A Victorian Sailor Suit for The Just Cause

May 11, 2014, 12:34 pm

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With only five weeks to go until Worthing's Victorian Community Play The Just Cause opens, here are some photos of the sailor suit I made for my daughter to wear – she plays the part of a poor boy thief. Thankfully it was a much easier make than my own Temperance woman's costume and took just a few hours over a weekend to complete. 

Boy's sailor suit costume for The Just Cause

My starting point was Pattern S, a pullover hooded top from Happy Homemade Sew Chic Kids but I redrafted the hood to fall into a rectangular sailor collar. Scathingly Brilliant has a good tutorial showing how to do this. I used a lightweight striped cotton (bought from Worthing Market's fabric stall) as her role involves a chase scene in the hot packed church, so heavier fabrics were out! The trim on the collar is a piece of velvet ribbon, and I cut up an old embroidered cotton belt (not worn for years) to make the tie.

Sailor suit sewn using modified sewing patterns from Happy Homemade Sew Chic Kids

The simple elasticated waist shorts with back pockets are also a design from Happy Homemade Sew Chic Kids –  Pattern M. The finished garment looked good but a bit too smart for the part, so I soaked the whole costume in a stew of tea bags for an hour to get a more 'vintage' and well worn look.

Sailor suit stewed in tea and hung out to dry

Here's a sneak preview of her in character wearing the sailor suit. For a better look and to experience our exciting and dramatic production be sure to come along and see The Just Cause in June!

Cast of The Just Cause, photograph © Steve Speller

Three performances of The Just Cause take place at Christ Church, Worthing on 14th, 21st and 28th June 2014. Entry is free but priority will be given to those in Victorian costume! VisitWorthing Community Playor follow us on twitter.

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Pottery Print dress: Colette Peony

May 15, 2014, 12:30 am

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You're only 45 once, so I thought the occasion merited a special birthday dress. The fabric came first, bought on holiday last month at Rainbows in Ventnor on the Isle of Wight. It's from Michael Miller's Jug or Not?range and this design is called Retro Kryptonite.
 

It's reminiscent of two iconic mid-century textile designs, Stig Lindberg's 1940s Pottery fabric (below left) and Sanderson's Hayward (below right). Hayward was originally designed in the 1950s but was reissued as part of Sanderson's Revival collection a few years ago. I made my first ever ukulele gig bag out of it! 

My fabulous fabric suggested a 1950s or 60s style dress and was therefore a good excuse to try out Colette's Peony sewing pattern.

Having Googled other people's Peony dress makes I wasn't sure how I'd get on with making the bodice which comprises four notorious darts. I sensibly made a toile of the top half of the dress and found the tight, darted bodice too stifling. Really I should have learnt my lesson from attempting Simplicity's 1800 Amazing Fit dress before choosing another fitted dress pattern. Realising that I'd be extremely unlikely to wear something so constricting (I burnt my bra decades ago), I minimised the front body darts to give myself room to breathe and slouch around. I found I could easily get into the bodice with the back seam sewn up, so cut the dress back in one piece (kinder to the fabric design) and dispensed with a zip. Finally I added a good five centimetres length to the skirt pattern piece, then cut into the precious Jug or Not? fabric.

The Peony was easy to sew and I loved making the matching belt. It feels comfortably soft with a bit of ease, so doesn't strain at the seams even after eating large pieces of lemon drizzle birthday cake.

The year I stopped buying clothes and sewed myself a new wardrobe

May 16, 2014, 12:15 pm

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A year ago I publicly pledged to give up buying clothes for a year, a move prompted by finding this article in a newspaper left on a train and by the Rana Plaza clothing factory disaster. My rule was no new clothes, shoes, underwear, hosiery and no 'new' second hand or vintage purchases. Basically to STOP buying! If I wanted new stuff then I had to make it myself.

The clothes I made between 16th May 2013 and 16th May 2014

The first few weeks were strange. Like most people if I'm told I can't do something I want to do it even more so I positively craved the smell of clothing shops and the thrill and discovery of trying on new (or second hand/new) clothes.

When passing clothes shops in town I felt a pang of longing. So much so that I started completely avoiding them and this included going to cafés near clothing shops. Saturdays had often been my day for a bike ride to a destination where I could browse shops and drink coffee. To adjust to not-clothes-buying I changed my routine so that I was just doing the bike ride part with the destination being a museum or gallery, or a remote spot outdoors. Then the dressmaking bug reallyset in and Saturday mornings are now set aside solely for sewing for myself and my daughter while listening to Sounds of The Sixties - afternoons we're currently rehearsing for Worthing Community Play.

