Meghan Markle – style analysis
I enjoyed watching Suits – at least at first, until it got boring. The women in the series were very sleek and wore, what purported to be, modern American workwear, so there was plenty to look at even when the story line tanked.
There was Donna the slightly naughty redhead; the cool, calculating female boss Jessica; and Rachel Zane (paralegal to qualified lawyer) – played by Meghan Markle. All three had that Corporate America look – toned figures, tight outfits, and lots of suppressed sexual allure. The polished look of flamboyantly blow dried hair, high heels, and lots of booty (possibly enhanced by Spanx). I was taken with Markle and found her rather lovely in the show.
Unusually for me (as I don’t follow sufficient popular culture) when it was announced she was dating the younger Wales boy – Harry the “spare” prince – I actually knew who she was, and I could understand the attraction.
With beautiful features and a fresh, radiant look there is no doubt that Meghan is very pretty. She has a balanced face, cute features, dark eyes and an intriguing facial mix of sharp edges and and softer lines. Although her hair is straightened her dual heritage (white/African American) background has given her an intriguing and unique look. She is also very photogenic. I love her in the deep red lipstick in the first picture which celebrates her full lips and brings her colouring to life. The second picture is of her more obvious “red carpet” look and to me she looks more run-of-the-mill.
Let’s have a look at her body shape. A swimsuit picture can help us to help identify the overall silhouette.
Here is Meghan in a bikini compared to Prince Harry’s Mum – Princess Diana. Immediately we can see that they both have a straight figure – the shoulders are wider than the hips, relatively small bust, the waistline is not well defined, with slim hips, thighs and legs. Of course they are not very similar to look at, and Diana was about five inches taller, but the underlying body shape is the same.
With a straight body shape the best look will be straight, fairly structured dresses, and tailored jackets. Let’s have a look at Meghan in this style of dress – which she choses frequently. This shiny, leather (?) dress is best described as a short (mini length) coat dress, with the nice button details on the sleeves and jetted pockets. The deep V neck showing lots of skin is an OK look but it creates an ambiguous focal point. Slim girls with an athletic build and small bust can wear a very revealing top, but maybe a little higher would look better?
Another version would be this deep red, brocade dress. Although this one seems to go the other way in terms of cleavage – with its demure high necked collar, the stiff fabric, boxy shape and mid thigh length is similar. These two dresses are good choices in that much of the emphasis is on the delicate leg – enhanced by wearing rather elegant, pointed shoes. 
Both of these dresses – and there are many more on the internet – are a good choice for someone with a straight or semi-straight figure. The structural fabrics look really nice and have a 1960s youthfulness about them and they really flatter a skinny leg.
Now consider a few dresses Meghan has chosen to disguise her figure and “break the rules”. Let’s consider the gorgeous midi length dress below. I am reading this as Meghan wanting to look grown up and more feminine. This red dress is much longer than she normally wears and the skirt flares out over her hips. The bust is attractive without being too overtly in your face (I include the Deal or No Deal picture just to show how not to dress. The skimpy padded bra/slip dress is just nasty, in my opinion). The issue for a woman with slim legs is that they can look too frail and out of proportion under a longer, full skirt. It looks to me like the midi dress may be tapered slightly towards the hem so that this effect is not over exaggerated.
Here is another dress which I feel works slightly against the grain, but again with good results. The cut in shoulders and lovely pleated neck detail, frames her face, and minimises Meghan’s relatively square, broad shoulders. The tight, elasticated fabric makes the most of the waist line and pulls in under the hips, before flaring out into a nice fish tail.
Let’s finish with some trouser pictures. If you have a straight figure with slim legs and delicate ankles all these trouser looks will suit you. A neat shorts suit with a shirt and jacket; skinny wet-look leggings with a shirt and jumper; a billowing blouse over skinnies. Although most of these looks are high street rather than high fashion the style is very accessible and nicely put together.
Let’s finish with a picture of Meghan with Harry. Here she looks great in a big, boyish shirt, artfully tucked to give a semblance of waist, unadorned (ripped even) skinny jeans, and lovely flat brown shoes and matching casual bag. With loose hair, sunglasses and a happy smile she looks just great.
What do you think?
Knitting Update…
My life has started to get almost unbearably busy. You know me – I fancy myself as being rather good at time management. But of course I am not that good because I am now dropping the ball, forgetting things, doing things wrong and letting people down.
My philosophy of life is that I am fearful of dying before I get my money’s worth! I have so many things I want to do, make, see, experience, savour and love and so little time – if I am lucky as my Mum I have just 30 years left. (I am not sure I can use up all my patterns and fabric in that time!)
My other key motivation is to keep on learning. This gives meaning to my life. While I have more than enough of material things – especially clothes! – I never have enough of learning. I still make things to learn new techniques and to challenge myself.
