gilhoolie 2021 round up!

January 20, 2022March 10, 2025 Julie Gardner2 Comments

I thought it was a good time to do a round up of last year, we are over half way through January after all! I always find it helpful to look through and realise how much I’ve achieved.

gilhoolie 2021 highlights went a bit like this (see images below from left to right):

My workshop was built in our garden in the spring of 2021. Oh my goodness, it’s amazing! So nice to have a dedicated space to be creative, as well as somewhere to greet lampshade customers (and store all those ring sets!)
I attended a brilliant lino cutting workshop near Oxford which reignited my passion for the craft. It’s on my list to do more of this year. Read about my day here.
I made lots more bespoke machine embroidered lampshades – this is one of my favourites, I love the yellow French knots. I have just finished a commission but will be starting some more of my own designs very soon, watch this space! See more in my shop.
As 3 above – this is the finished lampshade – colourful flowers embroidered onto a natural linen fabric, with a navy braid on the top and bottom rings.
Gold lined lampshades were very popular with clients – this one was made using a striking wallpaper, with mirrored gold lining and a dusky pink trim.
I reached 1000 followers on Instagram – quite an achievement for me, and I enjoyed embroidering this foxglove to commemorate it!
I made lots of little candle clip lampshades and particularly liked this fabric from Charlotte Gaisford, they worked out beautifully.
gilhoolie house illustrations – these are still going on in the background and I’m always over the moon when I’m commissioned to draw one. Drawn in black ink, with a printed gilhoolie patterned sky, a message at the bottom and the option to add a pet (I’ll do my best to capture a likeness!) This was of a family holiday home, a bit different from the usual requests but great fun to draw.
Last but not least, we had to say goodbye to our much loved miniature schnauzer Arthur just before Christmas. I’m still heartbroken but feeling a lot better (most of the time…)

I think I’ll write a separate blog post on my plans for 2022, I’m still going through ideas in my head, in amongst working on lots of lampshade orders!

How to – Machine Embroidery

June 29, 2020March 10, 2025 Julie Gardner2 Comments

Lock down has certainly given me lots of time to play and get back into things that take a little time, like machine embroidery. I love combining drawing with little tiny stitches, attaching pretty fabrics as I go.

I start by drawing in my sketchbook in pencil. I’m lucky to have a garden and fields nearby so most of my subjects are botanical lately although I also like drawing buildings and pets. I also like to ink it in so that it’s nice and neat and I can start to imagine how it will look on fabric. This helps you to see the design through the fabric when you transfer it too.

I prepare my fabric (usually a medium weight linen as I like the texture it has) by spraying it with starch spray and then ironing it. This just stiffens it a bit so that I don’t need to use an embroidery hoop. But you can use a hoop if you prefer, there are no rules!

Once the fabric is ironed dry I draw the design onto my fabric using a washable fabric pen (so that it can be removed once you’re done stitching). If I can’t see through the fabric very well I use a light-box but you can just hold it up to a window if you don’t have one.

The blue is washable fabric pen – it just washes off when you have finished

I use a special embroidery foot for my sewing machine, it just has an open ring that the needle goes through so you can see where you’re stitching. It’s really important that you lower your sewing machine’s feed foot too, so that the fabric can move freely as you stitch.

I usually cut little snips of fabrics and lay them out on my design so that I can see if they will work. Then, once I have decided on colours and patterns, I iron them onto the main fabric using bondaweb. It just stops them from moving around while you stitch. It’s very easy to use. You iron it onto the wrong side of your fabric and peel off the backing. Then iron it in place before you start stitching. That’s what I have done for the leaf in the image above.

See, I told you it takes a while! Now you’re ready to start sewing! Just relax and go with it. Set the speed to relatively fast and have fun drawing with tiny stitches. I always use a medium grey Gutterman 100% polyester thread so nothing special. Maybe have a practice on a scrap of fabric first if you need to. Occasionally the stitching goes a bit crazy and I end up with lots of stitching underneath – that’s why it’s best to practice first. If this does happen you just need to adjust your sewing machine tension as it’s probably too tight.

