New silk poppy

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Undoubtedly fabric poppies have always been popular. Especially fire engine red ones, which resemble the simple wild poppies grown without any cultivation in a natural setting. As we all know the red remembrance poppy has become a familiar emblem of Remembrance Day due to the poem "In Flanders Fields". To cater for all tastes I have several Remembrance poppies in my portfolio ranging from satin to velvet ones, with and without foliage, with just 4 petals or a fuller version with 14. Here is one of the most popular designs:

Remembrance Poppy Brooch

To read more please click here

Velvet poppy brooch

Please be kindly informed that we have moved! To read new blog posts, purchase our floral pieces and learn more about how to make flowers you are welcome to visit out new website.

In November I was talking about new poppy designs which I would like to add to my oh-so-popular existing line. One of the ideas was to create a poppy using luxurious velvet fabric. Finally last weekend I found the time for this experiment.
Please welcome the wild poppy made of cotton velvet for petals and cotton melton for leaves and stems.

Velvet poppy brooch

To read more please click here

Veteran poppies

Please be kindly informed that we have moved! To read new blog posts, purchase our floral pieces and learn more about how to make flowers you are welcome to visit out new website here

It is the beginning of November and I am busy making veteran poppies! Buyers manage to find my flowers on some obscure websites I forgot I was using to sell my handmade brooches :-)

This year I slightly modernised the look of 2 brooches I am selling as veteran poppies: one of the corsages has more petals and no leaves or stems

Veteran poppy

                                                       the other one (although with less petals) features 2 hand painted pure silk leaves

Veteran poppy

I already have fresh exciting ideas for new poppies for the next year which I will present soon. I am going to play with new fabrics and probably shapes too.
Another idea which is hanging in the air is to make a leather poppy. I wonder if my dear customers like it... I am definitely going to give it a go especially that I have all the needed materials including gorgeous thin red leather for it.

As a kind reminder I would like to mention my poppy tutorial again. Using this tutorial you still have plenty of time to create a poppy (or two!) to wear or give to someone special before the 11 November.

The poppies are available for sale at my Etsy shop. The tutorial can be purchased from  my Tutorials e-store.

1 year later: how to measure my progress?

I made my first ever flower about a year ago. In fact it was not even a pure silk flower as I started with a so-called "soft technique" which presupposes the use of polyester fabrics with a completely different set of qualities. That first rose seemed to be so beautiful and wonderful at the time and I was very proud of it. But now I would like to talk about poppies, by far my best-seller and a very popular flower here and back in Russia. So let's compare my first poppy made of stretch satin (polyester) and my last poppy made of pure silk and cotton velvet to see how much progress can be made in a year.
Here is my first attempt, which again looked perfect at the time and  I wore it with pride:

And this is my last one, hand painted silk and velvet + a bit of fairy dust ☺:

So which one do you like most? Or maybe you like both? They are very different after all...

Remembrance poppies

Welcome to November :-)

And as we all know in 10 days, on 11th November, Britain and other countries of Europe and Commonwealth are observing Remembrance Day, which is also known as Poppy Day or Armistice Day. 

Remembrance Day is observed to remember those who died as a result of World War I.

The red remembrance poppy has become a familiar emblem of Remembrance Day. Red poppies are worn on blazers, shirts, jumpers and other items of clothing on Remembrance Day. Poppies were among the first plants that came from the battlefields of northern France and Belgium during World War I. Some people believed the popular myth that poppies were rich in their redness because they blossomed from grounds that were saturated with soldiers’ blood. 

Red poppy flowers are mentioned in one of the most popular and most quoted poems from the World War  I, "In Flanders Fields", written by Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae. 

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Both the poem and poppy have remained prominent Remembrance Day symbols.

Here are some of the pictures of red poppies I have created for Remembrance Day. For every poppy I sell I will donate £1 to British Legion 

Remembrance Day poppy pin

These two poppies have been made of synthetic rich red satin and can be purchased in my shop on Etsy.

But if you wish you can always order the iconic hand painted silk poppy  like this one:

With my best wishes,

Your Svetlana

Fantasy poppy

Here is an experimental poppy in grey and turquoise hues. The petals are made of very thin printed habotai silk, the leaves are made of 2 layers of grey silk satin and for the little seedbox I have used some bright turquoise dupioni silk.

The fantasy poppy is finished with a brooch base.

New Treasuries

Today has been quite a fruitful day full of new Etsy treasuries featuring our flowers. The focus has been on our poppy brooches in CUTE POPPIES, hand painted butterflies in BLUE TO GOLD, BIRDS TO BUTTERFLIES and a sweet blue cornflower corsage in CORNFLOWER - MY EVER FAVOURITE

It is always very nice to see your creations being appreciated and picked by other people for their treasuries. Thank you, guys! :-)

Poppy field

Here is another Treasury on Etsy featuring a red poppy hair clip this time. To view the whole FIELD OF RED POPPIES Treasury, please click here

Friends&flowers

Woo hoo! This week I  have got my first picture of a model wearing one of my creations and they both look lovely! Now you have a look:

Model: Yana Zile
Accessories: Scarlet poppy hair clip by PresentPerfect Creations