Work
At work preparing to merge two large housing associations is challenging for me. Nobody really likes change – including me of course – and in preparing for such a big change requires hundreds of people to collaborate together on the project. I have been working long hours and have had to deal with lots of anxieties – both individual and organisational. It’s tough and it is impinging greatly on the rest of my life.
Family
My family is undergoing changes too – two out of three have new jobs to adapt to, and the other one has become a part time student. Nick is doing lots of work in the new house so we are seeing less of each other during the week. Here are some typical pictures of everyday life.
A book
In terms of my free time I may have overcommitted. I have been trying to write a management book, and have started a new blog to begin to put things together. In retrospect I am not sure I can write the book without running the blog for a year or two to get my ideas sorted out. I don’t know if I want to write a general management book – about compassionate management – or a specific merger manual. And then I do sometimes wonder if I would rather write Fabrickated-the book! So I am spending time on “the book” without actually knowing what Book I am writing. I am having help from a specialist but I may have bitten off more than I can chew. Even if I don’t manage to achieve a published book I am learning so much. And researching the book is teaching me many useful things. I am listening to business book podcasts, and reading about the psychology of work, and planning.
Reading
Did you know that you cannot write well unless you also read widely? So despite my resolution for the year being to read one book a week I have completely failed to do that since I took up knitting. I read a book last week, but it was the first for a long while. (All at Sea by Decca Aitkenhead)
Spanish
Also I had been thinking about learning Spanish for years. I like the language and have a rudimentary understanding from trying to learn. But now my son Gus is studying French at Uni, and my daughter Esme is learning Italian, I thought it would be a good time to go for it. But I can’t really give it enough time.
Knitting, sewing and crafts
And then I want to make things – another Chanel jacket, more knitting and a second pair of boots. We are loving the boot making course but of course I would now like to take it further.
I am not sure how we will achieve that. Nick and I are also beginning to think about what to do a course on next – he has suggested pottery, which is fine with me.
So what I have I been doing at home? Let me give you a quick update on what I have achieved. Embarrassingly I have four knitting projects on the go.
- Started a New Zealand sweater for Nick (preparing for the knitalong). The yarn I order to complete the jumper is a different colour. I think it looks OK as a colour block, but I would have prefered the grey – had it been available.It is too long, and we can’t decide on the neckline, so this has stalled.
Elizabeth Zimmermann New Zealand sweater - Remaking the striped kids sweater. I made too many mistakes on this (wrong size of needles, not keen on the yarns, the colours don’t appeal greatly especially the heavy navy neckline and shoulders). I started to lengthen the body and considered making this up as a tank top. With all those colours I figured this might be preferable to a fully striped long sleeved jumper. But I think I will abort the mission. However I do want to do a stripey, rainbow sweater at some point. The crochet skirt showed how nice small pieces of yarn can look together, especially when the colour scheme is harmonious.
- The diaphanous pink and white jumper, inspired by Helmut Lang. This is going quite well, if rather slowly. I used lace weight merino yarn and relatively large needles creating a transparent look. I found an appropriate pink yarn to create the stripe across the middle. I have yet to decide if I want sleeves or not and how to finish it. I think the tank top may be nice. But short sleeves, with wide pink borders would contrast well with a cotton vest underneath.
- The violet cardigan. This needs steeking and I am fearful of doing it. So this is sitting in a bag.
Violet bobble cardigan based on Elizabeth Zimmermann
Knitting Update
My life has started to get almost unbearably busy. You know me – I fancy myself as being rather good at time management. But of course I am not that good because I am now dropping the ball, forgetting things, doing things wrong and letting people down.
My philosophy of life is that I am fearful of dying before I get my money’s worth! I have so many things I want to do, make, see, experience, savour and love and so little time – if I am lucky as my Mum I have just 30 years left. (I am not sure I can use up all my patterns and fabric in that time!)
My other key motivation is to keep on learning. This gives meaning to my life. While I have more than enough of material things – especially clothes! – I never have enough of learning. I still make things to learn new techniques and to challenge myself.
Work
At work preparing to merge two large housing associations is challenging for me. Nobody really likes change – including me of course – and in preparing for such a big change requires hundreds of people to collaborate together on the project. I have been working long hours and have had to deal with lots of anxieties – both individual and organisational. It’s tough and it is impinging greatly on the rest of my life.
Family
My family is undergoing changes too – two out of three have new jobs to adapt to, and the other one has become a part time student. Nick is doing lots of work in the new house so we are seeing less of each other during the week. Here are some typical pictures of everyday life.
