Inspiration from ancient Egyptians
After nearly a year since we went to Seville, we managed to squeeze in a week on the River Nile. Egypt is more or less devoid of tourists, which makes it very sad. It has the most amazing places to visit, a good tourist infrastructure, friendly people many of whom speak good English, delicious food and an opportunity to spend time on the water watching the world go by. Some rural areas are almost unchanged from Biblical times, but the modern cities are bustly and fun without being overwhelming. We went on this trip, but there are many other companies offering similar trips. Of course political unrest and local issues have made many stay clear of Egypt. There are armed soldiers protecting many of the sites, and there is a tourist police force. But in most places they are just doing their job and are unobtrusive. We never felt remotely unsafe, and although people do try to sell you trinkets, cigarettes, scarves and tourist booklets, they give up fairly easily.
I enjoyed everything about this adventure, but one of the special aspects was getting close to the amazing stone work and seeing, even in the smallest details, how people, animals and things were communicated with simple outlines. Any of these motifs would make a wonderful block print or textile design.
I can’t help but include some more explicit pictures. Obviously the fertility of mankind, the Gods and of nature, is to be celebrated and recorded. Sadly many of these sort of images have been defaced over the years as the Gods changed and the next generation wanted to reassert themselves. I can’t say I will be printing with these eternal symbols of life creation on a T-shirt anytime soon, but I am glad they have survived, especially the ones showing a baby being born, and a fairly big child being fed by his mother.
Egyptian Wedding
Do you love watching stranger’s weddings? Passing a country church in the summer, or seeing people coming down the steps of an inner city register office, I always stop and watch for a while. In Italy we stood and admired elegant ladies walking to a little church at the top of a cobbled street in very high heels and fondant dresses. In India we watched a wedding with more guests than you can imagine; saris in every colour, embroidered and draped in gold. So, on holiday last week, I was delighted to see, from our 5th floor room, an Egyptian wedding taking place in our hotel. While the other guests took pictures from their rooms I went down and asked if I might take a picture close up. The beautiful couple was more than happy to oblige.
The traditional wedding attire of Egypt was quite different to what this couple were wearing. Ahmed, our guide, explained that in the past the whole village might have been involved in embroidering the dresses, the best of which were made of silk.
Muslim women are required to cover the whole body, showing only their face and hands. I sent one of these Aswan photographs off to our own Mrs Mole – she who alters similar dresses for her American brides – who often choose to wear low-cut, fairly revealing frocks. The young modern Egyptian brides have adopted a creative approach, basing their look on the same Western ideal. These days the dresses are usually hired, and include all sorts of trendy details, such as a pearly crown, bouquet, false eyelashes and veil. This bride wore a dress with back feature lacing and a modern low-cut, embellished neckline, just as you might see in California or Cardiff. But underneath she is wearing a white, stretchy, long-sleeved polo necked jumper, a fashion popular across Egypt as it allows women to wear modern fashions but adapted for modesty.
The groom then picked up his new wife, pressed his nose gently to hers, and revealed his sweet, white, socks.
Lino printing on a summer T shirt
Some of my all time favourite T-shirts come from Primark. Made in Romania or Poland these cotton with Lycra T-shirts are a tight fit (which I like), wash and wash without shrinkage or piling. Normally £2-£3 each, they come in a wide range of styles and colours – sleeveless, long sleeves, vests, V necks, and so on. I like a striped T-shirt and they usually have a good selection. I would also recommend kids T-shirts great too, and if you hand decorate them they make unique presents.
When i am want a quick project I like printing on, or painting, a ready-made T-shirt rather than printing on fabric and then making it up. Instant gratification (it takes about half an hour if you have the lino prints already made) Here are my four knives I quickly cut from small offcuts of lino. Rather than using a whole block for a specific picture, small elements can be used to build up a pattern. I had a really simple arrangement in mind with this T-shirt print.
I used navy printing ink of a pink T-shirt, and arranged the knives right across the chest. I didn’t mind the “shadow” effect around the knives, but if you do then you can trim them more severely.
You may remember that I meant to make a hand painted silk dress to take on my holiday, but time ran away with me. The new government in the UK and its desire to rewrite Housing Policy is creating quite a lot of controversy and change, so I had been very involved in that right up until our holiday last week.
In the end I just had the one the hand-printed T as my only new item.
In the photograph below I have it on with a navy linen skirt made from Vogue 1247. The inelegant grey bobby socks plus trainers look a bit mad, I know.
I am nonchalently leaning on one of the amazing columns at Karnak Temple, near Luxor. Being in Egypt, and seeing ancient rock carvings everywhere, i got lots of inspiration for carving into lino in order to make more printing blocks. I’ll show you some more pictures in due course.
