'So, Zo...'

Who wants to help me design a wedding dress then?

2012-01-31T12:03:00.000-08:00

Ok peops, hope you're sitting down for this one. See that pic above? That's a ring with a little silver bird wearing a gold crown with black diamond eyes. He's proof that someone has made the questionable decision that they want to marry me!!! I know! I told you that you should have been sitting down.

Pat (AKA Patty), who I often refer to as 'Mr So Zo', must actually like that idea because just before Christmas, out of the blue, he proposed me up. It's taken me about a month to get my head round the thought that I am going to be married, and equally long for us to develop some opinions on what the actual event should be like.

The most frequent question I've been asked all month is 'Are you going to make your own wedding dress?'. Umm, well I make my own coats, jeans, pyjamas, T-shirts, knickers; let me think... YES!!!!! Of course I'm going to be making my wedding dress! And my best mate's bridesmaid dress for that matter. Except, whilst I've been slowly developing an idea of how all the rest of this wedding should look, my vision of the dresses remains a bit of a blur. Which is why I need your help......

Let's take a look at the facts:

I'm going to get married in late September this year
It's going to be a fairly quick, non-religious ceremony in Brighton Town Hall
The reception will involve music, dancing and cava (and therefore merriment

So far, I'm thinking the bride's dress will be red and the bridesmaid's dress will be black. The general theme for the whole wedding will be mid-20th century vintage glamour (think cocktails and casinos rather than fairy princesses) and both dresses will be cocktail length (just below the knee). My dress should flatter my hourglass-y silhouette, and could, but not necessarily, be a variation of my beloved wiggle dress. I want to be able to wear a normal bra rather than a strapless contraption so I needn't spend all evening yanking at my bodice. I'm not a fan of sewing with, or wearing, super-slippery or very drapey fabrics. Actually, written down like this I can see that I've figured out more than I thought I had, but still I'm really vague on any actual design details like overall silhouette, skirt shape, bodice detailing, necklines, sleeves (if any) etc.

Oh, and I am going to buy new fabric for these dresses rather than relying on second hand flotsam and jetsam as usual with my sewing projects!

So please help!!! If you have any ideas for any element for either of the dresses, please share them with me! If you have an awesome image saved on your computer, or saw a great vintage dress on ebay, or watched a great inspirational old film, or have seen a great sewing pattern for sale or basically ANYTHING that could inspire the design for these dresses, please let me know. If you have a link to something on the interwebs, please leave it in the comments section. If you have an image file to show me, please email it to me at sozoblog (at) gmail (dot) com. I'm casting the net wide at this stage so any inspiration or starting point you care to throw into that net will be most gratefully received.

Thanks everyone! xxx

Introducing the Hem-isphere Project!!!

2012-01-27T01:00:00.000-08:00

I am very excited to present to you a new project I'm involved in this year, which hinted at in my plans for 2012 post before the details were finalised. Well, now they are; Every other month throughout 2012, I will be exchanging packages with lovely sewing blogger Cecile from Sewing and so on. The packages will contain surprise starting points to inspire sewing creations. Cecile lives in sunny La Reunion in the Southern Hemisphere, I live in the soggy UK in the Northern Hemisphere and we are both fans of a good sewing pun, hence we came up with the title 'Hem-isphere project'!

As you can see from these four images, Cecile (pictured above) is an incredibly impressive sewer. Everything she makes is seriously beautiful, fits her extremely well and is thoroughly wearable.

She also has an excellent eye for lovely fabric, kitsch but subtle prints and flawless finishing. Maybe it's something to do with the fact that she's French. And despite the noticeable lack of leopard print and anchors in her creations, I'd be happy to desert the contents of my wardrobe and shack up with the contents of Cecile's instead! Except I don't think all those wonderful light-weight cotton, sleeveless creations would serve me very well in the UK.

Anyways, I'm very thankful that Cecile is a fan of my Clothing & Poetry Project. Once the idea was floated, we both jumped at the chance to work on a project together. Having never seen each other in the flesh, we agreed it would be difficult to create well-fitting garments for each other, so instead we decided to swap things that would act as starting points for our own sewing projects.

Each package will contain two, three or so elements that the recipient can choose to use as they please. For example, a package may contain a piece of fabric, set of buttons and a sewing pattern. It is up to the recipient to decide which item, or combination of items will be used in the project. The first packages that we sent each other earlier this month were an open theme, but the following packages will have a common theme decided upon in advance alternately by Cecile and myself.

Would you like to see the contents of those first packages? Of course you do! You've read this far, after all!

My package to Cecile:

Two sewing patterns. An early 1960s dress with gathered shoulder yoke detail and tie collar (which I used here) and a 1970s smock pattern with pleated front panel and front button fastening (which I used here). I deliberately chose patterns that I'd already made so that I knew the would be likely to give Cecile a good result if she decided to work with either of them.

Check cotton fabric. This fabric length is long enough for Cecile to complete either of the above sewing patterns, if she chooses to. It is also light-weight enough for her to wear during La Reunion's tropical Summer, which being in the Southern Hemisphere, she is experiencing now. I had this fabric sitting in my stash for at least six months gathering. We just don't get enough of a sustained summer for me get much use from a garment made from this lovely light-weight fabric. If I still lived in Barcelona, then it would be a different matter... I can't wait to see what she makes!

Cecile's package to me:

Awesome 1950s blouse pattern, pretty beige lace edging, vintage belt buckle and sequin anchor. I'm really excited about the contents of this package. She's clearly spent quite some time considering my style and preferences, which I really appreciate.

A closer look at the smaller contents. Now, I'm not going to give away how I plan to use these things, but expect an update blog post with completed creation before March!

Simplified Stash-Bustin' Sencha

2012-01-23T12:08:00.000-08:00

Now it's safe to say that I have something of a pattern-crush on the Sencha blouse from Colette Patterns. Pictured above is my latest version which will soon be heading for a new life in my best mate's wardrobe (with regular outtings I hope!). It's made from some beautiful vintage crepe fabric. It's previous incarnation was as a large second hand handmade skirt that had been dwelling in my stash for at least six months. The colours in some of these photos have gone a bit screwy, but the above photo is the most accurate depiction. I've got some really lovely pieces of fabric in my stash, and I'm really trying to focus on turning them into wearable garments that will make someone happy, rather than languishing for years in a dark cupboard.

Well, I haven't seen a version of the Sencha blouse on the tinter-webs that hasn't made me feel want-y. But you know me, I just can't leave a pattern alone! Since my first (Sailor) endeavour, I've made quite a few Senchas for my boss and other ladies at Traid. I've continued to tweak the pattern and streamline the construction method so that, combined with the practice I've got from making them all, I can make six in a day (including cutting out) without, IMO, compromising the look of the original blouse style.

I'm betting there probably aren't many sewers out there who are interested in making six Senchas in one sitting. But I thought I'd share the bigger changes I've made in case it helps someone get more out of their limited sewing time. Of course, making these changes to the pattern will take some extra time in the first place, but if you plan to make several versions of this blouse, I think the changes'll pay off in the long run. Anyways, here's what I did:

1) Remove half of the seam allowance from the neckline on the front and back pattern pieces and completely ignore the neck facings. Then once you've attached the front and back pieces at the shoulder seams and neatened the shoulder seam allowance, overlock round the raw edges. Then fold the overlocking to the inside and stitch neatly down. Press the neckline with the iron and you should have a pleasingly neat finished neckline (see above) without the faff of a flapping facing.

2) Similarly, remove most of the sleeve facings leaving about 1cm (3/8") seam allowance. Overlock around the edge, fold the 1cm back and neatly stitch down. Press, and all will be well! (See above.)

3) The most major of the changes is to ignore the whole back button fastening thing, cut away the most of the back facing and insert a zip instead. Now, this would have been much easier to do if the Centre Back was marked on the original Sencha back pattern piece (which, inexplicably, it isn't) but it's easy to make an educated guess where the CB should be by seeing where the button/buttonhole indications are and just having a stab. You can always err on the side of caution and not cut too much away, then try the garment on before inserting the zip to decide if more needs to come off. I used a 1.5cm seam allowance and inserted a long closed ended zip (see above).

4) A general way to speed up the construction of garment is to, where possible, make closed seams rather than open ones. Basically, this means that after stitching your seam, you finish the edges of the seam allowances together rather than separately. With a closed seam, the seam allowances are pressed together in one direction, rather than pressing the seam allowances apart which makes an open seam.

I've spoken to a couple of clothing designers and pattern cutters about open seams V.s closed seams, and in situations where either are possible, and the consensus seems to be that the main benefits of closed seams is that they save time and overlocking thread. If you press your seams neatly during construction, from the outside both types of seam should look the same. If you were into making a couture-style garments, you'd probably opt for an open seam. I'm not. I'm into making neatly finished, nice looking garments that don't require an investment of months of precious sewing time to construct.

Anyways, as a fan of the mid-century kimono sleeve (AKA grown-on sleeve, Dolman sleeve, etc), I've long been seeking the neatest method of finishing the underarm seam at the curve to not create too much bulk. Having inspected lots of vintage garments with this type of sleeve, most seem to have had the seam allowance trimmed away at that curve and left with a raw or pinked edge. That can create a fraying issue, and the long term life span of a garment with raw edges concerns me. Therefore I've concluded that my favourite method for finishing this bit is to first make the whole of the side seam a closed seam. I flat-stitch as usual, then when I use my overlocker to neated the edges of the seam allowance, I basically cut away the seam allowance (overlockers, AKA sergers, have a blade in them that trims the fabric away as you sew) as close to my first stitching line as I dare. I then turn the garment through so the right-side is out and press the garment flat so the curve sits as it should do.

I hope any of those ideas/techniques come in handy to someone at some point. Happy Sencha (or any other kind of) sewing!

Christmas Creations Round-Up

2012-01-20T10:46:00.000-08:00

Ok, this is the final round-up of the self-made Christmas creations I gave to my loved ones this year. I've already documented most of the clothing I made for friends, but there's still a bunch of accessories and other things I'd like to lay down in blog-post form. There's quite a few so I'd best just get on with it!

The bag pictured above is one of my favourite gifts I gave this year. Mainly because it is for my mum and I don't think I make her enough stuff, though she'd probably appreciate Zoe-made things more than anyone else. It's a fairly simple tote bag made from grey wool with a leather base and lined with furnishing fabric with a waterproof layer. I made it for Mum to take up to London when she goes there to work a couple of days a week. She often has heaps of files, a diary and her lunch that won't fit into her other bag. I deliberately made it quite plain, she has some bright coloured coats and this should go with pretty much anything she's likely to wear. The leather for the bottom section came from an old leather coat, which meant I had to get over my fear of the industrial leather machine at work. The leather should mean she is able to happily dump it on the floor of dirty trains and underground carriages without a second thought.

I made the mittens above for my friend Umi. It can be tricky when you don't see someone regularly to know what kind of gift they would like or are currently into, so I opted to make some mittens from recycled cashmere jumpers that I hope she will find useful.

The crazy square of fabric pictured above is actually a snood made using the technique I explained in my cowl neck scarf tutorial. I made it for my extremely stylish friend Silvia who is known for her sharp eye for accessories. Making something for such a woman was a bit daunting, but she seemed to love it and said that a new scarf is like getting a new dress, because you can dress up plain clothes into entirely new outfits. I should make a note to myself about that one, I must be such a failure to Silvia when it comes to accessorising!

As you may know, I'm a recovering pants-making addict. The methods I've developed have assisted me in making my own undies draw so stuffed it's difficult to close. So until my own pants start to disintegrate and I can justify making more for myself, I must get my pants-making fix by making them for friends (close friends like Michelle who don't think it's wierd that I make them pants!).

Next up are two shoulder bags made from African Wax fabric, one for my boyfriend's mum and the other for one of his sisters. Hopefully the laydeez will get some use from them come summer time. I developed this bag pattern years ago and have made so many that I could probably whip one up in my sleep, but I love seeing what the pattern looks like in a new, different fabric so I still really enjoy making them.

Last but not least: a couple of pairs of oven mitts for a couple of couples (Anna and Marcus, and Ben and Sophie). I used this pattern from Burdastyle but had to buy it after losing the original copy I downloaded for free years ago.

Thanks for your patience in letting me whisk through the rest of my creations. I find it a little wierd toiling away for literally months to create a hefty pile of presents, and then within a couple of weeks, they've all disappeared! Of course, I loved giving them to my friends and relatives, but still it's nice to have the results of my time and effort documented in one place. When I look back at all the clothing, accessories and home things I made for everyone this year, it makes me feel a bit exhausting. As is the thought of doing it all again next year. But giving homemade stuff that's filled with good juju will always be my first choice where appropriate. Plus, the total cost of all the things I made to give this Christmas was £000!!!! Everything came from my stash (excluding a couple of bits of fabric that I 'appropriated' from work). There's no way I could afford to give gifts to all the people I did if I had to go shopping and buy every single gift. I'm just glad next Christmas is quite far away!

Cleaning Up The Fashion Industry

2012-01-17T11:34:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I was contacted by a lady named Sarah (pictured above) and asked if she could interview me as part of the research she is employed to undertake in the field of sustainable fashion. Sarah, originally from the USA and presently living in Copenhagen, is currently employed as part of a large team funded by a Swedish company named Mistra who are apparantly researching lots of different angles related to sustainable fashion over a number of years. The aim is to discover ways to transform the global clothing industry into something significantly less damaging, both socially and environmentally. I don't know about you, but I was really heartened to know that there's an organisation putting serious time, money and effort into such an endeavour.

Sarah interviewed me as part of her 'early adopters' section of research. It took a couple of hours, and basically gave me carte blanche to witter away about how I feel about clothing and sustainability and what lead me to feel that way. Sarah, who has a personal interest in this field of studies, later agreed to permit me to interview her, as I really wanted to find out more about the her and her work and share it with my lovely readers.

Sarah: I work with the Mistra Future Fashion project. Mistra is a a Swedish foundation that focuses on environmental research [which] recently put forth
funding for an interdisciplinary research program concerning sustainable fashion called "Mistra Future Fashion." The research project consists of an international collaboration of researchers looking at all areas of the fashion system - from business models to textile production, to policy making and consumption: to better understand how we can push forward a competitive sustainable fashion model. My individual research project is looking at the consumption of fashion - with a focus right now on those who are early adopters of sustainable practices in their fashion consumption. My hope is that by learning from those who have taken a proactive stance, we can push the mainstream audience into more sustainable behavior. It has been a fascinating journey so far and I have met so many inspirational and interesting people who make me more conscious of my own behavior.

I should also say that Mistra has their own press department, etc - so nothing I say should be taken as official statements from them. This is just my opinions, beliefs, etc.

Zoe: How did you get involved with Mistra Future Fashion and how long have you worked for them? How long is this project expected to run for?

Sarah: I started working for Mistra this summer (2011) - and the project goes on for approximately 4 more years and my plans are to stay with it as long as there is research for me to do! I got involved because it related to my graduate research project - and moreover fulfilled a personal interest of improving the fashion industry's current practices.

Zoe: What was your background before working for them?

Sarah: My background includes a buying job in the retail sector (children's and junior shoes), Public Relations work with an advertising agency, general communications work with an art/design/retail firm and a break in between to complete my Master's in user centered innovation. The general "red thread" sewn through all of this is that I have a lot of background thinking about consumers: what they want, how they think, what motivates them. And Mistra allows me to use my power for "good", coming up with ways to motivate consumers to make more responsible decisions for the earth, for society and for themselves.

Zoe: You have a really interesting employment background, I can see why you must have made the perfect candidate for your current role! Your description of using your 'power for good' really made me laugh! At what point did you realise you were working for 'evil'?!

Sarah: In regards to the particular time that I realized I wanted to change paths - I have to say that it wasn't a cathartic moment as much as a general notion that I could not continue putting lipstick on pigs. And by this I mean, attempting to use the role of communications and branding to lift brands that don't necessarily deserve lifting. I had some clients when I worked in the agency that were truly honorable - making great products, humbly and modestly telling their story and working on continual environmental and social improvements. I had others however, that were so blinded by the need for "sales" in the short run that they couldn't really look beyond this, they just knew "green was in" and they wanted on that train without putting in the hard work, dedication and risk it requires. If I were, however, to cite the moment I knew change was needed it might have been when I was working on a processed food product called "stuffed and breaded chicken breasts" that should say enough I think.:)

Zoe: What do Mistra plan to do with the research that yourself and the other researchers are compiling?

Sarah: The general plan is to pave way for a more sustainable fashion industry - both in Sweden and beyond. The multi-disciplinary approach allows the project to attack the issue from multiple viewpoints as there are many stakeholders whose participation is required to make sustainable fashion a long-term possibility. The government, consumers, industry - all play an important role.

Zoe: Why do you think Mistra chose now to under go this research?

Sarah: I cannot offer an an answer to why Mistra made this decision, but can
offer my general viewpoint on the matter. First, I think (and this refers to your next question), Scandinavia takes a progressive approach to all areas of sustainability. Given that the region (particularly Sweden) has a thriving fashion industry, it makes sense to push forward a better standard for the region. Moreover, while sustainability in food, transportation and housing have made great strides in many Western countries, fashion seems to a bit slower on
the uptake - at least from the viewpoint of mainstream consumption. It is time to put more focus and resources on this matter, as the industry contributes to many ills that must be addressed, and consumers need to be aware and conscious of their decisions. Moreover, those companies that are taking a proactive approach deserve to be rewarded for their behavior.

Zoe: Do you feel Scandanavia is more forward thinking than other Western countries when it comes to sustainability issues and practice?

Sarah: I admittedly take a rosy view when I look at Scandinavia - often giving
the region a lot of credit for being more willing to take on progressive change than most. Having lived here for a little over 3 years (Copenhagen and Norway), it is my belief that the average citizen lives a more sustainable life than elsewhere (particularly my home country of America). It is done in a somewhat quiet manner - with everyday life consisting of public transportation, small living spaces, and systematic, government implemented sustainability initiatives for energy, food sources, etc.

I see a more high profile, individualistic approach to sustainability when I look at the UK or United States. Increased vegetarianism, off the grid lifestyles, hybrid cars - there tends to be more outward, individually expressed behaviors but perhaps the average citizen contributes less to the movement. But this is just my sense, I have little data to back it up:)

Zoe: I totally agree about the high-profile actions of the UK/US. I feel the UK makes lots of noise about sustainability with questionable amounts of action actually taking place. Even the UK's biggest offenders for stocking sweatshop-produced and environmentally damaging garments sell tote bags with random 'ethical' messages stamped on them. As if printing a bag saying 'Live Green' or something is sufficient.

I'm very fascinated by your point about how you view the different approaches of Scandinavia and UK/US, and in my view it was totally on the money. Not that I've ever visited Scandinavia, but I can really see that, from what I understand, the vaguely opposing approaches (collective, goverment-led V.s the responsibility on the individual) could represent the mindsets of those nations in general, broadly speaking. What particularly concerns me about the UK/US approach in regards to sustainability and ethical practices, is that it can seemingly absolve industry from responsibility, like industry has a right to say 'Well, we wouldn't create cheap sweat-shirt manufactured T-shirts if the consumer didn't buy them'.

What drew you to live in Scandinavia? And do you think the UK/US could, or indeed should, adopt a more Scandinavian approach in certain areas?

Sarah: It is funny you ask that. My husband's impetus for deciding to do his graduate work here was that he has hoped to use the Scandinavian approach to help companies in the US better facilitate CSR (corporate social responsibility). In that way, I think he is on to something. I don't think the cultures of the US or UK could ever shift drastically to model that of the Scandinavian countries. And if you asked people here in Scandinavia, they would reticently say that they feel their consumer and business culture has started to resemble the Anglo model a bit too much. That said, companies and organisations are little microcosms of culture that can absolutely be contrary to that of the country they do business in. And with that in mind, if companies were to adopt more collaborative and cooperative ways of managing their business, I think real change can occur.

But...then you have the issue of publicly traded companies with quarterly financial expectations. And that short term mentality is ultimately, at least in my mind, at the root of a lot of our ills.

One thing at a time though!:)

Zoe: You say that your research so far has allowed you contact with some inspirational individuals that have had an effect on your own behaviour, in what ways have your thoughts and how you live your life changed of the back of your contact with them?

Sarah: I have gotten more in touch with my own consumption. I think a lot
more about what I purchase, why I am purchasing it, and of course - where it really comes from. I find myself really trying to minimize the excess and feel joy in doing so.

I would like to thank Sarah for taking the time to answer my questions, and for doing so so thoroughly and thoughtfully. I, for one, cannot wait for the research being undertaken by Mistra and its army of researchers to begin making waves in the clothing industry. Thanks for reading!

Christmas Clothing Creations

2012-01-14T09:15:00.000-08:00

I've got some creation house-keeping to catch up on. There's still quite a few things I made as Christmas gifts which I have yet to document on this little blog. Today's batch are all the garments that I have made for some of my nearest and dearest, aside from Patty's Rockabilly bowling shirt and the baby togs that I've previously documented.

This skirt above was made for my best friend using some Autumnal toned vintage fabric that has been in my stash for longer than I can remember. Suffice to say, that fabric finally got busted right out of there! Having previously used this pattern to make a skirt for Vic, I knew that the shape and fit were a success. Making people garments, particularly to a deadline, is stressful enough. A tried and tested pattern made in a different fabric with a different hem length may feel like a vague cheat, but is likely to assuage the seasonal stress a little!

Next up are some cheeky high waisted pin-up shorts made for my pal Kirstin. She is a petite little lady and that combined with the fact that these shorts take very little fabric anyway, meant I was able to make them from a small piece of soft tweedy fabric that was leftover at work. The most time consuming part about making these shorts was grading my original pattern down from a size 14 to a size 6-8. It was a good exercise in grade rules, and in developing patience, but remind me not to try that kind of thing again in a hurry!

I'm sad to say that these shorts weren't exactly a surprise. I had to ask her to try them on in Novemeber so I could adjust them and give them back to her all wrapped up at Christmas time! I needed to take them in a fair bit over the hips and taper in the side seam towards the hem as the original pattern is best suited to particularly curvy girls, i.e. those with a significant different between their natural waist and hip measurements. But I'm glad I took the time to then transfer those alterations back onto the pattern, so now I have a good template for more shorts for Kirstin in the future.

The last garment I have to show you today is another version of the batwing dresses and tops I've been into making recently. This gift went to my mate Rehanon, who is making waves in the online sewing community herself these days with her inimitable sense of style and fun. Check out her alter-ego, Miss Demeanour's, new blog. Although relatively new to this old sewing game, she has been relentlessly producing wonderful and oft-fabulously kitsch garments at a frankly alarming rate!

Anyways, this dress is a combination of the patterns for the batwing dress and the collar batwing top. The main part is made from a weightly slinky black jersey which has lurex flecks. The contrast collar is made from polka dot cotton. I always find it tricky when creating the first garment for someone, as you have yet to gleen feedback from previous creations in order to get a (non pervy) feel for their proportions. Having been made in jersey, you could say that making this dress was a safe bet. But I know that Rehanon is more than capable of adding her unique stylistic flourishes to make this wholely her own!

Leopard Print Lovelies

2012-01-11T12:39:00.000-08:00

Image source

Recently leopard print fabric has really been growing in my esteem. I have a history with leopard though, yeah we go way back. It's popped up in my wardrobe on and off for years. I remember a red and black leopard print sleeveless top from back when I was 18 and attempting to create a kind of punk/grunge Debbie Harry Vs. Courtney Love look and I wore it with a black slip. There was also a turquoise blue and black leopard print pencil skirt with black lace round the hem which was the first garment I made myself when I got to university. In more recent years my creations have included the leopard coat, leopard Rockabilly dress and the leopard print batwing top. Yep, me and leopard print are pretty tight.

At risk of stating the obvious, in recent years I've also been increasingly drawn to a Rockabilly style of dress as well. I'm not sure if it is this that has reignited my flame for leopard print. They are so aethetically intertwined.

So how did leopard print become synonymous with Rockabilly (or vice versa) anyhow? Rockabilly is ostensibly a retro look. It references elements of the era from the mid 1950s through to the early 1960s and co-opts, exaggerates and blends them to create something reappropriated and somewhat separate from the more general retro/vintage style. More specifically, it references the bad-girl (or boy) elements of that era. These vintage garments (skirt and coat both pictured above) show leopard print being used in that era, but not in the way that animal skins have often been used to display wealth and status. These leopard print garment fabrics are clearly fake and therefore would have sent a different message: one of faux-luxe attitude. A sneer with a suggestive cheeky wink, if you will. At least these are my interpretations.

