From the depths of Hell-O!

When I was a teenager I was in the choir at school, and we provided the soundtrack to one of the drama class's productions of Dracula. We wore black and had masks and sat there singing. I have forgotten many things in my life - indeed last week I actually forgot the name of the person who was sitting next to me which was embarrassing as I was having to put it in a spreadsheet - but, for some reason, one of the songs we sang burned itself so comprehensively on my memory that I have never, ever, ever been able to forget it. I shall share with you the chorus:

Ghost ship, why do you come here?
Ghost ship, why do we feel fear?
Ghost ship, what do you bring us,
From the depths of Hell-O!

Well it has taken a while but now I have a possible answer apart from the obvious about what was being brought from the depths of Hell-O! It was probably a job lot of crochet cushions just like this:

There was a theme. It's yellow in the middle

Honestly, I am not dissing this pattern, because I have seen a million tasteful attractive ones on Ravelry, also I love the original (although I have just realised looking at it again it is quite a lot like mine!). I do think with Attic24 that whether you share her taste in colour or not (and I think I probably do), she really does have an eye for combining things so that they look coherent. I am not sure I have managed to entirely achieve the same with this cushion. When I finished it and held it up, Partner and I were both rendered temporarily speechless with horror.

As if it wasn't bad enough, I managed to cut a big chunk out of it while I was weaving the ends in. But it's alright! I codged something up!

Me: I have created something appalling.
Partner: God! What is that?
Me: It's a cushion.
Partner (shaking head): You and your bright colours. I'm just glad I'm colourblind.
Me (doubtfully): I could give it to someone.
Both pause.
Me: Someone I don't like very much.
Partner: Ha! Yes! You could give it to X! [My friend, X, is moving back to England and will be living near us. Partner doesn't like him. This is not a secret and will not be a shock to X if he reads this so don't worry about his feelings. I mean, you can, but I promise it is ok]. You could take it round and say, here, X. I've brought some colour into your life.
Me (looking at Partner disapprovingly): X doesn't want this cushion. It might grow on me.
We both look at it doubtfully.
Me: It might.

Because we have a ruffle theme in this post, here is a vintage 60s dress I bought recently for about £10 or so - very pretty on, although really made for someone with thinner arms than me - my arms are not unusual though so did they just have very thin arms in the 60s, like thin waists?

Well, it might. It's sitting behind me now, looking at me, and I swear it's so bright it's actually glowing. I feel like Sylvia Plath with her tulips. I'm thinking about colour combinations and how one might achieve something tasteful within the confines of the colours available in Stylecraft Special DK. Perhaps taste is underrated, though? I do think, for me, it is colour combination that makes or mars a project. When I look at finished pictures of throws and quilts, there are some colour combinations that I just can't get behind and that make things look pedestrian and old-fashioned (in a bad way). Of course, the people who make things in the colour schemes I don't like would probably feel equally strongly about the colour schemes I do like, because colour is such a subjective thing, linked to memory and emotion and all those things, just like scent is.

But Partner and I are (briefly) united on our interpretation of the semiotics of this cushion. Slightly bright. Perhaps time for me to move on from my 'lots of nice bright colours together' default colourway, although I'm not entirely sure how...

'Twas on a starry night

Two sparkly bullets I dodged recently:

1/ Did not buy sparkly gold hotpants from TopShop even though I was drawn to them like a moth with questionable taste to an artificial-fibre flame.

I'm slightly ashamed to say that I have got shoes which would go with these

Although I could probably get into these hotpants with a wing, a prayer, and a very small lunch (look, I'm not suggesting it would be pretty, only that it would be physically possible), where would I wear them? And how much would I have to drink before I felt quite convinced that sparkly hotpants had been a good sartorial choice? And what would that lead to? And how old is too old for sparkly hotpants? (for all of you who are thinking, 17 or indeed 5 is too old for sparkly hotpants, I would like you to know that I once wore a tutu – a proper tulle tutu – to work when I was a senior manager (i.e. at the stage I should have known better). It looked good. I wore it with a fitted tank top because I think if you’re going to wear a tutu you need to keep your top half streamlined).

2/ Embroidered a star on a certain something (which I shall hopefully have finished to show you soon) without screwing it up.

