My lovely classmate from ABSPD Judy Adamson showcased some of our work yesterday and today on her blog. This was my submission ’ Spring Burst’. Click here to see my design alongside lots of other beautiful patterns created by my very talented friends. Let’s really hope that Spring is on it’s way - getting fed up of the cold and rain.
Image copyright Ruth Thorp Studio. All rights resesrved.
New ‘Ruth Thorp Studio’ blog up and running! Having a productive day and loving the sunshine! :)
Hope you are all having a HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!
Image copyright Ruth Thorp Studio. All rights resesrved.
Today I’ve launched my new surface pattern design website. Check it our here!
Today my designs have been featured alongside my classmates on the lovely blog ‘Kitty as a Picture’ surface design blog. Thanks Brenda. They all look really great together. Go take a look at all the other great designs by my fantastic classmates.
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Wow, life has been pretty hectic since I last posted. So much has happened that I’m not sure where to start, but I’ll give it a go!
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DECEMBER
Firstly let’s start with something that a few of you may recognise from a year ago. I first showed the beginnings of this dress in my blog post ‘pins and pink tartan’ on the 10th January 2012 and then again on January 30th. This dress has been through so many design variations, I’ve lost count. On the 20th February 2012 I wrote a blog post ‘this dress will not defeat me’. Well it did! I gave up and tossed it to one side where it stayed until last month. This time I became determined to finish it so that I could actually get some wear out of it before the winter passed again and it would be too hot to wear a woollen dress! So here is the finished result and I love it. The last stage was not an easy one. I still made 3 attempts at the neckline until I was happy with it, but now, for me it’s perfect and it’s already got many many wears!
In other sewing news, back in November I blogged some photos of a dress I made for my niece to wear at her naming day. Well I also made myself a pleated skirt for the day so thought you might like to see! We looked pretty stylish together ha ha!
Continuing with the amazingness that is Decemeber ie. the build up to Christmas and all the festive delights and twinkly lights that it brings, I was lucky enough to be able to fully indulge in being a ‘Christmas Fairy’ (as named by my boyfriend!). By luck I managed to get to the end of the year with a ton of holiday still to take, so ended up having most of December off and spent my time preparing hampers and presents and using my new found skills in surface pattern design to hand-make cards and Christmas wrapping, tied up in pretty ribbons.
The holidays were then spent with my family in my parent’s newly completed (a week before christmas) barn conversion in beautiful Pembrokeshire. A long and challenging design project for my boyfreind (the Architect!), my mum and me which I will post about at another time, (it deserves it’s own post) which exceeded any of expectations in being the most wonderful, stunning and comfortable home any of us could have wished for. So Christmas was pretty special, not only because I felt like I was staying in a 10 star hotel, but also because it was the first Christmas for my gorgeous little niece who was a hilarious delight from start to finish. I am proud to say she has aready earned the title of ‘Christmas Fairy’, flappy arms and all - I get the impression that she thinks she’s actually a bird!
JANUARY
So into the New Year and I am back in Bath. Going back to sitting in an office has been a struggle, but I have so much to look forward to and enjoy this year that all is good. The past few weeks have already been full of lovely drinks and meals out with friends, ballet classes and watching films, including ‘The Life of Pi’ which is truly beautiful. Today is also the day that the final Module 3 of ‘The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design’ starts so I will be getting completely immersed in that again. After completing Module 2, I am pleased to report that I have re-designed the branding and logo for my business and am in the process of designing my new website.
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I have continued to create new patterns and designs and am steadily building a portfolio that I can be proud of. I may even be finding my ‘style’, although I’m not sure it’s quite there yet! I have entered some competitions, non won yet, but I am planning to do many more in the new year, so hopefully, one day, my time will come. I have also made some fantastic new friends on my course, who have continued to be a wonderful support system and source of inspiration in what could otherwise be quite a lonely and daunting path. So many thanks to them. And on top of all of this, I am hoping that this is the year that we may be able to move house and start a new design project and hopefully gain a little more space. Fingers crossed on that one!
Phew, 2 weeks in and I have a feeling that 2013 is going to an epic year, an exciting adventure that may just change my life! No pressure! ;)
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‘Geometric Tango’ Collection. Copyright Ruth Thorp 2012. All rights reserved.
This week we had a brief to design patterns using geometric shapes to be used on swimwear. I’ve used the Pantone colour of the year, ‘Tangerine Tango’ alongside a beautiful blue for the colour palette.
Floral Flair Collection. Copyright Ruth Thorp 2012. All rights reserved.
A collection of patterns created from searching through some old motifs and sketches which were drawn at the beginning of my course. I have combined both traditional style ornamental repeats and more sketchy layered patterns tied together by a simple orange and grey colour palette.
A teeny tiny dress I made for my beautiful niece! My first sewing project in a long time and I get to see her in it this weekend - exciting times indeed! Beautiful reversible pattern from sewsweetpatterns.
Part 2 of ‘The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design’ started again last week. Eeeeeekkkk good times! Last week was all about collections and this week we are moving onto trends. With limited time last week to get stuck in again, I was feeling a little overwhelmed with the amazing work that my classmates seemed to be churning out, but I finally found some time this weekend to start creating my own patterns and above is my first attempt at a collection produced in two colour palettes. So far I’m loving Part 2, learning lots and feeling inspired and the great thing is that my creative inspiration is spreading and I am finally starting to sew again just for the fun of it; no pressure, no business development, just lovely projects just for me and IT’S AWESOME! Will add some pics later if I get a chance, but for now, enjoy my patterns!
A quirky city scene pattern I’ve created which draws inspiration from the combinations of building silhouettes found in large cities alongside some other fun elements. Copyright Ruth Thorp 2012. All rights reserved.
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Check out my design in the ABSPD Module 1 Showcase alongside some other lovely work by some of my classmates. Part 1 and 2 are up now. Here is my submission:
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Some of my latest patterns and motifs inspired by classic fashion photography. I created the figure illustrations a while ago, but have spent a long time playing around with them to create repeatable patterns and colour combinations. The check designs were also part of a design brief we were given in week 5 of the ABSPD course. Copyright Ruth Thorp 2012. All rights reserved.
Another pattern inspired by the pages of ELLE Deco. This time, plant pots and flowers in vases along a shelf. I’ve also designed some co-ordinate patterns and motifs which could be used alongside the main design.
Week 5 of my ‘Surface Pattern Design’ course is already upon us and what an amazing journey it has been so far. I have so many ideas buzzing through my head all the time that I’m finding it hard to keep up with them. I am happily sketching them out, saving, dating and filing so that they are all ready for me to play with once I feel inspired to make them into something more than just a sketch. The most amazing thing is that sometimes it is the crappiest sketch that suddenly transforms into something amazing and visa versa, that a sketch or pattern idea you were convinced would be brilliant to begin with, becomes uninspiring and just doesn’t work. The unpredictablity of it all is actually what makes it so fun for me, and actually quite liberating, as it helps you to explore ideas you could never predict. This is the foundation of creativity and it is a lovely thing to be immersed in.
Last week and this is all about pattern. We have previously covered inspiration, sketching and colour and we are now using all of these learned skills and material to generate both placement and technical repeats. The images show a design I worked on over a week, refining and playing with composition in black and white and then applying different colour combinations to make the pattern pop and sing! The motifs were originally quick doodles I made whilst reading ‘Elle Deco’ and are a collection of different objects and forms I found on the pages. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed creating them.
Copyright Ruth Thorp Studio
