Leeds Craft and Design Gallery!

I was very excited back in November to be asked to send a selection of my baskets to The Craft Centre and Design Gallery in Leeds. It is part of the Leeds City Art Gallery building (pictured below) and can be found immediately underneath the Art Gallery with it's own entrance (see my other photographs below)

My products are now part of the current exhibition called 'Made With Love' amongst some beautifully crafted items. I paid a little visit last week...

You can find my baskets on the shelves with the other textile items which included some lovely embroidered products. I would definitely recommend going for a good snoop around, everything in the exhibition is for sale! You have plenty of time as the exhibition is on until the 16th March. 

Bumblee Baskets

Back in September, I was asked by the lovely people from Out of Yorkshire to produce a specifically designed fabric basket for their online shop. They found me through Twitter during #YorkshireHour (I swear by #YorkshireHour! You can read my guest blog for the #YorkshireHour blog here) and loved the woodland based designs on my latest British wildlife range. They’re logo is also a red squirrel and their cafes in Leeds city centre feature lots of woodland based goodies too.

They sell hamper sets on their online shop (check them out!) and so wanted a bee related basket. Keeping in tune with my previous baskets which are all of endangered British species, I designed a bee pattern for this basket featuring the shrill-carder bee which is a threatened species also.

So here it is!

You can only buy the full hamper complete with honey and wax related products through the Out of Yorkshire website. You will soon be able to buy this basket by its self through my Alexia Claire Etsy shop, which will also feature a link to give you the option to buy the full hamper set.

The design stages:

The beginning: I drew the bee design by hand before scanning it into my Mac.

The workshop: I exposed the bee designs and its shadow onto silk screen

The print room: I screen-printed the bees’ shadow in white first

I printed the bees’ outlines second

I began sewing the pieces together

... ta daa! Lots of Bee baskets.

Ghosts of Gone Birds | Brighton

Exciting news for Alexia Claire!

I received some very exciting news a couple of weeks ago and I am now finally able to spread the word!

The amazing people at Moonko have represented me on their website and through their fairs and shop for nearly a year now, and it is through them that I have been given the opportunity to exhibit artwork in this year’s Ghosts of Gone Birds exhibition in Brighton!

The exhibition focuses around the idea that we can “breathe artistic life back into extinct birds species.” (Ghosts of Gone Birds). As you may be aware, I am quite a nature buff and enjoy including British nature in my designs and fabric creations.  My latest basket designs are centred on endangered British species and so being asked to be part of this exhibition is very exciting for me.

The exhibition begins at the start of November and lasts for three months. I’m looking forward to making my own visit to see it too.

Here are a few of my favourite pieces from previous years of this wonderful exhibition: 

Bruce Pearson

Gail Dooley

John Keane

Tessa Farmer

Owl Bicycle Basket

I was recently asked to produce one of my purple owl print baskets to fit inside a bicycle basket for a push bike. It was tricky to work out certain bits and bobs but I came to the decision that the more ties on it the better! So that it fits nice and securely into the bike basket.


The basket features 8 ribbon ties to fasten it to the inside of the bike basket.

It also still has my usual basket handles so that it can be removed and used as a bag also!

It is winging it's way to Germany as a present already!

Autumnal Colours

As it is now (supposedly) Autumn, I have picked out some of my favourite Folksy items in autumnal colours and shapes. I love this time of year when the trees are at their most dramatic. I missed it last year as I was living in the centre of London. I would go for days without seeing a tree! So it is nice to be back in Leeds and surrounded by lovely colours again. Enjoy today's Folksy Friday!

Beautiful beads by Luce di Luna

Little Autumn leaves by Meeni

Autumnal leaf hair pins by Sally

This gorgeous scarf by Broomhead Designs

Needle felt pumpkins by Lana Dolls

New Home Folksy Friday

This weekend I will be visiting my Uncle's family at their brand new home. They have lived in France for quite a while now and are making the big move back to the UK this week. I can't wait to see them and I have been making a few little Alexia Claire specials for my little cousins' rooms to surprise them with! This week's Folksy Friday is inspired by having a new home, some beautiful cards I found whilst browsing. Enjoy!

I love the shadowing in this illustration by Arbee Cards

I fab idea for a card by Lydia Fee illustration

A clever take on a mantelpiece card by Nota Bene Letterpress

I am a sucker for this over all print by Lovat Press

Wedding decoration ideas

I recently sent off 40 hand printed and hand made fabric baskets to Chicago for a September wedding. Each basket had shimmery pale pink butterflies screen-printed, with a medium grey co-ordinating fabric. The colours were chosen by the bride. I am told they are going to be placed in each of the wedding guest rooms! I felt very privileged to be asked to contribute to such a special day in someone's life.

If you are interested in having my fabric baskets to your chosen colours for your wedding or occasion, please contact me at alexia@alexiaclaire.com. I will gladly talk ideas with you! 

Examples of my current ranges of fabric baskets can be found in my Etsy and Folksy shops or on my website. I hand-screen print and sew each basket my self, start to finish. 

Here are a couple of images of the finished baskets. I really enjoyed working with these colours, I can imagine the wedding will be a beautiful one!