Best to do it on fabric where you can see the threads, that's my Top Embroidery Tip

I have always been nervous of trying embroidery because I thought it would be hard, but, actually, it is not (I mean, obviously the star is not complicated, but, you know, I conquered my fear of embroidery floss and everything). I always like that really seventies kind of satin-stitch embroidery, so if it turns out I am able to go near a bit of floss without hyperventilating I may experiment with combining it with patchwork. We shall see.

I promise I won’t ever embroider hotpants. Well, I won’t embroider hotpants and then wear them out of the house.

How to wear your shawl stylishly

If you want to knit lace, sooner or later you are going to have to knit a shawl. I mean, you don’t have to in the sense that no-one is actually going to take out an injunction (because if they were, believe me, I would have met them!), but, it’s just one of those things. Sooner or later the sheer number of shawl patterns is going to wear you down emotionally and have you thinking, hmm, perhaps one tiny little laceweight shawl will be ok. I never have to do another. I can stop whenever I want.

Attractive spread-out-on-ironing-board shot

Then, there you are, halfway through your first triangular shawl, and you think, but, where am I going to wear this bloody thing. I never wear triangular shawls. I will look like Mrs Pepperpot. I will have ends dangling in my gin. I will be losing my shawl as I dash about performing open heart surgery/ anticipating what the cat is going to do and stopping it/ sitting on the Board of News International. I do not know how to wear a shawl, you think, and now I am irritated at myself that I have succumbed to peer pressure. I shall go onto knitting message boards and start discussions about Wool vs Acrylic and Crochet vs Knitting to get my own back.

Well, gentle reader, for when you succumb to the shawl bug which you shawly will (that is a pun), I have been thinking of situations you can wear your shawl in. Never let it be said that shawls are not easy to integrate into our carefully-thought-out wardrobes (I know. Mine neither). Let us wear them with pride!

Please always remember to match your toes to your current knitting project, it is a basic of personal grooming

Scenario 1. You are in a pub garden in summer. Dusk falls and so does the temperature. ‘Gosh isn’t it chilly’ you trill, putting your pork scratchings to one side and reaching inside your bag for your shawl. Remember to hold it up in a faux casual manner, so everyone can admire it properly, before wrapping it around your shoulders with Panache. ‘Why’ say all your companions, ‘what a stunning garment, did you buy that perchance at M&S’. No, you reply, in an amused and tolerant tone, for if an M&S buyer ever came near anything of this quality they would have to kill her to prevent her blabbing. I handknitted this myself in a mix of virgin alpaca and silk where the silkworms were not killed but were only mildly inconvenienced. I do it before I go to bed when I have just put down my Kirkegaard and finished watching a bit of Fellini.

Then, you must smile smugly as if to imply that you also have better sex, deeper and more meaningful relationships, and are able to make a Victoria Sponge without weighing the ingredients.

Scenario 2. You are at a party involving canapés. You are wearing vertiginous heels, therefore, do not move too quickly especially when you have started on the Cava. Your shawl is wrapped in a complicated yet ironically knowing manner around your torso, in the manner of this one. This will keep you warm enough that you can wear a shorter skirt, while also subtly and subliminally implying that you are a delicate creature who needs the protection of something lightly woolly which has been produced with great skill, ha, not like that hulking and uncomplicated person over there who is wearing a mass produced cardigan. Toss down that cava, and give the eye to that chap in the corner who is dissecting a blini thoughtfully, but remember, no shawl removal until the third date. Keep it wrapped tightly.

Scenario 3. You are in an art gallery, standing looking at one of the more challenging works, with a shawl wrapped kerchief-style around your neck. Thoughfully and yet alluringly, you bite your lip and flick a single lock of hair over your shoulder to draw attention to your shawl. I am making a knowing comment on Craft vs Art, you convey mutely, by wearing this skillfully self-produced Kerchief. Yet it is, amazingly, not as prestigious, in the eyes of the Intelligentsia, as this Installation I am looking at, which the artist has had produced by people paid minimum wage in Bromley. I stand, your ensemble says, as an example of the value of Craftsmanship in the age of the Meta.

Also, because you are wearing it as a kerchief, it will not dangle in your tea when you go and have a bun in the coffee shop afterwards.

You know what we need? Action shots. I’ll finish that Jaali quick and start wearing it out and about ;-). Paris tomorrow. Send me not-getting-lost-or-losing-mum vibes?