A book
In terms of my free time I may have overcommitted a bit. I have been trying to write a management book, and have started a new blog to begin to put things together. In retrospect I am not sure I can write the book without running the blog for a year or two to get my ideas sorted out. I am not sure if I want to write a general management book – about compassionate management – or a specific merger manual. And then I do sometimes wonder if I would rather write Fabrickated-the book! So I am spending time on “the book” without actually knowing what I want to do. I am having some help from a specialist but I may have bitten off more than I can chew. Even if I don’t manage to achieve a published book I know I am learning so much. And researching for the book is teaching me many things which are useful for work. I am listening to business book podcasts, and reading about the psychology of work, and planning things out.
Reading
Did you know that you cannot really write well unless you read? So despite my resolution for the year being to read one book a week I have completely failed to do that since I took up knitting. I did read a book last week but it was the first for a long while. (It was All at Sea by Decca Aitkenhead)
Spanish
Also I had been thinking about learning Spanish for years. I like the language and have a rudimentary understanding from trying to learn for years. But now my son Gus is studying French at Uni, and my daughter Esme is learning Italian, I thought it would be a good time to go for it.
Knitting, sewing and crafts
And then I want to make things – another Chanel jacket, more knitting and a pair of boots. We are loving the boot making course but of course I would now like to take it further.
I am not sure how we will achieve that. Nick and I are also beginning to think about what to do a course on next – he has suggested pottery, which is fine with me.
So what I have I been doing at home. Let me give you a quick update on what I have achieved. Embarrassingly I have four knitting projects on the go.
- Started a New Zealand sweater for Nick (preparing for the knitalong). The yarn I order to complete the jumper is a different colour. I think it looks OK as a colour block, but I would have prefered the grey – had it been available.It is too long, and we can’t decide on the neckline, so this has stalled. Elizabeth Zimmermann New Zealand sweater
- Remaking the striped kids sweater. I made too many mistakes on this (wrong size of needles, not keen on the yarns, the colours don’t appeal greatly especially the heavy navy neckline and shoulders). I started to lengthen the body and considered making this up as a tank top. With all those colours I figured this might be preferable to a fully striped long sleeved jumper. But I think I will abort the mission. However I do want to do a stripey, rainbow sweater at some point. The crochet skirt showed how nice small pieces of yarn can look together, especially when the colour scheme is harmonious.
- The diaphanous pink and white jumper, inspired by Helmut Lang. This is going quite well, if rather slowly. I used lace weight merino yarn and relatively large needles creating a transparent look. I found an appropriate pink yarn to create the stripe across the middle. I have yet to decide if I want sleeves or not and how to finish it. I think the tank top may be nice. But short sleeves, with wide pink borders would contrast well with a cotton vest underneath.
- The violet cardigan. This needs steeking and I am fearful of doing it. So this is sitting in a bag.
Violet bobble cardigan based on Elizabeth Zimmermann
Bootmaking Part 3
We were warned that this is the week when our boot making gets serious. We used techniques that would be difficult or impossible outside a workshop.
This week we learned what cobbling is!
A cobbler is someone that repairs shoes. A cordwainer makes the shoe from scratch, as we are doing. The process includes
- Drafting and making a pattern
- Construction of the upper portion by machine (or hand) sewing
- Lating (stretching the leather over the shoe last)
- Cobbling it with cobbling tacks
- Adding the outer sole
- Finishing
This week we did the lasting and the cobbling. With a new set of tools. The red pliers really come into their own as the leather is firmly stretched over the plastic shoe last (the equivalent of a dressmakers dummy). This gives a nice smooth line to the shoe and really makes it look professional. The leather has some stretch and plasticity to it, which is (for me) the beauty of the process.
I am not saying it was easy! It was hard work. The pliers are used as a lever to create the tension. Then you have to grab the leather with your thumbs, having smoothed out the upper. Once you have got the leather in the right position a tack is put in, using the flat, hammer side of the pliers. This holds the leathers in the correct position. Later they are glued and cobbled. The hammer is used for flattening the leather at the point when everything is done.
Apart from our leather uppers and the pig skin lining we now add two other materials; the insole and the stiffening materials. The insole is made of a flexible, woody type material into which the nails are driven. And the stiffener, which is in some ways similar to the interfacings we use in dressmaking, covers the back of the shoe (left) and the toe area (right). As you can easily imagine, and probably are aware of on your own shoes, these two pieces of material give structure and shape to your shoes and boots and stop them collapsing in. After all two layers of leather are still fairly floppy.
Let’s see how the stiffening material is applied. The back, heel piece is pushed up inside the two leather layers at the back of the shoe and the instructor used an interesting machine to achieve the task while we watched. First the shoe is shaped against a hot metal piece – the stiffening which includes plastics softens considerably and allows it to be shaped around a metal last. Then it is put into a second machine where another last is very cold (and had a slight frosting of ice on it) to quickly cool the stiffening and fix the heel shape.
