News

Rollingstone have an article dated 05 October 2020 all about the Duckbill Style of mask. The breathablity and comfort of this flat face-mask is now openly acknowleged. Wearing a Face-covering or Mask can be uncomfortable.. Wouldn't it be better if you could find on that fits.. This Duckbill comes in 3 Tailored Sizes...

By Lockdown, March 2020, my business in moth-balls, the only thing to do was make myself and close friends some masks.. I'm a Soft-Furnishings Designer by trade with a long background in garment making, so I naturally went about designing one.

A functioning facecovering, where I could breath comfortably meant that the fabric must not touch my nostrils or my mouth so the Duckbill Style was the answer for me. The flat, duckbill, using a single row of elastic easily solved the problem of carrying the mask. It hangs very comfortably away from the chin area down on the upper chest. Because it folds flat on itself, it is not touching off the skin at the throat or any other surface when not in use.

Of course our style is all about the textiles that have been around since Mrs. Delany's time: the velvets and linens and toiles. Toiles were first produced in Ireland in the mid-18th Century due to copper-plate fabric printing being invented here by Francis Nixon in the 1750s so I'm sure she would have been well aware of such things. Toile quickly became popular in Britain and France - as soon as cotton imports became available - there was some politics involved.. Today Toiles are much more associated with the French town of Jouy, near Versailles. Printed patterns in a single colour, on a single background, becoming know as Toile-de-Jouy.

Lately, I've had to move my workshop back into my home and the creative part of me is secretly relieved. All the collected objects of my story are now 'back home.' I can walk straight from the bedroom into the workshop just like when I was a child and all my 'work' was reachable while still in my dressing gown.
Magnicent expamles of the Dutch painters still inspire awe. One place I'm putting on my list of places to visit when we are released back to our lifes is the Ashmolean Museum to see some of these: https://www.ashmolean.org/still-life-paintings
The short video is a pan of the top of my computer desk. (Credit: Jim Clarken, Echt Productions.)

Last week, I finally found a 'standard' lilac for my patio. It's still in a pot waiting for the Summer sunshine to bring out the blossoms but I have a lovely reminder of sunny gardens everytime I take out the cushions used in the Chez Maison Bespoke Bedset. I've made them up in a Lilac print from Titley and Marr who clearly understand how to traslate that inspiration into a devine print.

Although mid-Winter is well gone by it can still be difficult to motivate to freshen up after the Xmas decorations come down.

Putting a project in motion does help. For me the project that works best is making marmalade.. the Easy way. The steeping and washing of the oranges really is does re-fresh the spirt at this harsh time of the year.

We have made a video based using Jim's Granny's French cookery book which produces delicious results.