Losing my Mayake Mojo

I am ashamed to say I have had a UFO on the go since Christmas.

The last time it happened, I chucked everything in a cupboard, never to see the light of day again. I can't do it this time as Lisa of the fabulous White Tree Fabric has generously given me the fabric and pattern and given me the chance to document the process.

I have sewn and unsewn seams, re-arranged my fabric and still ended up with a mess. Let's rewind and give you the back story.

In September, I wrote briefly of my amazement at being given a chance to sew an Issey Mayake pattern with some beautiful cotton lawn. As is usual with Issey Mayake patterns (I was an avid Mayake sewing fan in the early Eighties) an enthusiasm and origami mind processes are required.

Several cut rectangles later, I was ready. I was good, I read the sizes on the back of the envelope and  cut it size 12-14. Then I got flu. Then I got flu again and before I knew it, it was Christmas. So over Christmas, with the aim of making the top for New Year's Eve, I got cracking. 

The pattern is made up of 5 rectangles with a lot of spare fabric - I did end up using some of this, but I will explain that later!

The large rectangle has to be carefully marked and then cut down the middle between 2 points. Easy if you mark it correctly - I have been using Frixion pens recently, as the marks disappear when ironed (but always test - not everyone is happy using them) so this was a grab-your-ruler-and draw-that-line kind of moment. And this is where the origami fun begins. If you do not mark ALL the pattern markings onto your fabric, you are on a road to nowhere (hmm, I think that would make a great song title, don't you?).

Hmm, did that small rectangle really go there? This is supposed to be a size 12-14 but barely fit my 18 year old skinny-minny round the hips.

I grabbed the seam ripper and started again - fold left front across the....what? Put the zip where?

You really need either a live model to make this on or a tailor's dummy, so I bought myself a tailor's dummy (good excuse, huh?) as one daughter headed back to Uni and the other got her head down for A Levels. 

Ooh, now this was better - I sewed the side panel in and then the side seam and......hang on, where does that bit go? The side pieces were too small to make a flattering side panel - too short on one side, not wide enough on the other. I even checked the pattern pieces for sizing, to make sure I had cut correctly - I had, so this was another mystery.

Needless to say, it all ended up back in pieces and draped on my tailor's dummy before my epiphany moment - but that is for next time!

Catching Up

Is it really 6 months since I last wrote something? Doesn't time fly!

I won't bore you with what has been made but I think I will start over with current mumblings and projects.

I have been visiting my Mum a lot more recently and, apart from the usual clothes etc, have not been carrying crafty projects as I am never organised enough to remember everything to take.

I have a bionic gear bag, but it is a permanent project organiser on my sewing table and moving it would be wrong - it also contains things I don't often need to take anywhere. For example, my supply of sewing machine and hand sewing needles, basting safety pins, my Scissor Sistas labels that get sewn into items I make for the shop, spare unpickers and snips - the list goes on!

I could make myself another one but as it is only for occasional use, I want to be able to leave things in whatever I make, stash it in a drawer and grab when needed.

I made my Mum a pen roll at Christmas - she has been doing some of the adult colouring (very addictive if you were an avid colourer-inner when you were little) and this was to keep her pencils in. I should be able to do similar for sewing I thought. And then I saw reference to a hussif, which was a sewing roll carried by, amongst many, soldiers to patch up their kit - this is a very interesting page I found describing them in great detail https://regencyredingote.wordpress.com/2011/03/18/the-pocket-housewife/ ).

It would need a pocket or 2, somewhere to store needles and a few pins along with thread and scissors. So I have made one and am trying it out - after 12 hours there are a few things I would change when making another and will document them in a week or so, when I have used the hussif a bit more.

So, my cup of tea won't drink itself - see you next time! 

5 Things I Love About Knitting

Knitting runs in my family. It's a skill that has been passed down from generation to generation. My Grandma taught me to knit. She started me off with big needles and some thick petrol blue yarn. I 'knitted' two large rectangles over a period of weeks which she sewed together to make into a tabard. I wore it with pride. Note that 'knitted' is in inverted commas. That's because I now realise that what I actually did was grapple and fight with some yarn and needles, it wasn't what I now know as knitting. I pulled the yarn too tight, fought to get the needle into the stitches, had more or less stitches at the end of each row than I started with. But Grandma patiently and skilfully unpicked rows, picked up stitches and 'fixed' my mistakes. More importantly she gave me the encouragement to continue. And continue I did.

If you haven't given it a whirl, then you really should. There are lots of knitting groups around these days with expert knitters happy to pass on their skill - Google 'Knit and Natter' and see what you find.

Here are some of the reasons I love to knit:

1. It's therapeutic. Getting into the rhythm and hearing the clickety clack of needles is actually quite relaxing. It's good for your brain too apparently - Albert Einstein allegedly knitted between projects to relax and calm his brain. If it was good enough for Albert.....

2. I'm not bilingual. Foreign languages are gobbledygook to me, I just can't learn them. You either can or you can't.....and I can't. However, I can read, speak and understand knitting fluently. It really is like another language - psso, c4b, sl1p, k2tog, yfwd etc etc then throw in parentheses, brackets, asterisks, double asterisks - if you can't read a pattern, then you are basically screwed.

3. Knitting is totally portable. I also work with leather, but can only do it when I'm in my work room as the numerous tools and materials are too big/heavy/impractical to carry around. But stick your needles and ball of yarn in your bag and you can knit 'on the move'. What a pity they won't allow needles on aircraft as it would be the ideal way to pass the time on a long haul flight.

