And here it is… my first ever Blog!!!

I have been running The Topian Den for some years now. However, as this is my first ever blog, I thought I might go back quite a bit further in my life and share with you a little of my creative journey…

It might sound clichéd when I say that I was first inspired by my grandma and mum to sew and create… but this is, I guess how a lot of us were first introduced to the creative world.

My sister and I used to go to ballet and often entered festivals where we danced on stage. All of our costumes were made by my grandma and mum and I found this absolutely fascinating to watch. It was my first introduction to glitter, sequins and anything that sparkled… which I continue to adore.

As a child I fell into the world of creativity with ease, my grandma taught me how to knit. I would help her knit squares for patchwork blankets, which she would donate to hospitals. When I asked her to teach me to crochet I was told that someone who was left handed would never be able to, this became one of my first experiences in which I was determined to prove that I could, which I of course did!!

I would knit Rag Dolls for all of the children in the family...

Interestingly though, my love of creativity and art didn’t develop throughout my school life, I rarely participated fully or embraced sewing and art classes.

I wasn’t overly confident and had a lot of self doubt in the school environment. I was always afraid I’d get it wrong or do it the wrong way. In hindsight I’m glad for this, as now when I create I have no rules, and being self taught I feel I’ve learnt to develop through experimenting with creativity and in this way I feel that my skills have developed with ease and you can never get it wrong! I am still yet to attempt to use a pattern or maybe I will never feel the need to do this!! I learnt how to sew zips in purses a couple of years ago… now that we have the wonderful YouTube where anything seems possible to teach ourselves.

As a pre-teen, a great advantage that I found in having an older sister, is that got an insight into some of the things that might not have come into my experience until much later in my life. My first exposure to the world of fashion was looking through my sisters

Just Seventeen magazine. I remember seeing clothing designs created by Vivienne Westwood and I fell in love with the uniqueness of these styles. I remember also being inspired by the quirky clothing seen in the opening credits of the American TV series Blossom. I often routed through the charity shops for necks ties… to re-create the tie skirt that she wore. It was also a time when I remember that it didn’t seem as cool to buy from a Charity Shop, and neck ties definitely weren’t a popular item to upcycle!

As I reached my early teenage years I became more eager to be self expressive through the clothing that I wore… I always wanted to dress differently from everyone else… I was inspired by the styles and clothing that I saw in Magazines and on the TV, especially

Top of the Pops and The Tube.

At this point in my life I didn’t even know that Upcycled Clothing was a thing.

The first item of clothing I repurposed was a denim jacket… I loved the New Romantic style, I decorated it with flowers and lace. When my older siblings didn’t wear an item of their clothing I would sometimes alter it to fit me… a dress maker would of probably been horrified by my method in doing this, but I thought they looked wonderful. I even claimed one of my Grandad’s suit jackets and altered this to fit me too. I think I remember my mum calling me weird… which to me was actually a compliment!!

Nearing the end of my teens in the late 80’s I was very much into 60’s and 70’s fashion, but trying to find a pair of hipster flares on the high street was hopeless, plus a weekend job didn’t pay much, so again I figured out a way to upcycle jeans and trousers into this style. I created embroidery on jeans and turned the sleeves on tops into bell sleeves, I also remember making a pair of patchwork trousers using fabric scraps and I even started to get compliments on my clothing.

People said I should sell my designs… I had the confidence to wear them, but I never expected that as an adult I would have the confidence to sell my creations!!

I became a parent in my early adult years… and I think that this was the time when I really started to embrace my creativity to the full. I had my own home so I could make as much mess as I wanted!!! Baby clothes could still only be bought in pastel pink, blue and lemon. So I had so much fun knitting funky sweaters for my children, I also recycled things to make quirky home furnishings.

I often think that my experience living on a small income with children has encouraged me to become more conscientious about recycling and re-using what I have… it was just the normal way of life.

Sometimes I yearned for all the pretty things I saw in the shop windows, however when I did have the income to purchase these, the novelty soon wore off… and making and buying handmade was just so much more fun.

It felt right to start this blog at the very beginning… and now that I’ve broken the ice!

I look forward to sharing more of my creative journey with you!!

www.thetopianden.uk

#loveyourclothes #fightfastfashion #ecofriendly #recycled #upcycled