I know that most of you probably went to your Halloween parties on the weekend, but just in case anyone is freaking out about a last minute costume I decided to do a little DIY collar.

I had a lot of people asking about my Poppy dress as they were going this Halloween as Suzy Bishop of Moonrise Kingdom. Although here in England Halloween is more about dressing up as spooky as poss (if you want to go as anything else you just have to make it the dead version), I love the idea of going as Suzy to a fancy dress party. Also, I realised that Wednesday Addams has a little white collar too, so this collar can be the perfect way of turning a plain black dress, or a pretty pastel dress into a quick & cheap costume.

(images from Google search)

So here is a step-by-step guide to creating your very own detachable collar (I'm sorry about the rather poor quality photos, they were taken in the day, but, we don't seem to be getting much daylight at the mo) ...

 Materials: Scrap of fabric, collar template, hook & eye fastening (or ribbon), pins, scissors, hand needle, thread, sewing machine.

 1. Cut two 15"x18" rectangles of fabric / 2. Place your fabric pieces together, fold in half, pin the template onto the fabric / 3. Cut around template.

4. Straight stitch around all edges leaving a small gap (about 3") on inside of collar / 5. Cut notches around all edges / 6. Turn whole thing inside out (this is the part I find very tricky) using a pencil to push out points.

7. Iron the collar once it's the right way round, folding in the fabric around the opening / 8. Hand stitch gap closed / 9. Attach hook & eye fastening at front, or perhaps a nice bit of ribbon / 10. Voila!

Click here to download the template.

As my fabric was quite robust I didn't need to use any interfacing, but if you are using a thinner fabric & want to create a stiff collar then just cut out a piece using the same template & iron onto one of the collar pieces. I used contrasting colour thread through out so it would show more clearly but a matching thread would leave a perfect seamless look.

Happy Halloween folks!

I have just completed my second bunch of dresses for Conker Shoes this season. They loved my classic Battenberg dress so I made them up a very special version in this wonderful organic cotton I bought earlier in the year & have been saving. This dress is now available in their shop in Totnes. If you'd like to buy a Battenberg dress in any of my organic cotton fabrics please don't hesitate to ask! It's so fun making up one of my classic shapes in a new fabric, everyone looks so unique & special.

If anyone knows of any other lovely shops that are looking for independent designers please do get in touch! I really want to branch out & get into some more shops.

Also, the winner of the Bear print giveaway is Chloe from Lazy Explorers - Congrats please email me mail{at}isabelknowles{dot}com & I'll get it in the post. Thanks to everyone that entered! Loved reading the suggestions & will be doing another giveaway defo in the future.

Bits:

My new mini business cards to attach to dresses as little tags, I'm in love with them, they feel lovely & I love all the different pictures you can have / / I bought Moonrise Kingdom on DVD, I already saw it twice at the cinema, can't wait to watch it again - I also made an MK inspired treasury / / Amazing raspberry & white choc bar my mama bought me from the Rococo's shop in London / / My fav new winter work outfit, so comfy I may as well be wearing PJs - shorts & sweatshirt (excuse my messy studio... again)

Bobs:

Don't forget tonight is the last night of my giveaway of a Rob (Bob?) Mason art print.

I just realised that I had totally forgotten to post the photos of my AW shoot a few weeks ago.

My friend Beci took the photos, she's such a great photographer & she's great at doing all the editing & all that jazz afterwards. 

Here are some of my favourate shots (so hard to choose as I loved them all)...

 

All these items are available in my Etsy shop.

But for those who don't use Etsy - I have now got a real proper website. YAY! Still a slight work in progress, but a definite start. Check it out at www.isabelknowles.com

You can see all the photos on my Facebook page too - here.

I don't usually do things like giveaways, all a bit bloggy. But this is a blog so, you know, I think I'm gonna start.

This giveaway is to celebrate the launch of artist Mr Rob Mason's new Friendly Taxidermy website. He's been doing these magical papier mache critters for a while now, but has only just done a fresh batch & opened a specific Friendly Taxidermy website. The beasts you see are the actual ones for sale, they are totally unique & handcrafted.