A gift for the Principal of the Mary Ward Centre
My opposites project came to an end. I made four lino prints based on the words on posters I came across at the Mary Ward Centre. I used machine embroidery to create colour on the design. I added a little hand embroidery too to give it more life. I included little portraits of the students on three of the four sub pictures. Finally I used a ready stretched canvas as the base, and stretched the pressed fabric over the wooden frame. Then using my husband as a helper we stapled the cotton to the canvas.
On the front I wrote the title of the piece in felt tip pen; DO/ DO NOT DO, and signed it with my blog name – if people are curious to understand it they will have to read the blog post.
I did two versions of this picture – I have kept one for myself. This one will be mounted too – and then I will have to decide where to hang it up.
In some ways this block print and embroidery is a little protest – a tiny political act. I wanted the Centre to accept it as a supportive critique of their messaging.
This week I finally got an appointment with the principal of the Mary Ward Centre, Suzanna Jackson. Unfortunately she was ill but I was able to make the presentation to Sue Craggs, the Head of Adult and Community Education. The photograph was taken by Felicity Baird the Principal’s PA. Sue listened carefully to my story of the why I made the art work, and took on board my critique of all the notices around the college. I suggested they may like to engage with the students on the issue of how communication is managed in order to make it both more effective and more beautiful.
The story of my pincushions
I have three pin cushions. All of them have beauty and sentimental meaning.
Tapestry pin cushion
The first is a tapestry pin cushion made by my mother. I like it as it quite big and you can always find it. The muted colours make it look subtle and antique. Like most ladies of her generation she learnt to sew, knit, and cook as she grew up. Her own mother was disabled and my Mum had to look after her and do quite a lot of the domestic work. So although she much prefered shopping to sewing once she got married she has always done tapestry. Two antique chairs, some footstools and other items in the house look something like this pincushion, with traditional floral patterns. 
Hand made felted tomato pin cushion
My second pin cushion was made by Jackie Parsons of Bopeepkids.com. I met her at a craft fair at just the moment when I wanted a wrist borne pincushion, and she was selling a couple, handmade from felted wool.
This one is very useful as I wear it when I am sewing – but especially when I am fitting or pinning on the stand, or doing a hem. I stitched an elasticated cuff on it so it was comfortable to wear. Jackie told me why the traditional shape and colour of a pin cushion is tomato shaped.
Apparently when a family moved into a home of their own they would set a tomato on the mantlepiece as it was said to bring prosperity and ward off any bad spirits. But if you could not get a fresh tomato then families would make a tomato from red fabric and fill it up with stuffing, sand or sawdust being the kind of thing they would have available. This meant it was also a good place to store pins safely. The tomatoes are ubiquitous, but some have a little strawberry attached, filled with emery or sand to keep pins and needles sharp – anyone know what the strawberry signifies?
Antique pin cushion
My third pincushion is an actual antique, a gift from my husband who supports my sewing hobby in his own sweet way. I understand it is English, dating from about 1850s. It has a seam clamp and it is attached to a table by means of a screw. It is designed to hold up the hem of a garment. On the top is a velvet pin cushion. Some of these are much more ornate, but I like the design of mine. I never use it but I like it sitting by my side.
Can a computer advise you on style?
I can advise you on style. Like many style advisors I have been trained in how to analyse the shapes and styles that best suit individual men and women. But my time is relatively expensive and not everyone wants a personal consultation. Wouldn’t it be great if a computer could tell you what would suit you to make shopping easier, more reliable and economical?
I have been thinking about how some of the knowledge I have could be translated into a computer programme, and have considered producing an app. But it is fiendishly complicated! Although there are some very clear and scientifically based rules about Men and Women’s style, wardrobe personality and colour, individual quirks are as important. Lots of smaller issues arise which a programme cannot deal with – a high or low bust, a long neck, sloping shoulders; a strong view on certain items (eg “I would never wear a mini skirt/shorts/a low cut top/flat shoes” etc); the precise fit of a garment; and fashion preferences for example. So, having critiqued the Boots No 7 colour analysis tool, I decide to try Marks and Spencer’s online Style Advisor.
The website features a comprehensive programme, asking you your to determine your colouring and basic body shape, your age, which bits you like and dislike and how confident you are in dressing. It also tries to work out what sort of clothes you like and dislike by giving you some fairly generic shapes. I was tempted to say I disliked them all, but ticked the shapes I prefered.
So what did the site come up with for me? Three pages of clothes from their current range, in the size that I had specified. I was surprised to see one dress I had actually tried on in the shop, finding of course that the top was too big and the hips too small. So, while I had told the site that I was “pear shaped” it still showed me an item that would work better on someone with a straight body shape.