Every retro/Rockabilly clothing company has a leopard print offering these days and some are most definately more tasteful than others. Tara Starlet's leopard pedal pushers (pictured above) look totally stunning. Other leopard print variants? Not so much. Just type 'Rockabilly' and 'leopard print' into Google images and you'll see what I mean!

So, with the style stakes stacked so precariously high, how should a girl apply leopard print to look more like Imelda May (pictured above) than a tacky porno actress?! Well, of course it's an entirely subjective issue but personally I think some versions of leopard print design just look better than others. I'd also avoid a fabric with a leopard print that was glaringly synthetic and definately not velvety. I'd argue this top (pictured below) looks great all styled up on this fantastic Bettie Page-esque model, but in real life it'd probably be on the bordeline of a good/bad leopard print garment.

Image source

I've read in a few sources that leopard print is effectively a neutral tone, akin to black, white, beige and navy. Whilst I cannot really agree with that, I totally love the concept! I've never been brave enough to attempt to wear it with anything other than black. In theory it should work with red, but the results of that 'Rockabilly' and 'leopard print' Google search are still burnt into my retinas! All that aside, I recently came across a couple of pieces of leopard print jersey, one stretchy and one drapey, that felt like just the ticket to inject some Rockabilly sensibility into my Winter wardrobe (pretending I have a separate wardrobe for Winter, that is).

This creation used the stretchier of the jerseys. It was donated, along with a ton of other less appealing animal printed sample fabric, to the charity I work for by a digital fabric printing company. Thus this fabric fulfills the 'secondhand/unwanted' requirement I place on fabric I use to make garments with. I used a tried and tested pattern I developed yonks ago that is fairly fitted in the body with a scoop neck, 1/2 sleeves and gathered sleeve heads. I would love to have a photo of myself wearing this top to show you. I would be all styled up in my black Jenny pencil skirt with black high heels and red lipstick, but alas I haven't had an opportunity to rock a look that sharp in recent times. Hopefully such an occassion will arise during Me-Made-May '12.

My second jersey leopard print offering is made using some wonderful drapey jersey which was a very kind gift from Claire (who salvaged it from a bin I believe, good work Claire!!!). It's sooooo nice. The only thing I could think to do with a drapey jersey was apply another tried and tested pattern from the batwing family that I've been using a lot recently. It's bascially a slightly more refined version of the Poker top, but this fabric is far more stable. It feels so nice to wear, and I envisage wearing it with my black Jenny pencil skirt or some killer black capri pants whenever I get round to making some. In the meantime, you can see me wearing it to work with my 'uniform' of denim sailor trousers:

What are your thoughts? How have you seen leopard print worn well? Any ideas on what to avoid? Can it be a daytime look or is it best saved for gin o'clock?

Brighton De-Stash Meet-Up!!!!!

2012-01-08T06:51:00.000-08:00

I'm very excited to announce that Claire from Sew, Incidentally and myself are co-organising a sewing meet-up and swap! It is to be held in my fair city of Brighton at the beginning of February. Following from the success of the swap/meet-up I organised last June, if this one turns out to be half as fun as the last one, it promises to be a very good day indeed.

Why:

The beginning of a new year is a great time to have a look at what we have and be honest with ourselves about what we don't really want (i.e. time to do some Stash Bustin'!). This swap meet-up will be a great opportunity to pass on any fabric/notions/patterns/sewing resources that've been lurking in your stash forever to someone who will find new inspiration in it. Similarly, you'll be able to get something new-to-you to kick start a new project without spending any money, who isn't interested in that in these cash-strapped times?!

Where & When:

We will meet at Brighton train station at 11.30am on Saturday 4th February, 2012. The station isn't enormous, but we'll aim to be outside the WHSmiths to avoid confusion (and all the stag and hen parties that make Brighton their destination at the weekends!). Mine and Claire's mobile phone numbers will be distributed to those who plan to attend in case anyone gets held up, lost etc.

We will aim to leave the station around 12pm and head to a cafe/bar (exact venue to be confirmed). There we will have the swap, eat lunch, have a couple of drinks if you wish, chat and make friends. When we are finished, those who wish to can then head to the lovely sewing shops and flea markets in Brighton for shopping/inspiration hunting.

(Image source)

Who:

Anyone who enjoys sewing or wants to start sewing! You don't have to participate in the de-stash to attend, your company will be more than enough. Hopefully this meet-up will attract some sewing meet-up regulars and new faces alike.

(Image source)

What:

To be more specific about what the swap entails: if you wish to actively participate in the de-stash swap part of the meet-up, please bring some unwanted sewing stuff with you. 'Stuff' translates as fabric, sewing patterns, sewing magazines, sewing/pattern-making equipment, sewing/pattern-making books, buttons, zips, other notions: basically anything that you no longer want/need that someone else might be inspired by or could make use of.

The swap will be structured fairly so that the more de-stash things you bring, the more opportunities you will have to pick something that another sewer has de-stashed. But no matter what or how much you bring, it is unlikely anyone will go home empty handed!

How:

If you wish to attend the Brighton De-Stash Meet-up on 4th February, please send me an email with the subject 'Brighton Meet-up' to my blog email address which is sozoblog (at) gmail (dot) com. This will give me a clear indication of how many people plan to attend so I can book the table at the cafe/bar. Closer to the date Claire and I will then email the attendees with further info about the meet-up and our contact details.

Claire and I really hope to see you there!!!!

Attack on the WAGs: Explained

2012-01-05T13:40:00.000-08:00

Just before Christmas I wrote a blog post which began by linguistically attacking ‘WAGs’. The reason for this was to dissect and discredit their social position because they personify values, concerns and ideals that many, myself included, believe are damaging to the mental health of young women. (Actually, there have been numerous studies which have proven that these ideals actually are damaging to mental health and social cohesion, but more on that later.) In the post I then went on to explain that in UK society today, where WAGs are accepted role models for women and adolescents, these values and ideals are damaging and degrade the interests of feminism. I then asked the readers of the post to highlight experiences or topics that have been alarming to their own sense of equality (which I termed ‘bullshit’).

That post received an interesting and varied collection of comments. The vast majority of the commenters clearly related to the sentiments in the post and shared their own thoughts and concerns regarding feminism and equality. However, there were a few that expressed unhappiness at the tone, content or assumptions (or all three) of my post. And although it really doesn’t bother me if not everyone sees my point of view or agrees with what I write, I do think that it is worth while exploring these conflicts of opinion whilst expanding upon my feelings on this topic

As I mentioned in my previous post, WAGs are now household names and their glamourous lifestyles, time consuming appearances and expensive possessions are splashed on the pages of the tabloid press, fashion press, gossip press and entertainment press. Increasingly they are becoming icons and role models for young women (and blueprints for young men on what they should expect a wife/girlfriend to be). Why is this dangerous and why do I feel it is necessary to attack them?

First up, I’m not attacking them in the tabloid sense of highlighting their cellulite or a whether they’ve had a bad hair day. I am attacking them for the values that they help perpetuate. And let’s remind ourselves they are not hapless figure-heads, thrust into the lime-light against their will. Of course the attention they attract from the media must be unpleasant a lot of the time, but as individuals they courted the media and embraced fame. The Queen of the WAGs herself, Victoria Beckham, wrote in her 2001 autobiography, ‘Right from the beginning, I said I wanted to be more famous than Persil Automatic’.

So many young girls these days respond to the question of what do you want to do with ‘be a WAG’. That’s a pretty sad state of affairs as far as feminism goes. I thought we (women) had more or less reached a point in history where it is generally accepted that your marital status is a part of your life, and no longer as description of life or your career. Being notable mainly for whom your husband is seems like a 1950s rather than 2010s reality to me.
The WAG lifestyle is showing young women that marrying a footballer or becoming a reality TV star will fast-track you to fame, wealth and wealth: that needing to try hard at school is probably only for the unattractive because their famous footballer-prince will whisk them away to go and shop at Gucci.

But of course, as I mentioned in that original post, most of the WAGs have careers aside from the fame that their unions brought them. And a couple of the commenters wished to remind me that the main three WAGs (Victoria Beckham, Cheryl Cole and Coleen Rooney, the latter pictured above) are ‘successful in their own right’: the assumption being that fame and the acquisition of wealth equates success. I would argue that wealth and fame don’t necessarily translate to success, and they certainly don’t breed happiness or emotional security either. There is enough research out there that has proven that the pursuit of material wealth (above the level required to provide yourself and your family with essentials) and celebrity is detrimental for mental health. ‘Affluenza’ is a fascinating book on this subject, and ‘The Spirit Level’ proves how income inequality (i.e. there being really wealthy and really poor people within the same society) is damaging to the mental and physical health of everyone in that society. The high wage bracket and celebrity as typified by a WAG lifestyle are just not healthy aspirations. And more broadly I would argue that promoting any lifestyle that is not attainable for more than 0.1% of the world’s population is not going to provide satisfaction either (but it will keep us consuming, of course).

I would also argue that the culture in which they function restricts their ‘successes’ to permitted spheres. The WAGs and the other females who live in their culture have their endeavours pretty much limited to involvement in fashion/appearance and entertainment. Whether they have no interest in life outside these areas or societal pressure is such that they are discouraged from pursuing them, the images presented to adolescent girls is worryingly restrictive in range.

Anyways, in the aforementioned comments, I was reminded that Victoria Beckham has a successful fashion brand (see above). Indeed she does, a friend of mine is employed as a pattern cutter there in fact. But we need to think realistically about what a celebrity’s role in the fashion brand actually is. They do not go into the office 9am-6pm five days a week for months on end to sit and design every garment and work with alongside the technical team to actualise each style, silhouette and detail. With little or no training or experience in the industry, these celebrities are mostly figure heads/brands on which to focus the marketing. Their involvement in the design process is, at best, that of a creative consultant’s. Not to say that Victoria Beckham doesn’t have excellent taste to apply to choosing options presented to her, but let’s not forget that anyone with enough money can (and frequently does) set up a clothing label.

I was also reminded in the comments that Cheryl Cole similarly had a very successful singing career in Girls Aloud, and as a solo artist. I’ll be the first to say that she is a talented singer, beautiful and probably a very sweet. But I struggle with the term ‘artist’: she won her position in the manufactured pop group, Girls Aloud, by auditioning for a reality TV show. An army of stylists, make-up and hair experts, managers, song writers and publicists were deployed to create the formula that required them to dance, sing and smile when told to.

Speaking of Cheryl Cole, over the Christmas holiday I found myself reading a copy of Grazia magazine. There was a long-ish article about her and the range of footwear she has ‘designed’ recently. Obviously this was accompanied with a photo of Cheryl styled as if she was about to present an Oscar gazing at some swatches of leather as if making her final selection for the shoes that were clearly already available to buy in-store. But aside from the make-believe fashion designing, far more disturbed me about the article. Having provided a summary of Cheryl’s ‘terrible and humiliating year’ they then attest to the fact that she must be in a more positive place, because she’s put on a few pounds. This simply perpetuates the idea that a woman’s mental well-being is firmly indicated by her appearance. Also, they applauded her on what this article insinuated was one of her most notable achievements: her ability to wear really high heels! Not only are the WAGs and WAG-a-likes at the very centre of an appearance-fixated culture, but they are praised for repeatedly, professionally even, putting comfort aside and sacrifice the risk of bunions in the name of fashion. Any young and impressionable adolescent reading that article because she likes Cheryl Cole is going to come away from it with some worrying messages.

On New Year’s Day, I watched a few episodes of a horrendous TV show called ‘Pushy and Proud’. It’s an intentionally provocative but ultimately representational fly-on-the-wall style documentary which follows women who push their daughters into celebrity culture-approved modes of (alarming) conduct. The most disturbing protagonist of the many I had to choose from was a woman who worked as a beauty therapist, Jools Willis (pictured above). She existed firmly within the type of culture that iconises the WAGs and judges women on their appearance almost exclusively. In doing so, she had exposed her ten year old daughter to this culture. That very normal-looking little girl had become so concerned with her own pre-adolescent appearance that her self-esteem had corroded to the point that she experienced real anxiety. To assuage her daughter’s anxiety, the mother did not attempt to explain that she was lovely the way she was and then help her daughter enjoy a less appearance-obsessed childhood. No, she gave her daughter a spray tan, manicure and eyebrow tint, thus instilling in her that appearance modification is a short cut to emotional happiness. These actions and values also help to perpetuate the myth that young women’s greatest accomplishments will be achieved within the sphere of how you look and how many people are looking at you.

It is disturbing how increasingly young those being exposed to and affected by an appearance-obsessed society are. But the media is teaching us at all ages through the perpetuation of these ideals to value good looks as a reflection of our self-esteem. It helps to perpetuate the myth that women’s greatest accomplishments are achieved within the sphere of how you look and how many people are looking at you. And whilst WAGs continue to be held up as the icons at the centre of these damaging values that provide a blue-print for young women’s (and now children’s) ideals, I will continue to attack the WAG lifestyle.

Guest Post: The Planetary Cost of Cashmere

2012-01-04T10:35:00.000-08:00

Today's post is something a little different. I'm very pleased to be publishing a guest blog post written by Grace from Bad Mom, Good Mom. In fact, she is also posting this content on her own blog, so if you already follow both our blogs and are getting a sense of déjà vu, then that is why! Grace is a very clever and knowledgeable lady with qualifications in Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics, and when she's not sewing and looking after her daughter, she finds time to work for the goverment within the field of space and environmental science.

As you may be aware, as someone who sews and works in textiles, I am deeply concerned about the damage fabric and clothing production has on our planet. Yet I find it frustrating that much of what is known by governments regarding this damage has, to date, had little effect on those governments' policies and neither has that information been disseminated successfully so that consumers are suitably informed before making their choices. Grace has taken the time to educate us on a topic that I admit I previously knew nothing about: the cashmere industry.

So Zo asked her readers what bullshit they had uncovered recently. I emailed that I have a whole blog series about bullshit and that I felt a rising rant about cashmere bullshit. I promised to write this post and cross-post it on her blog.

So why was I so upset?

Last month, I had toured the giant Macy's in Union Square (San Francisco), which contained racks and racks of cashmere. They represented a lot of goats! 20-30 years ago, cashmere was a rare luxury, not an ubiquitous gift sold for $49.

Where did they all come from? How could there be enough goats in central Asia to make so many sweaters in so many outlets?

The media was full of stories about how to be a discerning consumer of quality cashmere or how to avoid being fleeced by adulterated cashmere. Newspapers need to write upbeat stories that draw many readers and teach them how to consume (products from their advertisers). But fearless bloggers like Zoe question whether this consumption is even necessary.

I was in San Francisco for the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting and had met Ryan Boller from NASA Goddard, who was showing an improved algorithm for the detection of aerosols from space.

The global dust belt has not received as much press as the global fashion weeks so you might not be familiar with this story. (Aerosols can be dust, clouds--both liquid water and ice, pollution, sea spray and volcanic ash). Occasionally, dust can be injected into the jet stream, a fast-moving river of air that circles the globe. Asian dust ends up in north America, American dust ends up in Europe, European dust ends up in Asia and so on.

The Sahara desert used to be THE major source for dust, but there are other smaller seasonal sources, such as glaciers grinding rocks in Alaska. The amount of dust is rising, and global dust season is lengthening due to both growth in dust sources (industrialization and desertification) and lengthening of local dust seasons.

In recent years, Mongolia has become a major source of dust. The Gobi desert is spreading up into the Mongolia Steppes and the goats did it. Or rather, we did it, with our shared lust for cashmere.

Pastoralism Unraveling in Mongolia explains

Sukhtseren Sharav has a herd of 150 goats and 100 sheep, and as they chew their way through everything else, and the sharilj spreads, he must shepherd them ever higher into the mountains to find fresh grazing land.

The lack of foraging terrain is not Mr. Sharav’s only worry. The price for cashmere, the wool made from the fleece of his goats, has plunged 50 percent from last year. The price of flour, his most essential food staple, has more doubled.

These are hard times for Mongolia’s cashmere industry, which provides jobs and income for a third of the country’s population of 2.6 million and supplies about 20 percent of the world’s market for the fluffy, feather-light fiber, prized for its warmth, delicate feel and long wear.

To compensate for low prices, herders have been increasing supply by breeding more goats — a classic vicious circle. Mongolia’s goat population is now approaching 20 million, the highest ever recorded.

Environmentalists and social scientists say this is destroying biodiversity and pastureland, and undermining herding livelihoods. But goats are hardier than other livestock, breed faster and can survive on sparser resources: so, the more the land is degraded, the more herders are driven to switch from cows, camels or other less destructive herds — another vicious circle.

This is a tragedy for the herders with global consequences. Aerosols are a strong feedback to the global radiative budget. In plain English, this means that dust traps heat. This can have both local and global consequences as the trapped heat changes the global air circulation, impacting storm patterns, heat waves, etc.

Ryan shared some examples. You can find more in the NASA Earth Observatory Dust, Smoke and Haze page. Take a look at the dust traveling from Mongolia toward China in April 2011.

The sparsely vegetated grasslands of the Gobi frequently give rise to dust storms, especially in springtime.

Here's another example, from May 2008.

According to a May 27 report from the Agence France-Presse news agency, dust from this storm pushed Beijing’s pollution levels to the highest level, prompting the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau to warn sensitive individuals to stay indoors.

Seeing the global-scale devastation caused by the cashmere industry, and learning of the suffering it has caused Mongolian herders has taken the luster off cashmere for me. I didn't purchase any this year (though I did knit a cotton/cashmere blend sweater this year with yarn purchased and stashed previously).

If you already have cashmere, don't sweat it. Take good care of it so it lasts. I have cashmere sweaters that are 25+ years old (one bought new, two bought at thrift shops).

I hope that, after reading this, you will consume more carefully, and in smaller quantities. I further hope that your natural curiosity and bullshit detector will lead you to delve deeper.

I recommend:

golden fleece? to learn more about the history of the Scottish cashmere industry.

A synopsis of the "Cashmerino" yarn that may or may not contain any cashmere at all, and the lawsuit that ensued.

Zero waste goal for how I use leftovers from the LA fashion industry to make clothes for myself and others.

Many thanks to Grace for writing this post and for allowing me to cross-post it so that it receives a bit more of the attention is so greatly deserves. I don't know about you, but the more I learn about the production, transportation and disposal of clothing and textiles, the more resolved I am to cut out all unnecessary consumption and only use existing/pre-loved textiles to clothe myself and sew with.

The Rockabilly Bowling Shirt

2012-01-02T07:10:00.000-08:00

At some point, I can't remember when, I announced that I would make Pat one shirt for every year that we are together. Well, our relationship is now almost three and a half years old, and until recently there was only the Brokeback balcony shirt and checked book launch shirt to show for it. It was time to get a' stitchin' to make another which would also serve as my Christmas present to Pat.

I have a folder on my laptop in my 'garment inspiration' section devoted to collated images of men's shirts that we both like. There was a strong theme of rockabilly/1950s/rock 'n' roll/diner/bowling type shirts in there that wasn't reflected in Pat's real-life wardrobe. They all have essentially the same basic style: boxy, short sleeved with a folded back revere collar. The specifics of the designs generally came from different panels and blocks of colour. Examples are shown above.

To guarantee a good fit, my starting point was the checked book launch shirt pattern. That had begun life as the Burdastyle Jakob shirt pattern that I had altered to fit Pat's slim shape. The alterations were thankfully so successful that, when quizzed on the fit, Pat was unable to make any suggestions of how I could improve it. To be more in keeping with the rockabilly/bowling shirt aesthetic, I adapted the hem to make it straight with small slits at the side seams. I also made the side seams a little less curved to create a more boxy fit. I kept the sleeves with their faux-turn ups the same and used the original Jakob patch pocket pattern. The main and most hefty alterations came from combining the Jakob/book launch shirt pattern with the collar/neckline of this vintage pattern pictured above (that Pat's sister found in a charity shop and gave to me!) to get the right revere collar effect. This process involved a lot of pinning, tracing, drafting and swearing, though not too much of the latter.

That's Pat pictured above with our glamourous friend, Ciara. I should explain that we saw the new year in at a Madmen themed party, and created elaborate back-stories for our characters and had a mini photoshoot. I can't remember the complex machinations of the six protagonists, but I can remember my alter-ego being called 'Marcy' whose favourite tipple is a Dark and Stormy.

The teal stripe on the left is applied onto the black shirt front with topstitching, rather than creating a seamed panel. I thought that would work better as the two fabric have slightly different thicknesses, and I wanted to avoid any potential wierdness that might occur at the seam when attaching different types of fabric together.

I'm happy to say that this garment was another that cost only my time. I had both the black and teal fabric in my stash, though I cannot remember how either of them got there or for how long they'd made my stash their home. The buttons were also from my collection. However, as ever, using a strickly limited amount of fabric meant I had to be a bit adaptable. The initial plan was to use black fabric for the front facings and yoke, but with not enough black fabric those sections became teal and in that sense the fabric kind of did the designing. Actually, I think I prefer the shirt's overall look with the contrast front facings and yokes, and it would be fun to make a variety of combinations to see how different effects could be created with the application of the different colours.

Happy New Year from Patty and Marcy!!!!

Laying it Down for 2012!

2011-12-31T06:19:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone has had a lovely festive period, or simply a nice period if you don't celebrate anything in particular around this time of the year! But now that is over (with lots of mess and mince-pie assisted belly) and time to taking the ending of one year and beginning of another.

Of course there's always a lot of chat about how New Years' resolutions are rubbish and pointless, but I love the opportunity to take stock of the year that now lays behind us and look towards what we would like to achieve in the year ahead.

This time last year, I wrote a post detailing all the sewing/creativity related activites that occurred for me in 2010. 2011 has been a different fish. Much of my creative activity in 2011 was about expanding and furthering things that had begun the previous year (learning lots in my day job, getting a stronger sense of my personal style, continuing to host the me-made/self-stitched months, co-organising Brighton Craftaganza, developing and expressing my stance on matters like consumerism, sustainability and feminism, and so on). But some of my 2011 activities have been about building stronger ties between creative people (like the Poetry & Clothing project, hosting my first sewing blogger meet-up, organising meet-ups for the Craftaganza sellers).

It was good to take a look back at the aims I had for 2011 and to see which I managed to achieve, at least in part, and which I either over-looked or needed to alter or abort. I think the crux of why some people hate resolutions/aims for a new year, is that they'll feel bad if they don't succeed. I'm kind of innoculated against that because I've accepted that life takes unexpected twists and turns and that these aims are to be thought of as guidelines rather than self-prescribed commandments.

So, on to my creative aims for 2012:

Make the three Brighton Craftaganza events that are scheduled for 2012 better than the two events held in 2011. Improve the Craftaganza blog to make it more useful and enjoyable for crafters/designer-makers and provide more opportunities for sellers and local creative people to meet and get to know each other, online and in the flesh.

Host Me-Made-May 2012!!! As previously mentioned at the end of (Self-Stitched-) September 2011, there will only be one of these me-made/self-stitched months in 2012, so if you want to get on board, you know what to do!

Develop my own little product lines, either my women's wear line (Blatant-Self-Promotion) or my baby wear line (Hey Baby).

Teach a sewing class/workshop. The plans I had for this have had to be aborted, but hopefully an opportunity will present itself by the end of the year that will make it possible.

Wrap up the first year of the Poetry & Clothing project and embark on a second year.

Hopefully bring the discussion/forum into fruition with Tilly.

Start an exciting and as-yet-undisclosed project with Cecile.

Make some of my self-developed patterns available for free and make more tutorials/how-to's for the lovely readers of my blog.

Continue to write longer and hopefully thought-provoking pieces about sustainability, consumption and feminisim.

Oh, and sew a bunch of stuff!!!

What about you, do you have any creative plans for 2012? I wish you all a wonderful, creative and fruitful year ahead!!!!!

Santa Babies

2011-12-29T10:24:00.000-08:00

This is the first post dealing with the topic of 'stuff I made for peops this Christmas'. I'm proud to say that a high proportion of the gifts I gave this year were handmade but I always feel like it's bad juju to blog about those creations before the recipient has their mitts on them, even if those recipients are less than a year old and subsequently are not yet avid readers of this blog.

For the three babies on my Christmas list, I made a pair of trousers and pair of shoes each. I know that when these tots get bigger, they'll probably feel disappointed by gifts of clothing. So crazy-sewing Aunt Zo must make the most of these years when they don't as yet feel fobbed off by not receiving a Thomas the Tank Engine-mutant-Power Ranger-in your pocket.

The trousers were all based on the lunch-hour baby trouser pattern I'm addicted to making. They are so quick to make, it's very satisfying to have made a new thing in the time it takes to Patty to have a shower, i.e, about half an hour (I know. In his defense, he has a lot of hair). I added little 'Hey Baby' labels that I got made yonks ago with roughly the correct sizing. I did this mainly to make it easier for the parents so they can quickly denote which way round they are meant to go.