I love the fox... of course.

I will be giving away a bear print to one lucky winner. All you have to do is go over to Rob's blog & follow it. Then you come back here & comment on this post letting me know which animal you would like to see get the Friendly Taxidermy treatment :)

Rob has also got free shipping on his whole Etsy shop for the next week with code IKNOW.

(free shipping & giveaway close midnight English time Tuesday 23rd Oct)

It's a whole year since I opened my Etsy shop & bought some fabric wholesale & made some dresses. I didn't really know what my plan was back then, & to be honest, I couldn't quite tell you what it was now. I just thought I'd say I'm very grateful for all the support & lovely comments & people who I have talked to over the past year. I am enjoying making clothing for people so much. I still can't quite believe anyone is buying it from little old me! I am so excited to see where this leads.

I thought I'd share with you a few photos of my studio at night. I think it looks quite nice. I work a lot at night, I've always been so much better at working in the evening, & I'm certainly not a morning person.

Nunight :)

(image from Google)

At the moment there seems to be some good telly on. It must be these dark evenings. At the moment I am enjoying.

- Andrew Marr's History of the World

- Welcome To India

- Ian Hislop's Stiff Upper Lip - An Emotional History of Britain

These are very good watches. Especially Andrew Marr's History of the World. Seriously mind boggling & so so interesting.

Hope everyone is having a cosy Sunday.

Hello there lovelies, I hope everyone's having a nice week?

It has been pretty darn dreary around here. To say the least. It's so hard to drag yourself out of bed in the morning when it feels like the middle of the night.

This is the view from my windows. Beautiful, but also very unappealing to get out of bed. This weather is perfect to stay in bed with tea & toast & watch Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion. (I've been craving that film for a few weeks now). & The lights in the house are on constantly...

On the upside, this weather is perfect for getting some admin done. You don't have to feel bad about missing out on some sunshine or staring into a screen. So this week has been heavy on uploading, picture taking, redesigning blogs & all sorts of things. Not all my own to be honest. I'm very good at wanting to do other people's work (the grass is always greener eh!) so at the start of the week I revamped Rob's blog & he did his website again. Then, I uploaded a bunch of new stuff onto his Etsy.

We do a lot of work together, which is very nice. A while ago I hand screen printed a bunch of sweatshirts, some with my designs & some with Rob's. I had them in my Etsy shop for a while, but I felt that they made the whole thing look a little messy, they didn't look right amongst my other items. So, even though we don't have many left, I have put a few in Rob's shop. Check them out, they are a bargain, & those sweatshirts are so comfy & cozy for the winter.

As you can probably see I have redone my blog as well. This week I am aiming to get the rest of my photos back from the shoot & create a website as well. I hope you like the way it looks so far, it needs work, but it's a start. I ended up buying a template from Blog Milk. This is so not like me, as I really do love the geeky stuff of playing around with html & all that jazz, but I got tied up in circles trying to change my blog & then I couldn't get back to my original layout. In the end, I needed help. & to be honest, I like this simple style a lot.

Well, I must go & sit in front of my blow heater in my studio & do some cutting & pinning this morning. What is the weather like where you are? Does anyone else just want to hibernate!?

Unbelievably excited to get the rest.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend - welcome to the working week!

I am very excited to say I will finally be doing my AW12 shoot this weekend. I can't wait! So, I've set up a Pinterest board to gather some ideas on the photo composition & vibe & all that. Here are a few I love:

(click on images for source)

I want it to be more about capturing the vibe of my collection - English country side, nature, simple shapes, days drawing in & wild animals.

 The only thing I'm not sure about is taking the photos outside, a lot of my dresses are sleeveless & I don't want my model to freeze to death, also I want to create something realistic & show off the garments.

How to you feel about pairing my own collection with cardies & outer wear that isn't my own? Do you expect a photo shoot/look book to include only items from one designer?