The new season of Bath Brocantes in Alice Park is upon us! You may remember that I paid a visit to the French-style market last summer and blogged about it, taking alarmingly intrusive pictures of charming organiser Katherine Gilmore‘s jacket in the process. I think she’s forgiven me.

The first brocante is tomorrow, 10am-4pm. I will be there! Do come and say hello!

Here is an action snap of me compiling Jubilympic-themed haberdashery and props (props are mostly also for sale).

Ric-rac & reels

You will note that no cotton reel is being left unturned in my quest for haberdashery relevance, such that the Sylko cotton reels above carry names like ‘Royal Gleam’, and (a nod to the Gallic nature of the event), ‘Napoleon’; this last one is a rare Sylko shade, btw, and I have three pristine reels to offer. I also have a slew of Cartier-Bresson cards of mending thread (repriser brillanté); funny that the famous photographer came from a family once even more famous for producing thread.

I’m unaccustomed to taking stalls at outdoor events. This one will be interesting because my would-be events table has been deployed by Scrapling Esquire as his AS revision desk. I can’t possibly deprive him of it now that he’s embarked on study leave and begins the dreaded exams next week. Therefore I’m resorting to other prop/display elements, with varying degrees of success. So far I have hauled out a lovely old French iron-framed cot (perfect for displaying vintage textiles) and I am currently blu-tacking haberdashery containers to the rungs of an old stepladder. Can’t decide whether I”m trying too hard or not enough; please come along and grade me (preferably in French) on my efforts. We will be located right next to the cafe.

The prop ship from the Aardman movie The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists is currently docked at the M Shed, Bristol. We had a chance to peek at it last weekend after my fortunate youngest attended a free Watershed stop-motion animation workshop with someone from Aardman. I know! How cool is that? I have been touching the hem of his robe all week.

The detail on the sails was perfect: the faux rips…

…the roped edging, doing absolutely nothing functional but looking the part.

And I liked the humorous laundry line rigged on deck too.

And the wonderfully grotesque figure-head, apparently beheaded and then re-headed with Neptune’s.

The ship will remain at the M Shed for 6 months. Here’s some behind-the-scenes footage of the making of the film which (in spite of the presenter’s efforts) is fascinating and utterly breathtaking. These Aardman guys and gals go beyond the painstaking. Enjoy your weekend!



You’ll have noticed that I’m a bit of a fan of mending – in theory, if not always in practice. Like everyone else, I seem to have an ever-growing pile of things with holes or without buttons, waiting to be rescued from the clothing version of limbo.

Well, I’m thrilled to announce a new project happening very close to home which will help to redress that problem. It’s called the Big Mend and it aims to get Bath (or the small corner of it in which I live) mending its ways. Imagine a great big sociable gaggle of people sewing on buttons, darning, nibbling snacks and gossiping. That should be it. There will be sewing tools on hand to use, free of charge, and other helpful items to purchase, should you wish. Or you are welcome to bring along your own bits and pieces. If your problem is carving out the time and space, hopefully we can give you that. If your problem is trepidation or insufficient skills, we aim to be able to help you with that too; if there isn’t someone there who will know how to fix your beloved vintage dress, we will know where to look to find out.

Our first meeting of the Big Mend will be on Wednesday 24th April at Crockadoodledo, Larkhall from 7-9pm. You’re very welcome to drop in any time you like (though it would be advisable not to arrive at quarter to 9 if you have a long hem to repair). Entry is free.

Huge thanks are due to Caroline Harris, local author on matters thrifty (amongst many other talents) who encouraged me to pursue this idea. Curiously enough, she provided the  inspirational spark for the project when she wrote an article for Bath Life back in May 2009.