These little navy and white striped trousers and tiny 'old-man' slippers now belong to Pat's new nephew, Dominic, who was only nine days old when we met him just before Christmas.

These cool action-baby trousers and slightly larger old-man slippers now belong to my friend Emma's little son, Samuel. The trousers used to be an unwanted men's T-shirt (see below).

The final set in the trio comprises of pretty floral print trousers and a different design of shoe for my mate Umi's little girl, Surayya.

Let's take a closer look at the shoes....

The little dudes' shoes were created using this free downloadable pattern. I changed the pattern ever-so-slightly so they had a lining, rather than making them them all from fleece as the pattern suggests. I used a scrap of check fabric for the outer layers and used fleece and the fleecey side of a sweatshirt for the lining. I also used some iron-on interfacing in the soles so they are a bit sturdier. I'd say a pair of these take about half an hour to make, including cutting out time. I love that some people share their hard work with the sewing community by allowing their patterns to be down loaded for free. I plan to do the same and share some of my self-developed patterns in the New Year, watch this space.

Anyways, these little dudes' shoes actually seem to function pretty well. You can see Samuel below rocking them in the cafe. They managed to stay on for a couple of hours right up until it was time to leave. Victory!

The second style of baby shoe was a wholely more complex affair. As you can imagine, Etsy has a squillion baby shoe pdf sewing patterns for sale. In the end I opted to buy this one. This style has flaps which close with a popper and little tongues, plus they are fully lined in a super-neat invisible way (unlike the previous style which requires trimming the seam allowances back which makes them not quite so perfectly neat, but much speedier to make). This sneaker style is a far more complex make and took me about a billion days to complete. They are made from some scraps of printed Ikea furnishing fabric I found at work. The print features birds and butterflies as well as your standard flowers-fare which appealed to me. I lined them with some brushed cotton and each pattern piece requires interfacing. I'm really pleased with the result, but I think life really is too short to bother making another pair from this pattern.

Without having the little tot nearby, I had to guess where to position the poppers and I was concerned that they wouldn't stay on, but thankfully Surayya seems to be rocking them successfully:

I know I'm biased, but how cute are these babies? TOO cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My friends mate cute babies. Fact.

Aside from being able to give a present made with love and good handmade juju, the next best thing about these gifts is that they all cost me nothing but my time. I was able to harvest scraps and leftovers of woven and jersey fabric to make some colourful, and hopefully useful, items for them to wear. What's not to love about that?!

The Rise of the WABs

2011-12-24T01:00:00.000-08:00

‘What the hell is Zoe on about today?’ you may be thinking. Well, the idea of WABs only came to me this morning, so I’m not entirely sure myself at this point but I'll start typing and see if it resolves itself by the end of this post. Let me apply some context...

At some point in the 2000s, the British tabloid press coined the phrase ‘WAGs’, an acronym which provides a collective term for the Wives And Girlfriends of high profile sportsmen, particularly the excessively paid members of the England football team. The queen of the WAGs is, of course, Victoria Beckham but there are many who have regularly graced the pages of tabloid newspapers and celebrity gossip magazines for years and are now house-hold names. Some of these women were celebrities in their own right before they shacked up with a footballer (Mrs Beckham, Cheryl Cole, Louise Nurding), even if that fame usually arose from dancing around in their pants. Others, such as Coleen Rooney, did little aside from sit their GSCEs before their relationship threw them into the limelight, but have since gone on to be something of a success in their own right, the popular assumption being that an interview and cover photo for Vogue has elevated her above the rest.

But the reality is that most of these women are in the position they are in because they are attractive and managed to ‘snag’ a footballer. It’s unlikely that their prized and envied relationships are based on mutual and balanced respect. The power is not equally distributed between the partners: their men hold most of the cards. Every one of these WAGs has been reportedly cheated on by their partners because it would appear that the role that they serve could be fulfilled by any number of attractive and attentive young women in the depths of China White, or whatever is the latest celeb hotspot. No matter how independently powerful and successful the WAG, no Vogue interview, perfume range or Gucci catwalk appearance seems to inoculate them from infidelity.

The pressure on the WAGs to appear beautiful, polished, on-trend, in control and happy despite swarms of paparazzi and Sun journalists feasting on any signs of weakness, must be off the hook. All the while, any hiccup in your relationship, large or small, real or fictitious is gleefully scrutinised and analysed endlessly in the press. But I find it difficult to feel sorry for or respect these women when they have, at every stage, courted and welcomed fame and attention.

Why do they subject themselves to this? Why didn’t they go and find themselves a hot accountant or supermarket manager? Because they have been sucked into believing that celebrity and column inches, no matter if the contents is positive or negative, equates to popularity, acceptance, power and success. They feel that it is better to be ridiculed in OK magazine for having cellulite than to receive no mention at all. The WAGs have also fallen for the patriarchal belief that being a successful man’s ‘other half’ is the best that a woman could ever achieve, and that the most promising opportunities will come from them merely ‘being’: ‘being’ someone’s girlfriend rather than ‘doing’ something interesting and fulfilling. In short, aligning themselves to a talented and/or notorious sportsman will provide them with more national attention and free champagne than even dancing in their pants could bring and if national attention and free champagne are your social currency, then being a WAG is a golden status. What worries me most is that so many young women see this as the life model to aspire to.

But thankfully there are many intelligent women that view the values that have seen WAGs elevated to role models as bullshit. These are the WABs: Women Against Bullshit. An alternate term to ‘Feminist’ if you will. I am most definitely a WAB. I’ve been uncovering and then calling bullshit on lots of stuff of late, for example, the way the fashion press creates and exploits women’s insecurities about their appearance to hawk the products sold by their sponsors. Caitlin Moran (pictured above), is another WAB, I dare say. She’s written a whole awesome book full of things she’s uncovered as bullshit designed to make women feel bad and prevent them from achieving what they are capable of.

Sadly, Feminism has and often still does get used as a derogatory term. The image the term's detractors wish to imply is that of angry, hairy, sexually frustrated women who hate men and wish all females could live separately in some commune which resembles a Herbal Essences advert. In reality a Feminist is someone, male or female, who believes that women deserve equal status and opportunities to men. Simple as. I don’t know how we can reclaim that term and rid it of its bad press. I do think, however, that not being afraid to use the ‘f’ word and to talk openly from time to time about the negative experiences and inequalities (AKA bullshit) that you’ve experienced due to being a woman is a good place to start.

And you know what? I AM angry at a lot of those experiences and inequalities. I AM angry that women still earn on average a third less than their male colleagues. I AM angry that as a teenager I was made to feel that I was worthless unless someone fancied me. I AM angry that female friends of mine who have decided they don’t want children regularly have their decision questioned by strangers and acquaintances alike. I AM angry that a social expectancy has developed that I should spend chunks of my hard-earned wages on getting most, if not all, of my pubic hair waxed off (i.e. ripped out). That anger is ok, it is good in fact. It can be used as a motivational tool to try and uncover the causes of potential damage to women’s esteem and prospects.

So what about you? Do you suspect you maybe a WAB? What bullshit have you uncovered recently?

Recycled Jumper Mittens

2011-12-21T09:45:00.000-08:00

Can you tell that Patty just bought the Hipstermatic app for his new i-phone?! I love how he has managed to make this image poignant and contemplatory, when actually all that was going through my head was, 'Shit I'm freezing, where's the poxy train?'!

What it does show is how genuinely useful my recent mittens creations are. My boss bought this pattern from Etsy with an eye to finding a use for all the felted up and moth-eaten knits we receive. Oh, how we have used and abused this pattern! We've made a stack of them in all different colour/pattern/texture combinations.

This particular pair is my own. My boss gave me this felted up leopard print cardigan ages ago, knowing how into animal print I am. I was planning on cutting it up and using sections 'cut-n-shut' with other knit or sweat to make a new jumper or cardi. However, I haven't got round to that and the inspiration for how to approach that has been lacking, so most of the cardi became these mittens instead.

The outer mitten is made from three main pieces, plus the ribbing harvested from the initial cardi/jumper/sweater. The lining is made from the same three main pattern pieces, but stitched together with a slightly wider seam allowance so that the lining ends up a bit smaller and therefore fits better inside the outer mitten part. I used parts of a purple cashmere jumper that moths had attacked for the lining which makes them soooo soft inside. Because these don't use very much fabric and the pattern pieces are quite small, it's quite easy to harvest the usable parts from stained or moth eaten woollen garments that would otherwise be heading to the textiles recycle bin.

As you can see, my leopard mittens are made by using just one garment for the outer sections. But you can have lots of fun messing around with different combinations if you have a few unwanted/unwearable woollen garments at your disposal. Here's a small selection of the pairs of mittens I've made over the last few weeks:

The pattern also includes mens and childrens sizes. I'm really into making these as gifts, because people tend to be a bit more open to wearing crazy mittens when the flash of colour is limited to a small part of their whole outfit.

If, like me you are skilled in the art of unintentionally felting woollen jumpers, then you're in luck! You can give me new life to that unwearable garment whilst being comforted by the knowledge that shrunken, felted wool makes for warmer and more weather-proof mittens than unfelted wool! My felted leopard ones are so toasty. I'm never going to discard the results of my shrunken laundry accidents ever again!

Poetry & Clothing Project: November

2011-12-19T12:10:00.000-08:00

Alrighty, today I can finally share with you a garment that I made before this whole Poetry & Clothing project had even been invented. The first garment I got to make for myself whilst working at TRAIDremade was this remade sweatshirt with a contrast Peter Pan collar that made back in November 2010. Well, Harriet saw that on this lil' blog of mine and asked me to make her something similar. It took me until the following March to finally get it completed, and then the Spanish postal system managed to lose the damn thing. Thanks for that, Spanish postal system (AKA Correos). I have had many a beef with Correos, but now is not the time or place...

Anyways, I really enjoyed making the sweatshirt for her and it somehow sparked the idea for the P&C project, which I started the following month (April). Eventually, the package conatining the sweatshirt reappeared in the UK by which my sewing-thoughts had already turned to warmer weather garments, so the sweatshirt got put away until the weather got nippier again. Well, in an unprecedented show of sewing-project organisation, I spent much for my sewing time in November making a long list of Christmas gifts. To give me more time for that, I decided November's P&C garment could be the long-lost sweatshirt which Harriet had first desired a whole year before! I really hope she hasn't gone off the idea of it after all that time!

So, in much the same way at my own Peter Pan collar sweatshirt remake, this garment started life as an unwanted mens sweatshirt. I recut the pieces for a closer, cuter, more feminie silhouette with slight gathering at the sleeve head and 3/4 length sleeves. The over-sized collar is made from a scrap of red and white spotty cotton, and the buttons, which IMO look distinctly edible, reflect that pop of colour.

And on to the more interesting half of this exchange: the poetry! Harriet's poem that I am sharing with you today was written in response to October's P&C outfit:

October

We cover our fabrics with leaves, birds, butterflies, strawberries, animal prints and wander around urban jungles in this way, imagining ourselvesto be somehow wild and essential because of it. I follow Gaudi's curves as though they were sculpted under the majestic reign of nature herself. And yet in these reprints there is something luxurious - the way we love to refer to grass and sky as velvet. There is lavishness in simplicity - something strangley opulent and timeless about a collar which bends like the polished wood of a hand-carved pew and at the same time, something shocking about sitting in a church dressed in leopard print. What I love about this church is the way it ridicules austerity. I love the playfulness, the festivity, the way it allows for bawdiness, greed and generosity all at once. And as I sit there, I notice something strange happening. I become camoflage. I slowly morph into something as imperceptible as dust. My skin, such as it is today, is at home here. The black and orange make perfect sense among the huge pacific shells filled with holy water, the purple butterfly wings flung open against the sky and the ghosts sliding in on flakes of dust, settling on slices of glass pineapple. Like me, they are quietly measuring the circumference of light.

The Christmas Brighton Craftaganza!!!

2011-12-17T00:38:00.000-08:00

(source)

Thanks Ryan, that would have been very helpful last Saturday when it was the Christmas Brighton Craftaganza!!! Actually, I have a 'Ryan' of my own who was incredibly helpful setting up tables, carrying boxes, handing out flyers, being 'official Craftaganza photographer', having banter with the stall-holders, furnishing me with hot chocolate to help me thaw-out when I needed it and much more besides.

If none of what I'm saying is making any sense to you, let me explain. For over a year now I've been the co-organiser of Brighton Craftaganza, a Brighton-based craft and handmade market. The aim is to promote the work of local creative peops and, more broadly, to show the non-crafting public that handmade products are just as good, if not far better, than their mass produced equivalents. What better time to do this than at Christmas, eh? Our first event was back in March, and our second event was last Saturday.

It's a very involved process, this craft-market lark, from the endless planning and organising all the elements that go into making an event like this happen, to the actual day itself: lugging tables, hustling punters into the venue, trouble shooting, trying to perpetuate a good vibe, and so on. I was meant to be co-running the TRAIDremade stall where we were selling a selection of the clothing, bags and accessories that my boss and I make for our day jobs, but that kind of went out the window and my boss and her friend Erica dealt with that on their own.

One of my favourite parts of all of this was selecting a great variety of high quality handmade product ranges to be sold at the event from all the applications we received. About a third of the sellers at this event had a stall with us last time, and the rest of the crafters/designer-makers were either previously unknown to us or new to selling their work at craft fairs/markets entirely. Picking who to assign stalls to wasn't an easy task: there's no way of knowing how attractively a seller will set out their stall on the day when all you've seen are some jpegs of individual products, but all the stalls looked wonderful last week.

When assigning the stall positions to the individual sellers, I really tried to create a mix of products, for example, no jewellery sellers next to each other, or knitwear producers and so on. Even though we tried to select designer-makers from each disciplines whose work was very different to each others', I wanted the public to be blown away by how varied and fascinating handmade products can be. It's about trying to rid the public of those preconceptions of what to expect from a craft fair in a drafty church hall (and our venue very much IS a drafty church hall!).

The other wonderful part about organising Craftaganza, and the main thing I was looking for when I agreed to get involved, is the ability it has given me to meet talented, interesting and creative people living in my local area. I'm pleased to say that almost everyone I've come into contact with through Craftaganza has been lovely. This seller even gave me a gift of several sets of AMAZING buttons to thank me for my hardwork and attentiveness! I've even met some great people who I now consider friends (especially if you define 'friends' as people you go for mulled wine and a gossip with!). I also get to meet lovely people who come to check out the market. Last week's event gave the opportunity to meet the gorgeous Alana from Lazy Stitching!

But it is pretty stressful as well, and you end up feeling really responsible for the outcome of all the stall holders' days. There are definately things that I need to focus on improving in the future to make these markets better for the sellers and more appealing to potential punters. And now that Steph and Lisa have both stepped away from their involvement in Craftaganza (for very good reasons, I may add, Steph's planning her wedding and doing a degree, and Lisa is writing a book and expecting a baby) it's going to be all on me for the future events.

I'm not concerned about taking it on single-handed. I don't think that it'll ended up feeling like that much more work. The time that was previously spent keeping each other updated about the various elements that go into planning these events can instead be spent just doing the stuff that needs to be done. Plus, there are a few changes I'd like to make. For example, I'd like to introduce a few more sellers that make very contemporary products to create a fuller spectrum of what 'handmade' can mean. Hopefully those sellers will cater more for the younger 'hipster' crowd (sing with me, 'I believe that children are our future..'!) and I'd like more sellers which create things for guys (call that the 'blue-pound' if you will).

The concept of a 'Spectrum of Handmade' really interests me. Facetiously put, that 'spectrum' might include moutasche badges at one end and hand-felted scarves at the other (no offence to anyone, there is a place for all!). The only criteria I have for what belongs at Craftaganza is that it is good quality and locally made. That local part is because I'd like to prevent lots of London-based sellers coming down for the day and monopolising the Brighton craft 'scene'. There are some incredible London-based creators of course, and a lot of excellent London-based markets for them to sell at (soem fo which I've sold at myself when I loved in London). Brighton is a popular destination for holidayers and day-trippers, and if they come along to Craftaganza, I'd like them to be able to buy something that represents this area. It would be depressing to attend a craft market in East London and another in Bristol and another in Brighton with the same sellers appearing at all three. That homogeny is the preserve of the High Street, and we are trying to create an alternative selling/buying set-up here.

Another hope I have for Craftaganza is that it can become somewhere that other crafters are drawn to visiting. This was actually one of our founding aims but I feel it got a bit lost somewhere along the lines during the actualisation of the last two events. Everyone knows that makers often go to shops, blogs and etsy for inspiration and to see what other creators are up to. Hopefully Textile Garden will choose to sell with us again (us? me? I'm not sure about the phrasing of this anymore) with their incredible selection of buttons and Japanese braids. If you are a crafter/sewer, what would you like to see at a craft market?

So, if you've read this far down into my witterings about this particular on-going project of mine, then you are a diamond and deserve lots of chocolate and/or wine. I cannot buy you all chocolate and/or wine to reward you, but let it be known that I would if I could. So instead, I'll pick your brains some more. If you visited any craft markets/fairs this year, please let me know what stood out to you about it. Maybe it was the layout, or a particular seller, or a table of free cakes, or live music, please share!!! Thanks in advance my friends.

The Story So Far...

2011-12-13T11:47:00.000-08:00

This post is a little personal reflection about the 'journey' my sewing has taken over the last few years. I didn't want to illustrate this post with images of projects I've already shown you, nor did I want to smother it with pictures of 'me in stuff I've made' or something like that! So, instead I've chosen to illustrate it with images of vintage sewing pattern I wish I owned!

About three years ago, I basically went mental about sewing. Like, properly mental. Before then, I'd been making bags and skirts for friends, myself and to sell off and on throughout the five since university. I'd enjoyed it and made a little cash from it, but all-consuming passion hadn't yet taken hold. But around 2007 my involvement in a London-based sewing group, the discovery of the online sewing community (Burdastyle inparticular) and growing concern about sustainability and sweatshop labour opened my eyes to the idea of creating a wardrobe of handmade clothing. For the year or so after, I began dabbling further into sewing different types of garments, using different techniques and working with different fabrics. But it wasn't until 2009 that I found myself in a situation that was really conducive to totally indulging this interest that had grew into an obsession.

So, why did my sewing explorations explode in 2009? At that point I was finally pretty stable in terms of living arrangements (I hadn't been made to move out of a flat for at least four months), relationship and emotions. I was working part-time so I had a solid couple of daylight hours each day in which to sew undisturbed. Also, I was living in a place (Barcelona) with two official languages, neither of which I could speak much of, beyond explaining how I took my caipirinhas. I really believe that this last point really freed up a lot of my brainspace for creating, as I wasn't watching TV, listening to radio or paying much attention to anything that I didn't choose to. Basically, I was living in a bubble of sewing, blogging, friends, food and cocktails. This self-indulgent lifestyle drew to a close in the Summer of 2010 when we moved back to the UK.

Nowadays, my life is wider and fuller, but I can say that my sewing explorations haven't suffered. In fact, I get to sew more these days than I ever imagined could be possible, and have my sewing ability tested, pushed and challenged on a daily basis thanks to my job at TRAIDremade. Actually, if I hadn't had that year and a half in that sunny, drafty, beautiful and bizarre flat in L'Eixample, Barcelona, churning out garment after garment (some more successful than others), I doubt I would have achieved the level and variety of skills required to land me the TRAIDremade job after my repatriation.

But back to that time in that Barcelona flat. I had started to get really into the idea of having an entirely self-stitched wardrobe. I had been signed up to the Wardrobe Refashion pledge as a 'lifer' since 2007, promising to not buy any new clothing again ever, aside from undies. In the UK, I had been able to make frequent additions to my wardrobe through charity shopping, but that wasn't really an option in Spain. It was becoming clear that adding to my wardrobe would only be possible if I made everything from here on out from scratch with my own hands. This wasn't a frightening prospect: I absolutely relished this challenge (still do). I got really into the idea that I was now self-reliant, and had to step-up so my sewing skill would match my clothing requirements.

At some point around this time, I concocted the idea for the very first me-made/self-stitched challenge (Me-Made-March 2010), which was initially a solo project where I decided to see if I could wear only me-made from scratch clothing (exclusing bras, tights and socks). Creating that further challenge for myself put a massive rocket up my bum to learn how to make the variety of garments I wanted to know how to make because now I had a deadline after which I would either be clothed successfully, or freezing cold/inappropriately dressed for an entire month!

Well, I can't say I was totally cosy for the whole of March 2010, but I completed that challenge successfully and have been challenging myself and encouraging other to challenge themselves in a similar vein ever since. However, my personal one-woman mission to clothe myself from head-to-toe with handmade garments has altered. I've had a few revelations/made a few revisions since 2009. For example, I always assumed that I'd learn to knit and crochet so I could provide myself with knitwear. But my desire to create my clothing sustainably (which, by my own definition means not buying any new fabric or yarn) has become more important to me than that initial quest. I love to make knitwear from cut-and-sew knit fabric when I can get my hands on it, and by refashioning/upcycling existing knitwear/sweat garments. I'm also back in a land with charity shops, so I buy second hand cardigans these days too when I find something that fits well and suits my taste.

I also envisioned that I'd eventually add self-stitched socks and bras to my repertoire, and possibly even shoes!!! But none of those things look likely in the near future. But I am by no means static when it comes to new sewing challenges outside my working day. For example, all these babies my friends have started to produce are providing mini baby-shaped challenges to clothe and make gifts for. Plus the ongoing aims to make clothing that really reflects my personal style and fits my body well are things that will never be able to be 'ticked off' some list!

Style Inspiration: Kitty, Daisy & Lewis

2011-12-10T00:05:00.000-08:00

Today’s post is a fairly picture-heavy affair. I want to document and celebrate my newest stylistic inspiration source, the band Kitty, Daisy & Lewis. These three siblings from London create awesomely fun music with a vintage R&B/swing/country and western/blues flavour. They are ridiculously young and ridiculously talented. Check this tune out:

All three of them play pretty much every instrument you can think of and when they play live, as I witnessed them doing last week, they swap positions behind each the instruments throughout the set, each having a turn at vocals as well. Oh, and their mum and dad play with them when they are on tour to produce a fuller live sound. Too. Cool.
This band were kind of drip-fed into my consciousness, I can’t remember exactly when I first heard about them but I do recall Harriet (of the Poetry and Clothing Project fame) at some point this year insisting that I ‘You-tube’ them as she was convinced I should love them. They are a fascinating bunch. They’ve been playing together onstage, as a family, for over ten years, which would mean the youngest was in single figures at that point. Lewis in particular has a deep obsession with the technical aspects of recording music (as this article proves). He even built and later expanded a recording studio using predominantly pre-1950s equipment which spread through their family home. This was whilst he should have been doing his A-levels.

How this family managed to develop and explore this jointly shared passionate for the same types of music PLUS sustain a working relationship that spans the entirety of three separate adolescences is beyond my comprehension. However it was/is achieved, it provides the Kitty, Daisy & Lewis band some depth that you hope will provide the longevity that young acts rarely achieve. All I can say is that I guess none of them spent too many evenings with their mates drinking cider and smoking fags down the park.

Their influences are worn firmly on their sleeves as well as imbedded in their music. It’s unlikely to have escaped your notice that I’m a fan of retro/rockabilly style in general and I find their take on it really fun. Kitty and Daisy wear retro-style modern garments as well as original vintage pieces. They usually through it all in the mix, with kitschy makeup and hair styles straight from 1950’s Hawaii. I love that the evolution and experimentation in their looks reflects that they are real young women (currently aged 18 and 22), not manufactured pop starlets with stylists calculating their looks for each appearance and photo shoot. These girls clearly dress themselves. They look like the most exciting characters in Grease. They are the girls at school who’ll teach you to smoke and let you hang around as long as you carry their bags and don’t expect a smile from them.

So, how are their looks comprised? They can often been seen in Pin-up girl separates like high-waisted shorts, tight scoop neck tops, halter-neck tops, diner-waitress blouses and hip-hugging capri pants.

When it’s time to go glam, they opt for stunning vintage wiggle dresses. The demure length of the mid-century wiggle dress off-sets the figure hugging silhouette, references their curves whilst still looking totally chic.

The vintage dresses they wear are usually made from the most awsome fabric, reflecting the craziness and imagination of many of the 1950s/60s fabric designers. I wonder how aware they are that their clothing reflects their music so well? Gingham (country and western), leather (roll and roll), early 1960s dress silhouettes (R&B), and so on, I find it fascinating. I'm also so happy to see a clear dose of Hawaii-iana. I'm really obsessed with that whole mid-century tiki vibe. I should make like Kitty here and russle up myself a look to reflect that in time for next summer:

Are there any bands or musicians that are inspiring you stylistically at the moment?