Five months into the challenge Gudrun Sjödén invited me to become an ambassador for the brand, a role which would involve no obligation on my part but would give me the opportunity to sometimes try out their products. I mulled this over and consulted friends for their opinion as I wasn't sure if it was a conflict of interest with my 'no buying new clothes' declaration. As a long-time Gudrun Sjödén fan and an erstwhile customer with several of her designs in my wardrobe already, I found it impossible to say no. However, when I have been lucky enough to chose one of Gudrun's garments to write about and wear I've picked things I couldn't make myself (due to lack of skills and equipment) like this raincoat.

I can happily report that the experiment has been thoroughly habit-changing for me. A year on, the smell of clothes shops repels me and now that I'm free to spend my birthday money have found that nothing fits as well or looks as good as handmade. I can't see myself ever going back to buying dresses from the high street and pledge to try to only buy new clothing when my own clothes (knickers, socks) are beyond repair, and then only if I can't make it myself. The days of scooping up three cheap tops from Primark for an instant fashion fix are over.

An unexpected development in my year of giving up clothes shopping is that my wardrobe has GROWN! It's now full of beautiful, bright handmade clothes in fabrics I've chosen in combinations of my own design. I wear at least one garment I've sewn myself every single day and feel this is the ultimate form of self expression.

The Tortoise Zip-It Girls' Dress

May 23, 2014, 1:00 am

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The cute curved pockets on Make It Perfect's Zip-It dress made it impossible to resist – two clicks and I'd purchased and downloaded a copy. I reasoned there was a very good chance my daughter would actually want to wear this dress as her front-zipped gingham summer dresses are currently her preferred items of school uniform.

As it's a child-sized sewing pattern, printing and assembling the download was a breeze. The fabric is a recent bargain acquisition from Brighton's Fabric Land. It's one of their own Hill-Berg brand designs and is a medium weight linen-feel sturdy cotton printed with bright multicoloured tortoises. It's available in three colourways and I'd bought a length in beige and a small amount of sage green without a sewing pattern in mind, so was relieved to have just enough to make this dress (though I had to add a sage green border to get the required length).

It's a simple dress to make but I thought the written sewing instructions were a tad convoluted and seemed to be missing an instruction to turn the yoke back through to the right side when attaching it to the dress body. Perhaps more picture diagrams would have been helpful. No matter, I discarded the instructions and made up the dress as I thought best and am really happy with the end result. It's a gorgeous, retro-inspired design.

My daughter loves it too and for the past two days has changed out of her school uniform immediately after arriving home so that she can wear it!

Basic Black (in Colour): Tiered Over-blouse C

May 29, 2014, 1:30 am

≫ Next: Along the banks of the River Adur

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Basic Black is the soon-to-be-released English edition of Sato Watanabe's classic dressmaking book. As a person who loves Japanese clothing design but never wears black clothes I was intrigued when Tuttle kindly sent me an advance copy to review. I'm so happy they did as I may not have bought a copy myself otherwise. If you love colourful clothes, don't be discouraged by the title!

The designs in this book are beautifully constructed (or perhaps deconstructed) with elements of smart tailoring and great details including angular criss-cross darts, asymmetric hems and necklines, quilting, pleats, and hand embroidered panels. It includes patterns for A-line dresses, skirts, jackets, waistcoats, blouses, two fabulous coats and a gorgeous cheongsam. As the title suggests, they do all look stunning made up in shades of black but I think would also look good in brighter colours.

I tried out design C, a tiered voluminous over-blouse with light tucks along the tiers. It was an easy pattern to trace out with only three pattern pieces – the tiers are measured and marked directly onto your fabric. 

I decided to use double-sided gauze with a small gingham check (another Worthing Market bargain) as it was the plainest piece of material in my fabric stash and I thought would best show off the concave and convex contrast effect created by the tucks. However it was a fast-fraying fabric to use and necessitated immediate vacuuming up of stray threads and fluff after sewing. I added an extra tier to the hem to make the blouse into a longer smock and shortened the sleeves to three quarter length. To finish I made bias binding from the fraying double gauze and bound the neckline, sleeves and hem with the contrast side of the fabric for further cheer.