Caroline 's Bath Life article

In her article, Caroline rued the parlous state of her three pairs of jeans, and wished for what she called a ‘mending amnesty… an occasion where you can bring along all that forlorn forgotten sewing and do it in company, with a chat and a drink’. I read that and thought: That’s me! I can do that! And here it is, three years later, after a few false starts;  I  actually conjured up the artwork way back then (see it propped against this antique sewing machine?) but have managed to sit on it ever since. I just hope that Caroline’s favourite jeans are still salvageable.

The Big Mend takes place at Crockadoodledo, Larkhall, Bath on the last Wednesday of the month from 7-9pm. Entry is free, so just turn up!

Bunnies dancing. What’s not to like about that? Especially during Easter. And with random letters and the odd French horn too! This fabric isn’t vintage but reminded me of the feedsack fabrics my grandmother used in her quilts. I’m currently working it into a patchwork project – to be revealed soon. Happy Easter!

I have a basketful of textile-related Easter scraps for you to enjoy.

The  Cambridgeshire town of St Ives traditionally held its famous medieval cloth fair over Easter. The fair was established by royal charter in 1110 and was, in its heyday, one of the largest in Europe. It sold everything from fine silks and brocades (several kings bought their textiles there) to the coarsest linen and hessian. The purveyors of the latter were based in St Audrey’s Lane, giving rise to the word ‘tawdry’ (referring to cheap and gawdy finery) or so the story goes, though I suspect OED lexicographers might well roll their eyes and dispute this. I think I can state with some certainty, however, that it was this St Ives (rather than the Cornish one) which gave rise to the rhyme ‘As I was going to St Ives I met a man with seven wives’.

Overhauled Easter bonnet, c.1909

For centuries, new clothes worn at this time of year appear to have symbolised the spiritual renewal of Easter, as well as reflecting the irrepressible regeneration of spring. The superstitious belief that neglecting to make some kind of change to one’s clothing could encourage lasting misfortune seems to have been widespread. It is corroborated by this eighteenth century English doggerel:

‘At Easter let your clothes be new, or else be sure you will it rue.’

And wearing new clothes to church at Easter became viewed as essential to ensure good fortune; this made it a particularly fortunate time of year for tailors and cobblers. For those who couldn’t afford to replace what they wore, alterations and embellishments – a new lace trim, for instance – were viable options. Here’s an entry from Samuel Pepys‘ diary for 30 March 1662 (Easter Day):

‘Having my old black suit new furbished, I was pretty neat in clothes to-day, and my boy, his old suit new trimmed, very handsome.’

In Wales, at least one new item of clothing, preferably brightly coloured, was to be worn on Easter day. It was also traditional to baptise children today, their new clothes suggestive of the new character they would assume.

The custom of clúdóg was observed in Ireland; children visited relatives or godparents in their best clothes, carrying woollen stockings in which gifts of raw eggs, cakes and sweets were placed. The youngsters would then wander out to find a spot for some al fresco egg-cooking and a picnic. Knowing how often it rains in Ireland, one wonders how much success they met with. Eggs were also boiled with laundry blue to colour them, or with onion skins (to turn them yellow), before painting them.

In Brittany, new clothes, coifs and shoes were worn to mass, and hard-boiled eggs given as presents in knotted handkerchiefs.

A vestige of this focus on new or overhauled clothing has come down to us with the notion of the Easter bonnet, often embellished to excess with ribbons, frills, flowers, etc, even if that too is pretty much a distant memory. Thank goodness Irving Berlin immortalised it thus. Enjoy your eggs!

So, I called in an independent election official today to ensure absolute fairness in drawing the winner in the Mend it Better giveaway. Who better than a resident 12-year-old, I ask you, to assess fairness?

Mixing the draw in a bowler hat

Well, he did a great job. First he made sure I’d included every commenter (even the one who commented on another’s comment – would you call that meta-commenting? –  and might possibly have been overlooked scrolling through just the primary comments). Then he folded all the name papers so that they were exactly the same size.

He scooted them around in his bowler hat (an excellent hat for shuffling tickets, to be sure), and finally drew the winner.