4. With a simple ball of yarn and a couple of needles you can make fabric - brilliant! And combine that same single ball yarn with different stitch combos and voila, you can create texture, patterns, bobbles and twisted cables. Work with multiple balls in different colours and you can let your imagination go wild and make intricate designs, pictures, words - the possibilities are endless! Change to circular needles and you can make seamless 3D fabrics - wow!

5. Knit a gift for someone and they'll keep it. My friends daughter is in her second year at Uni. When she was born I knitted a matinee jacket and bonnet. It took ages as there were hundreds of stitches and each row was in moss stitch. My friend loved it. And she still has it. Highly unlikely she kept the mass produced outfits from Mothercare that she was also given. It's easy to go and buy a present, but making something takes time and shows how much you love the person you're giving it to.

Case in point - here's a pic of my dad from the 1960's wearing a cardigan featuring Canada geese, lovingly knitted for him by mum. It took her ages! He wore it, kept it (even after they divorced) and when he died my sister took it. She still has it. I wonder if Mum ever imagined it would still be around 50 years on?

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A bit of Vogue Pattern Sewing - happy days

I recently became a member of White Tree Fabric blog team (you can read my introduction by Lisa below) and they generously gave me an opportunity to select a sewing pattern of my choice, make it and tell you about my trials and tribulations.

In the 1980s, when I first started sewing, I was introduced to Vogue Sewing patterns. Mainly the Vogue Designer range. They seemed expensive but you got a woven label stating this was a Vogue Designer Original so I was hooked! I never had a bad pattern or instructions - and so my decision was made, I browsed the Vogue patterns and spotted an Issey Mayake design.

Ah, Issey Mayake - my friend and I made many of his patterns in the 1980s (good job that Facebook didn't exist then - the evidence would be available for all to see). I found him to be a study in fabric origami and the reviews of the pattern I have chosen make it sound like nothing has changed.

I have selected to make the tunic in pattern V1309 and some Cloud 9 cotton to make it in. Black and white isn't me but luckily blue & white is.

As you can see, it is dramatic and my husband says 'very 1980s' but that is good with me.

So I will pre-wash my fabric and get cracking!

My White Tree Fabric bio: http://www.whitetreefabrics.com/news/alison/ 

More blogging!

What a week this has been!

As well as blogging for the fabulous William Gee (awesome supplier of all things sewing & creative) I have just been accepted as a blogger for White Tree Fabrics.

There is a big difference between the types of blogs you will now see from me - there will continue to be William Gee blog posts, dedicated to small projects and information but with the hook up to White Tree Fabrics, I will be sewing real patterns for real clothes. Detailing the trials and tribulations. Detailing the "oh no, look what I've done! I'm such a dunce!" Moments - hoping to make you laugh, cry and sew along with me.

So watch this space - my first project has been selected and the pattern, fabric & supplies will hopefully be with me soon. Watch this space!

What to do, what to do

You know the feeling, the weekend is looming large on the horizon and you feel a wave of excitement - no work! Relaxation! Sleeping!

But then it dawns on you - you've no food in, the teens are bringing friends round (who you aren't allowed to interact with in case you're embarrassing), the in laws are due on Sunday and you wanted to do some sewing or knitting or drawing, whatever is your thing.

How do you motivate yourself to get cracking?

In my mind, I break the day  into chunks - my time for doing my creative stuff, interspersed with sorting out the household stuff and relaxing doing nothing (ha!). My husband works shifts so I also have to take his start/finish time into account.

Recently, I have started a calendar of sorts with all the projects I want to start/continue/finish. Sometimes, the planned stuff goes out of the window but it doesn't matter, does it?  Our Etsy shop is stocked with items ready to ship so I am not against time constraints. 

A 'bionic gear bag' can take several evenings spread over a week so I chunk it up and do other things in between like cutting out, drinking tea, watching a bit of MLB baseball.
When I am sewing garments, I don't stop in the middle of an important bit like adding shirt cuffs or sleeves as you can easily lose your thread (no pun intended). As I said in an earlier post (http://www.williamgee.co.uk/sewing-mistakes-no-one-will-ever-notice/#.VdRXR5c7cyg) for WilliamGee.co.uk, I have sewn shirt sleeves on the wrong sides of my shirts because I didn't mark the pieces properly and so picked up my sewing after a break and it all went horribly wrong.

So how do fit your crafting into your otherwise busy life? Are you one of the brave ones who crafts & creates full time? Let us know, we'd love to hear from you.

And thanks for reading!

5 things I love about sewing

I am a computer nerd, using & maintaining computer systems at work. I avoided Home Economics at school, loved fixing my old cars. I've never considered myself as having much of a creative streak.

But everyone has a creative streak, in some shape or another.

Sewing patterns appeal to the techie in me - pieces that go together in a certain order, in a certain way, allowing a 2D piece of fabric to become something 3D. 

I like seeing a detail on an item of clothing and working out how it was made. But I do not have the creative juices to come up with original designs except by combining details from various sources.

But fabric? Designs made by super creative people!

It is a tool and as such I am amazed at the designs made by clever clogs like Tula Pink and Amy Butler. And I mean clever clogs in a good way - talented, talented people.

Colours that go together.

Textures that can make a garment zing.

All from the creative vision of designers.

I can make things that no-one else has.

I can make things for other people in colours and combinations they want.

Not creative? Think again!