I was going to use black and white photographs to show off my creation, but couldn't resist showing it in full colour! I'm now on the look out for some brightly printed fabric to make the cheongsam...

Basic Black: 26 Edgy Essentials for the Modern Wardrobe is published by Tuttle Books on 8^th July 2014. 

Along the banks of the River Adur

June 2, 2014, 4:00 pm

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Last Wednesday was the gloomiest, chilliest day of May's half-term holiday but that didn't stop us wrapping up warm and going for walk along the banks of River Adur with good friends and their adorable schnauzer puppy.

We sipped take-away coffee and ate pastries bought at Shoreham's Real Patisserie while our children romped, climbed and swung in a windswept playground overlooking the river. 

Our walk took us under the steel railway bridge to Shoreham's Art Deco Airport – once known as Brighton Hove & Worthing Joint Municipal Airport and recently renamed Brighton City Airport. 

The Grade II listed terminal building has expanded into a huge (dog friendly) restaurant inside while the outside is held up by scaffolding with rusting walls of peeling paint. It has noticeably deteriorated since I last visited a few years ago and this splendid building is crying out for some love and care.

It seemed too windy for any planes to take off so we continued our walk through a boggy field and alongside the colourful houseboats on Shoreham Beach, taking in another playground before walking back across Adur Ferry Bridge.

Plain Sailing - Liesl & Co Cappuccino Dress

June 5, 2014, 5:17 am

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The red Cappuccino dress I made in April has really come into its own as a garment I love to wear every day. It's so comfortable, the deep pockets practical and the sleeves are narrow enough to fit easily under spring coats and jackets. The V-neck collar reminds me of the simple elegant neckline of Sou Sou's kimono blouse, it's very Japanese. I had to make a second!

 

My fabric choice was a birthday-money purchase from C&H Fabrics. Each time I visit the dressmaking fabric department of their Brighton branch it alarmingly seems to have shrunk. I found these wonderful prints tucked away in their quilting section. I didn't study the selvage when I bought them, just loved the print designs and feel of the fabric – smooth soft cotton. On closer inspection at home I saw that they're designed by British textile designer Janet Clare from her Hearty Good Wishes collection produced by Moda Japan. Janet Clare's website biography is charming – she's a quilter and stitcher as well as a designer and author.

Making up a second Cappuccino was plain sailing and I only had to glance at the instructions this time. The fabric behaved beautifully and is wonderfully soft and light to wear. It's a more sophisticated colour palette than I usually go for but I feel properly elegant and grown up in this dress! 

The Just Cause: taking part in Worthing Community Play

June 12, 2014, 10:00 am

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On Saturday I'll be donning my homemade Victorian outfit, tying a bonnet tightly under my chin and fixing my face with a stern glare to join a cast of some 200 fishwives, seafarers, schoolchildren, choirs, temperance campaigners, down and outs, church folk and gentry as we re-enact scenes from 1880s Worthing.

It's been a long journey to reach this point, two years in the making for the creative team behind Worthing's Community Play The Just Cause and a good eight months of workshops and rehearsing for the cast. I'm a relative newcomer to the production having just joined in February – actually I had only intended to watch my child's rehearsals but soon found myself one of Worthing Working Women's Temperance League...

A highlight of taking part in the play has been singing Sussex folk songs every week at rehearsal and around the house at home with my daughter in our best Sussex accents surelye,our favourite tunes being Fathom The Bowl and The Sussex Wedding Song. It's also been fascinating finding out about the lives of ordinary people in Victorian Worthing and illuminating learning about the hardship and struggles faced by the working class women who were moved to campaign for temperance with hope of improving lives plagued by poverty and domestic abuse from alcoholic husbands. The Temperance League was especially popular amongst the female brick layers in Worthing. I hope we do them justice with our performance.

Most of all I've enjoyed the experience of feeling a part of the community of Worthing and getting to work with such a splendid motley crew of townsfolk- we've had many laughs and much fun along the way. We wunt be druv!

 

The Just Cause takes place at Christ Church, Worthing on 14th, 21st and 28th June 2014. All tickets have now been snapped up for all three performances. However, there will be a queue for non-ticket holders at each show with priority entry given to people dressed in Victorian costume. VisitWorthing Community Playor follow us on twitter.