The Friday Interview: Niccy from Scrapunzel Pixie

OK, I have another interview, you see, I am back on track with the Friday interviews although I will not be on track next week as I will be in Norfolk which, for those of you who have read Vivianne’s robust opinions in the comments here, is a more extreme version of Fenland. Anyway, enough about me, says she modestly. Today’s interview is with Niccy from Scrapunzel Pixie, who makes beautiful reconstructed clothes, pretty brooches, armwarmers and purses. I am pretty much in love with Niccy’s fairy coats, I think they are beautiful (indeed I love all her stuff, so much in fact I've just bought a jumper, oops). Also, she has 30% off in her shop at the moment as part of etsy’s Christmas In July promotion, so everything is amazing value, go and stock up on your armwarmers now. It won’t be July forever, you know. It’ll be getting nippy soon, you’ll be wanting a lovely reconstructed jumper.

Take it away, Niccy!

Niccy, hard at work. I am encouraged to see a rainbow mug encouraging proper colour combining

What of the things you make are you most excited by?
I love all the things I make but custom orders really are great! Making an individual item for someone is always very exciting. Quite often, people will ask for something I might not have considered so the end result is perfectly individual and that kind of collaboration feels very special. I also love the challenge of creating something new - learning a brand new process can be a tad frustrating (because I never use commercial patterns of read instructions) but that feeling of 'Yes! Sussed it!' is always rewarding.

Brooches. Adorable

How important is being green in what you do?
Very! About 1 million tonnes of textiles goes to landfill every year, 50% of which is recyclable  - those are scary figures! When I first learned how much is regularly thrown away I was shocked and horrified, then I decided I wanted to do something about it. Scrapunzel's just one girl with a sewing machine, but more and more people are beginning to see the beauty in recycled clothes. I take a special delight in making something pretty or useful out of what might otherwise have been rubbish - one girl's junk is another girl's joy!
Charity shops are like treasure troves for me - I can easily spend hours and hours just looking and whenever I visit a new town the charity shops are always the first thing I want to look at! I do have to be a little bit strict with myself, otherwise I'd probably buy more than I can carry!

Do you have a target customer/muse in mind when you make your clothes?
Not really. My customer base is so wide-ranging it's practically impossible to name a demographic! There are dreadlocked mamas, students and grandmothers proudly wearing their Forest Fae jumpers. [And now me! ;-)]. I've had enquiries for coats for the 3 Wishes Faery Festival and I've just made a coat for someone to wear to Whitby Goth Weekend in November so maybe anyone 'alternative' or green-minded. Perhaps it's because patchwork is part of such a long-standing tradition or maybe it's just that people like to be individual. My proudest moment happened when James Strawbridge (of BBC's It's Not Easy Being Green) bought a pair of wrist-warmers for his mum - I was star-struck for days!!
My muse is ever-changing - I love Victorian-style tailoring and I'm always influenced by the costumes I see in films and magazines. As a Star Wars geek, I'm quite keen to make something inspired by Princess Leia or Queen Amidala's wardrobe - maybe something with a crazy head-dress! But I can be just as inspired by someone who passes me in the street; so many people have such a unique way of combining styles and colours.

Look at that, wow. What a kerfuffle this would cause if I wore it to Waitrose

Your elf coats are absolutely stunning. What's the process of making one, and how long does it take?
Thank you! It's quite an involved process - I scour charity shops for just the right kind of materials, wash and dry them all and then I spend a bit of time familiarizing myself with the fabrics - checking for stretch and weight and then I start cutting! Because I never use a pattern, the individuality of the materials often dictates certain features so the method varies from coat to coat which is part of the joy of making them! Everyday in my workshop is an adventure! The time-scale can differ quite wildly, too - if it all goes well without any hiccups and I don't have any interruptions, I can make a coat in about a day (excluding the time to source the materials and prepare them), but a larger or more intricate coat will take longer. I also finish all my seams by hand, which takes an absolute age but it reassures me that those seams are there to stay!