And the winner is...

Congratulations, Andrea! Do get in touch so that your copy of Mend it Better by Kristin M. Roach can be mailed to you as soon as possible.

Thanks so much to all who entered the draw and left such interesting comments about mending. I really loved reading them all. It has confirmed so much of what I thought about the subject and has also encouraged me with a project I’ve been contemplating for several years but am only now getting off the ground. More of that very soon!

Congratulations, Andrea! It's all yours!

I sneakily announced the winner yesterday, but so well hidden down in the comments that you probably didn’t see it. So, here’s the official gold envelope moment. [Cue drumroll] The upcycled bead was, in fact, … #4! Yes, the red one slap bang in the middle!

It was guessed correctly by the very first commenter, the keen-eyed Cat. Well done! If you can’t get to the workshop next Thursday, Cat, you can have a Liberty bead necklace kit instead. Just let me know which you’d prefer.

A big thank you to everyone else who took the time to guess, and commiserations to anyone who got the right answer but too late. Another time!

Liberty bead necklace

That particular piece of Liberty lawn, in a pattern named Matilda, came from a handmade blouse found in a local charity shop.  Here’s a glimpse of it.

Blouse picked up at the charity shop

Maybe you wouldn’t have cut it up. I’m not sure I should have. But it was relatively cheap. And the making up wasn’t fabulous. It will certainly make an awful lot of beads. I also used a swatch of it when I made my everyday needlebook a while back. I tote it to workshops etc so gets hard wear. It’s the same one featured over here.

Matilda scrap on needlebook

If you’re interested in coming along to a Liberty bead necklace workshop, two are currently scheduled: Thursday 29th March (still spaces!) and one for Friday 18th May (each link take you straight to the bookings page). Both are morning sessions, 10.30am-1.30pm, here in Bath at Crockadoodledo, Larkhall’s lovely pottery-painting studio. Further details on my Classes page.

One for the necklace

My! We are Giveaway Central at the moment! And this isn’t even the last one, so do stay tuned.

It’s an exciting day when the book you’ve contributed to arrives. You open it at your page to feel a surge of recognition followed by mingled joy and disbelief. Small wonder that authors often refer to books as their children; the parallels with gazing at your own baby for the first time are obvious. Though I’m not really the parent here. More of a distant cousin. Anyway, that happy day came a few weeks ago when my contributor’s copy of Mend it Better (subtitled Creative Patching, Darning, and Stitching) by Kristin M. Roach plopped onto the doormat.

I was delighted to be picked for inclusion in Mend it Better back in the spring of 2011 because mending is a subject very close to my heart. There are issues on which the world divides cleanly into two mutually exclusive halves. We have the lovers and the haters of marmite, the watchers and the non-watchers of The Apprentice, and then we have the menders and the non-menders. It seems that you either get the concept of mending, thrift, recycling, conservation etc or you don’t.  Long ago I had a very interesting discussion with a friend who didn’t get it at all; in fact, she found people who upturn their washing-detergent bottles (in order to extract that last little drop) positively repugnant: “cheese-paringly mean” was, I think, the term she used.  As a fairly compulsive bottle-drainer myself, I felt a little jarred by the strength of her feelings on this point. I can’t quite remember how the conversation progressed from there, but there was probably a tumble-weed moment.

The rift between the two camps can be explained (at least partially) by the moral high-ground implicitly adopted by the thrifty, possibly imagined by the non-thrifty and felt by them as an unspoken rebuke. Most of us really don’t like shoulds and musts and uncomfortable being-told- what- to- dos, even if they are not actually uttered. Sometimes the mere presence of people doing-the-right-thing is enough to set off the won’t-do-it-and-you-cant-make-mes. Back in the old days, we used to call this ‘conscience’. Me, I quite like conscience. I think it can be telling us something useful. But I digress.

