Little Chick collection including egg cosies, napkins, reusable gift bags and Easter egg hunting bag
Following the launch of our new Little Chick range this Easter, I thought I would give you a look behind the scenes at the design process and how the collection was created. After the popularity of our Rabbit collection, I wanted to add some other little spring animals to the bunch, and started to research traditional Easter motifs. I have always been inspired by Beatrix Potter characters, and was particularly drawn to vintage Easter greetings cards.
Some of the vintage Easter greetings cards I found on Pinterest for inspiration
I started to sketch some outlines to create the basic shapes of the chicks, before scanning the four final drawings into the computer. Using the embroidery program PE-Design, I converted the outlines to stitch, and embroidered a mock up to tweak any rough areas and adjusted each motif to the right size.
Drawings, embroidered outlines with biro tweaks, and colour experiments from my sketchbook
Once I was happy with the outlines I started to fill in the design to make the chick as fluffy as possible. I added definition to the wings and created shadows to bring each chick to life. Filling in the motifs can be quite time consuming as I place each stitch one at a time. I have found this is the best way to recreate feathers and fur, and shows the direction of growth against the body of the animal. Although this process is time consuming, overall it cuts down embroidery time as I can remove any unnecessary extra stitches.
Chick motif as seen in PE-Design embroidery program, with each square showing where a stitch will be sewn
After some final tweaks, and colour experiments to get exactly the right shades of thread, I added the new chick motifs to the products. I used scrap paper to make templates to get the placement of the motif just right on each item, then I went ahead and made the samples to photograph.
Creating samples with paper templates
As well as a reusable gift bag and an Easter egg hunting bag, the new designs can also be found on napkins, egg cosies and a new luxury gift set perfect for the Easter table. I am particularly pleased with the Easter egg hunting bag as now there are a few designs to choose from if you have a couple of little hunters in the family on Easter morning.
Little Chick and Rabbit Easter egg hunting bags in action!
With all the new life appearing and Spring well and truly in the air, I can’t wait to set up the table for Easter Sunday this year with these cheeky little chicks taking centre stage. You can view the whole collection on our website, and if you have any questions I would love to chat. All that remains for me to say is have a lovely Easter weekend!
Kate x