Life continues to fly by at an alarming rate. Work doesn't half take up the sewing time! Ho hum. However, I still managed, a few weeks ago, to do a spot of shopping on Folksy, the new UK-based online shopfront for people who make stuff. I was only passing through, just looking, honestly. This stopped me in my tracks.


By Aleximo Croissant.
Well, to be fair, it was the yellow version which caught my eye, but the red was what I eventually chose. I've got a bit of a love-affair going on with yellow at the moment - not having worn yellow for about 25 years. But red is perennial, I always wear red. Even my new Goretex waterproof (which protected me from a lot of hail this weekend) is red. That's me in the red and pink combo.

(photos by Sarah)

The colour is vital for not being invisible when playing in caves, too. Roll on summer!

Slow book

In the tradition of Slow Food, my next book is all about slow sewing; being eco, buying small, taking things gently, appreciating old stuff, not chasing the new.

It is a slow book. But it is coming together fast just now.

Text is speeding from my fingers onto the page.

Photos are coming together.

I am delighted to be able to include a pair of dress pattern paper shoes made by my friend Jennifer Collier. They appear next to one of the projects I've made for the book - I knew they would make a lovely complement to the apron I've made.

Pinboard wizard

I've had a lump of plastazote* knocking around the studio for ages. I kind of knew there was something I could do with it, if only I could work out what that was. Eventually I worked out it was destined to be the pinboard I so desperately need by my desk at home.

What fabrics to cover it? A print? A plain fabric? Something I have embellished? Do I have time for such frivolities? No.

But aha! A vintage tray cloth thing with wonderful cut work and drawn thread work!
I was given this one by a friend, along with a whole pile of lovely linens which belonged to her mother.

First I covered the plastazote with plain green fabric (organic cotton in this case), then simply pinned the tray cloth and the cotton fabric around the edges. I used teeny tiny sequin pins - glad to find a use for them after all these years. (I don't much use sequins and never found any need for these short, stubby pins even when I did). Ok, now I've looked up sequin pins I see that they are recommended for intricate applique which makes sense. But I think they are far too thick to use on most fabrics anyway so I still can't imagine using them for their intended purpose.



Anyway. So that was it really. Pinned the edges and made neat corners. It was pure luck that the tray cloth is EXACTLY the right size to go neatly around the edges of the foam for a perfect fit. Amazingly lucky really. You could cut the foam to size I suppose, just don't cut the nice embroidered tray cloth unless its a boring one anyway.



Now I've got it, I don't want to pin anything to it, I just want to hang it on the wall and admire the stitching. So for now its just resting next to my desk. (although these photos of it are in my studio).


* super-duper foamy stuff. I know it as packaging material for museum objects. Other people have other uses for it, apparently.

Making me happy this week

• Fun with friends out and about (photo courtesy of the social secretary)

• New yarn (Lang Mille Colori) Plus Selvedge too.

• The Meaning of Sunglasses. I'm behind the times here. I really ought to write a proper review, but I've not finished it yet. There seem to be about 4 different covers for this book. This is the one I have and I like it a lot.

• Baaba Maal on Desert Island Discs

• A bumper crop of vintage knitting patterns in the charity shop. I've been on self-imposed charity shop denial for weeks and weeks. It was completely worth the wait.

• Films - Doubt, The Reader and I've loved you so long. OK, none of these actually made me happy. Mostly they made me miserable, but they were good.

• Spring!
  

• My book - a publication date, a new cover and a new title for the US market! (more anon) Plus the UK edition is for sale in Liberty. I have gone to author heaven!
  

• Time spent on the new book. Its nearly, nearly there!

• And last but not least, friends new and old for rallying round, being lovely and distracting me from the less fun stuff going on.

Details

One of the many things I learned working on Sew It Up was the importance of filler images. Nice, pretty photos of things that look good on spare pages and gaps in the book.

On that book I had professional photographers doing it for me.





This time I'm doing them myself.



Its REALLY good fun.



Taking the actual project photos is difficult, but photographing pretty sewing stuff on a white background is great. They may not be professional quality, but I like them.


Its a fine excuse to get out all of my lovely vintage sewing stuff.



I could spend all day doing this. Playing with the pretty stuff.

Although I probably need to spend a little quality Photoshop time on some of these. All in good time. First, the fun bit.

The other side of me

Time to confess to my secret life. I've mentioned a few times that things were changing around here. Nothing too exciting, but simply that I've got a new job. Part-time and freelance, but definitely a major piece of work which will keep me busy for most of this year. I'm project managing this, a collaborative museum project and exhibition. It is a fashion exhibition, but I'm very much a manager, not a designer, so its all a bit different.

Museum work is what I used to do, before I started working for myself and doing the textile-thing. I've always kept it up, on a back burner, but for this year at least, I'm swapping things around.

So there's not a lot of time for sewing and stuff, but things are trundling along, slowly, behind the scenes. I'm still finishing off the second book, which is of course under wraps, which is why there is nothing much to show you just now. Except knitting.

So here's the knitting....

Even the unfinished stuff.

There's been some sewing too, but still not managed to get photos of that yet.

Hang in there people, there will be interesting things to look at again, soon! I promise.