After the heel has been shaped we moved on to the toe. The lining is lasted, pulled over the last tightly, and shaped by hand, and tacked underneath, before being glued. The toe shaper is heated up and once it becomes a little floppy (and pretty warm to the touch) we shaped it over the toe, smoothing and pulling it to fit nicely and stick down. This process was fairly similar to some of the processes we use in tailoring – such as working fullness in, easing, using the bias, shaping a curved area such as a shoulder. It came fairly easily to me. Then a layer of glue is applied over the toe area and the upper layer of leather is brought down over it. Again we went back to lasting the shoe – getting the leather nice and smooth and fully pulled over the last.
So far so good. Having glued them again we left them to dry over the next seven days. Next week we may have soles on our shoes. And heels!
Finishing the Carolyn Crocheted skirt
Phew!
Having created a piece of fabric from over 100 little crocheted squares, each in three colours, I finally joined them together.
If you do this – for a blanket or a garment – I used the following method.
Sewing up granny squares
Decide on a design. I had one row of pink followed by one row of blue. I alternated deeper squares with lighter ones across the row and alternated down the column too, as you can see in the second picture. Starting at the hem I sewed one row first along the left and right sides, from the base upwards, sewing right sides together, and leaving a long thread towards the top. The next row was joined, left to right sewing the bottom of the second row to the top of the first row, with one long thread. Then the squares in the second row were joined to each other, right sides together, taking up the long upwards threads, rethreading each time. This approach gave me a nice even fabric. I used a small over stitch getting into the crocheted stitches. Once complete press on the reverse.
Shaping the skirt
Thank you very much for giving me your suggestions on how to do this.
The original Carolyn skirt involves picking up stitches along the top end and knitting in ribbing and threading elastic through. Although I knew this would work I didn’t want bulk around the waist. My dark green yarn (thank you Jo) is rather bulky to start with and I just have a bit of an aversion to an elasticated waist. So I wanted to create more shape and asked for your advice.
- Linda suggested mounting the crocheted piece onto a firm linen underskirt. I have seen this done in some 1960s coture patterns and it was a clever suggestion.
- Tina, an experienced crocheter, confirmed that this sort of fabric is best used to create rectangular garments or skirts for straight figured women.
- Jay came up with the idea of making the upper squares in a tapered shape, and also suggested the ribbing approach
- Eimear, who is a competent and knowledgeable crocheter too came up with an ingenious proposal. She uses a variety of crochet stitches to create the yoke area, with decreases, ending with a slightly gathered look using a cord to pull it up. I liked this idea a lot.
- Ceci thought of a wrap skirt – clever – or shaped squares
- Erin Alter came up with the most creative fix, and it was one I really warmed to. She suggested using fabric to create a yoke in a harmonising or contrasting fabric – such as a tweed. I love this idea and I do want to do it – inspired by the Burbery pictures. I don’t have fabric to hand, so may just let this one cogitate. It depends on fabrics and yarns that just demand to come together. I do want to combine knitting with stitching at some point.
- Cynthia from Swindon, similar to Linda, thought about mounting the crochet on a stretch fabric and doing the Alabama Chenin approach to shaping. Let’s have a look at an A line skirt.
What I don’t like about this skirt is way the pattern breaks at the CF (and presumably CB too). I wanted to avoid an obvious seam in my skirt. Otherwise the skirt is worn low down, almost on the hips. This is great if you have a young, flat belly. Otherwise it is not a great, or even comfortable, look.
So what did I do?
I went back to the lace skirt as my guide. I thought seriously of mounting the fabric or underlining the skirt. I may still do this if my skirt doesn’t wear well. But right now I want the skirt to feel flexible and casual. With the lace skirt, inspired by Mrs Mole, I created the shaping by carefully moving the motifs around. I thought this approach might work with the crocheted skirt, so that is what I have done.
The waist line has four squares removed from it at the side seams. The second row going down has the dark background taken up into the seam, tapering down towards the hip. The third row had take up of the colourful flowers and I used the lace technique. I carefully cut away one of the flowers and blended two squares on the right side. To be honest my work is (as ever) a bit bodged.
Waist band
Finally I added a waistband the same size as the waist minus two squares to bring in the skirt some more. I decided to line the waist band and insert some stiffening. I used this stiffener that I won from William Gee. I zig zagged two strips together to create the relatively wide waist band, then wrapped it in lining material (also from Wm Gee). I hand stitched the squares to the waistband, using a strong button-hole thread from Wm Gee, creating a kind of belt
As I had decreased the number of squares by two I knew this blue row would not line up precisely with the pink row beneath. So I lined it up at the CF and eased the waist line into the lower edge of the waistband. Then I inserted a nice mauve zip (also from Wm Gee) by hand.