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Grand Futurist Concert of Noises

June 17, 2014, 2:44 pm

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On Sunday I went to the Grand Futurist Concert of Noises at London's Science Museum, an event held by Resonance FM to mark the centenary of the first Futurist Concert staged in Britain on 15th June 1914 in accordance with Luigi Russolo's groundbreaking manifesto The Art of Noises (L'arte dei Rumori).

I wore a dress made of fabric with a print of vintage bus, tram and train tickets (a new creation to be blogged soon) reckoning this would be in concord with Futurist ideas of speed and progress, but later reading Dan Wilson's Art of Noises Centenary Souvenir Supplement in which Marinetti's ideals for futurist clothing are set out I regretted not wearing this dressinstead.

Never mind, the concert was brilliant! On hand-built instruments (large scale noise making machines called intonarumori built to Russolo's original designs by Peter McKerrow with modifications by sound artist Daniel Wilson), vintage horns, theremin and playback devices broadcast through Aleksander Kolkowski's immense Exponential Horn, The Luigi Russolo Memorial Ensemble caused a tremendous commotion! It was exhilaratingto hear and the audience roared in approval. Afterwards we were invited to try out the instruments and joined the long queue to have a go on Sarah Angliss's theremin.

Instruments included itonarumori, gramophone,  theremin and the Exponential Horn

The Luigi Russolo Memorial Ensemble

 

The Grand Futurist Concert of Noisesis directed by BASCA Sonic Arts Composer of the Year, Ed Baxter and performed by Marcos Gomez, Peter Lanceley, Peter McKerrow, Michael Umney, Dan Wilson plus Aleks Kolkowski (vintage sound effects), Adam Bushell (percussion) and Sarah Angliss (theremin). The ensemble will perform for a final time on Friday 20th June at Cafe Oto, Ashwin Street, London. If you're at all able to travel to London you'd be mad to miss the sonic event of the century!

The Exponential Horn is the UK's largest audio loudspeaker and will be installed at Science Museum until 27th July 2014.

Take Two Ticket to Ride Dresses: Simplicity 2363

June 22, 2014, 1:20 pm

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Brighton's budget fabric emporium Fabric Land has come up trumps again with Ticket to Ride another great in-house print design. I recommend a visit to one of their shops (they have several branches across the UK) as their astonishingly bad website doesn't do justice to their own brand fabrics. Ticket to Ride is a printed collage of vintage tickets, labels and coupons. It's a sturdy cotton with a linen-like feel and is available in 3 colourways. At just £3.99 a metre I thought it prudent to get 2.5 metres in Royal and the same amount in Yellow.

It's the same type of cotton I used for the Berlin Macaroon Dress - a garment that is greeted with gasps of delight every time I wear it out and about. I decided to make the Simplicity 2363 pattern again as it works so well in this material but this time drafted a new closed-front yoke for a change. For the first version I used the darker (Royal) fabric for the body and sleeves with the paler (Yellow) fabric for the yoke. 

I was so taken with it that I immediately made another with the fabric combination in reverse. 

Each dress cost £9.98 to make. Good enough for everyday Worthing wear but also fabulous enough to wear to the Grand Futurist Concert of Noises and just the thing to wear when trying out Peter McKerrow's hand built intonarumori.

Photo and intonarumori by Peter McKerrow, dress by Ivy Arch

The Hemingway Cappuccino Dress

July 1, 2014, 1:49 am

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Did I need an excuse to make another Cappuccino dress? I'm blaming the hot early summer weather we've been enjoying and these gorgeous pink and green fabrics from Hemingway Design.  I spied them in Brighton's Ditto Fabrics and had a hard time choosing between the delicious range of colours in Hemingway Design's vintage-inspired collection of cotton poplins. The yellow Wonky Maze print was tempting and the duck-egg Texture and Twigs fabrics divine, but I snapped up some Tulip in both green and pink varieties. It has clusters of small tulip flowers on a background that looks like it's been hand drawn with felt-tip pens.

It's surprising that Gerardine and Wayne Hemingway haven't produced fabrics for dressmaking before – I still think wistfully about the brown and beige retro print carpet bag I bought from Red or Dead's Covent Garden shop a quarter of a century ago. Their textile range for Makower is superb quality and an absolute gift to dressmakers, buy a metre or two if you can!

These photographs really don't do the colours justice, the green is bright and much more vivid in real life. However I've been wearing the Hemingway Cappuccino dress as much as I can to make sure as many people as possible benefit from seeing this fantastic fabric.

