I can't believe I've finished my third week at COSMO, it is going so quickly and I'm loving every minute, I am going to be so sad to leave :(. I've learnt so much more this week as well, I'd go as far as saying this is the best work experience I've had so far! I think I've quite possibly found my place where I can fit into the industry. I've been trusted twice this week to man the office on my own as the other ladies were all on shoots, and I've been told I did a really good job! And I even got to pick out the high street version of the outfit we have on the front cover which was really cool. I'll post a picture when it comes out but unfortunately I can't say anything now.  DAY 1 What I wore:  Dress: £35, River Island, belt: £7, Republic, necklace: £8.99, Accessorise, pumps: £4, Primark, tights: (more to come on these later), pink beaded bracelet: £4, New Look, other bracelets: presents. Makeup is all Clinque. Favouri...

I finished my second week at COSMO on Friday, and I'm still really enjoying it. Each week I meet new members of the team from different departments and everyone still seems lovely and friendly, in fact they're a little bit bonkers as well, so I fit in well haha! I've never felt so appreciated in a job, they give me lots of goodies, they are all so polite and someone says thank you to me before I go home every night, I completely love COSMO. DAY 1 What I wore:  Coat: F&F £35, shirt: Misguided £25, skirt: Primark £12, tights: New Look £6, boots: eBay outlet £16.99. Makeup is all Clinque. Favourite part of the day:  Seeing the results of the photoshoot from the previous Friday, they looked so cool! Tip of the day:  When you start your day take a five minutes to see what needs doing so you can prioritise the most important bits, it doesn't look like you are being lazy not setting off straight away it will just make you work more efficiently. ...

It's been a while since I posted as my poor little Macbook has given up on me and is awaiting repair, but I've managed to steal my boyfriend's iMac so I'm back and right in time for COSMO :) I've completed my first week at COSMO this week and it was so much fun! As I'm limited with what I can tell you, I figured I'll show you what I'm wearing and give you a few intern tips. Apologies for the awful photo quality I'll be using a better camera next week :).  DAY 1 What I wore: Jumper: OYISIS £10.99, white blouse with broach: F+F £16.99, tartan skirt: Next £15.99, tights: Primark £3.00, slipper shoes: Primark £4, Glasses: Gok Wan at Specsavers £125. Favourite part of the day: Seeing their amazing wardrobe for the first time, I want it in my house! Tip of the day: When you first start any job it can be an information overload for the first hour or so, don't panic, stay calm and ask if you're not su...

A while ago now I got chatting with Robin Avidor from Rockin’ Robin’s Red Nes t and it turns out she used to work with the fabulous Betsey Johnson! As I’m sure so many of you do I have always loved and admired Betsey so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to find out more, and what working with the incredible fashion icon was like. The wonderfully quirky Betsey Johnson. Sarah Jane: When did you first start working with Betsey and how did you get the job? Robin: I started working with Betsey in 1982/83, I had been working at FCUK and wasn't too happy. I had loved Betsey's designs but never thought I would end up working with her. I was browsing Women’s Wear Daily and there it was, an advert for a job at Betsey Johnson. I almost died! So I called and I got an interview, I was ecstatic! Then came the panic! What do I wear? After going through every possible combination of my wardrobe, it hit me! I had bought the best Betsey Johnson "suit" at Trash ...

Well I've been busy designing again and this time I have entered the Beta Fashion competition. This project brief was called "Dreaming in Colour" for Spring/Summer 2014. After a little while playing around in photoshop I came up with this funky design named "Geometric Summer", inspired by muddled dreams that blend into each. I chose fresh light colours ready for spring, which I also picked to generate a floating feel, which is often felt in dreams . I hope you like it, and if you do I'd really appreciate it if you took the time to vote for my design here , you'll need to register to vote but it takes less than 2 minutes, once you've registered you can then rate my design out of 5. Don't worry the site doesn't bombard you email address with offers unless you want it to.  Thanks :) SJ x

We all love a bit of online shopping but it never compares to the real thing, a day out with your friends, having a laugh setting the world to rights, and being able to nip into a cute little coffee shop for a cheeky slab of chocolate cake, or a creamy McFlurry to cool down before continuing with your shopping marathon is so much better than being sat at home clicking away at your computer. However, although you'll never be able to quite get that same experience from the comfort of your own living room, there is a way to add more of a social experience to your online shopping, and its all from the same website. Mallzee is a new online shopping website that allows you to connect with your friends without all being in the same room, it is not too different to Stylefruits, perfect for when you're too busy to meet in person or on a long boring train journey home. The site allows each user to generate their own online Mall with their favourite brands, your favourite clo...