Finally I got the effect I wanted. You can see the definite curve in the pictures below.
And here are the glamorous model shots!
I really like this skirt. It is a nice weekend skirt, and really warm and comfortable.I like wearing it with opaque tights. It goes brilliantly with my dark green Heavenly cashmere jumper.
I don’t think this is the end of crocheting for me. Or knitted skirts.
Tool Time
Did you ever watch hilarious American sit com Home Improvement?
I really loved the show – in it Tim Taylor has a programme called Tool Time and he is really pretty useless as a DIYer. Lots of explosions, casual sexism; apart from his exasperated and disapproving wife I also loved his introverted assistant Al, and Wilson the neighbour. But the show’s huge success owes a lot to the notion of Man – interested in sport, fast cars, taking charge, fixing stuff and Power Tools. Women’s sewing equipment is a different matter. We don’t use words like Power Tools, even if we employ electricity.
I do think men and women have a different attitude to tools that may go back to the beginning of time. Women are generally only credited with invented weaving, maybe knitting, whereas men get to claim all the cool stuff – fire, speed, hard metals, killing equipment, etc.
Years ago, when the kids were little and iPhones hadn’t been invented, I had a real run-of-the-mill camera. I tried to take pictures of the usual things – landscapes, portraits, still life etc. And then I really tried hard to photograph insects and flowers, close up. And after a number of frustrating attempts my (then) husband John told me I needed a special lens – a macro lens – to get the type of close-ups I wanted to achieve. He found it rather sweet that I was struggling with a problem for a while without realising that all I needed was a different piece of equipment! He offered to buy me a new lens but I figured I wasn’t that keen on getting the shots. If it wasn’t technically feasible I would concentrate on all the other things I could do with a camera.
Stretch is a book by Scott Sonenshein (thanks for bringing it to my attention Steph!).
He writes: “The problem is: We routinely overestimate the importance of acquiring resources but even more significantly underestimate our ability to make more out of those we have.” I am not sure I need to read a whole book about this but I immediately recognised the two personality types – he calls us “stretchers” who make the most of the resources they have against “chasers” who acquire resources systematically. “Most of our time and energy get spent looking for tools and not actually putting nails into walls,” he argues. This can make us dissatisfied as we feel the need to keep up with the Jones who have more or better stuff. As we get more we lose track of it or it goes to waste. If we stretch instead we see our limitations as an opportunity – I don’t have any red buttons – can I make a feature of white ones? Or cover some in fabric? Or use nail varnish (no – that one doesn’t work!)
Maybe I am flattering myself with the idea that I am a stretcher.
I bought white silk for a time, painting designs on it rather than buying fresh cloth every time and creating waste. Sometimes making do helps you to think creatively about using one tool for several purposes rather than a specific tool (we have an avocado tool that scoops and slices – but a spoon and knife is just as good). At work I generally adopt the principle that we can do what we need without additional resources eg relying on consultants. We rarely put money aside for any project – our philosophy is just to stretch the resources we already have. In other arenas, without the special tools we can become more innovative and creative. Having less can encourage us to invent or solve problems. If we don’t have too much we find ways to reuse what we have – the slum dwellers of Rio became excellent recyclers of rubbish to make a living. All this is trite and rather obvious.
So I have been fascinated to consider what this has meant for me as I have been working with my husband to complete my new sewing room. My existing area had been a small corner in the kitchen of our London flat. As we collaborate to create the new area I have watched him in his very well-equipped work shop where he seems to have a tool for every task known to man. He bought a job lot of tools and didn’t even know what all of them were for. Our (builder) friend Symon said one of them is for “cutting letter boxes in any size or shape”. How we laughed. But I really don’t want to criticise at all – I am the beneficiary, and doing the job well gives him pleasure. But I was struck by the difference in attitude we have to equipping ourselves.
So I am interested to hear your views. Do you make do and mend, or are you a top-of-the-range purchaser who likes the very best equipment? Are your skills in advance of your tools, or vice versa? Do you think men behave fundamentally differently in this regard, and if so why? Are you prepared to learn with second hand shabby tools, and then splash out only when you are frustrated by the results. Or do you blame your tools? And those who make a living from sewing – what is your attitude to equipment?
Bootmaking Part 2
Thank you for all your interest in our boot making course at the London College of Fashion. I am attending this course with my husband Nick every Sunday for six weeks. In week one we made the pattern for our boots. (I wore my crochet skirt for the class – I will write this up very soon)
Week two was about choosing and cutting out the leather, the stitching. And gluing! I had no idea how much glueing was involved.
