The Eternal Magpie

New job, new dress! I imagine this theme will continue for quite a while, until I’ve got a wardrobe full of clothes that I’m happy to wear to my new job.

This one is McCalls 9456. I’ve had the pattern for years - so long, in fact, that it’s now gone out of print. It’s just a basic princess-seamed dress, designed for knit fabrics.

There’s plenty of ease in this pattern, so I made a size 14, and it’s still a little on the generous side. Next time I might trim the pattern down a size. It’s supposed to have an integral tie belt, but I left that out so I could layer it without the belt getting in the way. I also left off the sleeves, and finished it off with a lettuce hem.

The fabric is supposed to be a cotton lycra, but I picked it up in rather a hurry, and it isn’t quite what I was expecting. I thought it would be like a heavyweight t-shirting with more stretch (which is what I came home with the last time I bought cotton lycra), but this feels more like a pair of extremely thick cotton tights. Thankfully you can’t see through it, and the fabric drapes very nicely. I’m disappointed that it’s so flimsy though.

At the same time I also bought several metres of a bright printed cotton jersey that was apparently made for Monsoon. It has shades of lemon, lilac and pink, so it’ll go beautifully over the top of my three new shirts - or make a pretty summer dress in its own right. I also have a few fabrics which would be perfect to make a shorter version for layering, including a burnout stretch velvet and a grey mesh with a butterfly print.

The pattern went together very easily, and the dress is wonderfully comfortable to wear. I think I’ll be making quite a few of these!

Tags: 9456, dress, McCalls, sewing

Yesterday’s lesson turned out to be “Always Make A Toile”. The waistcoat didn’t fit. Not even slightly.

So, this morning I went on a mammoth wardrobe clear-out, and took out everything that doesn’t fit me any more. I then sorted the remaining clothes into “suitable for work” and “not suitable for work”. This led to the discovery that I own approximately one million really nice tops, but nothing to wear with them apart from jeans. And one ankle length black skirt. And my grey suit trousers.

So, this week, I will be wearing my grey suit trousers and my ankle length black skirt, with an assortment of tops.

However, I can’t alternate between one skirt and one pair of trousers indefinitely, so my next mission was to go through my wardrobe again, and try on combinations of clothes that I hadn’t thought of before. That led to the outfit above, which I really like!

• The pale pink shirt is a men’s one from Marks & Spencer.
• The dress over the top is this black jersey one.
• The long skirt is this seersucker one, that I made last year and have almost worn out already. The dress is long enough that the outfit would be fine without the extra skirt underneath, but I do prefer to go for ankle length these days. It looks much better with my new shoes.
• The belt is one with a teacup print, but I don’t think it’s quite the right colour. It does work to break up the black though, which I like.
• The necklace is this rose quartz and amethyst one, that I made at the beginning of the year. I like the way that the three strands work with the neckline of the dress.

I think for my first day I’m going to play it safe and wear my grey Marks & Spencer suit with a plain black top. Once I’ve seen what everyone else is wearing, and established whether there’s an official dress code, I can work out what I need to sew next.

Tags: OOTD, outfit, work

I start my new job next week, so I thought I should probably make myself something smart to wear. Hopefully I’ll have just enough time to finish this waistcoat and its matching trousers.

The pattern for this waistcoat is Style 1815 - it’s dated 1990, but I probably bought it in 1997 as I didn’t have my own sewing machine until then. There were no “shorten here for petite” markings on the pattern, so I just folded each piece to take about 2″ out of the length of the body. In hindsight I wish I’d taken a bit less out of the body and balanced it with a bit taken out of the shoulders, but hey. Maybe next time.

The fabric is a sort of a greyish-brown herringbone. I discovered after I’d bought and washed it that it has a high percentage of linen, so I’m hoping that I don’t end up looking too crinkly whenever I wear it.

All I need to do now is slip-stitch the lining side seams together, add the buckle at the back, and work out what I’m going to do about the buttons. My sewing machine absolutely refuses to sew buttonholes for me (despite performing this function perfectly every time I take it back to the shop to complain), so I tend to fasten everything with poppers, and then sew decorative buttons over the top. That may be the answer for this, too. I don’t want to spoil it at the last minute by taking a risk and hoping that maybe this time the buttonhole function might decide to work. Or I might just bite the bullet, and sew them by hand.

