Bridal hat with a gorgeous silk rose and a birdcage veil

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When I finished assembling this rose I immediately thought of it as a millinery flower. Called Bride it is a gorgeous large silk rose of nearly 70 petals and is indeed meant for weddings.
I had the hat idea in my mind as well, I just needed some time to get hold of all the necessary supplies to start creating. And the supply list is rather extensive: sinamay base, viscose velvet, hat elastic, crin, coque feathers, dupioni leaves, birdcage veil with spots and of course the silk rose.
Here is  the picture of the finished hat:

And to give you an idea of how it looks on a head I acted as a model :-D in these pictures:

The bridal hat is available for purchase at at my store on Etsy

Pastel butterflies for photo shoot

The other day I worked on an order for a little girl. Her mum had ordered a sky-blue butterfly fascinator to match her dress for a photo shoot. And although the little lady is only two and a half one would agree that for photo shoots bold and dramatic accessories are most welcome. So I accepted the order.
It is a universal truth that it takes you much less time per item if you make 2 similar items simultaneously. And I often stick to this truth. So I made 2 butterfly headdresses in pastel colours, sky-blue and soft pink. I used 4 types of silk (satin, dupioni, organsa, pongee), lace, Japanese and Czech seed beads and ostrich feathers. All the fabrics have been painted by hand. I even painted the feathers for the sky-blue butterfly. And I am very much pleased with the result. I think the butterflies have turned out most dainty and delicate ready to decorate any little princess head.
The sky-blue piece is currently on the way to Moscow but the pink one is available for purchase from my Etsy shop

And here are some pictures for you

Lola rose

Britain is suffering of cold and snow. It is like being back to mother Russia in a way. And I have decided that I do NOT like cold and snowy UK, it just does not feel right. Besides, I am worried about my plants, all the little bulbs which are already coming up and the camellia full of buds. One snowdrop which was coming into flower got frozen the other day...

I would like to hope that it is not going to last long but BBC does not give much hope just yet.

Despite the gloominess outside I have a nice new rose blooming inside. In rich orange and red tones is provides a perfect change from the white winter outside. So here is Lola rose

Isn't she just full of sunshine? :-)

A strawberry plant

I know it is still winter and we are actually about to enter a cold spell after all that mild weather of last months but my fabric strawberry plant is ready and growing from a tiny Long Tom terracotta pot. Yes, you have guessed right and I did finish my berry project.
Here how it look

I think it is rather sweet :-)

But I have in mind another idea on how to use it to make it wearable. Or ever 2 ideas. the original one was to make a little brooch/corsage with it which I still might attempt one day. But before that I would like to make a headband decorated with leaves and strawberries. I think it will really look cool. So keep your eyes peeled to this page folks ☺

Fabric strawberries

Textile is a very versatile and pliable material and since there so many different varieties of textile one can say that there's got to be a fabric for any job imaginable. When we make flowers we choose nice lightweight and medium silk fabrics, shiny or matt, sometimes almost transparent depending on the flower we are creating.
But what if we want to make a ... strawberry? What fabric to use to make the work look nice and the process easy and smooth? Probably something relatively thick? Like velvet?
This is what came out of my fabric berry experimenting:

Materials: Japanese velvet, Japanese melton, satin, Japanese lining silk.
P.S. Whatever you see in the picture is a small unfinished interior arrangement. But I think that a little brooch with strawberries would look really cute!
How would you make use of these juicy berries?