But first off we had to make the pattern for the lining of our boots. You can see the lining pattern below. There were only two pieces which are joined down the CF of the foot and with half a seam across the instep. You can see from the photos how nicely the pattern works. This was cut out in soft, natural pig skin – in the picture I am getting to grips with cutting with a knife. If you want to know more about buying leather, see this review.
Then we selected our boot leather. The leather, like all the materials needed, is provided by the college. However there was a limited range available. On offer was black or brown, also navy and white. No one went for the white. I had intended to make brown boots, but I didn’t like the shade of brown. It wasn’t “black” enough, a bit too reddish for me. Nick really wanted a tan leather, but chose the brown for his shoes and stitched with a black thread. I went with the navy. In my photos of the day the colour came out as bright blue and as grey! Imagine it, please, as a mid navy. It’s a nice, ordinary colour. I stuck with the brown elastic as I feel it is more interesting than black. I also used dark brown thread. Of course we used our patterns on the leather as economically as possible – which is pretty easy as leather has no woven grain – and drew around them with a silver pen that rubs off with a rag before stitching.
Now we had the leather and the linings we went to the sewing room to learn how to use the machines. These are like an ordinary industrial sewing machine but there is a large well underneath so that it is possible to manipulate a shoe or boot. We practised for an hour or so first – with paper – making straight lines and lots of curves. And then with small pieces of leather off cuts. Finally we sewed in our zips or elastic, which are glued first with rubber glue (which thankfully rubs off when you get it all over the place) and then the front and back seams. Finally the toe area is stuck on and sewn to the vamp. As the leather is quite thick the lower edge of the vamp (where the toe cap is joined) is run through a machine which thins it down a little bit, and then the shine is scraped off the leather with the knife so that the other piece of leather can be first glued and then sewn to it.
When putting in a zip (plastic, YKK) or elastic into the side of the shoe we stitch close to edge in as even way as we can. The depth of the seam is slightly optional, and obviously decorative. The seams joining the top cap to the rest of the boot are overlaid on each other. On his toe cap Nick has two layers of sewing.
Conversely when joining the pieces of the leather together (like a regular seam) to make the shape of the boot, we have left 2mm seam allowances on the joins. So it is important to sew these carefully and evenly. The main issue is to try to get them to lie flat and not rub the foot. Once they are flattened we taped the seams, again to try to keep them flat and to ensure that they don’t irritate. Obviously the lining is important too.
We used a machine to press flatten the seams, and then followed up with a gentle hammering. Nick has the hammering tool in his hand below.
Once the boots were sewn up we completed the linings and put them into the boots, ready for next week.
Overall, another marvellous class.
I was fairly comfortable with the pattern cutting. The cutting out is usually done with a knife, but I prefer scissors. Unfortunately the shears are not very good. The sewing was OK for me too. Nick found it a bit more challenging as he has less sewing experience.
Our teacher told us to get an early night next Saturday and stay off the alcohol (easy for me!). I think the course is going to move away from the pattern cutting and sewing and get more challenging. Stay tuned ladies and gentlemen!
The Carolyn Crocheted skirt
Inspired by Carolyn I decided to make a crocheted skirt.
I loved her image and the gorgeous oranges and greens she used. I copied her design although with a few variations.
- DIfferent colours – I used small left over pieces of yarn, mainly in pink and blue, with dark green as the background colour. I used quite a lot of the green, maybe four or five balls. This yarn was kindly given to me by Jo.
- My “granny squares” (I cringe at this description (4/8/12 squares? Crocheted Catherine wheels?) are smaller than Carolyns
- My dimensions were 9 x 16 rather than her 6 x13 sqaures. My skirt is also a little longer
What I learned
- Crocheting is a nice change from knitting. I like the deft way my hook weaves in and out, front and back – this makes me feel quite expert while I am actually a complete beginner.
- It can be a bit fiddly, especially the colour change and changing rounds
- Two techniques I found helpful were to finish each colour and then start anew. The chain of three to get to the next layer didn’t really work for me. The other is change back to front between layers.
- I also found blocking the squares to be very helpful. I pinned the corners out and pressed the square flat – I created a 6cm x 6cm template but didn’t find it necessary. I just pinned the squares to my ironing board, steam pressed them and let them cool.
Blocking the squares - The pressing revealed the lacy look. As these squares are beautiful on both sides I started to think of items that could show case them better than a one sided item, and have decided to try a scarf. The yarn and the tension could make this a bit too stiff so I will increase the crochet hook size and go for a thinner yarn. However Ceci warned me that the lacy effect means they can get hooked onto passing door knobs etc, and may need mending
- With three colours in one small square there are lots of ends. I tried hard to work these in as I went but I didn’t really crack it
- It is fairly slow progress but I found this the ideal hobby for travelling on public transport and fitting in to odd downtime slots. It is easy to pick up and put down and each square is very small and unobtrusive
- Carry small scissors. I had large ones in my bag and got in trouble going through security at the Mayor’s office. The scissors were confiscated and I forgot to pick them up involving time and work to get them back.