That's right it has been a week now since my last one of these, I know I can't believe it either! I didn't win last weeks, but it has generated interest in my design and I've been asked to sell it a few times (which I will do when I get enough designs on spoonflower to order a swatch bundle), so even without winning it still had a good outcome, which I'm very pleased with. Anyway... I might not have won last week's one but that isn't going to stop me and I have an entry in this week's competition, and now I'm more determined to win! So if you could take the time to support me again by voting for my design I would really appreciate it. I was never entirely happy with last weeks design, I felt it was missing something, but some how me just submitting it and hoping for the best (which I don't think designer should ever do) still worked, perhaps I just got lucky. I do think last weeks had potential with a bit more work, which is why I ent...

While I was a Fashion and Textiles Design student I was forever looking for the top designer's fashion illustrations, as I always found them so inspirational. I've recently stumbled across some I really love by Roberto Cavalli, so I thought I share them with you. This first two are designs made for Cindy Crawford and Georgia May Jagger, and they are amazing. Copyright of Roberto Cavalli This one below is for the lovely Sharon Stone. The snake back detail will look incredible, and adds a perfect little twist to the classic strapped back/backless dress. The next one was designed for Liu Wen, and it's my favourite. The colour and the indication of the pattern are beautiful. I love the expressive lines of the design and how subtle shading shows how the dress will fall. You could only expect the best from an amazing designer like Roberto Cavalli and he definitely delivers. Copyright of Roberto Cavalli There is no need to try and imagine how the finishe...

It appears I've reached two hundred followers across Bloglovin and Google Friend Connect, so in order to celebrate this I'm giving away two  beautifully handcrafted necklaces made and designed by myself, to two different readers. Would you like to get your hands on these beautiful pieces of jewellery? Well continue reading to find out how! Triple Button Necklace - Can also be worn as bracelet Firstly up for grabs is this triple stretched clay button necklace. It is made from buttons I crafted in ceramics whilst working on my Retorta Conscientia collection you can see the whole making process here: Process 1 ,  Process 2  and Process 3 Glass Droplets Necklace - Can also be worn as bracelet Secondly up for grabs is this single drop glass necklace. It is made from one of the glass droplet buttons I also made in ceramics whilst working on my Retorta Conscientia collection you can see the whole making process here:   Process 1  and Process 2 ...

This post is to ask you all to do me a big favour... I entered this week's spoonflower fabric competition with one of my designs, it looks like this below. It had to be inspired by Greek myths so I picked the story of Medusa, I didn't want it to be the typical obvious design as I knew lot of people would pick that, so I chose to draw a bundle of interlocking snakes and turned it into a mirrored repeat, so that it would be slightly distorted but still fit the theme. Here it is...  To vote just go here:  http://www.spoonflower.com/contest_voters/new?contest_id=190  you have to click through the pages until you find mine, select it then click through to the end, go to the bottom of the page, type the characters into the box, click "I'm ready to review my votes, then you need to type the characters again and click I'm ready to vote. It'll only take you a minute, so please do it! SJ x

I recently found my love of Spoonflower  again. Spoonflower is one of many sites where you can upload your textiles designs and illustrations to either showcase them, sell them or both. It has been ages since I last visited this site but I still love it just as much, and I'm glad I stumbled upon it again.  I thought you might like to see my favourite designs that I've found this week. I'm hoping I might make this a regular thing and either every week or every other week showcase my top five designs of the week/fortnight. Anyway, here is my top five designs I've found this week: Birdhouse - troismiettes/Isabelle I love this; it's by a girl named Isabelle from Troismiettes. I love the subtle hints of colour from the birds and the way it is very cleverly repeated in a classic way. Its beautiful and I think it would make stunning wallpaper. Spoonflower: http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/troismiettes Etsy:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/troismiettes W...

So my designs have been on Redbubble for just under a year, apparently is supposed to take just over a year before they sell but I appear to have started :) Here are two of the things I've sold so far... You can find them here if you would like to buy them or have a look at other things I have on there:  http://www.redbubble.com/people/sarahjsjackson/works/8967184-geekasaurus-colour?p=t-shirt But I would say if you have spare textile designs knocking around that you're not doing anything with, put them on there! It is worth it, you don't get much income but it's something and it helps towards your online presence, the more places you have examples of your work the more likely you are to be spotted, so it is definitely worth doing!  SJ x P.S I've had another bit of luck as well, someone found a photograph of mine on flickr from the Student Protest in London 2010,  and they liked it and its now being published in a book. Using as much onlin...