The virtual Style Advisor suggested billowing tops and a kaftan (pul..ease) to even out my larger hips – but I don’t find this a good strategy. If I wear baggy or floaty type tops I feel they make me look bigger, so I tend to wear neater, tailored T shirts and jumpers. The colours were fairly dire too – lots of black (I said I was fair, with grey hair and blue eyes). I ticked pink, red, blue, turquoise and green as my favourite colours. However despite me not ticking orange, black or beige I was offered this. Had I been asked I would also expressed an aversion to mullet hems and ombre looks.
Finally, despite it asking me to declare my age, it offered me three bridesmaid dresses!
All in all, it is not a bad programme. There were some items proposed that I could wear, including one which I might actually buy. With a belt, necklace and scarf, a jacket, tights and nice shoes this is the sort of dress I would be happy to wear. 
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Has anyone else ever tried this or similar programmes? What did you think?
Learning to cook – Japanese style
You may remember my friend Yuka, who showed me round the pattern cutting room at her work. Apart from working in London’s fashion industry Yuka is also a qualified Japanese chef. I know this is a sewing blog, but it was such fun, I just wanted to share the experience.
Yuka kindly offered to come round to show us how to make
- sushi
- Nigiri sushi
Sushi and Nigiri sushi - Hosomaki
- Temaki
- Yakitori
Yakitori chicken - Salads
This was a family event no-one wanted to miss so we gathered and waited for Yuka to arrive with some rice she had prepared earlier, lots of raw fish, chicken and fresh vegetables. My friend Meddie came too as she loves Japanese food.
The salad contained radish, carrot, raw asparagus, gogi berries, salted peanuts, and some crisp fried pastry. It had a gorgeous dressing made from sesame oil, soya sauce, and mirin. The salad tasted very fresh – slightly sweet, and very crunchy.
The key with sushi is not to use too much rice and to use big pieces of fresh fish to drape over the rice base. You have to make your hands damp but not too wet, and create a shaped piece of rice with a curved back. We put sea bream, tuna, salmon, raw prawn and scallops on to the rice, which we ate later with pickled ginger and soya sauce. To distinguish between two or three whitish fish Yuka showed us how to snip a ribbon on seaweed to wrap around the fish slices.
The Nigiri sushi was the most challenging as it has to be rolled with a bamboo mat. The sheet of Nori seaweed has a layer of rice (again, not too much rice) put on it, then a long piece of salmon or cucumber, before it is rolled up and sliced into four pieces with a sharp knife. We all found this fairly difficult, with the tall skinny people making tall skinny sushi, and the petite people making little neat pieces.
Nick brought out his very special Japanese knife for the occasion (a kind gift from Batool).
The hosomaki are hand wrapped cones containing raw squid, mackerel, salmon, spring onions, herbs, ginger, tuna or whatever you fancy. Here Meddie concentrates as she tries to get the sticky rice to adhere to the seaweed wrapper.The Nori seaweed is crisp and rather brittle before the rice is put on it. Some of the moisture comes out of the rice and the seaweed sheet softens. the background you can see Nick making faux Cinnabons which we ate as our pudding.
Then after two hours we finally laid out all our work, (Meddie using up the last portion of rice with a final maki roll), surveyed it with great satisfaction and ate it all up. Well not all of it. Everyone went home with a selection of left overs, and a couple of Cinnabons for their tea. We were as stuffed as the Nigiri.
As an all-ages activity I cannot think of anything more fun than cooking a meal together. Yuka was great – she choose just the right dishes we could make in the time, she brought all the ingredients we needed and she distributed the work so all of us had a go at everything. We all learned some new skills, worked together as a team and enjoyed a very special meal. We are tempted to do it again with another cuisine. Meddie kindly offered to show us the basics of Chinese cookery.
From block to toile to pattern – making fitting alterations
I made a toile for my friend Lyn. This post explains how I created and altered the paper pattern that Lyn, with some design changes, will be able to use to make herself a sheath dress (and by further alteration) any one piece dress she desires.
If you want to do the same (much easier working in pairs) you need to start with a torso block.
- This can be drafted for individual measurements or a standard size (say a size 12). You can do this on your own at home using a book. Winifred Aldridge is probably the industry standard and the one I used when I was at college. Each book has a slightly different approach and the blocks will have different features. I tried making a Japanese block once and found the proportions very wrong for me – I altered it to fit but would have been better using my own individual block. There are other, quicker and easier ways too.
- All the pattern companies make a dress for fitting. These are inexpensive and a reasonable starting point for fitting. However, as an experiment, I bought one and found the shaping pretty unusual (this was to fit my daughter).
- Use a close fitting dress pattern that you like and more or less fits you, and make the alterations from here. I suggest you choose one with a straightforward bust dart, a back shoulder dart and a high, round neck.