- I love the way the colours work. This is the biggest joy. I made them randomly, as the mood took me. Then arranging them into a pattern was fun. I could do stripes, blocks or variation. In the end I did horizontal colour stripes (pink and blue) and put one lighter next to one darker to create a sort of checker board look. My final arrangement is a bit like a Welsh blanket. The possibilities are endless here and this factor will bring me back to the technique.
In the midst of my creative efforts my dear Daughter in Law (who works for Burberry) sent me these amazing images. Look at those cool grannies!! Crochet plus knitting! Cables, embroidery, and cricket jumper ribbing. Of course too out there for many of us, but massively inspirational.
I may be a granny, but I am so up to the minute, darling!
Here is what it looks like as I am starting to join the squares together.
As it is coming together I realise that Carolyn’s approach of knitting a ribbed yoke/waist band is still a bit bulky and I do like my skirts to have sufficient shaping, given my relatively curvy shape. So I have stalled.
Given this is pure wool I have considered shrinking the top and stretching the hem, to create a slight A line, but I should have thought of that at the design stage. If I had been really clever I might have designed a yoked skirt and created a different design for the yoke – maybe striped instead of granny squares. Or even more interesting would have been to create different sized squares using a smaller crochet hook or finer yarns. My other notion is to dart the side seams to provide waist shaping, and put in a zip. I am not sure if this would work. Would it need a waist band? If so does it need to be interfaced or made in a different way? I wonder if anyone has made a crocheted granny square garment? They often seem to be based on rectangles rather than shaped.
Please let me have your thoughts on how to make a skirt and I will report back next week. Thank you!
Boot making at the London College of Fashion – part 1
You may remember I have been dying to do a shoe making course for ages. And lots of readers have been cheering for the shoe making, especially Aida who has made some super shoes herself. But I had not found a suitable opportunity. Then I discovered a short course to make a pair of boots over six Sundays, and Nick and I signed up. This takes place at the London College of Fashion.
The first class involved designing our boots and making a pattern.
We were told that we could make black, brown or tan boots, for men (flat) or for women (high heel boots), with elastic or zips. A little bit limited but for a first attempt at footwear I guess it is best to focus on techniques without too much freedom.
I must admit when I realised that we would be making high heeled boots I was a bit fed up as I hardly ever wear high heels. But then I thought – if it is all about the learning then learning how to make heeled boots is quite an exciting prospect, even if I rarely wear them. During our lunch hour I found a roughly acceptable design on the internet and while I started with an unusual shape for the elastic insert I changed this later on in my design. Also my boots will be dark brown rather than black. Nick is of course making men’s boots and is quite happy with the limitations imposed (although he had lace ups in mind before we arrived). I could have had knee (or even over the knee) boots, and had a flat version been possible I should have gone for that. But with the heels I thought a shorter boot to wear with trousers was more suitable.
The first thing we did was use masking tape to cover a last in our size. This is then marked up in various ways and removed carefully after cutitng along the centre front and back lines.
Once the sticky tape was carefully cut off and stuck down onto paper we had to press it down firmly, given it was quite contoured. As a relatively experienced patten cutter I was interested in this technique, one I have seen in Pattern Magic. When we made our bodices with cling film Pia showed us how to use the darts to flatten the pattern. In this case there were no darts – just squishing the 3D masking tape onto a 2D surface. Once the masking tape pattern is complete we drew around the inside and outside pattern and made a new line between the two – the mean of the two lines effectively. There is an extra piece of pattern at the instep (on the inside) and this is left but the shorter outline is also indicated for the outside. You can just see this on the base of my basic “block” pattern, known in shoe making as the Mean Forme. You may be able to see what look like balance marks or notches – at the Vamp Point (where a court shoe would dip down to), the instep (where our lacing would start), a back height mark and also marks for the widest part of the shoe.
Finally we turned the mean forme (block) into a pattern for our boots. The Standard Last Length is determined by your shoe size, and we used aliquot parts to determine some of the dimensions. We also took lots of measurements including of the foot and leg itself. In the photograph you can see Nick creating his pattern. Can you see the toe cap? And the side zip?
Finally we separated the pattern pieces, added seam allowances (although there is a different terminology required which I may recall after six weeks, but cannot at the moment). The leather will be joined in various ways as it is not really possible to get the shoes out of one huge piece of leather. Half a cow’s worth of leather will only make four pairs of boots so it fairly demanding on the raw materials.
Next week we will cut out our leather and start sewing it up.
