florals & a collaboration

I've noticed that a lot of photos of leather motorcycle jackets and biker boots are finding their way from New York Fashion Week (yes! This kind of thing does not escape me -- sometimes). Meanwhile, I am still firmly rooted in fields of flowers. I do think floral dresses and biker boots look lovely together. Or a motorcycle jacket with the Sessùn Piou bag, which I am a little bit obsessed with at the moment.

I found this floral print cotton lawn recently and decided to make some needlebooks out of it. I should have a small stack of them ready for Etsy soon. I decided not to use flannel for the pages this time. While I love how soft flannel is, this time I went with felt, specifically felt that is made out of recycled plastic bottles. It's not the softest material, but at least it is virtuous and works very well.

This embroidery is something that I am very excited about. Last summer Geoff and I worked an embroidery of La collectioneuse, and I really enjoyed it. I had made it with the intention of making more, of making a series -- I just never followed through with it. When I found these vintage linens, I thought they were the perfect canvas, so to speak. I told Geoff what I had in mind and he drew it, although it took a few tries and a few weeks to get right. You'll note I had him leave off the face. I love collaborating with Geoff. Sometimes I have to push him and sometimes he has to resist, but it works out nicely overall.

She's very simply rendered (I love the back stitch, yes I do). I've called her La brodeuse because I have that (pretentious?) penchant for naming things in French.