Tags: 1815, herringbone, linen, Style, suit, vest, waistcoat

This is another of my experiments with polymer clay and tumbled stones. The pendant is made by simply wrapping the edges of a tumbled stone with polymer clay. The large bead at the top of the pendant has a third hole in the bottom, and this was pushed right into the polymer clay before it’s baked. The flower embellishment has a bead in the centre which was also added before the pendant was baked. No glue was used in the pendant. The texture was created by rolling a decorative button over the surface.

After baking, the textured pendant was painted to tone down the colour of the clay and to bring out the texture in contrast to the smooth stone. Once that was done, it was simply a case of looking through all of my hematite beads, and deciding what the necklace was going to be like. The longer strand measures 21″, with the pendant adding an extra inch and a half. The inner strand measures 19″.

I don’t think the photo accurately conveys how glittering and shiny this necklace is. I also couldn’t figure out how to take a picture of such a reflective surface without having my hands and the camera appear in every bead!

I have plenty more tumbled stones, so I think a few more of these pendants are going to be forthcoming in the near future.

Tags: Fimo, hematite, jewellery, necklace, pendant, polymer clay

Yesterday I went into London, to visit the Foale & Tuffin exhibition at the Fashion & Textile Museum with a friend. Afterwards I had a few hours to spare until I was due to meet another friend for tea, so I’d planned to spend the afternoon looking at the Relics of Old London exhibition at the Royal Academy.

While I was in the area I thought I’d just have a little wander down Jermyn Street, to have a little look at some lovely shirts and shoes. From there I ended up in the Piccadilly Arcade, where I was ambushed by Jeffery West, whose shoes I wrote about a few weeks ago.

I asked the lovely salesman whether the shoes were ever made in a size 39 (a men’s size 5), and he said that they weren’t. Then, as every good salesman should, he suggested that I try on a size 6 and see what they were like. I agreed, safe in the knowledge that they wouldn’t fit, and I’d be able to leave the shop without buying an extraordinarily expensive pair of shoes.

The pair he brought out were the Sylvian plain front gibson winklepickers, in black. They were beautiful, but not what I wanted to buy, so I still felt relatively safe.

And then I put them on.

They’re so narrow and so pointy that once I’d put my orthotics inside they turned out to fit perfectly.

Oops.

The lovely salesman then checked on the computer, and discovered that he had one other pair of shoes in stock in a size 6. They were a customer order that had never been collected, due to the customer moving abroad. The design is an old one, so they’re no longer on the Jeffery West website, but just look at the picture above. I have to say that these are pretty much my perfect shoes!

The Gibson style is a much better fit for my peculiar feet than the usual Oxford. Beautiful brogue detailing, and they have the signature Jeffery West cleft heel. Despite the extreme pointiness, they’re wide enough to accommodate all of my toes (something that women’s shoes never quite seem to manage), and the colour and shine are just beautiful.

Even better, because these shoes are no longer part of the regular range, the lovely salesman was able to offer them to me for a substantial reduction in price!

And then he told me that after you’ve bought five pairs, you’re entitled to a lifetime discount.

Damn him.

Tags: brogues, Jeffery-West, shoes, shopping

This is what’s been keeping me busy for the past few days - Laughing Moon #106, California Pants.

These pieces are just the linings and facings for the pockets, waistband, gussets and fly.

As you can probably tell, I’ve still got a long way to go with these! My plan to try and make two pairs before starting my new job is going to have to be abandoned, I think.

Tags: 106, California Pants, Laughing Moon, sewing, trousers

Some of you may know that I’ve been looking for a job for some months now.

Well, as of this week, I’ve finally found one!

I’ll be working as a Website Administrator for a local information service. Between three days at work and two days volunteering at the Museum each week, that isn’t going to leave me very much time for anything else.

As a result, I’ve had to make the decision to stop taking on custom sewing requests completely. This includes the sewing lessons that I’d been planning to start giving this year.

I’ll still be sewing and knitting - starting with a pair of trousers and a cardigan to wear to my new office! But updates to the Etsy shop will be sporadic, as I’ll mostly be making things for myself rather than to sell.

I know it’s supposed to be the craftsperson’s dream, to get out of the rat-race and work solely for yourself. But I’ve been doing that on and off for almost ten years now, and I have to admit that I never once managed to make a living wage without relying on part-time jobs to help me out. Then I had a prolonged period of ill health that meant I was barely able to work at all, and being self-employed rapidly turned into a nightmare. I’ve been looking for a new job for the best part of a year, and I’m over the moon to have been accepted for a position that I think I can really enjoy.

I have just less than three weeks to get myself ready, and I’m really looking forward to it!