The Capsule Wardobe

2011-12-08T01:00:00.000-08:00

Whether you are a sewer, shopper or both, I think most women living in developed countries would admit to feeling overwhelmed at times by the choice of clothing and accessories to buy or make. You could be wandering down the high street, or surfing Burdastyle in search for inspiration; there is just so much on offer that we are almost drowning in options of ways to clothe ourselves. But it is fashion magazines that provide the arena in which this clothing claustrophobia reaches fever pitch. Their pages are flooded with ‘key trends’ and ‘current looks’ which intend to throw us into wardrobe-turmoil by insinuating that without them, our appearance (and therefore how we will be perceived) is not up-to-date or relevant.

The magazines then act like a trusted friend, promising to aid us in figuring out how we can adopt these looks with helpful articles like ‘How to Wear This Season’s Colour/Boots/Trousers/Prints/Whatever’ whilst coincidentally both pedalling the wares of their advertisers AND the idea that fashion magazines themselves harbour ‘fashion insider’ knowledge that make them indispensible to us uninformed mortals. There are, as you may have guessed by now, not enough words in the English language, for me to fully express my dislike for this process.

Don’t get me wrong, I truly believe that clothing and style can be fun and are great tools for self-expression. And fashion trends can be fascinating windows through which to view shifts in wider social cadence. But the fashion press and clothing brands work together with one primary aim: to make money. Nothing more noble than that. And they achieve this largely by trying to make women feel irrelevant, lacking and rubbish about our appearance. They offer ‘solutions’ in the form of products to buy, but the speed of the turnover of these ‘must-haves’ means that us consumers will never feel satisfied and relevant for long unless we pump some more of our wages into the machine.

Therefore, it is fascinating, is it not, that even fashion magazines’ writers and editors apparently aspire to ‘evolving’ beyond the frivolity of the never-ending cycle of new looks and trends they adopt, season after season, in order to stay on top of their game. It is as if they are acknowledging that the money-making merry-go-round their roles perpetuate is not sustainable, and they are looking towards the future when they will have been exhausted by their professions like race-horses being put out to pasture. I am talking, of course, about The Capsule Wardrobe.

The research conducted by Courtney Carver, author of Project 333, leads her to define The Capsule Wardrobe in these terms:

1. collection of clothes and accessories that includes only items considered essential
2. a person’s basic collection of coordinating clothes that can be used to form the basis of outfits for all occasions
3. a set of clothing, normally around 24 items, which can be mixed and matched to create a wide variety of outfits.

The Capsule Wardrobe is a something, paradoxically, that fashion magazines (and now increasingly fashion blogs) have devoted a lot of column inches to over the years. It is treated with the same tone of the rest of the standard fashion press copy: that it is the ‘fashion insiders’, rather than the general public, who are most qualified to determine what such a precisely crafted, carefully edited selection of garments should comprise of. The extent of the dichotomy that fashion magazines are also permitted to state what a basic, trend-less selection of clothes should look like, is frankly alarming to me. The definite article (The) in The Capsule Wardrobe, as these things are always discussed, would also suggest that it really is a singular entity that all women must yearn for. Such articles are never titled ‘A Capsule Wardrobe’, are they? Yet the magazine articles and blog posts on ‘The Capsule Wardrobe’ never managed to agree on what that should consist of. Anyways, there is a lot to take issue with here, regarding both the assumptions of what a capsule wardrobe is, and who gets to shape it.

The first is the idea of ‘essential’. That is an incredibly subjective term, both in terms of what society you live in, and within your own society. In fact, I doubt that even my best friend and I could agree on what garments we consider ‘essential’. Ditto with the term ‘basic’. Why do so many of them always contain a basic white buttoned shirt?! What good is that to a woman with a toddler, or who works with animals?! I haven’t worn, or had use for, a white shirt since I was a waitress in a pizza restaurant some eight years ago! Why is so much of it black, white and grey anyhow? Isn't the colour and the print, for many people, the fun bit about getting dressed each day? Also, from a fashion writer’s perspective, what a capsule wardrobe would consist of changes with the seasons, years and decades anyhow, so why all this time spent trying to define the indefinable?

Of course, there have always been some writers and bloggers who deal with this topic with a more relaxed definition of ‘The Capsule Wardrobe’ means, taking into account the individuality of both style preference and lifestyle needs. Currently, there are whole blogs devoted to creating a 24-piece ‘mix and match-able’ collection of clothes which can, presumably, be altered to accommodate new trends as the owner desires. But isn’t that actually just ‘A Wardrobe’?

If you believe the statement that women in Western countries usually wear 20% of their wardrobes 80% of the time, and 80% of their wardrobes only 20% of the time, then aren’t we usually dealing with a limited section of our clothes at any one time anyway? Are they suggesting that we get rid of everything else we already own? What happens when you fall behind with your laundry and a proportion of those 24 things are dirty or hanging on radiator to dry? What happens when you don’t live in LA and actual weather systems kick in, and ‘The Dressy T-shirt’ and ‘The Basic Shirt’ just aren’t going to cut it and you’re wearing ‘The Cardigan’ and ‘The Sweater Vest’ together every single day for three months until Spring shows it’s face again? What happens when you get bored of staring at yourself in the mirror in your one basic cardigan? Are we meant to be operating on a one-in, one-out system here? If something new gets bought, does something else need to be discarded?

Obviously I’m being facetious here, I doubt anyone writing a magazine article or blog post about creating a Capsule Wardrobe is genuinely proposing there are strict guidelines to be adhered to, or that ‘24’ is some sort of numerological lucky number: the Holy Grail of wardrobe contents if you will.

I’m all for halting mindless and panic actions in favour of making well thought-out selections of what to add to our wardrobes (be that through shopping or sewing) in the attempt to reduce the quantity of landfill and amount of damage clothing and fabric production reaps on our environment. It makes sense to make selective decisions about what to consume and what to pass on to if we no longer wear an item and someone else could benefit from it. But forgive me for being suspicious when it’s fashion ‘experts’ who are dictating this process.

The basic crux of what I’m saying is this: normal women (who don’t make their money by having the contents of their wardrobes scrutinised) really don’t need fashion writers telling them what their wardrobes should contain. We already all have our own ‘Capsule Wardrobe’. It’s the stuff we wear most of the time anyway. What that consists of should be as personal and individual as you are (and it already is). For example, since I made it, I wear my leopard collar batwing top as often I can get away with because I love how it feels, it looks good with my black jeans and generally it reflects a casual version of my personal style as it stands today. To me, it is both ‘essential’ and ‘basic’. Yet I wouldn’t expect, and certainly wouldn’t want, to see someone else to rock a similar top several times a week. Your jeans that you wear pretty much every day because they are comfy and make your bum look good? They are ‘The Jean’. The boots you wear a lot because they don’t leak when it’s been raining? They’re ‘The Boot’. Your plain cardigan with the loose button that you haven’t had a chance to stitch on again because you’re wearing it most of the time? You guessed it, ‘The Cardigan’! See? You’ve already got a capsule wardrobe. Let’s spend more time enjoying getting dressed and being ourselves, and less time worrying whether it is all mixes and matches!

I believe the tone of many fashion magazines and fashion columns, that they possess superior knowledge of how everyone should present themselves, is insidious and damaging. As I say, clothing styles and trends are interesting: they can reflect certain social and personal moods, and they can be fun to dabble and play with. But anyone pretending to have any more of a handle than you do on deeply personal areas like what you wear, how much you weigh or what shape your pubic hair should take, is both mistaken and can piss off, IMO. Women have enough hoops to jump through and ways in which they are made to feel inferior and unworthy. Do you think men give a shit about how many garments they own, or should own? Or if they have the definitive basic peacoat?

It also interests me that The Capsule Wardrobe is, in many ways about restriction, self-imposed restriction. That in an era when we have so much on hand, we are implementing rules to help us negotiate all this choice, be it food or possessions, including clothing. But that’s an area I’d like to expand upon another day. Right now, I’ve got to go and count my pairs of trousers!

Sales Techniques for People who Hate Selling: Free PDF

2011-12-06T01:59:00.000-08:00

Maybees you are aware that when I'm not working for Traid, writing this blog or sewing stuff with anchors on, I also co-organise a Brighton-based craft market called Brighton Craftaganza. The first event was in March this year (see above and below), and maybe I'm biased but it kicked arse!!!! Well, the next event is THIS SATURDAY!!!! I'm not too panicked because I think all is in hand. Anyways, back to the point of this post....

Back at that first event in March, whilst Pat (Mr 'So, Zo...' and official Brighton Craftaganza photographer) was wandering around the stalls, he noticed some of the sellers had pretty killer sales techniques and were generating lots of interest in their products and yielding a lot of sales, whilst some sellers were almost off-putting in their passivity. Now, of course, not everyone likes to be approached when browsing at a craft fair or similar event, but the evidence of how many sales the more interactive sellers made in comparison to the others stood for itself. As a designer/maker/seller myself, I am more than aware of how difficult it can be to know how to act towards potential customers, where to position yourself and how to broach a conversation, if at all.

It’s no secret that most creative people hate selling. It can be awkward and embarrassing to sell in a face to face situation to people you don’t know. This is especially true when selling stuff you have made yourself. We are such critical ‘parents’ that we forget that the stuff we make is unique, handmade and therefore of great value. The paradox is that selling more stuff is brilliant for makers. The more you sell, the more time you can spend making more stuff. It is a positive cycle.

Pat, who has undertaken lots of sales technique training for his job, and read a lot about selling to improve his skills as a freelance copywriter, really felt that there are many simple-to-apply techniques that would help the crafting/handmade community generate more sales out the interest their work receives. We had several long discussions, also involving Anthony, an experienced Sales Trainer and then colleague of Pat's, where we figured out the most useful tips and tricks from a crafter's perspective. We turned this into the format for a symposium/discussion and hosted it at the Handmade shop back in September to a room full of crafters/designers/makers, many of whom will sell with us at the Christmas Craftaganza event. It was really great to be able to offer this event for free to local creatives, as Brighton Craftaganza is all about supporting creative talent AND proving that handmade products are just as good as, and in many ways much better than, their mass produced equivalents.

We received very positive feedback from that free event, but seeing as there was quite a lot of take on board, and many people who had wanted to attend but hadn't been able, we made a free downloadable PDF document (pictured above) covering the key points discussed in that symposium.

The document breaks down and analyses the structure or 'anatomy' of a sale. It discusses how to use basic selling theory to open communication, build rapport and communicate just how special and desireable your work is and, finally, some basic strategies to CLOSE THE SALE. If you are selling some of your work this Christmas, or know anyone else who is, feel free to download our document and see if it contains any tips that might help make the event even more of a success than it will already be!

Mariner T-shirt

2011-12-04T08:18:00.000-08:00

Yep, I think I may have almost (but not quite) scraped the barrel for nautical-inspired names for my creations!!!! However, if you think it's therefore time for me to make a departure from this genre of style, I think you'd better get those thoughts in check because that isn't going to happen in the foreseeable!

So, here we have my very latest completed creation. I'm more than a little in love with it. With all the planning and prepping for Christmas present sewing that I've been obsessing over, it was a relief to make an off-the-cuff unplanned creation that resulted from the day's events. At work on Friday we had our usual bi-monthly delivery of old garments and unwanted fabric for us to create clothing from. Except this particular delivery was unusual in that it contained a wealth of lovely stretch jersey sample fabric from a fabric producing company. Lots of it came in the form of stripes, and in the kind of quantities that could easily sustain me making something for myself without making the slightest dent in it all.

I had already booked the afternoon off but planned to stay in the studio and work on my own projects. Pat is currently eye-ball deep in a copy writing deadline and I thought it best to keep away from the flat until the evening! So after I spent some time altering a pattern and cutting out a garment destined to be another Christmas present, with over an hour left before it was time to head home, I felt justified in turning my attentions to making something for myself.

Although it pains me to admit it, my stripey T-shirt is really starting to show some negative signs of repeated wear, so I decided that it made sense to make a replacement/addition. I chose a lovely medium weight red and white striped sample piece, but try as I might, I couldn't get those original stripey T-shirt pattern pieces to fit. That's when necessity became the mother of invention (as she so often does!). I realised the only way these pattern pieces were going to fit was by making it shorter in sleeve and body length OR but adding contrast yokes to squeeze the rest of the front and back pattern pieces out of the stripey fabric that by now I was determined I wanted to use.

So Mama Necessity gave birth to the idea that I could include this anchor jersey! My boss gave me an old and misshapen vintage 1970s top covered in anchors not long after I started my job and divulged to her my fixation with all things nautical. Since that time, so for about a year now, I've been hoarding that anchor-coated top with the obsessive mania of a particularly aggressive squirrel. But when I saw those stripes I just knew now was the moment to crack it out.

As I say, I used the same pattern that I developed for my original stripey top, save for making the neckline a tiny bit wider. The whole thing was constructed using an overlocker (serger), then I overlocked round the hem and sleeve hems and turned them back and stitched them down using a three-step zigzag stitch on my normal sewing machine.

The sleeves are a little long, but I'll wait until it's been laundered until I alter those to the correct length. I'm super-vibed it looks good with my red cardi because who needs a wardrobe-orphan that is only wearable for the limited number of warm days the UK weather feels it shall bestow on us?!

See the pic below? I have the lovely Santie to thank for photographing me after a sighting of one of our Brighton Craftaganza Christmas craft market posters in a pub. Shameless plug: it's next Saturday (December 10th) if you happen to find yourself in South East England with nowt to do!!!!

At ease, shipmates!!!!

A Word With John-Paul Flintoff

2011-12-01T12:05:00.000-08:00

Have you ever read a book that, upon completion, made you think, 'I really enjoyed that, what the author had to say really chimed with me and it's given me lots to think about. But, AGH!!!, now I want to know a bit more about them and their views!'? Well, after reading 'Sew Your Own' by John-Paul Flintoff, I told my mates about it and wrote a post about it on this blog because I felt it focussed on issues that deserve peops spending some brain-time on. The inclusive and accessible nature of his writing and his obvious willingness to engage with people, whether they had anything directly to offer him or not, made me feel he might enjoy a bit of reader participation. So I found his email address (which really didn't require as much internet-stalking as I was prepared to undertake!) and let him know about the post, which had garnered some lovely positive comments from my readers by that point, plus inspired a few sales I might add. He sent a charming response which put pay to the adage, 'Never (e-)meet your heroes'!

But as the book addressed many of the topics that I usually have running through my head, and in fact added more facets to those topics, I really wanted to pick his brains on a few things plus get a bit of an update on his crafting-activities since the the book was published. So I chanced my arm, having already made contact with him, and he graciously agreed to a mini-interview which I would, of course, love to share with you...

Me: Your book was first published in 2009, are you still making and modifying your own clothes?

J-P: Yes, very much so, though I've found it hard to do as much as I would like to do. This week I invisibly mended a second-hand Harris Tweed jacket I bought in Edinburgh last Xmas. I also bought recently a rather girly piece of fabric (floral, washed out) that I thought looks very slightly like camouflage and am planning to macho it up a bit, if you see what I mean, but making a fitted military style shirt with epaulettes and two front pockets.

Me: Have you been allowed to apply your skills to your wife’s wardrobe yet?

J-P: Harriet, eventually convinced that I knew what I was doing, asked me to make her a pair of jeans, which was a huge breakthrough in itself. I bought the denim, with a bit of stretch in it, but subsequently decided never actually to get around to making the jeans because if I did, and she didn't like them, she would feel bad and I would feel bad too. The great thing was to be asked. Having said that, I did make her a loose blouse for her birthday, which she seems to like.

Me: Do you teach your daughter your make-do and mend skills?

J-P: It's very slow progress. She doesn't want to be taught, as such. She has enough lessons as it is. So I have to do it "inadvertently". One thing I do is repair her beloved teddy, as holes appear at regular intervals. It's like painting the Forth Bridge. I told her that one day when I'm very old she will have to do the darning herself. She consented to let me buy her a little sewing kit, in preparation for that terrible eventuality. Also, she recently had a sewing party for her birthday (not my choice, as it happens) and was also given presents (by others) that have to do with sewing. So I think it will happen.

Me: How have your investigations into climate change, Peak Oil and sweatshop labour effected your buying habits?

J-P: I have become a terrible consumer - or a good one, depending on how you look at things. I buy very little indeed, which is not doing much for economic growth. When I do buy, it is often second-hand. I don't think about this very much, it's become almost instinctive. I recently went into a clothes shop and thought, oh, yes, there are shops. But it got to a point where my obsession with home-made was becoming a bit obsessive. I needed a break. So Harriet just went to Gap and bought me some corduroy jeans and I have to say I like them very much. I don't have a clue what kind of conditions they were made in, or who grew the cotton, with what kind of inputs, but it's really important, I think, to learn to relax and recognise that we can't fix everything.

Me: Considering the damaging effect of fabric production, but consumer’s desire to support local independent fabric shops, is it ethical to buy new fabric or should we seek out existing unused fabric to sew our clothes with?

J-P: I do think it's a good idea to seek out unused fabric, obviously. But it would be a fairly miserable world if nobody were able to make new things, ever.

Me: What can someone who lives in London do to prevent sweatshop labour

J-P: Well, buying clothes from a place that makes a point of sourcing clothes ethically is one idea, but it's likely to be a bit more expensive, and not everybody can afford that. A cheaper solution might be to buy second-hand clothes, which may of course have been produced ethically, but by reusing you are reducing the impact of that a bit, I think. (Halving the bad karma, if you like, of the previous owner.) The absolute best option is to make things yourself: there is no sweatshop labour in my house, and nobody is exploited in the making of my garments.

Me: How do you remain positive despite all the realities of Peak Oil, climate change, global inequality and the reluctance of political leaders to effectively address these issues?

J-P: I think there is no option but to remain positive. It's difficult at times not to feel a bit glum, but actually I think that moving away from expecting anything whatever from political or other leaders is rather rewarding: you recognise that you can make a real difference yourself, and if you work with enough other people the political change you want to see will happen automatically. The alternative is very disempowering: to think that things will only be "fixed" by somebody else, eg, government.

Me: Have you considered starting your own craft/sustainability blog? Your approach and engaging writing style would make it a massive hit with the on-line creative community!

J-P: Thank you very much! I would love to do that, but it's hard to find the time to do all the things I want to do and also document them. I do blog occasionally about things that interest me, but not only about craft and sustainability. http://jpflintoff.tumblr.com/

I would like to thank John-Paul enormously for taking the time to answer my questions so thoughtfully. And if you have any mates that have taken an interest in DIY activities, you could so easily flow them a copy of 'Sew Your Own' this Christmas which may provide them with the motivation to start their own creative journey!

Tutorial: How To Make a Cowl Neck Scarf

2011-11-29T10:56:00.001-08:00

This tutorial may be of use to you if you A) have some spare jersey or knit fabric hanging about and you're not sure what to do with it, or B), you've got some people to make Christmas presents for and you are in a hurry! This cowl neck scarf is basically two tubes of fabric joined together. You can use jersey or knit fabric, or a couple of T-shirts, sweatshirts or knit jumpers (or a cunning combination of two of those things). In this tutorial I use an overlocker (serger) to construct it, but you can use a regular sewing machine. I would recommend that you test out stitching your intended fabric with whichever machine you plan to use before you begin. Here's how to make a cowl neck scarf...

Step 1:

This scarf basically consists of two rectangles of fabric (or four which you must stitch together to make two). The dimensions are totally up to you, but for the cowl neck scarves pictured in this post (there are a couple of knit versions pictured at the end) the initial rectangles measured 76 cms wide and 42 cms deep. For my version pictured above I used a light-weight drapey jersey, but thicker fabrics can also give a fantastic (and more snuggly) result. As you can see, I just drew my measurements straight onto the fabric, no pattern. Told you this is a quick project.

Step 2:

after cutting out, you will have two rectangles the same size. Make each rectangle into a tube by stitching the two shorter edges together, right sides together.

Step 3:

What did I tell you? Two tubes!!! (I know, this isn't really a step!). Remember, the right side of the fabric is currently inside the tubes. Keep it that way for a minute.

Step 4:

To make life easier for yourself when matching up the edges later, make little notches (no more than 0.5 cms) by snipping at the top and bottom of the raw edge at the other end from where the stitching is.

Step 5:

Now you have to join the two tubes together at one end of the cowl. Turn one of the tubes through so the right side of your fabric is on the outside. Put this turned through tube inside the other, matching up the stitching seams and the two little notches. Pin these together around the circle of raw edges.

Step 6:

Sew the tubes together as you just pinned them. Remember to take the pins out as you go before they reach the needle or blade!!

Step 7:

Now the two tubes are attached. Don't worry about trimming your loose ends too much, they are going to get hidden inside the final cowl neck scarf.

Step 8:

Now pull the tube out to make one long tube. Make sure you pull it out with the right side of the fabric inside the tube.

Step 9:

The next couple of steps may require a bit of a leap of faith, they may not make sense so you're going to have to trust me! Problem is, this bit is really tricky to describe. If the instructions don't make sense at first read, it is likely they will make far more sense when you read them with the half-made thing in your hands.

Hold both ends of the tube at the edge where the stitching lines finish. See where my boss is holding it in the picture above? Take hold of yours at these two points. Bring the two points you are holding closer together. They are going to meet up, but before you put them together, you need to fold the edges in a bit so that it is the right sides of the fabric that touch. (See picture below.)

Step 10:

Put them together to make those two points meet. It will help to use a pin to keep them together for a bit.

Step 11:

Now you have those two points together, with their edges tucked inside, all held together with a pin. Turn this area round so that you can see the raw edges (see picture below). Now put a second pin in to keep these raw edges together. Take out the first pin. The whole cowl neck scarf at this point will look all twisted and wrong. Don't worry, it's meant to be like that at this point. Where you have just put this new pin to hold those raw edges together, that's going to be the beginning of the next line of stitching. Matching your corresponding final two notches along the raw edge, you need to sew the last circle of raw edges together LEAVING AN OPENING FOR TURNING THROUGH (i.e. stop this sewing before you meet up with where you started this row of sewing!). This gap should be at least 10cms long.

Step 12:

Now the whole damn thing will look all screwy and twisted up, like the picture below. At the left you can see the seam edges I just stitched together in Step 11. The loose overlocking threads indicate where I left an opening.

Step 13:

Now the magic bit... Reach through the gap and pull it all through so that the right sides of your fabric are now on the outside and all your stitching is inside.

Step 14:

Pin the opening closed.

Step 15:

Stitch the opening closed neatly by hand, or quickly with a regular sewing machine like I did below:

Step 16:

Admire your handiwork!!!

As I mentioned before, this basic method can be applied to all sorts of stretchy (non woven) fabric. The scarf below was made with an old jumper for the outside and snakeskin printed jersey for the inside.

This cowl neck scarf was made using a few fine but very soft grey jumpers. The subtle differences in shade make a really nice effect. If you have some old knitwear, you could try combining two different ones for a toasty warm way to reuse unwanted garments.

Please leave a comment if you have any questions and/or you need me to clarify something. Happy making!!!

How I Consume

2011-11-25T04:39:00.000-08:00

Today I’d like to talk about how I consume stuff. I’m not talking about edible or drinkable stuff (which you could argue I do in slightly ill-advised quantities!), but all the other things in my home like the stuff I sit on, eat my dinner off and fill my wardrobe with.

My Magic Questions

When I figure out I need, or could do with (more on that distinction later) a product, my brain goes through these stages:

Could I/we (me and my boyfriend) do without buying it? For example, I’m going on holiday but don’t have an ‘easyjet-sized’ suitcase. I could go and buy one, or I could borrow one from a friend and make sure I bring them back some chocolates to say thanks. Another example: we have friends coming over for dinner but don’t have enough chairs. Answer: use the garden furniture and make a joke out of it! Both these examples happen regularly round these parts.
Could I make it? This applies mainly to clothing and accessories currently, but also soft-furnishings and gifts for other people. This is an area I hope to expand in the future.
If it’s a bit fat ‘NO’ to the questions above, then it leads to: Could I get it second hand? And so often the answer is ‘yes, the thing I would like can be bought second hand’ by either hunter-gathering my way through charity shops or spending a bit of time trawling on eBay.
If the answer to the above question is still ‘NO’, or we require the item quicker than the gods of charity shopping are willing to grant it to us, we buy the item new but the best quality we can afford so that it should last the longest amount of time before needing to be replaced.