So far so good. It is such an exciting process – closely related to what I already know but also totally foreign. I am finding a bit easier than the complete beginners (although I have never made shoes of any description before), but there are only four students so we are getting lots of advice and support.
Elizabeth Zimmermann’s New Zealand sweater
I have really fallen for the New Zealand sweater, which I wrote about here.
I have now made up two of these delightfully simple but fantastically elegant tops. Not so my teeth, smeared in raspberry flesh. (One day I will learn how to use Photoshop).
I have already posted about the green one. When I was making that one up I put pictures on Instagram and several people urged me to make a sleeveless version.
I like a sleeveless jumper. I am not sure about you but I have found that the flesh on my arms has held out a bit longer than other areas so I don’t mind flashing them. The little cap sleeves are cute, and with a high round neck we have a little top that is not too revealing. I knitted this in cashmere DK – from a range of small remnants, more or less matching; a reduced cost “set” from Colourmart. But it might be ideal in cotton or linen or silk. I also had an idea of buying white yarn and then dying it before knitting knitting it, or knitting it in white and then dying it to create an ombre effect. This would be a very exciting project for me and a little top in silk would be a nice summer project.
To make the short sleeve T shirt I used only 130 stitches cast on in the round, and I finished it at the waist so it is a neat little summer top that can go under a jacket or even over a shirt for an extra layer of warmth in autumn. In linen, silk or cotton it might make a top cool enough for people in the Southern Hemisphere.
I think this is a sweater that would be great for little kids and huge men too. Here is Wyeth in his. It seems that his wife Betsy has use a piece of I-cord to trim the yoke, and I believe she has used Quaker stitch for the cuffs. I would like to have a go at both techniques. Wyeth refers to this jersey as “like armour”.
As well as knitting nice new things I have been tidying up at home and finally uncovered my two unfinished knitting projects.
When I first conquered knitting a jersey I admitted I had tried to make a garment twice before. Once to make an owl sweater by Kate Davies, and a second time to make a cardigan by Lisa Richardson in Kidsilk Haze (!). I couldn’t do the shaping on the owls jersey and as for the cardigan – you can see how I got hopelessly lost in the pattern and my front and sleeve are all wrong (probably the back too!).
Both these projects had saddened me as I had got lost and gone wrong and didn’t have the knowledge or experience or energy to sort them out. So, with a sense of shame (for the cost of the materials, for the embarrassment of failure) I did what I do with my UFOs – I squirreled them away in a dark cupboard. I am pretty sure I started the cardigan in 2012. The Owls jersey before that – so probably before Ted was born and he is six next month.
So this weekend, after unpacking and photographing them, I unravelled them so I can repurpose the yarn.
The Owls sweater was knitted in soft roving British yarn made from a blend of 80% merino wool and 20% kid mohair – Rowan Cocoon in a very light grey. I showed this yarn to my husband, who assumed it was cashmere (know nothing, men, eh?). He loved it which helped me decide I will finally make a sweater for him (I made a sweater for my son Gus and knitting for tall men is a labour of love).
I thought I might turn him into a great artist if I knitted him one like Andrews! If not an artist, I might encourage his carpentry efforts which are getting more professional and splendid by the cupboard. Nick likes to wear a warm sweater when he is working in his shed as it can be a bit cool in there. He often expresses frustration at the lack of length of his RTW jumpers, including the sleeves, and believes that wool always shrinks (hmm.) He let me measure him this weekend. For future reference I found he would need a width of 42″, length from back neck of 27″, length from underarm to hem of 18″ and a sleeve of 24″. The nice thing about this rather chunky yarn is that it can be knitted on 6-7mm needles which would mean I could create the comparatively huge amount of fabric relatively quickly. However I will need to buy quite a lot more yarn, and it won’t be exactly the same shade, I don’t personally think this matters much. (Actually when trying the jumper on he wanted a further four and a half inches of length! This means the back neck length goes to 31.5″, underarm to hem increases to 22.5″. The sleeve will be tried on later).
Anyway I have been thinking of another Knit A Long as I can explain this pattern to you with ease. You will find it in Knit One Knit All, but the book is rather expensive and I would not recommend it. Too many of the items in there are clever without being very nice, in my opinion. If you like rustic 1980s styling then you may love it, and there are some cool slipper and glove patterns, but the tops are ugly is you ask me. Also I have made a few modifications to the NZ that I could share with you as we go along. At the moment I have an issue with how best to do the short rows that create the very nice shaping across the yoke. I can’t help create a sort of lacey effect. I quite like it but I am not sure it is what everyone wants.
So I am going to do a third one, and then if there is any interest I could organise another knit along (the last one was lots of fun and soon I will show you the second round of results), maybe in November so one of these could be a Christmas present for a loved one?
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