Countryside Glamour - What to wear this Autumn Winter

It's October tomorrow... How on earth did that happen? It feels like just last week I was swanning around in floral summer dresses and sandals. I think it must be true as you get older time truly does fly by. And with the 1st of October is the arrival of Autumn/ Winter one of my favourite seasons. Mostly because it's my birthday month (yes month I am one of those people) and because I love this in between time of year almost as much as I like twixmas That just before it turns into tights weather and just after the last bit of September sunshine.

I can't wait to start getting snuggly and layering my dresses with cosy knits and I'm super excited to be working with the wonderful brand Traffic People again to share some pieces from their new Autumn Winter collection. Perfect if you're not sure what to wear in the coming months I've selected some of my favourite picks from their new collection and taken them to the Yorkshire countryside! Because where else would you take a beautiful printed dress right? You might remember my trip to windy Devon earlier this year with their beautiful Spring collection.

Leopard print has become a second skin and new neutral in my opinion. It's a timeless print that has been refreshed in glorious green here. I adore the shape of this dress, it's so flattering and brings all the glamour. 

I was instantly drawn to the rusty colour of this dress, the perfect autumnal shade and a polka dot print. Scroll down to see the other pieces I chose for our weekend trip to the countryside. 

I've tagged the items I'm wearing in the images below if you'd like to update your Autumn/ Winter wardrobes with a piece that will last through the trends.

Blue Pinstriped Jumpsuit  / Rust polka dot maxi / Floral Jumpsuit / Boho Green Leopard Print Dress

This post is sponsored by Traffic People, a huge thank you for such beautiful pieces to treasure [ All garments have been gifted as part of the partnership].

The Pink Palace - What It's Like To Live In An Art Deco Home

I've been wanting to write a post about my home for a while now so here it is. If you follow me over on instagram you'll know I live in East London with my boyfriend in what I like to call the Pink Palace. It is of course not a palace in the slightest - and actually a very small rented flat - but it is PINK and it is most definitely home! 

What does home mean to you? For me it's somewhere to rest, relax and plan but also somewhere to really make my own through interior design and decor. I for one like to live surrounded by things that inspire me so wanted to share some images of the interior. It's a work in progress still as with most things taste is ever evolving and I am yet to find that perfect gallery wall piece.

I often find myself collecting objects, books, postcards that inspire me and love to curate my shelves with these precious things so they can be seen and not hidden away in a drawer or cupboard. Being named Zeena also means I have a bit of a thing for anything with the letter Z on it. Trust me they're harder to find than you think and so I make sure to buy anything I see.

Our furniture is a mixture of Vintage a West Elm pieces. I love the quality and sustainable ethos of the brand and was so impressed with their delivery service too. Our coffee table has a clever storage compartment inside it to hide away any clutter. The problem with living in a listed art deco building is storage. There is none. So we've had to be very creative and clever with our purchases. The media console from West Elm is really beautiful and hides away many things.

Plants are also super important for me to have in the home, I love the pop of green against the pink of our building - there's no better colour combo. They're also very revitalising and lend themselves so well to the style of our building. As long as we manage to keep them alive that is. 

All images are taken by Tia Tuovinen as part of an article for The Collective, have a read of the full post here.

Click to shop the style;

PS. This post contains affiliate links, this means I may earn a very small % of any sales that are made through the links. This doesn't add any extra cost to you it just helps me fund my blog :)
Thank you for reading!

WIN Tickets to Kirstie Allsopp's Handmade Fair

Kirstie Allsop's The Handmade Fair is fast approaching (there's almost one week to go) and i'm super excited that i'll be back again this year hosting an array of craft workshops to inspire your creativity. It's such a lovely event based in South West London at Hampton Court Palace which is definitely worth a visit too. To celebrate this wonderful event i've got 5 pairs of tickets to give away! Just head over to my instagram to find out how to WIN!

The event runs from Friday the 14th of September until the 16th of September. 

You can find the full listings over on their website here. Do say hi if you've already got a ticket. I hope you can join me at either my printmaking workshops, covered button workshop or spot you in the crown at my Mollie Makes mash up on Sunday.

If you don't have your ticket yet make sure you enter my competition to win a pair and if that fails here are two special discount codes you can use instead;

*Use code EXPERT3 to save £3 on Entry Only Tickets or Use code EXPERT10 to save £10 on VIP Tickets when booking via www.thehandmadefair.com

Ts and Cs: Booking fees apply. Offer applies to Hampton Court Adult Entry Only and VIP tickets. Entry only tickets cost £13 + BF (usually £16 + BF) . VIP tickets cost £85 + BF (usually £95 + BF)*

Hope to see you there, and don't forget your pom poms!

Zeena x

How To Create A Seamless Pattern Repeat Workshop

Last month I was invited to host a repeat pattern design workshop with Spoonflower at the gorgeous fabric store Sew Over It in London founded by the lovely Lisa Comfort.

I teach regular workshops and love to share my skills to inspire more creativity. I always start my print design process with a drawing and from there turn my drawings into repeat patterns to create a finished surface pattern design. I was joined by eight lovely ladies who were keen to learn a bit more about pattern design, drawing and repeat pattern making.

Almost everyone will have owned a printed garment, piece of fabric, scarf among others in their lifetimes as it’s one of the oldest and more traditional fabric printing techniques so it was great to be able to show the group the differences in the types of patterns designs across the Sew Over It fabric collections in store. There were simpler block pattern repeats where shapes are repeated in a regimented fashion as well as more organic all over pattern designs. The focus of today’s class was the latter an all over print design and how to create one from scratch.

      

I started by demonstrating the repeat pattern making technique using some very simple drawings using textured pencils, pens and crayons to create interesting marks onto paper. They were all surprised at how simple the technique actually is and so I set them off with the challenge to create their own collection of repeat pattern designs by the end of the class.

We had a variety of art materials to work with from pencils and pens to watercolours and crayons so the breadth of mark making was lovely. The class were inspired by their favourite things, nature and the Spoonflower catalogue. It was wonderful to see their designs take shape as they grew in confidence throughout the session. Lisa Comfort herself even popped in to say hi and see how everyone was getting on.

It was so lovely to meet such a great group of ladies and be able to inspire and encourage their creativity. They all left with a brightly coloured bundle of pattern designs that they were ready to scan and upload to Spoonflower to turn into future projects. I can’t wait to see what they do with them!

To find out more about creating print designs for fabric check out my book How To Print Fabric for simple tips and techniques to start printmaking at home.

Zeena X

PS. You can make my jumpsuit, find the fabric over on Spoonflower here and the free in the folds pattern here.

The dungarees you'll be wearing all year round

Hey guys, 

It's been a really really really long time since i've posted here... and when I think about it I can't quite believe how quickly time has flown by. Running your own business and juggling everyday life seem to make time fly by and writing blog posts gets pushed further and further down the to do list. Well i'm pleased to announce i've finally made time to sit down and write a new post, one of my new year's resolutions for 2018 is to write more so here goes!

I wanted to share some exciting news, if you're a fan of sewing and dress making then you will love the brand new dreamy Mila Dungarees sewing pattern from the fabulous Tilly and the Buttons. I was honoured to be asked by Tilly to model for her newest pattern and I can tell you they are as comfy as they look and much easier to sew than you would think too. If you're new to dressmaking or really want to give making your own clothes a try then check out Tilly's clothing patterns and give it a try.

Here are some snaps of the designs taken by the talented Fanni Williams Photography.

Zeena X