I write endlessly on this blog about question number 2: making things. In this post I want to go into my thoughts on second hand, but really many of the reasons for me preferring to buy second hand are the same as why I choose to make rather than buy my own clothing.

So, as we’ve clarified, if I find I need or would like something new, I’ll usually see if I can get the thing second-hand before heading to the shops or amazon. Now, a LOT of people find second hand stuff to be a bit (or very) gross. The thought that someone else has owned and touched and used their thing before they had it makes them uncomfortable. I’m not judging anyone’s responses, but I feel it would be valuable to think about why that that response is their primary one.

'New' is a new concept

The first thing to take into account is the notion that all possessions must be ‘box-fresh’ straight from the shop or delivery depot is a relatively new one. When my grandparents were my age in the 1940’s, they were skint, working class Londoners, newly married, making their home and going about their business. During this time, and for all their lives leading up to that point, second hand was usually how you got most things. Furniture, clothing, shoes, pots and pans, etc. etc. all were bought second hand or acquired from members of their family; all those things had lives beyond the initial owner. Of course, the Second World War halted most domestic product manufacture and import, but many poorer people in the UK had been living this way for their whole lives even before war broke out. Obviously, I’m not idealising those horribly tough years, and I’m not necessarily saying that given the ability to do so, my young grandparents wouldn’t have chosen a new product over a second hand one, but I am saying that I see how they rubbed along and post-war, raised a family without Primark or Wilkinson’s (probably the UK equivalent to Wal-Mart) and that is what I aim to do also.

Kick-Starting Consumerism

After the Second World War ended, both the UK and US governments decided the best course for economic recovery was to kick-start the manufacturing industries. But the industry that needed to grow even more than car, washing machine or vacuum cleaning production to make this happen was the advertising industry to create and keep up the desire for these products. It was the advertising executives that constantly pedalled the idea than brand-spanking-new products would make you a happier, better person, and reflect your social standing as higher than those around you.

Quality or Quantity

Of course, the desire to be happy, better, and of higher status were not created by the advertising industry, they were always there. My grandparents wanted those things as much as the next person but, and here’s the crux of the thing, they always sought them through quality rather than simply newness. In fact, they held that notion their whole lives. I remember how my maternal grandmother, who had grown up in very poor conditions, in her later years would be absolutely thrilled with a gift of an expensive, high-quality, used coat from my paternal grandmother (who was wealthier and thoroughly middle class), infinitely more so than by a new, but evidently lower-quality, coat bought on a market stall.

The world of advertising had to almost drop the concept of quality from its list of concepts to pedal. Because if you market a product as the best quality within its field, with subsequent longevity, why would the consumer need to buy another from the same company for many years? Once the post-war homes of the US and UK had their TV, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, car etc. sales faltered and the advertising world had to find new desirable attributes to market to convince consumers to up-grade those tired old models they bought just a few years ago. Which is obviously why quality has also fallen off the list of priorities for most manufacturers: you’d probably need more than two hands to count the amount of times you’ve heard people say ‘they don’t make them like they used to’!

Advertising and Manipulation

When you see advertisements from the 1950’s today, they look relatively naïve, almost child-like in the simplicity of their messages. But as trying to create ‘need’ to consume already existing products got tougher, advertising got smarter. Advertising has used and manipulated the knowledge gleaned by psychology since the grandfather of modern advertising, Edward Bernays, deployed his uncle, Sigmund Freud’s, theories of psychoanalysis in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Obviously there are many excellent books and documentaries tracking the rise and development of advertising and its relationship with society, but it’ll suffice to say that it has got so clever and insidious that so much of it effects our choices and mind sets so we don’t really know what we genuinely want and/or need. The difference between 'want' and 'need' is also worth taking a look at.

'Want' and 'Need'

It serves the advertising and manufacturing industries to keep ‘need’ and ‘want’ blurred. Now, I know I am very fortunate having been born into a stable family in one of the first world nations, so I’m highly aware that this statement is extremely relative, but the course I have chosen for myself has always been, relative to my society and peers, low paid. Before I started to really think about these things around my mid-twenties, I used to get pissed off and feel aggrieved that I couldn’t afford all the things that I felt I ‘needed’ and ‘deserved’, like a new pair of black jeans or patent, cone-heeled mary janes from Topshop, etc. But I ‘had a word with myself’ and started to realise that I in fact just wanted those things, and then I began to look at how those notions of need/want got mixed up. Choosing to buy second hand not only saves me money (last year we kitted out an unfurnished one-bedroom flat for just £130 by only buying second hand furniture and accepting free items that were kindly offered to us, oh, and finding one clothing rail on the street) but also means I am somewhat out of the radar for all those advertising messages. Not watching much TV and no longer buying heavily advertisement-laden magazines also helps me with this.

Negative Impact on Esteem

Also, so much product advertising relies on exploiting and perpetuating our insecurities. It feels makes us feel bad about ourselves and our lives and then suggests the way to feel better is by purchasing this dress or sofa etc. But the key to happiness and fulfilment clearly doesn’t lie in buying those products because if it did, then we’d all be happy with what we’ve just bought and the whole thing would grind to a halt.

There is a horrendous series of advertisements on TV at the moment for an online department store called ‘Very’. One of the adverts shows a pretty girl wearing a 1970’s style jumpsuit telling us that we should buy it because it makes the wearer look ‘taller and slimmer’. Another in this series features the beautiful and naturally curvy TV presenter Holly Willoughby wearing a silver party dress. She confides with the camera/viewer that she loves the dress’s ruched waistband because it hides a ‘multitude of sins’. I nearly spat my coffee out when I saw that blatant example of exploitation of women’s negative body image. Now, I don’t want to go massively off-piste and discuss in-depth the feminist implications of these adverts, but I do want to highlight the negativity involved in advertising. I feel you can detach yourself from it to a certain extent by not being their ‘target customer’. I certainly don’t want to endorse that kind of message by buying their products and effectively funding the creation of those adverts. The time that ‘Very’ (.co.uk) assumes I spend, or would like me to spend, feeling insecure and rubbish about the size of my belly or my height, I would prefer to spend reading a funny book, looking for vintage sewing patterns on eBay, or stitching myself a new jacket. Sorry about that, ‘Very’.

Choice

One thing that is unarguably advantageous about buying new compared to second hand is choice and accessibility. Shopping for stuff today does give you a vast (some would say overwhelming) array of options. So how comes, having ascertained a want/need for a new pair of jeans for example, does the ensuing process of shopping for said item so often feel like going into battle? Shopping for new stuff despite of, if not because of, the amount of choice on offer to us is usually NOT an enjoyable experience. And let’s be honest, the idea that we have great choice of products available to us is pretty false when most of what a retailer has on offer is near-identical to the other retailers. I would argue that in some cases more variety can be found when looking for something second hand, because most retailers are afraid to invest in stocking products that don’t fit in to the prevailing current trends, be that sofas, shoes or TVs. There are also well-documented statistics which prove that people (AKA consumers) are less happy now than they were sixty years ago, despite this ‘utopia’ of products available to fulfil each wish and desire.

I would go as far as to argue that the choice of products we have available to us, and the process we go through to choose what to buy, provides a feeling of power. But it's a kind of false power when most of the places you can buy stuff are all owned by the same multinationals if you research far enough up the food chain. People often used to exercise power by involvement in local and national politics and issues, involvement in trade unions, community groups and other collectives. Involvement in those things has been marginalised, which is to our own societies detriment. What do we do with our time instead? Well, shop mostly.

Availability and Ease

Agreed, when you want to buy a certain product, a kettle say, by going to a retailer that sells new kettles, you are guaranteed to walk away with one and can usually be sitting at home with a cup of tea within the hour. Believe me, I am well aware that you can’t so easily walk into a second hand shop with a shopping list and expect to have all that ticked off by the end of the day. But we managed to kit out most of our kitchen with second hand equipment (I know some people are going to find that a bit icky!) with a bit of patience. There is certainly a hunter-gathering-related instinctive thrill to be got from a successful second hand shopping trip which is infinitely more of a buzz than I would achieve having walked out of Topshop or Urban Outiftters having made a purchase. When there is so much stuff freely available RIGHT NOW, there is always the feeling that ‘maybe I should have gone to a couple more shops to have found something a bit more suitable’. By comparison, a charity shop purchase makes you feel 'WIN!!!!!!'.

The Thrill of The New

What is ‘new’ and ‘fresh’ and ‘untouched’ anyhow? I’ve already discussed the fact that most of the garments, and any other products you can buy, have each been created by hundreds of pairs of hands. Yours is not the only pair of hands to have been on that thing. The idea that your ‘box-fresh’ item has been zapped into existence by a single machine just for you is so very far from the truth. That item came into being months, possibly even a year or more before you saw it. It has most likely been transported from half-way round the world via a series of cargo ships, trucks and warehouses, but having been caked in plastic to retain or create that ‘new’ smell we all so enjoy. And then when it is in the store, how many hands have picked it up, felt it, tried it and put it back down before you selected it? In particular, garments and shoes have probably been manhandled and dumped on the dressing room floor, and had sweaty bodies and feet squeezed into them multiple times before you decide to buy them. If that item had been previously purchased, used, washed and cared for (and often just purchased, put in the cupboard, then taken straight to the charity shop) then classed ‘second hand’, does that make it so completely different from a ‘new’ item? In my opinion, no.

Economy Vs. Ecology

The final issue I’m going to discuss today regarding ‘new’ Vs. ‘second hand’ can be also be framed ‘economy’ vs. ‘ecology’. The same reason that rabid consumerism was desirable in the immediate post-war period is still a prevalent one today: economics. Making, transporting, advertising and selling stuff creates jobs and therefore supports families. It also supports our governments and helps them achieve and maintain a position of international power which keeps poorer nations from developing to a position where their populations can support themselves, reach self-sufficiency and achieve a non-poverty standard of living, but that is a discussion for another day. Indeed everyone deserves to be able to support themselves and their families, but I find it a concern that the definition of that in the West seems to be ‘to a level where those workers are then able to freely purchase every item that is made, transported, advertised and sold’. I definitely don’t have a definitive answer, but I am aware that I cannot afford a lot of the new stuff many of my peers regularly consume, but then neither do I have to work the same excessive hours and worry about getting promotions like many of them do. I’ll come back to these topics in the future.

What I DO know, and what everyone who isn’t mental has acknowledged, is that this level of consumption we currently have in developed/Western/First-World nations is actively screwing up the planet. And the damage we are reaping won’t just effect us in the West, it’ll effect the entire globe including those who have almost no impact on the globe at all. Doesn’t seem fair does it? Not to mention all the children from every nation who has been, and will be, born into this mess. The public knows our consumerism is screwing the planet, the experts and scientists know this, the governments know this, the heads of corporations know this, but we cannot seem to make the leap: to jump off this economic merry-go-round to implement some of the measures that we know we need to to start seriously preventing and repairing some of the damage. Because profits will suffer, governments’ stability will suffer and indeed some first world families’ livelihoods will suffer. I don’t have the answers and even if I did I don’t know if too many people in positions of power would hear me or listen to me above their own agendas. But I will live my life the way I feel comfortable, and a lot of that is making do, making and modifying things and buying second hand.

Poetry and Clothing Project: October

2011-11-23T11:33:00.000-08:00

The P&C project is now over half-way through and the garments I've been making for Harriet have started to reflect a nod to the colder weather. October's clothing side of the bargain comprised of two garments which could potentially be worn together as an outfit. The first is the Peter Pan collar leopard print top pictured above.

This is the first garment I've made for this project since June which actually started out as a different garment, rather than a flat piece of fabric, before I got my hands on it. This stretch fabric leopard print dress (pictured above and below) had a broken zip and had been returned to the famous high street shop that donates a lot of its seconds to the charity I work for. You would be correct in thinking that the fabric of this garment is totally up my street, and I must admit I did consider the possibility of resurrecting it for myself. However, it is a size 10 (and a very small one at that), and my dimensions most certainly aren't. I decided it would be a waste to hack it up just to harvest some fabric to use as contrast panels or something when I could use most of it by transforming it for Harriet instead who is a size or so smaller than me.

I started by carefully harvesting the Peter Pan collar before deconstructing the rest of the dress. Harriet is often smitten by a Peter Pan collar so I definately wanted that to still be the key feature of the final garment. Using a fairly fitted T-shirt block, I then re-cut the rest of the dress into a top by aligning the bottom edge of the pattern pieces with the existing dress hem. This meant the final top could be a bit larger than the tiny dress was initially.

I overlocked the centre back seam closed where the zip had been, then re-cut a back key-hole to allow for getting in and out of the final thing. I reattached the collar and stitched a little hook and eye closure. Bish bash bosh, job done.

The second garment is a full skirt with box pleats and a curved waistband. It is designed to sit snugly on the natural waistline and emphasise that part of the body. The fabric is charcoal suiting with a nice drape and slight stretch. I thought a plain coloured classic fabric like this would make the skirt more versatile for different occassions and easier to match with different tops.

This skirt design (the 'Camille'!) is one I developed for the range at work, and is sometimes available in various fabrics on the website here. I really enjoy making these Camille skirts because they look best when made in medium weight woven fabrics (my favourite to work with) and you can get a nice crisp finish to the garment if you use an iron to press each stage of construction.

I haven't made myself any of these skirts however, because my stupidly high natural waistline means the top of the skirt's waistband is basically touching my boobs! NOT a strong look. But is was a pleasure to make it for Harriet, and I've been informed it fits her perfectly and she's got heaps of wear from it so far. Can't ask for more than that!

So, enough of my garment-based warbling, 'Where's the poetry?! Damn it, that's what we've come here for', I hear you cry. Indeed. Today's poem, if you recall, is in reference to the slinky batwing jersey dress from September's installment if this project. It may interest you to know that Harriet teaches English in an international school in Spain.

September

The goat bells are ringing in a nearby field
one of the children looks up and smiles.
On the wall is a poster of similes
made by a Japanese boy who speaks next to no English.
By each simileis a picture
the last of them reads
It is as rough as a moth's wing
each word carefully unearthed from the dictionary
his face crumpled in disgust as he searches for
a picture of this creature he hates.
He probably still wonders how it is that gh
makes an f sound. I save it for later:
the question of how we defy phonetics -
how foggy and phoney our definitions can be.
The bells continue their ringing
(a vapid, unsatisfactory word)
and mingle with the slippery soft bat wings
against my arm and the side of my back.
Bat wings leave just enough room -
flexible, forgiving.
They hang the way that words ought to hang
brushing the skin gently
twisting the fibres of colour and sense.

'How To Be a Woman' by Caitlin Moran

2011-11-21T12:33:00.000-08:00

I'm harbouring a substantial girl-crush at the moment. The focus of this crush is the British author and journalist Caitlin Moran (pronounced Catlin) whose recently published book, entitled 'How To Be a Woman', attracted a lot of media interest over the summer. The flippant synopsis of this book is that she 'rewrites The Female Eunuch from a bar stool and demands to know why pants are getting smaller'. Actually, it's a timely re-evaluation of feminism as it stands today for women who maybe haven't given Germaine Greer much thought since their teens. It highlights a whole wealth of modern day experiences that warrant investigation whilst being openly and revealingly autobiographical and intensely funny.

I've found that, since my age has a good solid 3 at the front of it, I've been thinking more and more about how women are expected to behave and function within our society and have been re-analysising my past and present experiences. I think that generally speaking, there is a loose assumption that feminism has 'won'; that today, women get an equal and fair shot and that anyone still harping on about the 'f' word is a bitter, sexually frustrated bint who can't be arsed to shave. But as Moran reveals, it can be argued that in some respects a lot of the ground women gained through previous waves of feminism has since been lost again, particularly since the 1990's.

For the record, I don't whole-heartedly agree with everything Moran writes, just as she disagreed with her idol Greer from time to time. But I do think that if you have any interest in how society works and basically calling bullshit on heaps of stuff that makes womens' lives more hassle and unpleasant that they need to be, then I'd recommend getting hold of a copy for some catharsis and a chuckle.

There is much more I'd like to say about this book, even though I'm currently only two thirds the way through. In particular, her section on fashion and clothing naturally caught my eye and I'd like to explore her comments further on this blog, but I'll do that another day. Right, I'm off to bed now for a read so Caitlin and I can have a giggle whilst getting pissy about some inequality.

Joe's Jumper Trousers

2011-11-17T12:02:00.000-08:00

Right. It took a few months, but I'm now armed with detailed reviews on my lunch-hour baby trousers from the mums of baby Joe (pictured below) and baby Surayya. Overall, the feedback has been positive, and all those initial attempts have apparantly seen a fair bit of action which I'm pleased about.

It would appear that the overall size and volume make them suitable for easily up to six months (despite the two months as stated on the initial pattern). Sophie, baby Joe's mum, requested some extra length for future pairs so they can be rolled down when he's in his carrier so his legs are well covered, and rolled up when he's chillin' having reached his destination (see above).

I also received an order for four pairs as Christmas presents, including a larger size so have had to develop an eighteen month version as well. Basically, it's been baby-trouser-athon round these parts having made eight pairs last month.

My favourite pair, although arguably the dullest to look at, are the pair pictured above and below. These trousers started out life as a lightweight jumper belonging to my dad. He look a dislike to it for some reason so it got passed on to Patty. However, it was way too big for Patty (not that such a triviality would have prevented him continuing to go to work in it until I insisted he took it off and wore something else that actually looked like it belonged to him!). By that afternoon the jumper in question had become a new pair of Winter trousers for baby Joe. I lined up the bottom edge of the trouser pattern pieces with the bottom edge of the jumper so its ribbing would be included and I wouldn't have to bother finishing the hems of the final trousers.

Agh! He's so cute I have to keep looking away so my eyes don't start watering! What I loved about making this particular pair of baby trousers above the others is that it is directly making use of an unwanted garment that has gone down a small chain of owners, all of whom are very special to me. The jumper is now being enjoyed in its new incarnation, which reminds me a lot of the way women had to creatively reinterpret unwanted adult garments to clothe their children when clothing and fabric were scarce and being rationed during the Second World War, and no-doubt in many difficult times before and since the 1940's. Making a garment in a similar vein makes me feel connected to that tradition and the women before me to whom this was a regular activity. Using sewing skills in this 'old-fashioned' way, i.e. to make essential clothing that will be regularly worn increasingly inspires and appeals to me above making another pretty dress that may see two or three wears a year.

The Seamless Pledge and The Sound of 'So, Zo...'

2011-11-15T13:36:00.000-08:00

I had the pleasure of e-meeting Elena Cresci when she participated in with one of the early Me-Made/Self-Stitched challenges to wear a self-created garment every day for a month. Aside from an interest in sewing and thifting, at that time we also shared the experience of being ex-pats as she was living in Germany and when I was in Spain. Well, now we are both firmly back on UK soil. Whilst currently studying for a postgraduate diploma in journalism in Cardiff, Elena is re-establishing her connection with her handmade and ethical life whilst making an interesting and significant contribution to those twin causes and communities.

''I want to explore the avenues outside of mass made clothing, whether that’s through sewing, knitting, trawling through charity shops, gawking at vintage wares or using good old eBay.''

Through her shiny-new and visually pleasing blog 'Seamless', Elena has created the Seamless Pledge to encourage others to join her in eschewing fast fashion in favour of handmade and thrifted clothing. The pledge-e is free to determine the length of time they wish to commit to the pledge and how they wish to clothe themselves for that period (self-stitched/knitted/up-cycled/thrifted/vintage/etc.). She has created a fantastically simple template for people to try and apply their convictions and interests over a period of time, the type of which has been missing from the online creative community since the Wardrobe Refashion pledge (RIP).

But before I over-complicate the situation with my explanation, let's just hear about it from the horse's mouth:

Speaking of horse's mouth, Elena interviewed me the other week for a blog post about my thoughts on sewing and sustainability, and the 'journey' to my current relationship with comsumerism and consumption. At the time I didn't realise that our telephone conversation would result in audio clips embedded into the resultant blog post, and although I have a near-pathological hatred of listening to recordings of my own voice, I have to say used in this context it's an effective device for getting points across. So head on over if you want to hear some of the content of that interview. And if you are signing up to the Seamless Pledge, good luck and enjoy!!!

School Boy Trousers

2011-11-12T07:00:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, a tragic washing machine-based accident rendered my beloved black sailor trousers all shrunken, unwearable and basically dead. To be fair, they were getting really worn and faded from a lot of wear so I was ok about it. But the incident left me with only two pairs of trousers to my name (my denim sailor trousers and some secondhand Topshop black jeggings that had a rip that needed fixing to make them wearable). I spend about 80% or 90% of my time in trousers, particularly in Autumn/Winter and particularly at work, so I realised it was time to turn my attention away from making piles of baby trousers and make myself some damn trousers instead.

I carried the plan with me for a while, unsure of what direction to take. Then Ali's fantastic post chronicling her trouser-sewing endeavours not only gave me a kick up the butt by seeing all her effort, but it also reminded me that I, too, have the pattern pictured above! I'm a fan of the Built By Wendy/Simplicity patterns but had only got round to making one rushed project-fail from this pattern since I'd got it a few years ago. Time to have another bash.

I think the main thing that puts me off making lots of trousers, as Ali noted, is that it is so damn hard to achieve a successful fit without heaps of effort and toiles. And fly fronts, I avoid those like the plague usually. But the style of trouser from this pattern would look funny converted to a side zip, so I decided that if I was going to bite the bullet and make a fly front, I should at least make one toile (pictured above). Now, you rarely see pictured of toiles (muslins, mock-ups, etc.) on this blog, for two reasons: they aren't very interesting, AND I almost never make them anyway. So I've included the picture above as a testimonial to this rare occurrence.

I made a size 14, and thankfully my uncharacteristic toiling behaviour was rewarded as the overall fit came out really well. I made the toile without the pocket mouth so I could draw my own directly onto the toile where I liked it, from which I made my own pocket position pattern (why, I'm not entirely sure because the new one I created is more or less exactly the same as the pattern's original - I just can't leave things be!). From the toile I also decided to add a tiny bit of extra width to the thigh area, which I then removed again during construction when a mid-way fitting proved it unnecessary. Plus I added 1 cm extra to the front rise measurement.

I was super-intrigued to see how this pattern would look at the rear. I had my concerns because God (or whoever is responsible for these things) has been quite generous to me in that department, and the back pattern pieces have no back darts so I was concerned the shaping wouldn't be accommodating, but actually it looked fine.

As you may know, I try to sew exclusively from my stash, and this piece of synthetic blend grey stuff had been in there since I 'appropriated' it from a crappy clothing company job I had back in 2007. The fabric is pretty light weigth and really soft, and the synthetic quality means it doesn't really crease (win). I didn't quite have enough for the whole garment, so I've used some contrast floral cotton (Liberty I believe, if you happen to be one of those Liberty-print festishists) for the inside waistband and inside pocket bags. You can see the odd sneak of it when the pocket mouths crease open a bit, but I don't mind the odd flash of something being visible from the outside.

As for the finish, I have to say I created the kind of fly front that dreams are made of. Almost flawless. I bypassed the pattern's fly front instructions and instead followed the directions once given to me by a professional and incredibly experienced sample machinist. There's only one bit I don't understand in the notes I took, but I am unable to ask her to clarify as she worked at the same place I mentioned before where I got the fabric from back in 2007, and I no longer have any connection with that place. Anyways, I struggled to get a good pic so you'll have to trust me.

The overall fit is what I believe fashion lexicon would term 'boyfriend cut', by which I mean they are quite hipster-y and low slung. Though maybe not because the legs aren't particularly wide. I really like the fit of the legs actually, and the whole garment is really comfortable. Like, too comfortable. A couple of times during their maiden wearing, I panicked because it felt like I was still wearing my pyjamas! However, I don't think this will be a 'go-to' pattern for me. I may crack it open again in the Spring to make a capri version, but I probably won't make another long-legged version. I just don't think this style of trouser fits with my current style of dressing well enough that I would require more than one pair. But the main criteria of making a wearable, work-friendly pair of trousers has been fulfilled and the fact that they are actually comfy is a major bonus. I may even consider making another toile one day (though not any time soon!).

The Great Crochet Heist

2011-11-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

So for ages now I've been planning on getting into crochet. In fact I had been declaring so to my boss repeatedly for months. At first she agreed with me as she also wanted to get back into it and got her mother-in-law to re-teach her the ropes. I, however, have been slower off the starting block.

I thought getting into crochet would be good for a few reasons. The main one being that I don't really have the ability to create knitwear for myself, and being that I don't buy new clothes, knitwear acquisition has been a problem for me for a few years as my old previously shop-bought knit items have slowly died and been decomissioned. A couple of years ago I got to grips with my overlocker and stretch and knit fabric bought on the roll and made myself a couple items (a cardigan and a jumper). But since then I have chosen to stop buying new fabric as well, so I've been trying to make knitwear by remaking and altering existing secondhand knitwear garments (like this, this and this) or sweatshirts (like this and this). For all other knitwear items I've been at the mercy of the charity shops.

