easily distracted by shiny things…
Posted in FAQ, embroidery, sewing on Sep 16th, 2009
Just a quick reminder that this weekend is my smocking workshop at the Museum of English Rural Life.
Today is the very last day that you can sign up - in fact you’ve got about an hour and a half left if you want to secure a place!
The course runs from 2:15-4:15 on both Saturday and [...]
This is a sneaky peek at what you’ll be making if you come along to my Smocking Workshop at the Museum of English Rural Life. (It’s on September 19 & 20, and there are still places left! Book here…)
As you can see, we’ll be working the smocking stitches on gingham. For beginners it’s the easiest [...]
Posted in inspiration, sewing on Aug 26th, 2009
I bought my first copy of Sew Beautiful magazine today. It’s an American magazine, but you can order it in the UK from Magazine Café. I just happened to stumble across a copy in a newsagent that I don’t usually venture into, so that was a very lucky find!
I picked it up because the July/August [...]
Posted in inspiration, photos on Jul 16th, 2009
This is a sneaky peek at one of the object storage cases at the Museum of English Rural Life. Frances and I took out every single smock, photographed and measured it, and took lots and lots of notes.
Now the task is to type up all of those notes, which is one of the reasons I [...]
Here you go - the completed blue dress.
I showed you the smocking yesterday, and I’ve just finished the binding and the belt.
This is my usual raglan tunic dress pattern, with the neckline, sleeves and hem all finished with navy blue bias binding. I was hoping to be able to find a navy broderie anglais lace [...]
Posted in embroidery, sewing on Jul 6th, 2009
This is what I’ve been up to all weekend - working panels of smocking on the front, back and sleeves of one of my tunic dresses.
From top to bottom, the stitches are Trellis, Wave, Honeycomb, Chevron and Van Dyke.
I’m really, really pleased with how the smocking’s worked out.
Unfortunately, I over-estimated how much fabric the smocking [...]
Posted in embroidery, sewing on Jun 19th, 2009
Yesterday I spent a pleasant hour in the Reading Room at the Museum of English Rural Life, having a look at a couple of books about smocking that had been put to one side for me.
The books were Smocking: A Practical Beginner’s Guide, by Audrey Vincente Dean, and Smocking: Traditional and Modern Approaches by Oenone Cave [...]
Posted in inspiration, shopping on May 13th, 2009
Yep, I’m definitely still seeing smocks - or at least some kind of smocking!
I opened up the June 2009 edition of UK Vogue last night, which featured Matthew Williamson’s new designs for H&M. This pretty blouse and dress both have smocked panels on the shoulders and sleeves.
There are some more pictures on the H&M website, [...]
Posted in inspiration on May 12th, 2009
I was watching Cranford on the iPlayer, when I spotted Harry wearing a smock!
I couldn’t get a clearer picture than this, but there’s a smocked panel front and back, and at both the shoulders and cuffs on the sleeves.
Am I going to see smocks everywhere I look from now on?
Posted in sewing on May 6th, 2009
This is what I’m wearing today - a smocked and embroidered shirt.
It started life one of Paul’s old work shirts. It’s in perfectly good condition, it just doesn’t fit him any more. So I’ve smocked the sleeves and a bit on the back, and embroidered the button stand and collar.
I did this to see whether [...]