Into the gaping chasm between the thrifty and resolutely non-thrifty ( I see it rather like the Grand Canyon!) Kristin M. Roach rides, cheerfully a-whistlin’ a tune. Her panniers are full of  jaunty calico iron-on patches, prettily painted darning eggs, shiny skeins of embroidery silk and boundless enthusiasm. With these she can charm the birds from the trees (or do I mean cacti?) and persuade even the most militant non-mender that mending might be OK. Fun even.

The first thing that strikes you about Kristin’s book is how neat and tidy it is. The small scale — just 18.5cms x 21cms — is genuinely handy, perfect to slip into the mending bag. It’s purse-friendly too at just $18.95/£12.99. The book is laid out very appealingly; check out the perky appliqué fabric-letter graphics and the vintage sewing effects peppered throughout. This pretty book functions beautifully as a call-to-mend, with joy and creativity the main flavour and just the subtlest hint of virtue as an after-taste. As Kristin’s site says, ‘With Mend It Better, every garment and fabric repair is a chance for self-expression and fabulous creations.’  Yeah, the creativity card might just win it!

Title page

And now for the nitty gritty:

Who is the author? Kristin M. Roach lives in Ames Iowa, is a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Northern Illinois University) and she started writing her blog Craft Leftovers in 2006 as a way of keeping on top of her craft supplies — using up what she had rather than buying new. It’s a great source of inspiration for making the best of what’s already to hand.

What’s in the book? After a sweet introduction (in which Kristin pays homage to the significant sewing females in her family) there’s a brief foray through the evolution of sewing (which is possibly extra to requirements but enjoyable all the same) before Kristin tackles the basics. How do you assess if a piece is worth saving? What do you need in your essential mending tool kit? This includes instructions for a mending bag and upcycled tool clutch (see below). What basic stitches will you need? – both hand and machine. These can then be practised to make a cute needle book.

Mend it Better contents page

Next come all sorts of inspirational projects, each setting out a particular method or type of repair. As well as showing her own makeovers, Kristin has curated often bold and inspirational mends from other crafters, including Susan Beal, Rachel Beyer, Deb Cory, Carina Envoldsen-Harris, Crispina ffrench, Jennifer Forest, Diane Gilleland, Pam Harris, Marisa Lynch, Francesca Mueller, Cal Patch, Stacie Wick and Sherri Lynn Wood. Additional contributors are Caitlin Stevens Andrews, Maja Blomqvist, Cathie Jo, Ágnes Palkó, Megan Pederson, Leah Peterson, Jamie Smith, and Yours Truly. Areas covered include: patchwork (including Leah Peterson’s  gorgeous reverse applique shown below),  seam fixes,  secret pockets, clever ways to adjust hems, waistband repairs, darning (by hand and machine, and an ingenious way to make your own darning egg using a wooden egg and a Shaker-style peg), fasteners, zip replacements, handling fancy fabrics, and decorative embellishments (including applying beads round a moth hole to create a flower motif).

Who will the book work best for? Kristin has clearly worked hard to make this an inclusive book, and I think it will work both for the absolute sewing newbie (who needs guidance through even basic stitches) and the more seasoned sewist (who can flip past that). Because it’s aiming to appeal to a wide audience, it crosses into the territory of some broader sewing manuals (such as this excellent one from Ruth Singer), but mostly includes what is relevant. I fear that it would frustrate someone expecting to find a lot of fancy hand-stitches as the ones included are fairly basic. I love the first few sewing projects which include a bag to hold your mending (upcycled from a damaged tablecloth) and a mending kit to hold your scissors, needles, marking gauges etc (upcycled from a felted sweater). Kristin conceived it as a book you can dip in and out of as necessary, whether you want to sew on a button or fit a hidden pocket.

Most inspiring mends? For me, it’s the reverse appliqué patching. I also liked the machine-darned jeans on the opposite page. Both are beautiful. There are a few other mends featured which go well beyond the purely practical and are aptly described as devotional. I also loved the crocheted sock darning done with oddments of yarn. It looks stunning, appears to be very robust, and I can’t wait to give it a try.

