Autumn In The Making…

There’s something about this time of year that always feels a little bit magical to me. That first nip of autumn in the air, the subtle shift in the light and the gradual change of colour in the hedgerows all seem to signal that it’s time to slow down, look a little closer and start making again.

Autumn has always been one of my favourite seasons. I love its warm, earthy colours, but just as much as the colour, I love the textures - crisp leaves, seed heads, pine cones, berries, brambles and all those wonderfully imperfect little treasures scattered beneath our feet.

And so, my new autumn collection is beginning to take shape. This year, though, I’m approaching it a little differently.

Looking at autumn with fresh eyes

The collection will have more of an abstract feel than in previous years. I’m thinking less about recreating what I see and more about capturing the feeling of autumn - its shapes, marks, textures and tiny details.

I’ve also found myself stepping back in time a little.

I want to look at nature as I did when I was a child, before all the filters of adulthood crept in. Before we learnt the names of everything, decided what was beautiful and what was a weed, or became too busy to wonder why one leaf was shaped differently from another. As children, we simply noticed. It probably hugely helped that we didn’t have much else to do!! (and I’m grateful for that).

A handful of conkers could be treasure. A funny-shaped leaf deserved to be carried home. Seed heads, feathers and pine cones became precious finds. There was always something fascinating hiding in the undergrowth, and pockets were inevitably filled with little pieces of the outdoors.

I want to find some of that curiosity again.

An old friend

Nature has always felt like a trusty old friend to me. There’s something comforting about returning to the same brambles, autumn foliage and familiar treasures I loved as a child and realising that, in so many ways, they remain unchanged. The leaves turn. The conkers fall. The brambles tangle themselves along the hedgerows. Seed heads dry and curl into extraordinary shapes. The air becomes cooler and that unmistakable earthy autumn smell returns. Perhaps that’s part of why I love this season so much. It feels familiar.

Colour, texture and a little bit of mischief

Of course, the warm autumn colours will still be there. Rust, ochre, burnt orange, berry reds, earthy browns and flashes of gold are already finding their way onto my worktable. But this year I want to play with them.

Looking at my inspiration pictures, I can already see snippets of fabric becoming leaves, stitched marks suggesting veins and grasses, metallic threads catching the light and unexpected textures sitting alongside one another. There will definitely be an element of fun and quirkiness too. My mannequin even gets to play autumn dress-up (mostly to keep me amused!).

I don’t want everything to be too perfect or too literal. Nature certainly isn’t. I want pieces that make you look twice, discover a little detail you hadn’t noticed before, or perhaps make you smile. That playful curiosity feels very much at the heart of what I’m making this autumn. So, for now, my table is filling up with fabric, thread, leaves, feathers, seed heads and all sorts of collected treasures. I’m snipping, stitching, arranging, rearranging and experimenting without worrying too much about exactly where it will all lead.

And perhaps that is the point.

Autumn is in the making. I can’t wait to see where it takes me.