I have just finished this drawing of a prayer house plant. They have beautiful striped green leaves that are a burgundy colour underneath. The leaves lie flat during the day and fold upward at night, as if in prayer. I recently re-potted this one into a pretty patterned pot from Anthropologie and it’s really happy, sprouting new shoots (which in turn makes me happy!)

Read more about machine embroidery in another blog post here.

Do get in touch if you need help with machine embroidery, or if you would like to commission a drawing or lampshade.

NEW! gilhoolie embroidered lampshades collection – check out my little pieces of art wrapped around a light, available to buy now.

Artwork

gilhoolie house pictures gallery…

January 9, 2013February 16, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

A lot of these drawings were completed before Christmas, and were bought as presents so I couldn’t publish them on here until now. There’s a few older ones thrown in too, can you spot my house?!

Artwork

I don’t just make lampshades you know…

October 3, 2012February 8, 2025 Julie Gardner3 Comments

I have a handful of orders for house portraits to complete at the moment, so not so much lampshade making going on at gilhoolie (still a few though, don’t worry). It’s a good job I love drawing. Yesterday I was listening to the radio (it has to be BBC Radio 6 Music during the day; I love the live music, interviews and friendly banter) while drawing a picture of a lovely Victorian house with beautiful sash windows.

I thought it would be good to write about the house portraits on here; including the process, the options available and what to do if you’d like to order one yourself.

Well, it all starts off with a good quality photo of the front of a house, taken square-on. I also need lots of close-ups of any details such as:

brickwork, chimneys etc, the more the better.

I live in Maidenhead so if it’s of a house not far away I usually take the photos myself – which is great but can be a bit nerve-wracking, especially if I’m doing it as a surprise present for someone and the house owner appears at a window which is what happened this week! I don’t think they saw me sitting in my car taking photos, well I hope not anyway…

Once I’ve drawn the house from the photos (usually omitting foliage but sometimes included if I think it adds to the picture), I start on the sky background. There are two options for this:

gilhoolie pattern sky in duck egg blue printed on paper

Both options can be made in different colours if you prefer, just let me know when you order. The collage sky is made from magazine cuttings; I knew those magazine subscriptions would come in handy one day! The gilhoolie pattern is a retro design I came up with a while ago, when I first started gilhoolie. They both go well with any style of house, it’s up to you.

I also add a message at the bottom of the picture; usually along the lines of “The Gardner Family, 1 gilhoolie Road, Maidenhead) 🙂 but it can be whatever you choose.

Some of the house pictures are Christmas orders so I don’t feel comfortable posting them on here, just in case – you’ll have to wait a few months to see the finished artwork I’m afraid!

If you’d like to order a house portrait for yourself or for a friend, just get in touch or visit my etsy or folksy shops. They come unframed but in a 12″ by 10″ mount and backing board. Oh, and don’t forget, they make lovely wedding presents too, just send me photos of the happy couple’s wedding venue instead…

Artwork

Busy busy…

February 2, 2012February 9, 2025 Julie GardnerLeave a comment

I started making cards for something to do when I wasn’t so busy with lampshades etc. but things have picked up over the last week with quite a few orders and another art gallery wanting lampshades and pictures for their shop – argghhh more screen-printing to do tomorrow – surely I’ll be more relaxed about it this time?! Anyway, here are a couple of cards I made this week for friends, again with the gilhoolie retro circles print behind the cut outs. I’m really enjoying making them and have lots of other ideas plus I think I’ll have a go at making a more complicated paper cut picture maybe, when I have time.

I love Heather Moore’s ‘Flowers’ paper cut illustration, a bit complicated for me though; knowing me I’d cut the wrong bit and it would all fall apart! Note to self, start with something simpler and be VERY careful…