Mends by Leah Peterson and Jamie Smith

I must mention in passing that though I really loved Kristin’s make-your-own darning egg project (using a wooden egg and that Shaker peg) which she includes because she says they’re hard to find in the US, darning mushrooms etc are fairly commonplace  over here in the UK. You can also buy vintage ones at a certain Etsy store.

My contribution to the book was a mended apron (which you can see over on my In Print page). It wasn’t done for the book  - can’t you tell? - but was a favourite of mine I’d fixed. It’s not what I’d call exciting but its mother loves it.  And that’s one of the points Kristin makes; unless very ragged, something is worthy of fixing if you happen to cherish it, for whatever reason.

We may be stuck with a pretty dodgy economy for some time, and I doubt that spending our way out of it will be the answer — wasn’t that what got us all into this mess in the first place? Most of us will have to tighten our belts and take our dose of thrift as palatably as possible. Happily,  Mend it Better helps the medicine slide down.

OK, I’m convinced. Where can I buy it? Look for it at your local bookshop, and please ask, if you can’t find it. If you’re within spitting distance of me, I have a few copies available so email me. If you’re a bookstore or making establishment in the UK and would like to stock copies, get in touch with Melia Publishing Servcies. You can also get a signed copy direct from Kristin.

And finally to the giveaway! I’m really thrilled that the nice people at Storey Publishing (here’s their Facebook page, by the way) have offered to send a FREE copy of Mend it Better to one of my fortunate readers. The offer applies to readers in the US and UK only so if you’re hoping to learn to mend elsewhere, I’m sorry to disappoint. To enter, please leave a comment below. You can tell me what you have that needs mending, if you wish. A detached button? A tear to a precious dress? The knees of your favourite jeans? I’d also love to hear about any encounters you’ve had with the non-mending, thrift-intolerant portion of the population. But there’s no right answer, and a winner will be picked entirely at random. Entries close at midnight on Sunday 1st April, and the winner announced here on the blog on Monday 2nd April. Good luck!

It’s official: happiness is a stack of Liberty fabrics and a handful of wooden beads!

Wooden beads

Liberty Tana lawn - smooth as silk

Liberty lawn with wooden bead

Liberty lawn necklace

As an appreciative nod to Bath in Fashion I’ll be running a Liberty bead necklace workshop making these simple yet luxurious objects at Crockadoodledo, Larkhall, Bath on Thursday 29th March, 10.30am to 1.30pm.  The necklaces can include as many beads as you like, with every bead a statement of classic British textile design. This is really the perfect project to showcase your finer fabric scraps.

All materials are included in the workshop fee of £25. If you (or someone who loves you) is stuck for Mother’s Day, there’s also an alluring Mother’s Day offer of 20% off any booking made as a gift (reducing the fee to just £20!).  If you book as a gift, I can also issue you with an attractive pdf gift certificate in time for Mother’s Day this weekend. As places on these workshops are limited, booking is essential so please don’t delay. Further details can be found on the Classes & Workshops page.

And finally, I’m delighted to be able to offer a FREE place on this workshop (or a Liberty necklace kit if you prefer) to the first person who can correctly identify which of the covered beads shown above was created from an upcycled Liberty scrap .

Yes, only one bead was made from an existing garment, rather than from a new offcut of cloth.  Can you guess which?

I’ll take the first correct answer from the comments posted below (sorry, I can only take one answer per visitor). Just state the bead number (#1 is on the far left, #7 on far right), though if you can also give the name of the Liberty Tana Lawn pattern, all the better (that’s not essential, it just pleases my inner Liberty geek!). The only qualification to enter this giveaway is that you first mosey on over and like the Scrapiana Facebook page. This competition will close at midnight on Thursday 22nd March and I’ll announce the winner here on Friday 23rd.  Please remember to tell me if you’d prefer a workshop space or a kit, and do leave a way for me to contact you, even if that’s in a separate email. Good luck!