What I did for Lyn was use my own torso pattern as a starting point. This started life as a standard block. It has then had the front shoulder dart taken out and two darts created at under arm and under bust (vertical). I compared Lyn’s measurements with my own and altered my pattern to fit her bust, waist and hip measurements (only an inch or two difference).
Start with is a card or paper pattern that consists of a front and back bodice that finishes below the hip. However if you have not drafted the pattern to your exact measurements and know the bust dart, back length or back shoulder dart are wrong for you alter the pattern first. Lyn’s bust was both higher and fuller than average, and that her shoulders were quite broad and a little bony. I therefore altered Lyn’s pattern by changing the position of the bust dart (raising it one inch) and carried out a FBA.
Next cut out the pattern in calico (adding seam allowances if they are not already included).
Mark the bust dart and the back shoulder dart but you can leave out other shaping as you will put these in when fitting. Stitch the darts, press, put a temporary zip in the CB, then sew the shoulder and side seams. Leaving seam allowance at the neck and arm holes is optional – but if you leave them on mark them, or snip into them for wearing ease.
Try on to toile and make alterations. You are supressing fabric where it is full, and opening it out where it is tight. Obviously it is easier to take out rather than put in so if you think you may need more leave bigger seam allowances.
Once fitted you need to transfer the changes to your paper pattern so you can use it to make garments. I find it essential to mark the waist (which I found on Lyn by using the green string). You can see how I trimmed the side seam too, as the toile was a little bit loose on Lyn. The “wedge at the CF came out too, and I slightly reduced the shoulder. Once all these changes had been transfered to the paper pattern I trued it and then traced off a nice new clean version for Lyn.
The final step was to create facings for the arm holes and neck.
Lyn can now use this pattern to make a sheath dress, a tunic or a shell top.
More Burberry summer coat inspiration
When I saw this lovely dress in the Evening Standard I wondered if it might be by Christopher Bailey. Although I assume the writing said Summer I thought it might say Prorsum – you may as well put your brand name into the textiles when you are producing such lovely stuff. I have written before about the amazing trench coats inspired by the Bloomsbury group. This collection is equally beautiful. And I especially love the colour palettes chosen for Spring and Summer.
Here is the same textile made into a perhaps more wearable coat, with beautiful trainers.
And here is Christopher getting kissed by his lovely models in their amazing coats.
Mad Men – Joan Holloway/Harris
I have seen the finale for Mad Men now and I think on the whole the ending was pleasing. If you want the definitive post on Mad Men clothes do go and have a look at the brilliant Pattern Vault.
Although haughty Betty Draper was my favourite I can’t help loving Joan too, despite her occasionally nasty approach to the other women at work. She has a terrific, curvy body and she dresses to show it off to her advantage. Although, I understand, she is dressed from “neck to knee” in restrictive 1960s corsetry she usually looks amazing in her fitted dresses, skirts and blouses. In this first photograph Joan’s red hair is complemented by (I assume vintage) russet linen dress that appears to be cut on the cross at the bodice. That is such a nice neckline that frames the face and echos her soft hair style and orangey lipstick. The colours harmonise beautifully with the vintage gold jewellry, patchwork leather shoes and handbag she wears with it.
Although some champion Joan for providing a positive role model for bigger women (and men do find her incredibly sexy) it seems likely that this extreme shaping may have had a little surgical enhancement as well as yards of elastic underwear. But I love a nice sheath dress on Joan – these rich colours and typical 1960s costume jewellry really sum up how a smart lady may have dressed for work.
The look has been credited with soaring sales of fitted dresses for work in luxury fabrics, red hair dye, long line bras and Spanx. Joan is wearing the genuine article which apparently was so uncomfortable she had welts from the rubber stays.
One of the sewing bloggers with a great curvy figure is Carolyn of Diary of a Sewing Fanatic. Doesn’t she she looking great in her 1960s inspired dress? I like this cool, light scheme on Carolyn, especially matched with the chunky green-grey necklace and grey shoes.
Carolyn explains, by way of the hilarious comedian Tina Fey, what the modern equivalent of the long line bra and corset looks like. I have seen version of these items for sale on Brixton market where they appear to have been imported from Columbia or another Latin American market. I don’t think I could wear this sort of compression bandage on a regular basis, but as Carolyn shows when she models her own wonderful handmade wardrobe these items do iron out the bumps and can give a nice streamlined look. Now she has lost over three stone (45lbs), she is gradually giving up some of the underpinings. 
Tina Fey in modern control underwear
Do you think Joan dresses well for her figure type? Would you be prepared to wear a corset to get a look like this? Or just the long line beige pants that squeeze your midsection?
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