Sewing loves and loathings

I had another late night last night, finishing a new top so that I could wear it today.  This time it was made from a very familiar and favourite pattern - the Heather Ross summer blouse from her book Weekend Sewing.  I've made this top for myself before: here, here and here.

One of the reasons I love this top so much is that it is trimmed around the neck, cuffs and hem with bias tape.  I love everything about bias tape - making it, sewing it on, and the way it looks on the finished item.

As I sewed I thought about my most favourite and most hated sewing jobs.

Things I love about sewing:

• bias tape
• choosing fabrics
• seam ripping
• beautiful sewing books
• hand quilting
• putting in zips
• lettuce hems
• sewing machine feet
• the sound of heavy, sharp shears cutting through fabric
• my sewing machine
• ric-rac
• good patterns

Things I loathe about sewing:

• pattern cutting
• wrestling tissue paper patterns back into envelopes
• velcro
• hemming (unless with bias tape)
• sewing on buttons
• picking endless bits of thread off my socks
• bobbin winding
• having to work in inches most of the time
• pinning jersey fabrics
• interfacing
• having to stand in odd places of the house and take 25 photographs of myself in a  mirror to get one shot I like.

March of the Women

This evening I went to the Southbank, at Waterloo, for the finale of the three day Women of the World conference.  The finale was an evening of comedy and music, hosted by the deliciously naughty Sandi Toksvig and with performances from Susan Calman, and an all female orchestra led by Clio Gould (who usually leads the Royal Philarmonic Orchestra) and conducted by the multi-talented Sue Perkins.  There was even a guest appearance by Helena Kennedy QC.

The evening was so much fun and it ended with the whole audience all standing up and singing along at the top of their voices to March of the Women by Dame Ethel Smyth - the suffragettes' anthem. 

Ethel Smyth was a composer at the end of the 19th and in the early 20th century.  She joined the Women's Social and Political Union to campaign millitantly for women's suffrage in Britain, and even stopped working for two years so that she could properly devote herself to the cause.  Along with many other members of the WSPU she was jailed for her actions in the suffrage campaign.  Sandi Toksvig told us all the story of how one visitor to Holloway Prison found a whole group of suffragettes in the prison quad singing March of the Women, while Ethel Smyth conducted them from a window above, using a toothbrush as a baton.

So this evening we all stood up to remember the suffragettes and sing their anthem, which really should not be forgotten.  It was spine tingling and exciting, and although we laughed when we too were conducted with a toothbrush, the determined lyrics and forceful, soaring music of the song made sure we remembered and gave thanks for all those amazing women who came before us.

Weekday walk #7

We headed to Epping Forest yesterday for our weekday walk.  We wanted something local, and a little shorter than usual.  We also hoped we might see the very first bright green buds and leaves on the trees.

We met up at Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge in the Chingford part of the forest, and after changing into our walking boots and unfolding and re-folding our OS maps for about ten minutes we headed for the trees.  You really do need walking boots in Epping Forest at this time of year - the ground is very muddy in places, and churned up by mountain bikes and horses.

Hoof prints along a bridleway in Epping Forest

The sun shone and we yomped along, happily photographing bits of lichen and new buds, and stopping to say hello to the very many dogs and horses who were also out enjoying the fresh air and spring sunshine with their owners.

New growth

Yellow spring lichen

Irresistable pussy willow

Blue skies

We walked through the forest to the Epping Forest Visitor Centre at High Beach, and then back to Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge, which made an easy six mile loop altogether. 

There are some  hills in Epping Forest, which, although very modest really, were still a bit of a shock after our last couple of months of perfectly flat riverside and canalside walks.  I jogged up a long hill at High Beach to get a photo of Gill at the bottom adding some perspective, and my legs could certainly feel it afterwards!

Gill at the bottom of the hill at High Beach

spring is coming!

buds of blossom

new beech leaves

pollarded tree

the tree-man at the Visitor Centre smells a daffodil

I love Epping Forest so much.  I've been coming here for walks ever since I first moved to East London - long ones by myself or shorter ones with the family.  They're all good.  When O got her first camera a few years ago, she spent the whole of a four mile walk along the bridleways photographing horse poo.  G goes for long runs through Epping Forest all through the year - in the winter months, coming home exhilarated and caked in mud.  Next weekend he's running in the infamous Orion 15 race, which includes the section that Gill and I walked yesterday.