But I thought that by learning to crochet (I'm not quite up to introducing knitting into my life) I'll be able to made some toasty-warm garments that have a different look and perform different wardrobe roles than my remakes currently are. I would be creating the very fabric of a creation too, rather than only a creation from fabric. Also, adding a new skill/activity to my life (other than sewing, drinking wine and planning adventures that I can't afford) might be fun. I thought it might an excellent Winter sofa-bound creative activity, or even one I could take to do elsewhere, maybe with friends.

The idea was to get super-good over the Winter, figure out how to get hold of secondhand wool so I don't have to compromise my 'not-buying-new-stuff' ethos, and eventually be cranking out incredible garments like the cardigan pictured above. So I procured some secondhand crochet hooks (thanks Mum and Sophie) in a variety of sizes. Next I guessed correctly that a knitting enthusiast would have a stash of unused wool akin to a sewer's stash of fabric, so cheekily asked my friend Michelle to flow me a ball or two to practice with before I launched myself in any further which she did willingly (thanks Michelle). I also joined Ravelry.com (which is where I found the cardigan pictured above), which I had heard on good authority was like a knitter's and crocheter's Burdastyle, to soak up some inspiration. Many of the creations on there are off the hook (pun intended). I also got hold of a print-out about different stitches from the Brighton Mini Maker Faire, which I have annoyingly temporarily mislaid.

Well, as you can imagine, all this garnering of items, inspiration and the like took a while. But just as I felt it was all falling into place, I came home one day to find that my exciting foray into crochet has been hijacked by Patty (Mr 'So, Zo...') before I've so much as made my first stitch! Can you BELIEVE the cheek of it?! I scarcely can. PLUS he's now developed an obsession for it: the kind of deep 'hours-slip-by-unnoticed' type of obsession that I believe men are far more susceptible to contracting than women (the latter being far more capable of participating in more than one activity at any one time). So, over the last week or so, whilst I've pottering around the living room doing some sewing and trying to discuss what we should have for dinner, Pat has been glued to Amigurumi pattern blogs and swearing at crochet-stitch You Tube videos for them to 'slow the f*^k down'. This is my new reality.

(Pictured above, Patty on a train journey coming back from London this weekend. In case you are wondering what is in his mouth, it's a safety pin that he had been using to hold his stitch, or something.) Don't get me wrong, I'm all for dudes getting involved in this kind of activity. I'm really happy that traditional gender stereotypes have not put him off developing a new skill and enjoying a new hobby. I'm also really glad that he is doing something that takes him away from a computer screen (some of the time). But what pisses me off is that A) I was really looking forward to becoming a crocheter and I feel that, now someone else in the room is already better than me, that there is an element of discovery tha now will not be there, and that B) I can now never find my thread cutters or wool needle (which I use for poking the loose tails of overlocking threads away to neaten my work). Oh, and C) he is making the wierdest, freakiest looking things you ever did see:

This thing spooks me out, especially when it stares at me with its little yellow eyes whilst I eat my breakfast.

Nautical Diner Dress!

2011-11-07T12:51:00.000-08:00

Yep, I did it. I crossed the beams. I created a garment that references two of my main stylistic obsessions: 'nautical' and diner waitress uniforms. Can't you believe it?! I barely can! Basically, it's a faux-shirt dress with three functioning front buttons but also a concealed side zip so you can get in and out of it. The skirt is made from two gathered rectangles. The sleeves are my favourite kimono/dolman/grown-on variety. The collar has contrast anchor print fabric on the revere. So now you're acquainted, let me tell you the whole shebang.

I think the most important thing you should know about this project is that is was a total arse-on. I blogged about the pattern on which it was based (pictured below) back in October 2010 but didn't start doing anything with it until about June/July this year. I finished this dress just a few weeks ago. EXACTLY. Five months on one dress. Not five solid months, obviously (there have been many other projects that got done inbetween), but even my epic Winter coat project took less than two months, all told. I just hit a brick wall that only the accumulation of time could provide the motivation to get back in the saddle and finish it off. 'So, what happened?' I hear you ask....

The keen-eyed amongst you will have noticed that my dress has a full skirt, yet the pattern pictured above has not. I was all for the pencil skirt variety as illustrated, and thought it might be fun to play with the contrast nautical colours and make the skirt part from some blue drill that I'd had in my stash for years. However, the skirt for the pattern didn't use darts to create the shaping, instead it was gathered into the waist. I couldn't see how that would be particularly flattering as it would kind of be adding bulk, and anyway would be totally inappropriate to do in this thick-ish drill. So, I used the basic pencil skirt that I used when frankensteining together the pattern for my Summer Holiday dress. The original dress pattern also had a kind of fly front, which I tried to incorporate back into my new version, and only just had enough fabric to squeeze the pieces out. I got fairly far with the construction then decided to try it on. TOTAL. FAIL. I cannot find words to describe how terrible it was looking.

By putting the offending half-made garment on the dress stand, you can see that the whole balance of the waist is off. The front it much higher and slants down towards the back. So obviously the normal straight waistline of the pencil skirt I'd added to the bodice was being pulled up at the front and was just all kinds of wrong. I was so disappointed having put so much love and (wo)man-hours into the project by this point, I just bundled it up and shoved it away until I felt strong enough to attempt a resurrection.

Up until that point, the whole thing had been time consuming but was going pretty well. This pattern taught me how to do underarm gussets, in the same way (and at more or less the same time) as Karen tackled her own for her fabulous retro floral dress, the only differences being that I used some interfacing to secure the area on mine, and then I added some top-stitching. And uncharacteristically, I was actually into adopting this new fiddly method and expanding my sewing repertiore. The revere collar malarky was also a bit tricky to get nice and neat, but I took my time and was really pleased with the outcome. I hemmed the sleeves by applying satin red bias binding that I hand-stitched in place to get a super-clean edge finish. And then the aforementioned skirt drama struck and it took the wind out of my project-sails (no pun intended but welcomed!).

Eventually, after a fair few successful projects, I came back to this UFO. I unpicked the blue skirt and tried the bodice on with no skirt attached. I got my boss to mark on it an even and straight waistline, which I then recut as the new bottom edge of the bodice. Unfortunately that meant the waistline is a tad too high, even for me and I have a naturally very high waistline but that couldn't be helped. I then unpicked the side seam on the left side so a zip could be inserted. I snaffled some more of the red fabric (from an enormous roll at work) and made the full skirt, inserted the zip and hand-stitched the skirt hem: job done.

So, final analysis: overall I'm happy with it. The waistline is a tiny bit too hight, but that can be disguised fairly well by adding a belt. Adding the belt also helps to overcome the fact that it is too wide in the waist area. When I was cutting out the bodice pieces out, I added a bit extra to the side seams at the waist because my waist measurement was bigger than the measurement written on the envelope. The eventual largeness in the final garment's waist may be due to the fact that I've lost a few pounds after a horrendous stomach bug I had a few weeks ago (silver linings and all that...) or the newly-raised waistline sitting somewhere slightly different than intended, or because the fabric has a bit of stretch in it; I'm really not sure. But I'm sure as hell not going to do any more unpicking of this dress so cinching in the waist with a belt is what is going to happen. One more quibble is that the fabric is a bit itchy (which I should have known because it's the same fabric I used for the skirt of my Frida Kahlo dress) so I'll make sure to wear it with a vest and tights. My trial run on Saturday went ok, but when I teamed this dress with my Captain jacket, I looked very Japanese school girl! Ah well, you win some...

Simplicity Autumn/Winter 1958

2011-11-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

So back in July we had a group flick through my copy of the 1958 Spring/Summer Simplicity catalogue. Back in July, my main (sewing) concern seemed to be whether or not my arse is too big for playsuits. Four months later, the season where I wear all my clothes at once is fast approaching. Each Autumn (AKA, Fall) I endeavour that this approaching Winter will be the one where I figure out how to dress warmly AND stylishly. And then I get so cold that I pile everything on top of each other again and jettison that all sense of style as usual until April. Now we are in Autumn, and so far I flatter myself that I've been dressing most cohesively (for me) and with a retro flavour whilst out and about. Can even a scrap of this continue into Winter? Let's see how sexy home-sewers in 1958 rocked the chilly-season and look for clues of how to implement awesome retro elements whilst keeping toasty...

Let's start with a closer look at the incredible coat pictured on the front cover. I'm not entirely convinced by the starched trapeze-line of the coat's skirt part, but the gathered bust (who knew that was possible in thick wool?!), Peter Pan collar, grown-on 3/4 sleeves, self-covered buttons and self-bow detail and all making me feel a little faint. Those are basically all my favourite garment details, and here they are all piled on to the same garment. Yet somehow it doesn't look too cluttered or over-designed. Maybes this means I can be a bit more adventurous when conjuring up style ideas for potential garments. Maybes more is actually more!

Want. Want. Want. Want. etc etc... If you can look past the inherent sexism, racism, homophobia and the rest of it, the 1950's really were the days, weren't they?! When buttons like those pictured above were available in every city. As these illustrated laydeez are showing us, simple fuss-free garments provide the perfect canvas for successful fancy button-usage. I have a some fantastic buttons of this ilk in my stash, but I tend to have only one or maybe three of any kind. Need to spend some time figuring out how I can incorporate them into garments. Has anyone designed and made a garment, the initial starting point of which was the buttons, rather than the fabric or the pattern? I may try that as an experiment.

Confession time: I regularly, and for many years, have had a recurring day-dream about waking up in the 1950's and immediately go fabric shopping and get seriously decent quantities of incredible prints in their wild colours before time made them fade. But then I freak myself out with the possibility that, having bought the fabric, I am unable to leave the 1950's and get stuck there. The day-dream always stops at this point, but I guess I would go and try to convince my nan and grandad to let me live with them, and hang out with my mum even though she's only eight. Anyway, the fabric of this coat would definately be in the pile I'd buy. I'm surprised to see a coat in such a print actually: I thought that type of print would be reserved for furnishings, or cotton day dresses. Outerwear really doesn't need to be plain and boring. That double collar is a thing of wonder too, isn't it? Makes my mind reel with construction questions!

I know I spent a fair bit of time perving over boxy little jackets such as this whilst checking out the Spring/Summer catalogue, but this is such a beaut, it needed to be included in the Autumn/Winter highlights. I've long been a fan of the simple patch pocket, I added them onto my yellow jacket and my more recent Captain jacket, but I don't recall adding buttons to them as well. The gold buttons are a bit like my Captain jacket's though, aren't they?

This lovely lady is teaching us that you can go out on the razzle whilst keeping relatively warm. Who needs heaps of exposed flesh to look attractive? A well-fitting bodice in lovely fabric with a couple of well-considered details (like the self-bow here, how many have we seen in this catalogue now?) and accessories, and you can look really special. This dress above is inspiring me to try making a wiggle dress with 3/4 sleeves (like Evie's) and bow detail (like Casey's). Not that I need another 'going out' dress, but maybes if the right fabric comes along. I'd like to think I'd wear such a dress in the daytime, but I know that would never happen.

Um, HOW hot is that silver fox she's hanging with?! Agh! I can hardly take it. He's like Roger Stirling and Don Draper all rolled into one. Mmmm.... Oh wait, there's a dress in this picture too! Oh, and it has an amazing scallop neckline, elegant grown-on sleeves and a well-propertioned contrast bow detail. No wonder he's sticking around.

One thing I noticed about this catalogue is how many of the designs have features like Peter Pan collars and statement bows that many people today might consider trends for younger women and girls, but are worn by grown women in these images (as indicated my the dashing gentlemen accompanying them, who are definately not their dads!). I find that really interesting. So many of the styles prescribed for teenagers and 'sub-teens' during the 1950's effectively made them look like mini-adults. Yet here there is almost the reverse. Another thing is, it doesn't look properly cold in these images does it?! Did women really wear 3/4 sleeved coats and little gloves with inches of bare wrist-flesh during the coldest months? And fine sheer tights? Did they stay indoors between November and April? I wish I had that option, I'd get an awful lot of sewing done!

A Meeting of Minds: UK Discussion-Forum Needs YOU!

2011-11-02T00:43:00.000-07:00

Exciting announcement time!! Currently underway are plans for an awesome creative meet-up, the like of which may never have been witnessed in the UK before! And we need YOU to help make it the most fantastic, useful, engaging, thought-provoking, joy-inducing event it can be….

Tilly and I are planning to organise a discussion forum for people who make their own clothes. The online creative community is such an enriching and wonderful entity, but sometimes it’s good to talk face-to-face. We’ve loved chatting to people at the IRL sewing meet-ups that we’ve attended, but it can be difficult to discuss anything in depth when there is lovely fabric competing for our attention!

What would happen if the creative clothing DIY community in UK had the opportunity to meet en masse to talk? What would come from being able to have more in-depth discussions over a participant-directed range of topics and a larger scale than previous crafting meet-ups have achieved? Let’s find out!

Tilly and I are passionate about creating an event that is as democratic and user-led as possible. We are in the early stages of discussion about how to arrange and organise this, but we are certain that everybody should get the opportunity to shape the content of the discussion/s by submitting topics and everybody will get an opportunity to contribute to those discussions once underway. So, in this spirit, now is the perfect time to ask you for your input...

When will it be?
Spring 2012, date TBC, but probably a Saturday day time.

Where will it be?
London. We’re not trying to be metro-centric, it's just the easiest place to get to for most people.

Who is it aimed at?
Anyone who makes their own clothes - sewers, knitters, crocheters, refashioners... You don’t have to have to be a blogger or even read blogs regularly, but topics on blogging may feature.

How much will it cost to attend?
We're aiming to make it free to attend, although can't promise anything. We've got a few ideas about venues and potential sponsors, but if you have any thoughts or contacts we'd love to know.

Who will the speakers be?
You! Everyone! The idea behind the event is to involve everyone in the discussion, to share ideas as a group, rather than have "expert" panellists.

What will the topics of discussion be?
What do you want to discuss? We'd like you to help programme the event. Tell us what you want to discuss, and we'll pick the most popular issues. Just as some ideas to get you thinking, topics could include:
- What role does sewing/knitting play in your life?
- Is making your own clothes a passing trend or here to stay?
- What impact does making your own clothes have on the world?
- What draws you to read a blog/blog post?
- What's the future, where do you want this movement to go?

Will I get to learn about hemming techniques, bound buttonholes etc
No. This won't be a practical workshop, it will be all about thinking, talking, discussing.

Sounds like a genius idea! How can I help make this happen?
Why thank you! Please tell us:
1) Whether you think you'll attend, so we can get an idea of numbers for venues;
2) What burning issues you would like to discuss (remember: this is not about practical techniques);
3) If you have any genius ideas about venues, sponsors, anything else we may not have thought of that would make this event amazing...

Looking forward to reading your thoughts!

Zoe + Tilly xxx

Poker Top!

2011-10-28T09:21:00.000-07:00

An uncharacteristically short blog post from me today for two reasons: A) there isn't very much to tell you about this recent creation, and B) it's my birthday so I've got better things to be doing than spending ages staring at my laptop.

Seeing as how much I love my leopard collar batwing top, you couldn't be declared a genius for predicting that I'd make another top along the same lines. For this top I used the same pattern but gave it a slash neck, akin to the batwing dress I made for September's installment of the Poetry and Clothing project. This awesome printed fabric had been in my stash for about a month before I figured out this was to be its destiny. It's a sample length from a fabric printing company and I'm not sure it has been been finished properly as it's the wierdest, floppiest fabric that will get all mis-shapen if you so much as turn your back. Needless to say it was a 'challenge' to sew. Goodness knows what's going to happen when I wash this garment. It should be ok with lots of gentle coaxing back to shape with a warm iron.

I've already got a few wears from this top, the fabric was free and the whole thing was very quick to make, so if it does get mis-shapen beyond wearability, I won't be too upset. The star that shines half as long, shines twice as bright! I just have to make sure I wear this top to a poker game before meets its end...

Sew Over It

2011-10-26T11:15:00.000-07:00

The recent explosion of sewing classes and sewing cafes is an interesting phenomenon. I'm pleased to see a growing trend towards a DIY mentality and the increased desire to learn the skills our grandmothers relied on (if that is what this represents). I thought that maybe I could pick up a sewing-teaching gig at one of these places if I ever lost my job, and I enjoy looking at cute buttons and trims that they often sell as much as the next sewer, but I haven't really kept a close eye on the proliferation of these establishments.

However, I have recently been doing a bit of research because I've been brewing a plan to do a bit of sewing teaching in a different kind of environment and heard about Sew Over It through my enquiries. Based in Clapham, London, it seems to provide the best range of classes that I've seen, including mini-courses of around two hours focussing on specific skills like making button holes or inserting zips. I could see those being really useful for beginner-sewers who want to flesh out their skill-set without having to sign-up to make an entire blouse or skirt making course. They also run a mens' survival sewing class, which is SUCH a great idea. Plus, Sew Over It offers a drop-in option where you can use the space and machinery for £5 an hour and includes free tea and coffee. This is how I spent a chunk of last Sunday.

Normally, I wouldn't usually be interested in forking out to use a sewing space when I'm lucky enough to have that at work and home, but I was heading up to London to see Michelle (pictured above) and we've never really sewn/crafted together before AND she may be moving to that area and was pleased for the opportunity to explore a little more, so it all kind of made sense to go and pay Sew Over It a visit.

It is a nice place. It is very clean and pretty with lots of light. The downstairs area was being used for a class so we stayed upstairs which serves as the cafe, shop and drop-in sewing area. All around were examples of the garments and products that you can learn to make in their classes, or make at home using their pre-prepared kits and packs. IMO, the decor and feel of the place is pretty representative of the dominant aesthetic of current mainstream craft culture (Amy Bulter prints, teapots, cupcakes, you know). Which is fine. It's very feminine, cute and no-doubt inviting to many. But I do fear that this look puts off a some people who don't want to make things that are very girlie in style. And I'd be surprised if many guys turn up for their mens' survival sewing class and feel entirely comfortable sitting there surrounded by so much pink!This gripe isn't specific to Sew Over It: I'm just concerned how much experimentation and freedom to make mistakes you can feel in such a cute and pristine environment. I'm also worried that the message about using these skills to preserve your existing clothes and live more sustainably isn't really being put across when everything on display and for sale is brand new. They do offer a customisation class, but neatly sell 'customisation packs' with new lace embellishments and strings of pearls.

So, did I buy?! Yep. No I don't buy new fabric, but I do indulge in new patterns and notions from time to time. Sew Over It stock a decent selection of the newer Colette Patterns. I bought the Violet blouse pattern for Michelle for Christmas (don't worry about her reading this, she knows!) and the Clover trousers for myself. I've been eyeing this pattern up on the internet for a while, but with shipping from the US to UK, it was pricier than I could justify so I treated myself when I saw it for sale without the postage. And these leopard buttons! They are shell and so awesome that I'm sure they'd make the plainest garment special. I think I'll save them for when a thrifted solid colour cardigan comes my way and needs jazzing up.

So, what about you? Have you spent time in any sewing cafes? What was your overall experience? What did you like about it?

Poetry and Clothing Project: September

2011-10-24T12:40:00.000-07:00

One of the things I really like about this Poetry and Clothing project, is that it gives me a reason to create garments that aren't necessarily something I'd wear myself. You could say I am fairly limited in what I personally wear: generally I like a retro 50's/60's silhouette, prefer certain colours (navy, red, black, mustard), and have quite a low tolerance to garments without anchors. So making garments for other people, in this case my friend Harriet, is a good excuse for me to bring life to different ideas. It's another way for me to express myself, to have a kind of visual conversation about what I feel.

September's P&C garment is just such a piece. I'm really pleased with this batwing dress. The style is really cool: it's loose and casual yet slinky. The fabric is a jersey, super soft, very fine and ever-so-slightly sheer, so the overall effect is subtley sexy without being revealing. You could also get a fair bit of trans-season wear from it with wool tights and boots when Autumn comes 'a knocking. However, I can't take all the credit for the design: my boss developed a batwing top pattern inspired by an H&M garment she saw. Then I refined it a little and elongated it into a dress version.

As you can see, the fullness of the batwing is gathered into the sleeve sections. The whole thing was stitched together with an overlocker using really fine jersey needles in about 15mins. I then used a normal flatlock machine to turn up the hem and sleeve edges.

I also found a bit of tomato red poly/cotton twill from goodness-knows-when in my stash. I'd been messing around with the pattern that I made my navy capri's from, so thought I'd make Harriet a pair in red. Now, this was always going to be a long shot, making well-fitting trousers for someone who's in another country isn't the easiest task (spoiler alert: they didn't fit, but she's going to find a suitable recipient).

And on to the poetry side of the bargain. This one was written about the top I made and sent in August. Now, apparantly Harriet has recently developed a skin sensitivity to some synthetic fabrics, and unfortunately that includes whatever the hell that fabric is I used for her August top. Around that time, she was host to a French cyclist called Sylvie who was making a stop in Barcelona whilst on her way down to Morocco. After a long time spent cycling around, Sylvie was in need of a bit of freshen up and make over, so Harriet passed on a few garments she could no longer wear, including this top which Sylvie apparantly totally loves. She has promised to take a photo of herself wearing it when she reaches Morocco! It's sad that Harriet lost out on a top she thought was cute, but it's great a happy owner was found. I really love the idea of putting beautiful lovingly made garments out there for inspirational people to enjoy as they push boundaries and have an adventure!

Sylvie (August)

What makes one itch
makes two happy
we spent three days
talking about how two wheels
are better than four
scratching each other's itches.
She was so small
fit into five-year-old clothes.
She left on the 6th September
at seven in the morning
and before she left, we ate
cereal with dried fruits for breakfast.
At 9am I thought of her,
wearing a new top, then
wrapped inside her bivouac tent

And I will count the days that I have lost
against the ones that she will gain
and each time I look insdie
my moth-eaten wardrobe, I will imagine
all those bird-like white shapes
flying over a sea of mint green
and I am certain
that when I see her again
she will have grown

I'm sure it doesn't need to be said, but I LOVE this poem and I love this particular month in the project. It was an unexpected twist, the addition of another garment recipient, one who clearly left her mark. I really hope she does take that photo and sends it to us.

GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Vintage Vogue Winter Coat Pattern

2011-10-22T03:00:00.000-07:00

So, recently I've been chatting on about making outerwear to deal with the fast-approaching chilly-season. I made myself a little lined navy wool jacket, entitled Captain jacket, which I've already worn at least six times (thus proving my theory that it's totally worth the extra effort outerwear requires to sew for the extra wears you get out of them).

That little jacket brings my self-stitched outerwear total up to four: the yellow curtain jacket (unlined), the infamous leopard coat, Captain jacket (aforementioned) and the warmest of all, my midnight blue wool Winter coat. These garments all satisfy different needs in terms of weather and outfit combos, but I still have plans to make one or two more outerwear garments that I hope will last me several years.

In an attempt to create good karma for myself for my next two outwear garment projects, I am making a sacrifice to the gods of sewing. I am offering up the pattern I used for my wool coat last Winter. I had the idea to do this a few weeks ago, and Camelias and Crinolines excellent post recently reminded me how I feel about owning stuff (in particular, vintage sewing patterns) that I'm not going to use again that others could be enjoying instead so I have eventually got my arse in gear to rig up this giveaway.

If you like the look of this coat pattern you may need to over-look my moaning about how complex the construction of this garment was. I'm not going to lie to you, making this coat was a bit of a beast in terms of the persistance required, but I'm not the most patient of sewers and I must admit the outcome really was worth it.

So. This giveaway is for Vogue 7448 (undated but probably from around 1970) in Size 12 (Bust 34", Waist 36"). It is in used but good condition. I cut the pattern at the shortest length but carefully numbered and retained the lower sections so they can easily be stuck back on if you wish to make the longer versions. I only want to give this pattern to someone who will actually USE this it, so if you would like to enter, leave a comment below which will convince me that you actually would make this coat. Bonus points to the comments which make me laugh. I don't care if you live in Outer-Mongolia (what's the postage rate to send stuff there anyway?), this giveaway is open to all with no expense required. But LEAVE ME YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS in the comment unless I can find your email address within two mouse-clicks or less. I'm not trawling the internets to seek you out. The end date for this giveaway is midnight (GMT) Sunday 30th October. Good luck, sewers! xxx

Jogging top!

