How Chloë Owens Gets Inspired

Textile artist Chloë Owens inhabits a strange and colorful world where fabric animals frolic, sequinned birds sing, and even the landscape is made up of groovy 1960s prints. Chloë hoards salvaged vintage fabrics and combines them with contemporary prints to create a totally new fabric that she “draws” delicate stitched designs on to using her trusty sewing machine. The result is a multifaceted textile feast!

Her new book, All Sewn Up: 35 Exquisite Projects Using Appliqué, Embroidery, and More was recently published by CICO Books.

We asked Chloë where she goes to get inspired. She was kind enough to share her favorite things and give us a window into her whimsical world.

Images are a Camilla Lundsten print, a Koloni Stockholm tea towel and a Lotta Odelius teacup

I can’t get enough of Scandinavian design. It’s so unique and innovative. There is so much beauty in its simplicity. It’s chic without being showy, they just get it right. Well they must be doing something right because apparently Scandinavians are the happiest people on Earth! It’s at the top of my list of places to go.


I’ve always loved photography. Now it inspires me every single day. With apps like Instagram and Hipstamatic and websites like Pinterest it’s impossible to lack inspiration for long. People can upload, group, theme and share all sorts of photos at the click of a button, and it feels like a creative community by connecting people with pictures of cool things. I’m also a regular visitor to the Lomography shop!


I heart my kitchen. This is the first one I’ve owned. I’ve been collecting vintage kitchenalia since I was at college, storing them in suitcases under the bed. Now the day has finally arrived to get them out, blow the dust off, and unveil each treasure from the layers of crumpled tissue paper and perch them on my shelves to admire. When it’s grey and cold outside, which is often in London, my kitchen makes things feel sunnier.


Etsy is one of the most creative places to shop online. Most things are either handmade or vintage (my two favourite things). It’s also a crafty community where people organise events, ask for and offer advice and make ‘treasuries’ of their favourite items. Here’s one I made a couple of weeks ago.

Markets are some of, if not the best, places to go for vintage finds, and normally at a fraction of the price of what you’ll find in shops. I love the hustle and bustle, the eye candy overload. I love rummaging through vintage suitcases filled with piles of 1960’s and 70’s fabrics, haggling for bargains, drinking cups of tea to keep warm and going home with bags filled with treasures that only a few people truly understand the value of.

All images except Scandinavian design were taken by Chloe Owens