Hello Tokyo Quilt and Cushions

July 15, 2014, 7:06 am

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Hello Tokyo is Sydney designer Lisa Tilse (The Red Thread)'s first range of fabric, produced by Robert Kaufman. The range features Japanese Kokeshi dolls, kawaii cats, stylised flowers, spots and circles on colourful cotton fabric in the boldest brightest hues of pink, orange, mint and blue. I came across it last year and have been buying small amounts whenever I could find it at discounted prices, with a view to eventually making a quilt for my daughter as an end-of-school-year gift. 

With the end of the academic year in sight, I took stock of how many pieces I'd amassed and downloaded Robert Kaufman's free Hello Tokyo quilt pattern. The quilt design comes in two suggested colourways, one predominantly pink, the other mostly blue. I used a mixture of both colours, adding in some orange polka dot cotton left over from other projects. My version is pretty faithful to the Kaufman template but I've swapped a few of the blocks and changed the positioning of some of the cute appliqué characters.

 

This is the first patchwork quilt I've made and I didn't fully appreciate how much space is needed to make a bedspread sized quilt! I cleared floorspace in the lounge to lay out and assemble the squares, then had to drape the work-in-progress over a chair, ironing board and across the dining table so that family life could resume as normal in between sewing sessions – just about manageable in our narrow Victorian terraced house. (The houses in my street were built in 1870-80s and typically housed Worthing's working people - including dressmakers and manual workers.)

Cutting out and laying out the pieces took hours but once arranged sewing the blocks together was a speedy and wholly absorbing process. I cut out the appliqué characters leaving a 2mm white border, used fuse-a-web to fix them to the quilt then machine zig-zagged around the edges to secure them in place. Next I added a greige polka dot border to the patchwork. I wanted a border that would make the Hello Tokyo fabrics really stand out and this colour also gives the quilt an elegant edge. Then I made a huge inside-out quilt sandwich of the patchwork, wadding and a mint green cotton lining fabric, sewed it together leaving a gap, turned it through, then hand stitched the turn through gap. Finally I fastidiously pinned all three layers together before beginning machine quilting. I sewed around the appliqué shapes, highlighted some of the square patches and channel quilted the head and foot of the quilt to finish.

The patchwork cushions were very quick and easy to make after wrestling with such a huge object as the quilt - they have envelope backs so that they can be swiftly removed for washing.

The finished quilt really brightens up her bedroom – we're both thrilled to bits with it – and I'm now motivated to do more patchwork quilting. Watch this space!

 

Stylish Dress Book Revisited: Seaside Smock B

July 22, 2014, 2:32 pm

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It's some 16 months since I discovered Stylish Dress Book the title that set me off on what has become a dressmaking odyssey. I've recommended the book to friends and acquaintances many times since and it's a title I always suggest starting with if you'd like to make timeless Japanese style clothes that are contemporary and comfortable. I've made 10 dresses from it so far. Showing it to a friend whose teenage daughter has just started sewing her own clothes I once again felt inspired to sew from this fabulous book.

This seaside print cotton fabric has been in my stash for a year and I could neglect it no longer so decided to revisit pattern B (a design for a blouse with elasticated cuffs) and make myself another smock lengthened to a dress. This time I redrafted the Garibaldi sleeves, as in the first version I made I accidentally omitted an instruction in drafting the bottom section of the sleeves so my arms lacked the right amount of puff...

Adjustments made to the sleeve pattern, it was an even easier sew the second time round and the finished smock is perfect for this continued hot weather – the fabric just right for being beside the seaside. 

Teville Gate in the Summertime

July 25, 2014, 2:06 pm

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Teville Gate is one of the great mysteries of Worthing. A vast derelict space right in the centre of town, it's the first sight you see when arriving from Worthing's central train station. No one can fathom why this huge prime piece of real estate full of potential has remained empty for so long. Our Conservative council still seem to favour it being turned into some sort of money-spinning entertainment multiplex experience, though one of these proposed schemes fell through and the current firm appointed by them have failed to raise the £150 million capital needed to fund the colossal twin-tower design hotel, conference centre, 9 screen multiplex cinema, 86,000 square foot supermarket and parking space for 967 cars that the council would dearly love to see. Perhaps just as well, it sounds ghastly!