2011-10-20T11:12:00.000-07:00

What?! You didn't think I was the type to go jogging?! How dare you! I'll have you know that I am very much the type who kind of sometimes makes themselves feel guilty enough to find some old stretchy clothes and go for a jog. In fact, maybes you recall, that one of my aims for the duration of Self-Stitched-September '11 was to make myself at least one jogging appropriate garment and give it a test run before the end of the month. FAIL. I did start this jogging top during September, but the weather was so warm that I wouldn't have been able to wear something with long sleeves to go jogging before the month was up so I didn't see the point in rushing to get it done. I didn't want to make something with short sleeves, as I already have a couple of those to wear for jogging, hence making a variation that I don't already have.

But now it is finished. It's a basic long-sleeved T-shirt made from a pattern I developed yonks ago by tracing the shape of a favourite old T-shirt to get the right fit for the body, then using one of the patterns in Sew U: Home Stretch for the sleeve head and armhole shapes. If you are a stretch/jersey fabric virgin but fancy giving it a go, you really could do worse than get yourself a copy of that book, BTW (I'll pick up my commission later, Wendy!).

The most interesting feature of this top is the little pocket I made on the sleeve for my MP3 player. If I'm jogging during the summer (i.e. without a hoodie on) I rarely take my MP3 player out with me because I don't have anywhere to wedge it as I'm going along. I could of course make one of those arm strap MP3 holders, but A) I'm not too sure where I'd start, and B) my MP3 is really little and light, nothing like a big heavy i-pod, so a pocket on my garment would be more than adequate and far easier to construct.

This little pocket didn't require much effort. It's a bit bigger than the MP3 player (obviously) with a button hole inside it so I can thread the headphone wires through and up to the neck hole to keep the wires from getting in my way when I jog. I can't claim the button hole idea as my own, my boss came up with that stroke of genius.

The fabric is from the streetwear company Howies who, if I've got this right, are now owned by Timberland. Timberland have a relationship with Traid, the charity I work for, and often donate their garment samples and seconds for resale and de/reconstruction. We got sent rolls and rolls of this fabric in three colour ways to make into stuff for our range, TRAIDremade. The other two colour ways were vile so we sent those to be recycled. Meanwhile we have about 40 metres of this stuff! We created a fair few garments for the range out of it, but there's only so many garments you can make from exactly the same fabric and manage to make them look different. So now I am making personal projects from this stuff: vests, pants, baby trousers, this jogging top...... I may make some pyjamas too. I think the print is quite cute. And if you substitute the TV for a laptop, which the fabric is telling me to switch off in favour of donning my running shoes, I can see some relevance!

Overall, it's a pretty good top that I hope will serve me well when the weather is too chilly for going out in short sleeves but too cold for a hoodie, OR when it's so chilly I need a long-sleeved top AND a hoodie. Either way, I'm ready. I must admit, the sleeves are a bit short and the neck hole could be a little wider, but neither would prevent me from enjoying wearing this top. And no, I haven't tested it yet. I will at the weekend, promise!

Homemade Vs. Mass-Produced: Final Showdown

2011-10-17T12:40:00.001-07:00

Do you want to know something that really saddens me? When creative people put lots of effort, time and energy into making their own clothes, then compare those clothes unfavourably with mass-produced garments made in a factory then feel pretty rubbish about their work. And do you want to know something that seriously pisses me off? Well, it's the other side of the same coin really. But what pisses me off is the attitude that so many of the general public hold that home-made garments (and yes, for the purposes of this post I am going to refer to our creations as homemade because, let's face it, they are made at home) are inferior to factory made clothes without really being able to express why. I would argue that so many unthinking people who have adopted this view are actually the recipients of a lot of brainwashing delivered through a couple of generations worth of advertising. That advertising has been designed to train us into rabid consumers, perpetually several purchases away from happiness. I want to spend a bit of time today explaining why I feel homemade garments are just as good, if not far better, than mass-produced garments.

Ok. I would really like to talk to some teenagers about where they think those sweatshirts in Nike Town come from and how they actually got into the shop. I think the responses would be pretty funny if, in fact, they were able to offer more than a shrug and a confused expression. Garments aren't popped out of a factory fully formed, kids. Garments, whether made in a factory in Asia or on your mum's kitchen table all start life as a bunch of fabric, some reels of thread, and any other things like zips or toggles that are needed for the final product. The differences between those two scenerios is quantity (1000's of metres of fabric or 2 metres of fabric, for example), quality (the stuff on the kitchen table is likely to be better) and cost (the fabric, thread and notions on the kitchen table will be many times more expensive).

Creating a garment is simply a series of procedures. Cutting out the pattern pieces, stitching seams, pressing sections, applying interfacing: all procedures that must occur for a garment to come into being. The difference between a homemade garment and a factory made one is that at home, usually it's just one pair of hands that completes those procedures, and a factory it's tens or even hundreds of pairs of hands that each complete a procedure. Which follows...

....the maker of the homemade garment is usually more highly skilled than many of those pairs of hands in that factory. At home, he/she making a garment must figure out how to complete each step and in what order to do them. Most garment factory workers are classed as unskilled as they usually perform one repetative task day in day out. This is sadly one of the reasons many are exploited around the globe, but that is a whole area I'll go into more directly another day.

If you've ever spent time unpicking mass-produced garments, you'll often find they have been constructed in a way that is different to how you would approach constructing a similar garment. That doesn't make your approach in any way inferior. A factory's methods of construction and order of each proceedure has been calculated to save the company time, and therefore money. It doesn't make those garments any sturdier or destined for longer life. The order of construction most of us home sewers are likely to employ are also much more likely to facilitate alteration if needed at a later date. Similarly, seam allowances in mass-produced garments are often 1cm (3/5 "), rather than the 1.5cms (5/8") we often work with at home, simply to allow for tighter lay plans (when all the pieces are fitted together like a jigsaw in the most economic way) and therefore to save on overall fabric usage.

Possibly the main reason mass produced clothing can sometimes have a slightly crisper appearance to homemade clothing, is that the factory has all manner of machinery home sewers don't have access to. And because of the quantities in question, it is worth their while to employ technicians to tweak those machines so each procedure is completed with maximum efficiency. For example, there will be machines that have been set up to work perfectly with chiffon, because that is probably all that machine will sew all year. It doesn't need to work on denim the following week, or shirting the week after, like our hardworking domestic machines. And as nice as that brand new, ultra-crisp look can be, we all know that it doesn't last the first go through the laundry.

Little known fact about me: my parents used to regularly take the mick out of me for always smelling stuff when I was young. I think I may rely on that sense more than most people do, so believe me when I say that I enjoy the 'box-fresh' smell of a brand new mass-produced garment. Why do they have that smell? Because mass produced garments are made from new fabric which has not been washed before going into production. It would be viewed as an unnecessary cost. Almost all fabric is tested before going into production, the percentage a garment is likely to shrink by after washing due to the fabric is calculated and factored into the pattern. Homemade garments don't really have that 'box-fresh' smell because the fabric hasn't come directly from the fabric manufacturers and most home sewers pre-wash their fabric before starting (hands up who learnt that lesson the hard way?!).

Many (I hesitate to write 'most' because I don't know for sure) suppliers of high street fashion knowingly create clothes from cheap fabric that has performed poorly in the legally required testing. Fabric is tested by independent companies and can be tested for many things, but there are about four specifics tests it must be put through, however the scores it needs to achieve in those are actually really low to be deemed acceptable for commercial garments. Many suppliers are fully aware, but do not care, that the garments they produce will not retain anything like their original appearance five or ten washes later. Most home sewers, by contrast, go out of their way to pick good quality fabric to invest their sewing time and effort into for a final garment (as opposed to a toile/muslin).

Talking of cheap fabric. Many high street suppliers will also rely heavily on using fabric with a very big lycra/elastane content for garments that are meant to be woven but close fitting, like sheath dresses or tighter trousers. This way they can create an acceptable fit for a wider range of customer body shapes. But home sewers do not need to rely on super-stretchy fabric or hoping their measurements fit the manufacturer's standards (which most people don't). Even relatively inexperienced home sewers can create garments with a superior fit to much of what is on offer on the high street.

Most retailers will order garments from their suppliers in quantities of 1000's or 10,000's. Which makes the likelihood of seeing someone else wearing 'your' top pretty high. When was the last time you walked into a cafe and felt embarrassed because another woman was wearing a Simplicity 3835 as well?!

I could go on, I really could, but I need some sleep. If anyone still feels less than proud of their homemade clothing, then they are crazy and I can't help them.

Massive love to everyone who has invested their time and creativity into making their own clothing. You look incredibly hot, BTW!

Captain Jacket

2011-10-15T09:05:00.000-07:00

Alrightly peops!!! Time to fill you in on the creation I hinted at during my recent outerwear pattern inventory. As I discussed during that post, I view any time spent sewing outerwear as time well spent. For example, since completing my 'final' skirt, I've worn it approx. three times. Since rediscovering my yellow jacket about a year ago, I'd estimate I've worn it eighty times. The jacket probably took twice the length of time to make as that skirt, but in that case, the jacket is still seventy four wears up!

Of course, the more outerwear I have, the fewer times each jacket or coat will see action, but the less they see action, the longer each garment will last (are you following my logic there?!). Plus I felt a void in my wardrobe for a lined jacket (warmer than the yellow jacket) that would look good with trousers/jeans (unlike my leopard coat which looks far better when worn with skirts). My vision was for a boxy style with nautical stylings so I reached for Built by Wendy/Simplicity 4109 (pictured above). I used this pattern for my yellow jacket, and although I felt I made a size too large, I was generally really happy with the fit and proportions. Also, this pattern has no bust darts or waist shaping, so I thought it would give me the boxy, slightly androgynous silhouette I was after.

This pattern has two body length options and two sleeve style options. I went for the shorter body length and used the straight sleeve but altered those to a 'bracelet length' (i.e, slightly longer than 3/4 length) which I hoped would keep the final jacket on the right side of cute and feminine than if I'd kept them full length. The biggest challenge was making a lined jacket from a pattern designed to be unlined. I altered the back neck facing, drafted sleeve hem facings and drafted a full lining pattern. I didn't really know what I was doing to be honest, just applied logic and took my time (this whole project took about a month's worth of lunch hour-sewing sessions) but aside from totally fluffing the insertion of the lining at the hem, the lining looks really good and seems to have the correct amount of ease.

You'll be pleased to know that this whole project came from the depths of my stash, nothing was bought specifically for this project to come to life. The navy wool AND navy poly/sateen lining fabric had been lurking for about four/five years. I think I received them when the mum of an old flatmate of mine decided she didn't want to do sewing any more (whatever, mistaken lady! but thanks). The braid came for the Selvedge magazine stall at the MADE 10 fair last year. Scruffy Badger's lovely sailor jacket reminded me that I had this braid squirrelled away and inspired me to use it in a similar vein, thanks talented lady! The plastic anchor buttons were purchased during the Brighton meetup and fabric swap I organised back in June.

I only had enough of the stripey braid to apply two rows to the sleeves and one row along the top of the patch pockets. If I'd had a bit more, I might have added some to the collar but think it's fine as it is. During construction, after I applied the braid to the sleeves but before I'd finished it all up and added the buttons, I tried it on and it looked suspiciously like something an airline pilot might wear! Which is why I've called it the Captain jacket, as 'Captain' could refer to a pilot AND or the captain of a ship! Oh, how I laugh! (Please note: sarcasm present in that last sentence.)

Today was a bright but chilly Autumnal day. The jacket performed really well when we went for a wander around sunny Brighton. Definately warmer than my yellow jacket, and far less attention seeking! But I doubt my A/W '11 forays in to outerwear end here. I think having a few jacket/coat options to reach for will cheer me up when it's chilly, cold and/or gloomy outside. The success of the Captain jacket is motivating me to make another jacket or coat this year, but the time it's taken puts me off from doing it before attacking a few simpler and quicker projects in the meantime. I'm thinking of getting a second-hand copy of this book to fill in the evident glaring gaps in my knowledge of linings before I attempt any more as well. Are you making any jackets or coats at the moment or do you have any planned for this season?

'Sew Your Own' by John-Paul Flintoff

2011-10-13T01:24:00.000-07:00

‘Sew Your Own’ is a sewing book with a difference. Aside from the glaring fact that it’s written by a dude (let’s be honest, you don’t have to spend too long on Amazon to see that that is a rarity). This book is about why we, or at least some people, engage in sewing, crocheting, knitting and DIY activities in general. And I’m so excited to see sewing-related books like this creeping in, compared to another book on how to do bound buttonholes, make a basic A-line skirt or spruce up your old tops with some crocheted flowers. Those types of books have their place, don’t get me wrong: they aim to arm the reader with some techniques and practical tips to give them enough confidence to give creating stuff a whirl. However, ‘Sew Your Own’ is about the emotional and intellectual journey that led one person to seek out those techniques and tips in the first place.

In this book (originally published under the title ‘Through the Eye of a Needle’), Mr Flintoff shows us why he felt it was worth altering his way of living and interacting with his physical environment. A lot of his inspiration for doing so comes from the many interesting and diverse people he meets and the array of issues he combats in his job as a feature writer for a major British newspaper. I can’t think of any other craft-related books that discuss Buddhism, Victorian industrial production, Peak Oil, feminism, children’s haircuts, voter apathy and refuse collection!

He flags up climate change issues, flaws in our global financial and political systems, the need to relearn long-forgotten practical skills and feel pride in our handiwork, so he’s already preaching to this particular choir. But he manages to do so in such a personable and non-preachy way, largely by filling the book with personal, sweet and thought-provoking anecdotes, that I think most readers would struggle not to be engaged.

Personally, now I’ve read this book I see it as a tool to help me convey to my friends and relatives many of my own motivations. AND explain to them the purpose and relevance of what I do at work, as the charity I work for (TRAID) gets a fair few mentions along the way.

Maybe you sew (or do any craft) for purely relaxation reasons. Maybe related wider issues are of no concern to you. But if they are in any way, I would recommend getting hold of a copy of this book. I’d be surprised if there was nothing you found in it which touched you.

Lace Yoke Sweatshirt Remake

2011-10-11T07:31:00.001-07:00

Alright Autumn, I'm ready for you! You can bring on the chilliness now because I've got a cute, cosy little sweatshirt remake lined up.

This started life as a big, stained, unloved and unwanted dude's sweatshirt that we received at work. Usually, if a garment has a stain or mark on it, we'll just use the back and sleeves (if the stain is on the front, of course) and try to match it up with another garment of the same shade to create something new. However, this one was a slightly darker shade of grey marl than most, so I couldn't really see it being used in the usual way so I adopted it for my own ends and took it home to wash out the stain.

Happily is washed up well, so once dried it got the scissor treatment. I cut along the side seams and removed the sleeves. I harvested the neck binding and cut along the shoulder seams. I placed my front and back pattern pieces so the bottom edges married up with the lower edge of the ribbing. I also cut the sleeves to retain the cuff ribbing and left the sleeve seam intact. I wanted the new sleeves to be 3/4 length, seeing as I usually yank up longer sleeves on tops anyhow.

I took a length of wide lace and applied it to the yoke area of the front piece. I carefully stitched around the edge of the lace, making sure the stitching would fall within the seam allowance of all the edges that would be joined to another piece. Then I constructed the whole sweatshirt reusing the original neck binding using an overlocker. As you can see, the sleeveheads have a gathered effect by easing in the excess into the armhole as I inserted the sleeves.

I'm massively loving this little sweatshirt. I made some navy blue versions for work, but I prefer my grey marl one. I really don't need any more navy blue garments in my wardrobe. Or do I?!

UPDATE: I've just discovered that the navy blue ones I made for work are available here:
http://traidremade.myshopify.com/products/lace-sweater
Please note that those ones have 1/2 length sleeves (not 3/4 length sleeves like my grey marl one.

Poetry and Clothing Project: August

2011-10-09T00:21:00.000-07:00

Oh lordy, do I have some catching up to do?! Here I am in chilly, rainy October thinking about garments I made for Harriet back in summer. So, to recap, July's installment of the P&C project consisted of a vintage floral linen skirt and the infamous red swing linen swing trousers, the later being the subject of Harriet's most recent poem which I will share with you shortly.

In the meantime, allow me to show you how I kept my side of the bargain for this project a couple of months ago. August's garment started life as a remnant of fabric (pictured above) that I found in a dustbin bag at work heading to be pulped with a load of other scraps of unwanted fabric. It's some sort of synthetic or synthetic/cotton blend but has the feel and handle of light weight cotton. It's mint green with a nice white paintbrush effect printed design, it reminds me pretty hard of some summer dresses my mum made me in the mid-80's. The fabric looked like it had once formed a section of a dress or skirt that had since been shortened or hacked up at some point. Since the previous package contained only 'bottoms', sending Harriet a sweet summer blouse for August seemed like a plan.

No prizes for guessing what pattern I used for this top!!! Yep, that's right, it's good old Simplicity 3835 (can you believe that they are no longer printing that pattern?! It's such a good pattern for beginners). This is probably the ga-zillionth garment I've made straight or adapted from this pattern. It's a great pattern for light weight fabric like this, and pretty economical fabric-wise too.

To make it's basic form a little more interesting, I included a couple of features I've applied in the past when making things from this pattern. At the back I added a cheeky key hole, the edge of which is bound in self-bias binding. On the front I added two tiny pockets using the same tiny pocket pattern I developed for this version.

Now it's time to take a look at the poem Harriet wrote in response to July's package. She wrote this during her epic cycling trip from Toulouse to Venice and around Greece.

July (Red Trousers)

They are reminiscent of my grandmother,
both of them in fact.

The one: high waist and slim legs
The other: the way she walked as she grew older,
in printed polyester and the way such love weighed her down.

I've no use for red trousers right now -
I'm all lycra and sleeveless vests
little drops of sweat drizzling into shiny spokes
new wheels whizzing along ancient roads.

Still, the vague notion of my grandmothers
creeps in from time to time and penetrates
the day with a sense of thread
tying them to me, stitching this experience
to something they perhaps dreamt of -
a pattern of a fantasy filed
on a shelf but never sewn.

Likewise, I sometimes see the red trousers
strolling towards me across rice fields, pines,
wading through fast running streams,
flagging up some future fantasy
so far unfathomable

or caught in the bottomless sky
like a bright scrap of home.

I think it's so lovely that those trousers have triggered memories of distant grandmothers, in lands that are so far in space and time from the grandmothers' realities of life when they were Harriet's age. It reminds me how lucky we are now, or conversely how unlucky they were, to not have the choices open to them that women like Harriet and I have open to us today. The poem reminds me to take those opportunities with both hands. Not just to travel, because that often has its own set of debates attached to it these days, with the approaching reality of Peak Oil (which I am feeling a bit guilty about right now, having just returned from four days in Istanbul. But to make choices about how to live your life in a way that is most authentic to you, not to let time whizz by like the passing scenery.

SSS '11: Days 29 & 30 THE END!!!!!

2011-10-01T01:23:00.000-07:00

'Tis the final installment in this month of self-stitched craziness. Thanks so mucb to anyone who has followed my progress this month, however vaguely. And MASSIVE thanks to those how left comments along the way, the support is supremely appreciated.

Day 29:

What I wore:

Me-made stripey boat neck T-shirt, navy sateen skirt and pants. Thrifted red cardi occurred briefly but it was far too hot (in the temperature sense!). I FINALLY cut off the anchor buttons I'd stitched to the shoulders of this top, they were just too painful when carrying a heavy shoulder bag, which I do everyday.

Thoughts:

So on Day 29 my boss and I travelled to deepest North London to visit the warehouse where all the donated textiles and crap get sorted and processed for the charity we work for. It was a fascinating day and I'll probably blog about the process in the future so won't go into it here. Anyways, whilst we were there we had to sorted through crates and boxes of fabric that had been donated to figure out what we could use and what we couldn't. I cannot understate how dusty and dirty the environment in that warehouse it, plus it was a scorcher so I got really sweaty (hmmm, nice!). Seriously, I haven't felt that clammy since leaving Spain! Anyways, we had a staff social event to attend after so I changed my top:

I am now wearing my tie-collar shirt blouse with the same skirt. Sorry for the ridiculous photo, it was all the documenting I could manage at 11pm on the train home!

Day 30:

What I wore:

For the final day I decided to evoke the spirit of Frida in my Frida Kahlo dress (plus me-made pants and thrifted red cardi, of course).

Thoughts:

I really don't wear this dress very often, I think this was only it's third outting. It takes an extra slice of 'I don't care if anyone stares at my dress' determination which is sometimes difficult to muster first thing in the morning. Even my boss temporarily loses her sense of liberalism and eyes it questioningly when I wander in wearing it. But it is so much fun to wear so it will see more action that is currently does.

So there we go! Another me-made/self-stitched month has whizzed by almost before I've got a handle on the fact it's even begun. Once again, the Flickr group has been an absolute joy to witness. So many lovely people sharing their inspirational outfits and fascinating snapshots into their diverse lives. Plus so much support for each other, honestly, if I could bottle that and distribute it, we could end war with the stuff!!! The Facebook group was also a surprise success. To be honest, I didn't get to spend much time there personally, but it's obvious that many preferred that format for participating in this challenge, so having those options was great. I did see some really beautiful images over there that weren't on the Flickr group and vice versa.

There is little I can say about this challenge from a community perspective that I haven't said before in summary to the previous me-made and self-stitched months. It really is so heartening to see people wearing their creations, being proud of them and themselves, looking incredible and showing their individual personalities. I take my hat off to them all and hope that they have got a lot from the experience as I'm sure those following their progress, such as myself, also have.

From a personal view point, it's been an interesting month. One year ago, I participated in Self-Stitched-September '10 with a skeleton wardrobe and under trying circumstances. A year on I am personally more stable and have a year's worth of additional self-stitched garments that I feel reflect me pretty well in this stage of my life. This month I have had a lot more ammunition to work with so I challenged myself to wear a different outfit/combo of garms each day to get me out of my rut of usually reaching for the tried and tested outfits each morning. I succeeded in this element of my personal challenge and in the process learnt a lot about what goes together and what doesn't, plus I've got the body of 30 photos to squeeze out any more of those lessons which may still need absorbing. In fact, I reckon I could keep going creating new combinations of clothing for a couple of weeks if I tried. I also have two dresses that I didn't get round to wearing because the weather really warmed up during the last week.

I made a couple of new garments for myself during the challenge, including a new jacket which I have yet to wear and photograph because of the recent heat wave. Watch this space for that, I'll get some photos today. But thing I failed to do that I said I would at the beginning of this challenge was to make a garment to wear whilst jogging and to use it before the month was out. I have cut it out and am in the process of constructing a long-sleeved running top with snazzy special pocket detail. I could have rushed and got it finished before the month was out, but this warm weather would was prevented me wearing it, so there seemed little point in that.

What else can I say? Well, I can address the future of these challenges I guess. As I said previously, SSS '11 was the last me-made self-stitched challenge I'll be hosting this year. The end of the year always seems to snowball with so much going on and I wouldn't want to host something I couldn't devote enough time and effort to. The three challenges I've hosted this year (Me-Made-March '11, Me-Made-June '11 and Self-Stitched-September '11) all had their different flavours which was due to the different weather going on in various countries for those months, and the different collectives of participants who signed up for the different challenges. It's not set in stone, but for next year I'm currently erring towards hosting just one challenge. Just think, all that awesomeness condensed into one incredible month?! I know whatever month I pick it won't be everyone's 'favourite' but I really can't help that. I'm thinking May. One giant Me-Made-May '12. If anyone is thinking of participating next year, there would be only one chance to stand up to be challenged. I think it could be the stuff legends are made from!

SSS '11: Days 26, 27 & 28

2011-09-28T13:08:00.000-07:00

Day 26:

What I wore:

Me-made ship shape blouse, red Beignet skirt and pants. Thrifted cardi and the most awesome tattoo print tights known to man. Some sort of me-made jacket or coat probably got worn on Day 26 too, but I can't remember which.

Thoughts:

Too much red? How much red it too much red? Do I look like I work for the company whose corporate colour is red? AGH!!!!!!! I just don't have the answers.

Day 27:

What I wore:

Me-made black sailor trousers, stripey T-shirt and pants. Also worn today was my A-mazing new jacket which I have yet to properly unveil. Watch this space...

Thoughts:

You are going to flip when you see my new jacket. Bet you can't guess what the predominant them of it is?!

Day 28:

What I wore:

Me-made vintage bandstands-in-the-undergrowth fabric skirt, black stretch top, Saint cardigan and pants. NO COAT OR JACKET WAS WORN TODAY BECAUSE THE UK IS HAVING A LAST-MINUTE SUMMER!

Thoughts:

Did I mention it was warm today? Not that you'd notice in my drafty work studio, but it made the walk to and from work nice.