Tags: job hunting

My friend Sarah saw the stamped Fimo pendants I made a few weeks ago, and asked whether I could make one for her Mum.

The brief was simply “pale yellow, with an angel”, and this is what I made.

The pendant is just less than two inches long, and made from pale yellow Fimo. The angel isn’t stamped, but rather drawn into the clay with a sharpened pencil. The whole pendant was then washed with a coat of metallic gold acrylic paint, to give it a slightly “aged” look, and the angel impression was also painted with gold. I hung the pendant on gold organza ribbon, and finished it with a gold bolt ring and matching loop.

Thankfully it turned out to be exactly what Sarah wanted - and I hope her Mum likes it too.

Tags: angel, Fimo, gold, jewellery, pendant, polymer clay

I have to confess that I hadn’t looked at the Nomads website recently. I’d always associated Nomads with gothy dresses and plenty of tie-dye, so I sort of assumed they wouldn’t have anything I’d like these days. I can’t remember what drew me to have a look at their website today, but I was very wrong!

This velvet embroidered coat is absolutely beautiful. There’s also a three-quarter length version without the hood, and a matching fitted jacket. I could also happily wear a sari silk kurta, or maybe a cotton kurta for a more casual look.

Then I wandered off to have a look at Bishopston Trading, and this organic cotton pintucked shirt is making me wonder why on earth I thought it was worth the effort of making my own. (I will anyway, because I already have both the pattern and the organic cotton, but it would have been much easier just to buy one!)

People Tree also have a lovely pintucked tunic shirt, which is in the sale. I’m also coveting this striped silk blouse, which has completely ridiculous sleeves. Oh, let’s face it, I’m coveting just about everything from People Tree.

I’m not even going to look at the Gudrun Sjöden website, because I always come away wanting one of everything.

From Bishopston Trading I found out about the FairWear 2010 Fair Trade Fashion Show, which is in Bristol on February 25th. Tickets are only £8 for the daytime and  or £10 for the evening, so I think that’s definitely going to be worth a visit.

All of these lovely things are reminding me that it is possible to dress well and ethically at the same time.

Tags: Bishopston Trading, Fair Trade, Gudrun Sjoden, Nomads, organic cotton, People Tree

Photo © Jon Stockham

Nicola knitted Anne Hanson’s Honeybee Stole for me. It took her the best part of a year, and matched my outfit perfectly. She even worked on it while she was in hospital, in labour with her daughter Gwen. Now that’s dedication!

Photo © Jon Stockham

A close-up of Nicola’s Honeybee Stole. Isn’t it beautiful?

Photo © Tim Dawes

The cake was made by my Aunt, Helen Harrison. I sent her a photo of my flowers, and she reproduced them perfectly in icing. Amazing!

Photo © Tim Dawes

Helen ended up making more than a hundred cupcakes! My cousins Jane and Georgina helped to make all of the little flowers to go on top of them all. The larger cake on the top was a traditional fruit cake, the cupcakes were a mixture of chocolate and plain sponge fairy cakes.

Photo © Jon Stockham

We had quite a lot of children at the wedding, so we asked Paul’s Mum to put together a party bag for each child. They went down really well - Paul’s cousins had set up a craft business worthy of Etsy by the end of the reception! They were making jewellery with lots of sparkly stickers, and having a great time. The little boys loved their cars and dinosaurs too.

Photo © Jon Stockham

This is an idea we stole from our friends Nicola and Ian. They put Lego on each table at their wedding, so we did the same. We managed to give away Paul’s entire childhood Lego collection, and people made some amazing collaborative creations!

Photo © Jon Stockham

Because the wedding was on Hallowe’en, my friend Heather and her two boys carved us a beautiful little pumpkin! It had a heart on one side, and our initials on the other.

Photo © Elaine Harrison

My Mum knitted this adorable little bride and groom from a pattern in Simply Knitting magazine. She customised them perfectly to match our outfits. Mum was becoming increasingly agitated when I kept changing my mind about what I was going to wear - and now I know why!

We liked them so much that they came on our honeymoon with us, and had an adventure of their own.

I have to say that we were absolutely thrilled to bits with everybody’s kindness and willingness to be involved. Almost everybody took pictures, and we haven’t seen them all yet, so there’s still more to look forward to! My brother-in-law Tim took hundreds of photos, and even made us a little video. We also received some beautiful hand made gifts, including an amigurumi skeleton bride and groom, and a fabulous quilt.

We had the best day, and many aspects of it were all the more special for having been made for us by our friends and family.

Tags: Mr & Mrs Smith, wedding