Epping Forest is a properly ancient forest going much further back in history than Queen Elizabeth I.  You can still see an iron-age hill camp possibly used by Boudicca, and I'm sure it was around for thousands of years before that.  Among the beeches, holly and the hawthorn there are some enormously solid oak trees that sit placidly watching the walkers, runners, dogs, horses and school children exploring below.

We sat under one to drink our coffee and soak up the spring sunshine.

The Lisette portfolio tunic

I made a practise, or muslin version, of the new Lisette portfolio tunic yesterday.  I used an old 1970s bed sheet of my mother's (or maybe Grandmother's) for the muslin, which I remember vividly from my childhood.  I love old bed sheets and duvet covers for making muslins - there's so much fabric to use, the patterns are often funky enough to wear if the muslin turns out well, and being so old the fabric is incredibly soft and tactile.  There was a great article on Whip Up yesterday about sewing with vintage bed sheets.

The Lisette patterns are a new venture by Liesl Gibson, who designs the Oliver + S children's clothing patterns.  Instead of publishing the patterns entirely by herself, as she does for Oliver + S, she has teamed up with Simplicity for the Lisette patterns.  This warmed me to the patterns immediately as I get on very well with Simplicity patterns.

I've made a few Oliver + S clothes for O, and although I love the designs I do find the instructions too slow and detailed for my liking.  They are perfect for anyone new to dressmaking, because everything is very clear and carefully explained, but I end up getting frustrated with the large number of small, detailed steps. 

The Lisette patterns are much more my sort of thing.  There are still plenty of handy tips and suggestions in the instructions, but I could rattle through them at a good pace, making adjustments and changes as I saw fit.

I followed the pattern for the tunic length top - there are both longer and shorter versions of the top included in the pattern, as well as trousers.  The tunic has two low pockets which wasn't apparent from the picture on the packet.  I love these pockets so much though - they make the tunic look very quirky I think.

I made the top across one afternoon and evening, so it was quite a quick project (once I had traced and cut all the pattern pieces, which I hate doing, and which took me the almost another entire day).  I struggled with the pockets at first - it seemed counter intuitive to do what the instructions told me - but when I calmed down and did as i was told, it all worked perfectly.  The outside neckband caused rather a lot of swearing as I had to spend ages pinning it, and then rip the stitches out twice before it worked.  But other than that it was all very straightforward, and next time I would rattle though it twice as quickly, I'm sure.

And there will be a next time.  I like how it looks.  The neckline is higher than I would usually choose, but I'm getting used to it.  The fabric choices I made are a little odd, but I have to remind myself that this is a practise version.  I think the contrasting pieces would have looked much better in yellow, not dark brown, but I just used up what I had to hand on my shelves.  I want to make it in ticking (red and grey, preferably) or a thick, crisp quilting cotton.

The fit is making me quite happy.  Next time I'd sew the side seams with a bigger seam allowance to give myself more of a waist, but I like how this fits across the bust and hips - notoriously tricky areas to get right.

The weather was warm enough on our walk today that I could ask Gill to take these photos of me when we stopped by a log for a coffee break.  I think the tunic even looks rather good paired with baggy, old, muddy jeans and my walking boots!  It will be even nicer though with some skinny jeans or leggings, and great as a cover-up from the sun this summer.

I'm very happy.  Off to rummage for some fancier fabric now to make myself another version.

In the middle of things

The longer days and brighter sunshine of spring don't translate themselves into an urge to spring clean - they just fill me with enormous energy for making things.  I don't normally like to have multiple projects on the go, because I can end up feeling overwhelmed, but at the moment that doesn't seeem to be a problem.

One legwarmer for O is finished, and the second one is coming along nicely.

These are a fast knit, and I like the colours she has chosen - they remind me of ice cream for some reason.  The combo with the red tights is an adventurous, but typical choice for O, who has no concept of colours clashing or matching - anything goes.  I rather admire that.

My colour preferences are more muted at the moment though.  Yesterday I finished the first of these armwarmers in some delicious Malabrigo yarn which I bought on a trip to Loop at the weekend.