PS This is, by default, the Scrapiana Scrap of the Week. I’ll feature it properly once it no longer has to remain incognito.

Here’s a quick-and-easy make for Mother’s Day: a chrysanthemum-style floral embellishment crafted from a couple of felted lambswool scarves.

Upcycled felt chrysanthemum

Credit where it’s due, the original idea for this came from the mistress of wool remakery herself, Betz White. I’ve added a twist with my choice of fringed centre and the particular suggestion that you use a felted lambswool scarf for the job.

Here I must wave the flag vigorously for the felted lambswool scarf. In its raw and unfelted state this is the classic woven gent’s scarf with fringed edge, as sold in almost every trad menswear outlet in the Western world. When stuck in a hot wash (accidentally or by design) their weave forms a dense and really stable felt which is a joy for the upcycler to work. Even better, it’s still possible to pick these up in the bargain bin at the charity shop or thrift store (I snapped one up this week for just £1), but if grandpa or dad should accidentally wreck the one he got for Christmas, all is not lost! Catch it before he chucks it because this stuff is well worth rescuing.

I’ve used two scarves for this project because I wanted contrast colour (like Betz’s original design), but you’d be able to make this (and several more chrysanths besides) from just the one scarf, if that’s all you can get hold of. The other great thing about scarves is that they’re the perfect width for this project. Of course, you can use a felted sweater instead, or regular store-bought felt. All that matters is that it won’t fray.

Lambswool scarves

Once you’ve found your raw materials (and they’ve been boil-washed, dried and pressed – if they need it) this comes together very fast, so you still have plenty of time to whip up one (or more) for UK Mother’s Day next weekend. They make beautiful bold brooches or hat embellishments.

Ok, here we go.

This project uses the existing fringing on the original scarf. The purple scarf had a short little fringe which didn’t look especially interesting, but bear with it.

Short fringe

If your scarf has a longer fringe, cut it back to about half an inch (just over a centimetre) using a rotary cutter, if you have one.

Then cut 1  1/2  inches (4 cms) from the fringed edge. Set this to one side.

Now cut another piece, 3″ (8cms) wide this time.

And cut a 3″ piece from your contrast scarf. See how scrummy and dense that felt is?

Felt edge

Now fold your strips and pin the two long sides together.

Pinning

Sew those long sides together about a quarter of an inch (just under a centimetre) from the edge.

Sewing

Yes, that’s Josephine doing the sewing! You may recognise her from an earlier post.

Now take a pair of large dressmaking scissors (they need to be strong and sharp) and snip every quarter inch or so all the way along your folded edge, being really careful not to accidentally cut through the line of stitching.

You end up with something interestingly flexible. Try twirling it up a moment, just for the heck of it; it got me day-dreaming about spiral staircases and DNA, but I digress…

Now roll up that first piece you cut, the piece with the felted fringed edge. It suddenly looks more interesting, doesn’t it? Roll the contrast piece around that, and now the other piece (which matches the the centre) around that. You may need to insert a few carefully-angled retaining pins as you go. Now you have something that looks a little like a chrysanthemum. Hold it together with a pin while you eyeball it; your final section may look too long and unbalance your flower, so trim some away if necessary.

The back will look something like this.

You can apply a generous quantity of fabric glue to that back and wait for it to dry. Or just sew back and forth through the base of the flower (in one side and out the other, back and forth) with sturdy thread (buttonhole is good) and a long darning-style needle. The next job is to apply a circle of felt backing and a brooch back (not shown, but if you’re stuck, ask and I’ll do a follow-up post Saturday on that). Betz added leaves to hers too.

I attached this flower to a ribbon in order to dress up a slightly down-in-the-mouth cloche hat.

Hat makeover

Much better! Hello spring!

And Happy Mother’s Day!