cushions and ceramics.




Susie Watson designs have six shops as well as a complete collection on line at www.susiewatsondesigns.co.uk

Thursday 14 February 2013

The Candlelight Fantastic

We are proud of all of our skilled workers and constantly marvel at what they can achieve. When Susie returned from a visit to Sri Lanka recently, we were reminded of just that fact when we saw her pictures.

It’s almost inconceivable that these girls have such a delicate hand that they paint every spot, heart, flower and star on our candles. For those of us at a ‘certain age’ with eyesight, we can hardly believe it’s possible to isolate the stem of a strawberry or the wing of a honey bee!




It’s a happy team of girls in the candle factory... 




After each candle has been painted, they are hung to dry before being packed in individual sheets of tissue paper. 




So the next time you have a group of friends or family around the table and you light one of our hand painted candles, share the story of how they came to your home. In times of mass manufacture, there is something hugely rewarding we think, in knowing something essentially so simple has been created with such delicacy, skill and care.





Monday 3 December 2012

Behind The Scenes...


Susie Watson Designs is about making beautiful handmade products for the home.
Susie designs all the time; she can switch from a glass vase to tweed fabric, to new wallpaper ideas in the space of a few minutes!

The most important thing for us is to make sure that you can see the quality, skill and effort that goes into the making of these products.

We invest heavily in great photography, so we thought you might like to see what goes on behind the beautiful images you see. These are some sneak shots of a recent shoot which took place in Susie’s house.

Internal rooms are always quite tricky. As well as constantly moving light levels, it’s always a challenge to get full width room sets into a narrow shot, and usually takes quite a bit of juggling.





We always have to factor in the dog element. All three of Susie’s dogs are very excited by the arrival of all these strange people and the movement of their home whilst the shoot is in full flow.

Monty however doesn’t really see why anything and everything shouldn’t be tested for comfort.

He was very taken with the beautiful Duck egg sofa shot, which he felt showed him off to his full advantage, and wasn’t moving until he had a decent shot of himself taken.




Night shots can be stunning if they are successful – for those of you who have tried night photography, I’m sure you will see the skill behind this shot.

Waiting until just the right time of the evening when day light ends and night takes over we shot repetitive images to make sure we hit just the right amount of darkness. The result shows it was well worth the wait.





Along with our new zoom facility on our website, we very much hope you enjoy shopping our products, and feel we provide you with the best view we can before you buy!

Tuesday 6 November 2012

Moving Indoors For Winter

The temperature is dropping and the evenings are shorter, and this makes us all here want to move indoors for winter and make a cosy home to retreat to.




Imagine curling up with a good book in front of an open fire, and suddenly winter doesn’t seem so bad!
This chair of Susie’s is covered in screen printed red Shalini linen fabric, accessorised with rich olive and lovat green velvet cushions. These are mixed with hand printed linen in our Bloomsbury green.

We mix piles of throws into our range which not only adds beautiful colours, but are so comforting and warm for this time of year. 100% Shetland wool means they are really durable for everyday living as well.

Susie’s colour eye really displays itself in the throws, she mixes the unusual and comes up with such great contrasts and themes of colour, which really compliment each other.




The Bloomsbury design also comes in curtain and upholstery fabric shown below. We make our curtains super thick with interlining and instead of using plain cream linings we use piping stripes in contrasting colours and they are finished with a Beech Fan Edge.





Our curtain and blind making service offers a comprehensive package, either provide your own measurements and fabric choices and let our in store teams do the rest of the planning for you. They will calculate everything you need and then you are able to use our curtain make up service, or take your fabric to a curtain maker of your choice.

Alternatively you can visit one of our shops and arrange to meet with one of our teams of in house stylists, who will help you put a scheme together. For a very competitive fee they will even arrange a visit to your home.

All you need now is a gorgeous mug to warm your hands, and a delicious cup of tea!


Wednesday 19 September 2012

Susie Watson Designs - Christmas 2012

Well we know it’s early but no matter what you do, Christmas will be in our lives very soon.

Here at Susie Watson Designs we have been involved in Christmas for quite some time, as there is so much preparation that needs to be done in order to get these gorgeous products here for Christmas shopping.

At the moment Mr Ravi and his team over in India are busily trying to finish the Christmas stockings and advent calendars, as well as making tea towels and aprons.


































We feel that things like the stocking and advent calendars can become real family heirlooms, they are so beautifully made you would never get tired of bringing them out at Christmas time.

Whilst all you ladies may be stuck in the kitchen on Christmas morning, you may as well wear our light hearted Frank Christmas Apron, and get everyone else drying up with the Boris tea towels.

The Christmas dinner for many of us is one of the most important meals of the year and Susie wanted to create a range of ceramics which were again things you would want to collect, keep and use year after year.

In addition to the little Dove motif, she has added the new Robin design which is on our Christmas mug, mini pitcher and candlepots.




These blend beautifully with things like the Christmas jug and cake stand which make bigger statement pieces. Rather than hide your Christmas cake away in a tin make it pride of place on this lovely display stand –even finish with some of our red piping stripe ribbon.




No house is complete without its’ Christmas decorations, and we have a delightful collection of hand painted ceramic decorations and hand blown glass baubles. These look stunning on the tree and again can become collector’s items each year.



Relax in candle light in the evening or enjoy a candle lit supper with our collection of dinner candles and scented candle pots. These also make such useful gifts over the festive period; a box of 6 hand painted dinner candles comes smartly boxed ready to gift wrap, and the scented candle pots make lovely little stocking fillers.





To see our full range of Christmas products go to www.susiewatsondesigns.co.uk

We have stores in the following locations:

Alresford,
Marlborough,
London
Tunbridge Wells
Marlow - Opening Soon!

You can visit our shops page here