I think it's a shame this site wasn't considered for the new secondary school our town needs. The as yet un-named Secondary Academy is currently being built in Broadwater, an area already congested with traffic to the north of Worthing, some 20 minutes walk from the railway station. A central Worthing location for the new secondary school would have much better suited the needs of more members of the community, bringing life and learning into a massive empty, neglected space; and it would be an environmentally friendly initiative, being a location much better served by public transport. The council could have looked into funding an educational centre of excellence right in the centre of town instead of building another entertainment and shopping complex with enormous car park. We already have two large supermarkets with car parks within walking distance of Teville Gate, four cinema screens and plenty more empty car parks in the town centre. Enough already!

However, the current sponsors have just pulled out of the Secondary Academy with concerns about the Broadwater site being unsuitable so at this rate we'll be lucky if the new school gets built at all, let alone by 2015. Meantime, nature is making moves to reclaim Teville Gate herself. In another year or so it'll be ready to enter Worthing In Bloom.

Baggy Trousers: McCall's M6514

July 29, 2014, 12:00 am

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Slouchy, loose-fit harem style pants are everywhere right now and they got me thinking of a beloved pair of peg-leg paisley cotton trousers I wore in the 1980s. They were homemade from fabric bought at Stourbridge market and I wore them with an oversized bobbly brown jumble sale jumper with socks and sandals. Perhaps it's the flush of perimenopause that makes me want to recapture my awkward youthful essence, or maybe my style hasn't really changed much since then, but it's an outfit I want to wear all over again.

McCall's M6514 was the only pattern in stock at C&H Fabrics that looked approximately like it could satisfy this urge to run up a pair of baggy trews. I cut out a size 14, mindful that a smaller size wouldn't fit comfortably over my girth and rear, but needn't have worried. The design and sizing turned out to be über generous and I had to reduce them by 4cms width from hip to calf to stop myself looking like a one-woman MC Hammer revival.

The McCall's pattern suggests stretch knit fabrics but instead I used an African wax print cotton which is closer to the look and feel of my original 1980s baggy trousers. Once I'd cut out the pattern they were a very quick and easy sew (just like it says on the packet) even taking into account necessary alterations. 

They have a flat waistband at the front, are elasticated at the back and have deep curved pockets - so comfortable to wear. They came up very long in the size 14 so I've given them a permanent turn-up hem (stitched down at the side seam) which also smartens them off nicely. I love them!

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WW1 Centenary: Poppies and Produce in Beach House Park

August 2, 2014, 12:27 am

≫ Next: Window Dressing: Harriet's Curtains - Stylish Dress Book, Y

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Worthing's Beach House Park is an ideal place for quiet contemplation at any time of year. Monday 4^thAugust is the centenary of the start of the First World War and to commemorate this event a bold giant poppy made up of small red flowers has been planted on the circular mound at the back of the War Pigeon Memorial. Tall red poppies have also been planted amongst the shrubs on the rockery. It's a beautiful sight.

Equally impressive is Beach House Park's WW1 Allotment Bed, planted in May by Paul Eustice and Worthing & District Allotments Association. I've been watching its progress with delight and it's wonderful to now see the vegetables growing in abundance having survived weeks of drought, the recent flash floods and the ravages of local wildlife (insect, animal and human). The allotment has been designed to grow the food varieties which were available at that time.

During World War 1 Victory Gardens were encouraged for the first time in Britain as a means for the population to have food at a time when it was in short supply. In common with much of the country, many parks and green spaces in Worthing were turned into allotments including Denton Gardens (opposite Beach House Park) where the local police force were given plots to grow potatoes. East Worthing was known for its tomatoes, grapes and cucumbers.

A hundred years on, some the varieties planted in Beach House Park's WW1 commemorative allotment are still widely used by allotment holders and growers.

Window Dressing: Harriet's Curtains - Stylish Dress Book, Y

August 11, 2014, 1:17 pm

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Harriet is a friend with an eye for print and pattern. We share an enthusiasm for novelty fabrics (see the Garden Gnome Party Dress I made for her daughter) and I was delighted when she kindly gave me the offcuts of the fabulous Antique Seeds cotton she made her wondrous new kitchen curtains from – to use as I wished.