The pattern is the wonderful Toast, found here on Ravelry, with a few small changes of my own.  The second armwarmer is also on the needles, and I am racing to get it finished before this week's walk, which is pencilled in for Friday.  I will end up with almost a whole skein of the yellow left over, and think I may make another calorimetry headband from it.

The third bit of knitting on the go right now (I know - three! very silly) is this facecloth in Debbie Bliss Eco Baby cotton.

I love the cotton (in yet another pastel spring shade), I love the pattern, which is from a library copy of Debbie Bliss's new book The Knitter's Year, and I love the idea of washing my face with a knitted washcloth rather than a tired old flannel.  However, knitting moss stitch is so incredibly slow.  It will be weeks before it is finished.  This trade off means that it will be a while before I replace all the worn-out flannels in my drawer with lovely cotton washcloths - I find moss stitch so beautiful but incredibly frustrating.

There's sewing happening as well as knitting!  Maybe I'm drinking too much coffee at the moment.

Last night I finished these pyjamas for C.

The top is a long sleeved t-shirt from Uniqlo.  Uniqlo don't seem to sell children's clothes here in the UK, but the men's XS size fits 11 year-old C very well.  The bottoms I made myself from a georgously soft checked flannel which I bought at Fabrics Galore last year for a bargain £4 a metre.  I used my favourite Simplicity 3669 pattern, which I've been sewing from for years - they are so simple I can make a pair in about an hour from start to finish.  Even better, the children love to wear them because they fit so nicely and are very comfy.

And then yesterday I received two new Lisette sewing patterns all the way from New York, which had escaped the sting of extra customs charges (very satisfying).  In the same delivery was the new Oliver + S book too.  So today I am cutting out fabric for a top for me, and planning some nephew and niece birthday presents for later in the year as well.  This is a photo of my ironing board, submerged under patterns and fabric, this morning.

The Oliver + S book is a thing of great beauty.  As I suspected, most of the projects are for children younger than mine (really for babies and pre-schoolers, with a few projects also good for children in the first year or two of school), but that's fine by me as I have plenty of small relatives to sew for.  I love the book for having so many good projects for little boys, who often get a raw deal when it comes to handmade love.

The Lisette patterns are lovely - and I think they are good value, even when ordered from America, because each packet has four patterns inside.  I bought these two patterns for the tunic tops, but now I have the patterns I also think I might make this skirt too.  I really like the skirt length and the button tabs at the front.

I am now off to make myself another pot of coffee.  There is spring making to be done - so much more fun than spring cleaning!

Weekday walk #6

It was a bitingly cold day, and we walked along the Thames for over ten miles, taking hundreds of photos, snuggling into our hats, sipping coffee from our flasks and smelling the syrupy, caramel scents from the Tate and Lyle refinery at Silvertown.

Our highlight was the completely unexpected discovery of a little sandy beach at Gallion's Reach, at the outer edge of the docklands.  For over an hour we became mudlarks -prowling along the beach, picking up treasures, washing them in the water with freezing fingers, picking our way carefully over the slippery seaweed and hidden patches of estuary mud and occasionally looking up to gaze out across the misty, grey river.

It was magical in a rather eerie way, and afterwards it was only the chink from my pocket, of the sea-glass I had collected, that let me believe I really had been on the beach in London.

Spring apron

I've just listed a new apron in my Etsy shop, and I love this one so much I'm going to have to make myself another one exactly the same.  It is a reversible half-apron with nice, big pockets - like all the ones I made for the shop last year.

One side is made from a pink, polka-dot cotton, printed with tiny cherries.  It has a roomy pocket, made from a green polka dot cotton.

The reverse is made from a beautiful piece of vintage, floral, French cotton, which I found in a flea market in France last summer.  I love this fabric, and still have quite a bit of it left, which is a Very Good Thing.  This side also has a pocket.

I love the spring colours and florals on this apron.  The bright red polka dot waistband and ties are so cheerful too!

There is definitely a spring theme going on in my shop at the moment - bright colours and florals everywhere.  If there are none in your garden yet, go and have a look at over at Etsy instead.  Some of my favourite, spring-like things on Etsy at the moment are this pincushion, this sweet hairclip and these beaded earrings.

Weekday walk #5

As Moss Stitch and I discuss via Twitter which sandwich fillings we are planning for walk number 6 tomorrow (at the time of writing I am going for smoked salmon pate and Gill is leaning towards breaded ham and branston - but am sure one or both of us will have a last minute change!) I've realised that I didn't write up walk number 5, which was last week.

