Every time I see images of Betsey Johnson it brings a smile to my face, her attitude to design and life is such a breath of fresh air. Some people in the industry can been seen as serious and snobby, but Betsey just seems to inject fun and colour into everything. Obviously I don't know her as a person so I don't know what goes on behind closed doors, but the personality that comes across from her catwalks and designs is so inspiring.  A s a designer she is one of a few I really look up to. I'll always admire and look up to anyone that has made it in the fashion industry, but there are certain ones I find more inspirational then others, and Betsey is one of them! She just seems so fun! Here are a few of my favourite designs currently for sale on her website:  http://betseyjohnson.com The 1950s style is so beautiful, I will always love it, it has to be one of my favourites, its so classy and elegant and you can always add you own spin to it, w...

I'm pulling together more old photographs of my work to upload to my website, so I thought I'd share them with you... all of these have been made and designed by me. Inreto - The theme for this was entangled and the idea for this oversized cape came from the idea to wrap the body up, so it was almost tangled up in fabric. The straight jacket inspired the fastening (another way in which the body can become tangled up). I also hand screen printed the inside of the cape as well, the pattern was designed to look like tangles, another way the body was "tangled up in pattern". This was the first ever dress I made at university, it was a summer theme. Ribbon dress - the entire dress is completely made from ribbon, the theme was Reveal/Conceal, the idea behind it is fairly simple, the dress looks like it conceals the body but its actually very revealing. Making the dress proved quite difficult as there is nothing else holding it together except rib...

So I promised to reveal what my next collection theme would be... many people have used this before and I'm sure loads of people always will... Paris is my inspiration! The city is beautiful, you do have to be careful as its full of scammers though, I had some not so nice experiences there, but they could have been worse no one actually managed to scam us but they did try. None of that put a dampener on our  trip though, it was so inspiring! We did two of the art galleries, I found Musee d'Orsay particularly inspiring with all the Monets, in fact I prefered it to The Louvre which is obviously the most famous. Anyway here are some of my favourite and most inspirational photos from our trip. The Louvre Louvre ceiling View from the Eiffel Tower  Notre Dame Inside Notre Dame Inside Notre Dame Inside Notre Dame Notre Dame Streets of Paris The River Bank Disneyland was a must! Had to have a silly photo :) Disneyland Evening...

So today is going to be another quick one as I have tons of messages to catch up with before work again. Tomorrow however will be much better as I'm going to reveal the place that I'm using for inspiration for my next collection of designs, and lets just say you're going to love it! Its considered one of the fashion capitals of the world, I had the opportunity to visit earlier on this year and found it so inspiring :)  Anyway back to todays post! I'm making some print designs for a competition I want to enter, it is based on the bright lights of the city which has been set out by the competition runners. And lucky for me I have to photos already to work from :) Here is the first photograph I have been using, it is rubbish and it was taken by accident originally I was going to delete it, I'm so glad I didn't now as it is very useful for this. Gunwharf Quays Here is the first rough design, its focussed on the print and I've yet to do more, then I...

As I've had a busy day fabric hunting, and now I have to get ready for work its just a quick one today! The other day on twitter I tweeted my designs off to modeconnect, they are basically a fashion agency and they run various fashion competitions. Anyway they tweet certain designs they like back out, and they did it for me! It's not that much of a big deal but it's nice to get a bit of credit especially from a fashion agency who are generally hard to impress :) If you have designs why not give it a try? Every little helps to get your designs noticed! SJ x

I know my next post on here was meant to be about what I got up to on the Law and Order UK, but I want to leave that till after its released on TV, I'm sure everything I have to say is more than ok but I'd rather wait just in case! Its a little late/early in the year to be knitting you're probably thinking but I haven't knitting for what must be a year and decided I missed it. So I've starting knitting bits and pieces in my spare time... so far I've made a few scarves, wrong season I know but its something simple to get me back into it, and this way I can get a head and have them ready to sell on when the times right :) So here's a couple of examples of my latest work I hope you like them... Funky Super Soft Fluffy Scarf Mohair Ruffle Scarf Just making these simple things has now inspired me to do so much! Remember if you're stuck a rut, try something you've never done or haven't done for a long time it is amazing how much it he...