Harriet's kitchen curtains in Antique Seeds by Blue Hill Fabrics

There was just enough material to make some panels and trim for a dress, so once again I returned to a sewing pattern that's a staple of my summer wardrobe - Dress Y from the first volume of The Stylish Dress Book.  A quick rummage through my wardrobe tells me I've made 7 of these dresses to date but hadn't sewn a new one this year... The Antique Seeds print went really well with a ditzy multi-coloured floral cotton bought at Worthing's Wednesday Market. I used Harriet's curtain fabric to make the bodice front side and back panels, and a matching border along the hem. I added pockets to the side seams - an essential improvement to this great dress design.

I'm ever so happy with the end result - it's the perfect attire for picking ripe pears in Harriet's garden.

Save The Elephant with Gudrun Sjödén!

August 14, 2014, 1:30 am

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Every year more than 35,000 elephants are killed for their ivory. If the ivory trade continues at this rate the largest land mammal on our planet will be extinct within 10 years.

Inspired by the plight of the elephant, my favourite clothing designer Gudrun Sjödén is working with conservation network Ivory for Elephants (IFE) to help save the elephant in Africa. As part of her African animal themed autumn collection Gudrun pays tribute to these creatures with an exquisite range of elephant print designs and is donating £5 from the sale of every Elefant top to IFE to support their work in protecting elephants and rhinoceros, and reducing the ivory trade.

8 Facts About Elephants:

1. Elephants can hear one another's trumpeting calls up to 5 miles away.

2. Elephants can get sunburned, so they protect themselves with sand.

3. Elephants are pregnant for 2 years. Imagine!

4. Elephants are scared of bees.

5. Elephants are herbivores.

6. An elephant's brain is similar to a human's in terms of structure and complexity.

7. Elephants care for the wounded and grieve the deceased. 

8. Elephants have one of the most close knit societies of any living species. A family can be devastated by a death, especially of a matriarch and some groups never recover.

To buy a Gudrun Sjödén 'Elefant' top visit www.gudrunsjoden.com. Find out more about the Ivory For Elephants project at ivoryforelephants.org. The classic BBC radio documentary Touching The Elephant has just been made available on CD.

Amy Butler Cameo dress: Simplicity 2363

August 20, 2014, 12:43 pm

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I spend entire evenings mooning over fabric shop websites and a recurring destination is Eclectic Maker's Going, Going Gone page of top quality fabric sale bargains. Spying a selection of Amy Butler fabrics there, I cycled over to Worthing's best fabric store the next day and snapped up the end of the roll of the Tea Rose Cameo print also buying half a metre of Hopscotch Cameo fabric to go with it.

An armless Simplicity 2363 - this dress can also be finished sleeveless

With such precious prints I wanted to make a dress pattern I knew well, and one that would suit, so returned to Simplicity 2363 - a pattern I've used again and again.

Back view: Simplicity 2363

The finished frock is bright and summery, the material crisp and soft. I like the bold giant pom-pom flowers of the Tea Rose fabric, it makes for a really happy dress!

I proudly wore my new creation to Wukulele uke jam on Sunday, accessorised with my Amy Butler Lotus ukulele case. I've made three of these uke gig bags, sold two but couldn't resist keeping the third for myself.

Postcard from the Moselle Valley

September 9, 2014, 4:17 am

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The rolling hillside banks along Germany's Moselle are covered in vineyards – hundreds and thousands of terraced rows of neatly planted vines rising up to the sky all the way along the sides of the river. It's an industrial landscape, a lush green factory floor for one of Europe's smallest wine regions. 

Traveling by boat was best way to explore the quaint towns stretched out along the river. We visited Bernkastel with its cobbled streets, pretty colourful timber beamed buildings and tasted excellent kaffee und kuchenin Cafe Hansen; saw impressive Roman remains, enormous ecclesiastical architecture and stained glass windows in Trier; and while perusing Jungenstil villas in Traben-Trarbach chanced upon Handarbeitsstube, a fabric shop and needlework emporium with an impressive selection of bright organic printed cottons. I did not leave the shop empty handed!

We stayed in Ürziger Würzgarten where my friends are campaigning to halt construction of the B50 High Moselle Bridge. The proposed gigantic concrete structure is the largest bridge being built in Europe and is planned to span a four-lane motorway across the middle section of the Moselle Valley. The project would severely damage the ancient Moselle landscape and have catastrophic consequences for the vineyards and villages in this region. 

For now the valley remains as pretty and productive as my pictures show, but in ten years time, who knows?