In many ways that's because it didn't feel like our usual Wednesday walk.  It was half term and we had all the children with us, and we also met up with my brother and his family, so in total we were four adults and seven children - the children ranging in ages between 1 and 11.  The best place to go with that many people of such diverse interests was easy to agree on - Kew Gardens.

It was a freezing day and as we ambled around we were glad of our flasks of coffee.  Particularly when we made the obligatory stops at the Badger's Sett and the alarming Treetop Walkway.  My children don't consider it a proper visit to Kew unless they have clambered around both these features.  I think the cousins and friends agreed.

The three 11 year olds, and the 4 year old, charged everywhere in wide zigzags all day, and by mid afternoon they had all hit a wall of exhaustion.

C confuses Forza Motorsports on the Xbox, with responsible pushing of his baby cousin in the buggy

C, T and F are all worn out

The baby and the girls were still doing pretty well though.  The baby loved the floor grates in the Palm House, and pressed his nose to the floor to try and see what was underneath.

A and B having crawling races in the Palm House

I loved chatting with Gill and my brother and his wife, and as usual I came home feeling restored and settled.  The children were utterly exhausted too, which is always a bonus. We loved the damp crocuses just blooming near the pagoda, but the orchids in the palmhouse were glorious too (and warmer to photograph).

The biggest excitement of the day for me though, was my brother's orange kitkat, which he kindly shared with me at lunchtime. Wikipedia tells me that the orange flavoured kitkat was introduced in 1996, which means it has taken me an outrageous fifteen years to discover this incredible delight.  I have since stocked up on a multipack of my own, and now have a good supply to sustain me on the next few weekday walks with Gill.  Tomorrow we're heading off to walk along the south bank of the Thames, through docklands.

~~~~~~~~~~

I have both a desire for accuracy and a love of alliteration, and this has resulted in the re-naming of these walks from Wednesday Walks to Weekday Walks.  There have been a few Thursdays and Tuesdays recently, and we've decided we rather like the flexibility.

I think it looks rather good!

When I was pregnant for the first time, I knew a woman whose solution to maternity wear was to wear her husband's clothes, and she looked permanently charming - this petite little woman skipping about in slouchy, oversized cricketing sweaters and jeans for nine months. 

I envied her, because I was stuck in hideous Mothercare stretch navy trousers and even when I was not pregnant there was nothing in G's wardrobe that I could steal borrow.  G is about the same height as me but with a slimmer, male figure and a love for fitted clothes.  None of his sweaters are slouchy even on him.

But today I made a very exciting discovery.  His best winter coat, which is ridiculously warm and cosy because it is made from organic goosefeather or something, not only fits me perfectly but also looks rather good!

And it's blooming cold here again, so I'm pleased I made this discovery.  Now I've just got to persuade G not to wear it himself.  And unfortunately I might have a battle on my hands with that, because he does love a good, warm coat and has even been known to wear this one in June ...

Washing on the line

Along with the first bunches of daffodils, the first few times each year that I hang the washing on the line outside tell me that spring has arrived.

Today is a gloriously light, bright sunny day and I was up early to hang washing on the line.  I wish I could say that the washing was pretty - Cath Kidston tea towels maybe, or vintage handkerchiefs, or delightful homemade floral dresses... but in fact it was a heap of 100% pure nylon sports kit belonging to G and C.

The very feel of it sets my teeth on edge, and I struggle to peg it - slippery and damp - onto the line.  It is all one of three colours - white (yet mudstained - you cannot get mud stains out of 100% pure dri-fit nylon), black or dark blue.  No pinks or reds, no Liberty-like florals, no faded chintzes.  Such disappointing washing to hang up on a beautiful spring day.

But my peg bag lifts my spirits, and in the sunny corner of the garden there are daffodils, beaming in the sunshine.

There are currently two peg bags similar to mine listed in my Etsy shop.  If you also find yourself with sad, black, nylon washing on a beautiful spring day, then consider buying one to inject a bit of femininity and floral, cotton charm back into the laundry.

I console myself with the thought that at least all this horrid functional sportswear will smell gorgeous after hanging on the line all morning.  Until it is taken out for a run in the forest and covered in mud and sweat once again....