Floral Wedding Wiggle

2011-09-26T12:29:00.000-07:00

Ok, so here's what's happening today. I'm going to show you a dress that I finished weeks ago but have been waiting to get hold of the pics which were on Patty's camera. This dress was made to wear at the wedding of one of Patty's sisters. It was one of those occassions when the pattern and fabric appeared to me together like an apparition, I was given little choice but to go ahead and get the damn thing made!

I made it using one of those re-pro patterns, Butterick 6582 in this case, which I'd got hold sent from the US earlier this year. So, what's the deal with these re-pro patterns? Are they meant to be exact reprints? Or have they been adjusted to accommodate a more modern figure, by lowering the bust darts, for example? I couldn't really tell from this one as it gets its bust shaping from shoulder gathers instead of bust darts, and there seemed little in the way of other clues to go on.

Well, I think I was made aware of this pattern over on Sew Retro, but I'd only seen people make the full-skirted version (view C). I can't really understand that as the wiggle versions look so hot! The fabric is a lovely cotton sateen with a decent stretch content which makes the dress far more wearable than I imagine it would have been if I'd made it in 1960 with only non-stretch wovens at my disposal. It has a retro-y mid-century style paint effect cabbage rose design in magenta and turquoise. I saw this fabric last year in a fabric shop in Leigh in Essex with my mum. As you may know, I don't buy new fabric when I can help it so pawed at the roll for a bit and walked away. My lovely clever mum clocked my fabric-love and went back and bought me a couple of metres which she gave me for my birthday last October, bless!

Now, I decided to make life easy on myself and cut out the need to make a toile. I frankenstein'd this pattern with the one I made my coral dress and leopard rockabilly dress from. When I made that first coral version, I'd taken a lot of time to get the fit perfect and even found the motivation to transfer those markings back onto the pattern for future ease. It seemed silly to disregard that hard work. However, the frankensteining process wasn't as easy as I'd imagined it would be as the shoulder points and waistlines of the two patterns didn't tally up particularly well. I fudged it a bit then added a bit extra to the side seams to allow for any early-middle age spread that may have occurred over the last couple of years, and called the job a good 'un.

The construction process as dictated by the instructions bothered me somewhat, but I didn't have the time to spend on figuring out an alternative. In the end, I decided their way was actually pretty good, though I did the facings/zip insertion differently than instructed. (I'm such a rebel.)

A mid-way fitting proved that I needed to remove much of the extra width I'd added around the bum and hip area (woo hoo!). So with that skimmed off again, I finished it up. In general, I'm really happy with the outcome, however there are two inperfections that might niggle me if I were to let them. The first is that the 'V' of the cross over at the centre front isn't quite perfectly central. The second is that the fabric I used was a bit too heavy for the gathered shoulder detail. If I'd felt I needed a third from the same pattern, I might have done better to use this fabric with the original coral/leopard rockabilly dresses pattern to keep the fabric smooth. But I do think making another of those would have been pretty boring (actually I made another one of those this year for someone else, so it would have been my fourth) and the print disguises the shoulder imperfections.

What's left to do but DANCE??!!!!!!!!!!!!

SSS '11: Days 23, 24 & 25

2011-09-25T08:06:00.000-07:00

Day 23:

What I wore:

Me-make denim sailor trousers, corazones rockabilly blouse, vest and pants. Cardi is thrifted and Swallow jacket aided my passage to work in the morning (my yellow jacket is in the wash due to an unfortunate smoked salmon-related incident).

Thoughts:

I forgot about this blouse! Seriously, you get a whole extra season's use of things when you wear a vest under them, don't you?!

Day 24:

What I wore:

Me-made Jenny pencil skirt, leopard collar batwing top, vest and pants. My secondhand mustard cardi kept away the chills from time to time.

Thoughts:

This is the outfit I wore to 'play shops' when I manned the Handmade Co-op shop for most of the day. LOVE this batwing top, the slinky fabric feels so nice and the wide neckline shows off my décolletage.

Day 25:

What I wore:

Me-made denim sailor trousers, cotton top and pants. I'll probably add a cardigan or jacket when I go to the cinema later.

Thoughts:

The last couple of weeks have felt distinctly autumnal, but apparantly there's an Indian Summer heat wave due for next week. Today certainly felt unseasonally warm, I'm not even wearing a vest!

Brighton Craftaganza: Update!

2011-09-24T08:14:00.000-07:00

Lydia Crook

For a year now, give or take, I’ve been one of the organisers of Brighton Craftaganza. Our main activity is hosting craft markets in a fantastic central-Brighton location where local crafters/designer-makers can sell their wares and promote themselves and their work. Recently we have been venturing into other areas to support the local creative talent. For example, in conjunction with the Handmade Co-op shop, we hosted the recent ‘Sales for People who Hate Selling’ symposium for which we invited a couple of experts trained in the dark arts of sales techniques to share the specific parts of knowledge that could be applicable to a face-to-face sales situation like a craft market.

Amanda Tree Carrot

Although more of an experiment than anything, this event proved a great success and we had some excellent feedback from the crafts people and designer-makers who were in attendance. We have more events like this in the pipe-line, all of which are very exciting, but our main order of business is the craft markets themselves.

Cuttlefishlove

Our maiden Brighton Craftaganza craft market happened in March and it was soooo much fun, as well as pretty successful from most of the sellers’ points of view. Due to the popularity of the venue we've been forced to hold fire for much of the rest of this year until availability allows us to hold another. The second Brighton Craftaganza coincides nicely with the festive season and will happen on Saturday 10th December at Fabrica on the corner of Duke Street and Ship Street. If you are lucky (?) enough to live in or be visiting the South of England at that time, you could do worse than pop down to Brighton on that day and pay us a visit. We have already allocated all our stalls to over thirty carefully selected locally based designer-makers. It’ll be a fantastic opportunity to pick up some truly unique hand-crafted Christmas gifts that have been made with love. Craftaganza will provide an oasis of creativity and in a sea of bland high street ubiquity!

Little Things I Make

When choosing which of the many applicants to offer a stall to, we reminded ourselves of our original manifesto: to represent the spectrum of ‘craft’ and to show that handmade products are just as good as, and most often far better than, their mass-produced equivalents. By ‘spectrum of craft’ I mean everything from the type of products you might expect to see at a traditional craft fair right through to really avant-garde contemporary work and everything in between. I find it really encouraging to see patchwork cushions selling alongside quirky illustrated T-shirts. I love that balance, plus it engenders a supportive and inclusive environment in which to try and sell your handmade products.

Mary Fellows

The variety of work that we represent is really what sets Brighton Craftaganza aside from the other art and craft markets in this area. The nature of production methods is such that handmade products provide a variety as well as uniqueness that you just can’t find in the high street shops. But to represent this variety in the best possible light, we offer stalls to those creating excellent quality as well as distinctly original work.

Lizzie Lock

With over thirty sellers who will have their work on sale on December 10th, it’s really difficult to pick just a few of them to feature in this post. But these are a selection of what you can expect should you be able to make to the Christmas Craftaganza. Hope to see you there!

SSS '11: Days 20, 21 & 22

2011-09-22T13:12:00.000-07:00

Day 20:

What I wore:

Me-make African wax fabric Anda dress, vest and pants. The cardi is secondhand and my me-made leopard coat was also worn.

Thoughts:

I have had this dress for oh so very long, I can't look at it objectively. I'm not sure it's particularly flattering but we are kind of like family now, me and this dress. We've been through so much!

Day 21:

What I wore:

Me-made black sailor trousers, leopard collar batwing top, vest and pants. Second-hand mustard cardi again (can you tell my red one is in the wash?!) and me-made swallow jacket for my journey to work and later in the evening.

Thoughts:

I'm falling pretty hard for this batwing top. I am being forced to rethink my usually avoidance of drapey jersey, it feels so nice to wear! I'm plotting another top from this pattern now. Oh, and in case you were wondering why I'm stuffing a sandwich into my face in this photo, it's for the Flickr group's Wednesday mini-photo challenge. This week was eating/drinking. I love how vacant my expression is!

Day 22:

What I wore:

Me-made vintage fabric skirt, black stretch top, Saint cardigan, vest and pants. Me-made swallow cardi got squeezed on on top of all those layers too.

Thoughts:

That's some serious layering there, which kept me from feeling chilly though made me feel pretty padded up!

Leopard Collar Batwing Top

2011-09-20T12:25:00.000-07:00

In the absense of a clever name for this garment, I've gone with a 'does what it says on the tin' type of title today. But hush now, it's sleeping. As I type now, this garment is mere hours old.

I developed this pattern yesterday morning as soon as I got into work, which is a very uncharacteristically proactive move for me on any morning, let alone a Monday morning. But to be honest, I'd been making batwing dresses and tops similar to this all last week so I already had an existing pattern as a starting point. I decided our range might benefit from the addition of a less extreme batwing shape for jersey with a contrast woven collar. My thinking being that a slimmer batwing might be more accommodating for wearing other garments on top of it, and contrast collars are absolutely everywhere in high street shops at the moment. Oh, and they are easy and relatively quick to make.

So the batch I made yesterday used various lengths of stretchy lace donated from a fabric manufacturer for the body and plain dove grey cotton for the collar. Today's batch, in case you can't guess, were made from various qualities of drapey black jersey from the same manufacturer source with leopard printed cotton twill that I'd squirrelled away since the summer for the collars.

As I may have mentioned in the past, I am allowed from time to time, if materials are sufficiently sufficient, to cut out an one of whatever I'm making for myself. I haven't made myself anything from our range for ages and this style appealed to me for a few different reasons. The silhouette and overall type of garment is something of a departure for me. I'd been thinking for a while about making myself a new jersey top but hadn't come up with an idea for anything other than a mild variation on something I already have. As I've wittered about before, I'm a massive fan of mid-Twentieth century kimono sleeve styles and this batwing top is kind of a distant cousin of those styles.

The issue that has always put me off batwing styles before is the whole difficulty with layering other garments over the top of them. I often feel cold so I'm a massive fan of the humble cardigan, I'm hoping that this higher underarm curve will allow for some looser cardigans to fit over the top.

During my mid-twenties, I had a couple of tops made from drapey jersey like the stuff I've used here. I wore them to death as they felt so nice but I've never really had access to this type of stuff in pure fabric form, nor a clue of what to do with it. In my more recent past, I tended to avoid drapey stuff that might disguise my curves, but this design has just a little drapery around the arms and is fairly figure hugging where it counts.

I like this collar because it's a bit of a diversion from the rounded Peter Pan shape which I feel I have already had the last word on with my exaggerated collar sweat shirt remake! Plus I have made so many garments with rounded Peter Pan collars in the last year that it's getting silly. BTW, does anyone have an idea of what this shape of collar is called? Is it a notched collar or something? My pattern cutting book has failed to provide an answer. Oh, and you well know my thoughts on leopard print.

SSS '11: Days 17, 18 & 19

2011-09-19T12:10:00.000-07:00

Day 17:

What I wore:

Me-made black sailor trousers, Sailor Sencha blouse and pants. Thrifted red cardi (bored of this one yet?) and me-made yellow jacket for much of the day.

Thoughts:

Nothing of interest.

Day 18:

What I wore:

Me-made black sailor trousers, long-sleeved stripey T-shirt and pants (plus the ubiquitous thrifted red cardi). When my me-made yellow jacket failed to protect me from another day of rain, I resorted to spending much of the day consuming coffee and cake indoors. Problem solved.

Thoughts:

I spent the weekend visiting my mate in Bristol, so to travel light, my outfits for days 17 & 18 are almost the same except for the tops. Thus, I was still adhereing to my plan to wear a different outfit each day throughout September.

Day 19:

What I wore:

Me-made navy sateen skirt, bustier line T-shirt and pants. The cardigan is second-hand and my me-made leopard coat escorted me to and from work.

Thoughts:

Love my new red tights. I feel a breath of colour has just wafted into my wardrobe! They have provided me with an added impulse to keep finding new garment combo's to keep this challenge interesting and useful for me by discovering more variety within my existing clothing.

SSS '11: Days 14, 15 & 16

2011-09-16T12:55:00.000-07:00

Day 14:

What I wore:

Me-made navy capris, long-sleeved leopard top and pants. My me-made yellow jacket escorted me to and from work.

Thoughts:

A fairly conventional work day outfit, except I was a bit under-dressed and felt pretty cold. You never can tell...

Day 15:

What I wore:

Me-made high waisted shorts, Sailor Sencha blouse and pants. The cardi, as you well know by now, is thrifted. My me-made Leopard coat kept me decent to and from work.

Thoughts:

I felt pretty stupid dressing up this much during a week when I'm alone at work, but it felt pretty good to work these shorts into a new outfit combo. Particularly when the outfit combo includes so much of my favourite colour scheme! Wearing high-waisted things can feel like you are having a hug round your middle, therefore these shorts are surprisingly warm.

Day 16:

What I wore:

Me-made black Jenny skirt, mustard top, Saint cardigan and pants. My me-made yellow coat also got a breath of fresh air today.

Thoughts:

It's annoying when you have a really good hair day (not particularly evident in this photo though) and no-one sees you but the Fed-Ex dude delivering bin bags. I went for a jog after work which has spoilt it now.

The Refashioners Challenge Plus Giveaway!!!

2011-09-15T11:47:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago, fellow Essex-girl and refashioning genius Miss P had an awesome idea to encourage would-be refashioners and spread some inspiration. Her plan was to invite a clutch of sewing bloggers (any idea of the correct collective noun?!) to tackle a mystery secondhand garment selected and sent by Miss P herself. The refashioners were to remake their item, document the process and write a report. I was lucky enough to have been asked, along with some other talented sewer/bloggers Tilly, Casey, Karen, Dixie and Miss P herself. Well, I kind of roped Miss P in actually. I didn't think it was fair that she should be left out of all the sewing fun simply because she wasn't able to send herself a mystery package!

Well, when my garment arrived I was more than a little shocked to find a kilt! A ladies kilt-style skirt to be precise. It was a seriously hefty garment, with seams that were almost impossible to unpick. It took me quite a while to figure out how to approach the garment to turn into something more attractive and wearable. I felt a little pressure as I knew my refashion was going to be plastered across Miss P's lovely blog, plus I knew the point of this project was to provide inspiration for refashioners, not leave them questioning if remaking garments is worth the hassle.

So as you can see, the original garment was a fairly unflattering below-knee buckle fastened skirt. You can read a full description of the process this garment went through here. The final result:

I wanted to stamp a little of my personal style on the garment, which was an extra challenge as this garment isn't something I would be drawn to in a charity shop. My natural reaction was to make something with a bit of a vintage feel. I'm a big fan of wiggle-inducing pencil skirts, so I thought it'd be fun to aim for that but to encorporate the pleats into a fish tail effect which fans out in a cheeky way when the wearer walks. It's easy to forget that garments are actually often worn on a moving body rather than by someone only standing still, so it's nice to make something which is enhanced by movement.

Now, when I started this refashion I had a few reservations about how it would turn out. But I feel happier with the result that I could have hoped for. It's still recognisable as a kilt-style skirt, but it's received an injection of sexy sassiness that'll make it so much more fun to wear. I just don't think I'm the one to wear it. I have totally bonded with this garment, despite our initial unfamiliarity. Our 'journey' has brought us close, but I just don't have the lifestyle where I could see myself getting hardly any use from it. As I have stated before, I have enough skirts already that aren't getting worn. Also, I live in a little one bed flat with my boyfriend and I really need to keep my quantity of possessions in check because we are already somewhat engulfed. Plus I don't want to see my hard work gather dust.

The logical move is to offer it up in a giveaway! I'm not really sure what size you would say it is, but it fits me well and I'm a 30" waist and 40" hips. So if you've got the junk to fit this trunk and can promise me it will see the light of day with vague regularity, then I suggest you leave me a comment telling me why you should own this skirt. This giveaway will close at midnight GMT on Sunday 18th September, after which I will choose a winner and email them for their address and post it to them. REMEMBER: if you are going to make the effort to enter this giveaway, then leave an email address for me to contact you. I do not have the time or inclination to hunt through cyber-space trying to track down someone's contact deets. GOOD LUCK!!!!

SSS '11: Days 10, 11, 12 & 13

2011-09-14T11:40:00.000-07:00

Day 10:

What I wore:

Me-made lace embellished dress and pants. My me-made yellow jacket was worn in the evening.

Thoughts:

Day 10 was actually a really exciting day. Pat and I organised and hosted an event to help crafters/designer-makers with their face-to-face selling technique. My folks had also came down to play, so we ate and drank well into the night to celebrate the event's success! Umm, the outfit helped me do these things as this is an excellent dress for hiding a big post-dinner belly!

Day 11:

What I wore:

Me-made bustier-line T-shirt, black sailor trousers and pants. My me-made Saint cardigan got carried about and probably worn at some point.

Thoughts:

Comfy.

Day 12:

What I wore:

Remade sweatshirt, black sailor trousers and pants. My me-made leopard coat was worn during my morning battle against the elements as I walked to work in the rain.

Thoughts:

This sweatshirt makes me smile when I catch a glimpse of it in the mirror, but the collar flaps up in a silly manner when the wind is blowing!

Day 13:

What I wore:

Me-made granny dress and pants worn with red thrifted cardi. My me-made yellow jacket was worn in the evening.

Thoughts:

At the start of the day I was wearing a different collection of clothes to this one. I hestitate to call what I was first wearing an 'outfit', as it was a pretty terrible mix of garments that I'd put together simply because it was a combination I hadn't previously worn. That's the danger with trying to create new outfit every day, I guess the result isn't guaranteed to be a success! So I changed into this outfit which felt much more 'put together', a pleasing feeling as I was going to an art gallery private view thing after work with the cream of Brighton's creative community. Here I am enjoying a glass of plonk with my awesome friend Rehanon who is also participating in SSS '11 and will soon be unleashing an amazing sewing blog in the near future (she made her wonderful top):

Poetry and Clothing Project: July

2011-09-12T10:12:00.000-07:00

It's high time I created the next installment of the exciting Poetry and Clothing project. As you can tell by the title of this post, the timing of the project has slipped somewhat, but for excellent reason. Harriet, our resident poet, spent a large chunk of the summer cycling solo from Toulouse in France to Venice in Italy before taking a boat to Greece. This adventure, which culminated in an inspirational poetry symposium on a Greek island, took a couple of months in total, before she had to sell her bike and fly back to Barcelona. It sounds like she had an amazing trip and I'm sure I speak for many when I declare myself more than a little jealous! But that's Harriet: she thinks of something she wants to do, and gets it done despite any difficulties, practicalities and hurdles that may threaten to get in the way.

Since her return, she has typed up the most recent poems that form her side of this creative relay, so I'd best get on with sharing the garments I sent her for July.

First up, she received a garment that has already graced this blog: the red linen swing trousers. As you may or may not recall, these trousers, though the result of another lovely collaboration of sorts, just didn't work out for me. The fit and indeed style weren't right for me, so I decided to pass them on to Harriet who I knew would love their 1940s high-waisted stylings and most likely fit them better than I.

One special little detail that I forgot to share with you at the time is the cute domino button. The button that popped off because of my belly!

Harriet is also a tap dancer, and in fact tap dancing is an integral feature of the life of Lola, Harriet's alter-ego. I like to think that these trousers could look awesome when worn during a tapping session! They also fulfill two of Harriet's clothing requirements that she outlined when this project began: plain AND high-waisted.

The other garment I sent her for July was also made from seasonally-appropriate linen fabric. This is a really simple basic A-line skirt made from a vintage 1970s curtain. A pretty standard and uninspiring garment in some senses, but in another it was a relevant and useful training tool. I gave my best mate a sewing lesson in which she made her first ever garment, a lovely A-line skirt made from a cute black and white Eiffel Tower printed cotton. I aimed to touch Vic's skirt project as little as possible, because I really wanted her to get those most out of the lesson, and we all know how easy it can be to just say 'Oh, give it here' when teaching someone something. So my aim was to make the same garment along side as Vic made her's to show her the steps before she did her own. But actually she was really good and honestly didn't need much showing at all. I'll try and get a pic of Vic in her skirt one of these days...

But back to 'Poetry and Clothing'. As you may have noticed, when posting about a month's garments, I include for your pleasure the poem that Harriet wrote for me that was inspired by the previous month's garment/s. June's package consisted of a pale blue striped high-waisted pencil skirt, and a ruffle front detail T-shirt remake. She decided she was going to wear the pieces together to attend the graduation ceremony of this year's leavers from the school where she teaches.

Graduation Day (June 2011)

Playing a part
(a photo on a lawn)
with time sliding along
a thin wire.

Tight-fitting ideals
and memories filed
neatly away in an empty classroom
(one lone magnet holding nothing
but itself to the wall)

Me, straight and curved
(the way a woman looks to a girl)
in an attempt to contain that
red-eyed hope
(no heart to tell how we shrink
and sag with time)

A long-seamed dart
imitates perfect long legs
a perfect shade of pink
and the way the sky changes colour
(nothing to anchor us
but heels in the mud)

The invisible champagne spills
the fireworks scratching at the sky
the insects by the pool
all suggest we are on the cusp of something
(something akin to cliché
but more ruffled and prettier somehow)

A well-measured match

And then, the courage to clash

I really love the ideas and nostalgic snap shots that are woven into this poem. The subtle references to the feel, fit and details of the garments are referenced so cleverly too, IMO.

SSS '11: Days 7, 8 & 9

2011-09-10T00:31:00.000-07:00

I promise posts on topics other than 'what I've been wearing for SSS '11' are in the pipeline. It's been a busy week so keeping on top of my challenge documentation has been all I could manage recently. Thanks for sticking with me!

Day 7: (daytime)

What I wore:

Me-made black sailor trousers, remade jumper, vest and pants. My yellow jacket was worn during my walk to and from work.

Thoughts:

Not the most exciting outfit, but perfect for a work day in a chilly studio.

Day 7: (evening)

What I wore:

Leopard Rockabilly dress and leopard coat when I left the flat.

Thoughts:

Well, it turns out that Day 7 was also mine and Patty's three year anniversary so after work we got changed and went out for dinner to celebrate! It was really fun to dress up for our special occassion, and I haven't worn this dress for ages but I love it, so it was nice to find a reason to get it out. It's a pretty fun garment but also is quite classy in terms of coverage so I feel really confident and comfortable in it. Who doesn't love that combo?!

Day 8:

What I wore:

Me-made navy skirt, stripey T-shirt and pants. My yellow jacket was worn during my walk to and from work, red cardigan was thrifted.

Thoughts:

The other day my boyfriend reminded me that a couple of years ago I was talking about how I'd like to change the way I dressed. I can't remember the conversation particularly, but he says how I wanted to have a stronger visual identity, for the clothes and colours I wear to be more reflective of how I feel inside. When I had to jettison a lot of my wardrobe to move back to UK, I gave away a lot of my more muted-toned garments. I've gone on to rebuild my wardrobe with stronger, clearer toned items which in turn make me feel stronger somehow. The result is my ability to create outfits like Day 8's which I feel is more 'me' as I am these days.

Day 9:

What I wore:

Me-made denim sailor trousers, black T-shirt, Saint cardigan and pants.

Thoughts:

It's Friday and delivery day, which means getting a bit grubby, so not a thrilling outfit by any stretch of the imagination. But I'm pleased that my self-stitched wardrobe can cover a multitude of bases, from fancy nights out to practical days at work.

Happy weekend!

SSS '11: Days 4, 5 & 6

2011-09-06T12:34:00.000-07:00

Day 4:

Don't be getting no ideas about my desert now, ok?!

I promise you it's the insane wind that's making my hair look all crazified.

What I wore:

Me-made yellow jacket, black sailor trousers, black T-shirt and pants. Cardigan was thifted.

Thoughts:

Per-ritty dull outfit, IMO, but it was a Sunday spent going for a long walk on a windy day, so who cares particularly? And that desert was out of this world, BTW.

Day 5:

What I wore:

Me-made denim sailor trousers, bustier-line T-shirt, Saint cardigan and pants. Me-made yellow jacket was worn to and from work.

Thoughts:

Rainy Monday morning, bad nights sleep and a massive headache all day. Basically you are really lucky I'm not still in my jam jams.

Day 6:

What I wore:

Me-made denim skirt, long-sleeved leopard top, vest and pants. Me-made leopard coat was worn to and from work (in the rain both ways, may I add).

Thoughts:

Ok, so the weather today was worse than yesterday, but I felt a skirt day was due. I really could alternate between my denim sailor trousers and my black sailor trousers for the entire month if left to my own devices, but I know that wearing this skirt today made me feel nicer than if I hadn't done. That's one of the reasons why these challenges are good for me.