How do you feel about the way commercial fashion is produced?
Hmm, this is a tricky one! I love clothes; it's almost magical the way the right clothes can completely change the way you look, feel and are perceived by other people. But I really don't like the way clothes are produced and sold. Should I give a rant warning here? At it's very worst, I think the fashion industry is highly exploitative on almost every level: the underpaid, unprotected people (often women) on the production line; the models who have to maintain a certain shape/appearance at all costs; and the women who are manipulated by advertisers and magazines into purchasing.
And some of the practices of High Street stores are truly shocking; I've heard that damaged items (even if the damage is minimal, eg, a garment has a poorly sewn-in label or is wrongly sized) are often simply thrown into skips and disposed of. Okay, rant over!
[Niccy, rants are welcome on this blog, in fact I’m always glad when someone other than me has a rant ;-)].

I think the more rainbow things in life, the better. This one is my favourite

I love your blog project, 52 ways to leave your high street retailer. What inspired it?
See above, ha ha! In all seriousness, my inspiration is quite entirely selfish - I need more clothes! Because I make clothes everyone thinks my wardrobe must be absolutely bulging but it really isn't - I'm always making something for someone else! Deciding to make rather than buy is probably a bit militant but the idea of purchasing from the high street just doesn't feel right. And the best thing about sharing it on a blog is that other people can join in if they want to - I'd love to hear how they get on! And perhaps I can finally learn how to follow patterns! Eeek, I'm a bit trepidatious now!

What are your upcoming plans for your lovely shop?
I've just bought some fabric labels with my brand new logo on them - stitching them into place puts a big smile on my face! Etsy do a 'Christmas in July' promotion each summer and I'm taking part this year. There's some new purses and wristlets in my shop too (and some surprising new items to come soon!).
Most excitingly, I've been working on a new development for my Faery Coats so I'll be launching that very soon!

************************

Thank you for this, Niccy, your interview was great and I completely agree with you on the hating the fashion industry but loving the clothes bit. I wish you the best of luck with your shop, and (gets on soapbox briefly), I just think it’s wonderful that there are more people making alternative, recycled clothes for a range of sizes, and that non-high-street fashion is becoming more accessible. I find it very cheering.

OK, have a lovely weekend everyone (that’s an order). I shall hopefully see you all on Monday xx

Model's Own

First things first. Because it’s so much like Spring today

The daffodils are practically out! The weather is above freezing!

I’m having a Spring Cleaning. Of my etsy shop! 15% off with the following coupon: CUPOFTEA (you enter it when you check out). It’s an homage to the delightful substance I spend a lot of time sitting on my bum drinking (and sewing as well, not just sitting on my bum staring at the wall. Sitting productively!). Lots of retro fabric shopping bags, vintage scarf tops in various sizes, lovely comfy jersey wrap skirts, all sewn by me. Coupon is valid till the end of March so you’ve got a bit of time, no need to crash the etsy server. (Ha! ;-) ),

Second things second – random celebrity sighting. Roy Strong outside Agent Provocateur in town. Beat that,

Third things third – vintage clothes. As I get older and more vintage myself, I find myself buying more and more vintage clothes. I think the reason I started (violins swell) was when there was all the publicity ages and ages ago about the terrible conditions clothes on the high street are produced in. I stopped buying high street clothes (mostly – I do still buy some), and I looked for alternatives, and the habit kind of stuck. I think there’s a lot of rubbish going about pretending to be vintage, though. I won’t name names, but, I’ve been in shops with rails of things that are absolutely worn out and dropping to pieces, smelly, cheap fabrics, and all really highly priced. And people are buying them! This is the thing: if it wasn’t good quality and/ or stylish when it was made, why would you buy it now? I mean, I could go out tomorrow and buy one of those polyester skirts from the M&S Classic Collection, but if I kept it for 40 years it wouldn’t somehow magically transform into a Vintage Example of Floral Prints from 2011. It would still make whoever wore it look like they were going to spend the morning beadily twitching the net curtains at the man next door in case he lets his poodle toilet somewhere inappropriate. Time does not transform pigs' ears into silk purses.

Battling wind, direct sunlight, and natural diffidence

Some things though I do think are worth buying. I am a fan of seventies clothes (does that surprise you?) and I don’t see why I shouldn’t pick up an original on etsy rather than going to Anthropologie or somewhere and paying three times the price. You’d be surprised how many clothes are just straight rip offs of things from years ago. As you know, I’m very into authenticity, and I think you always look better if you get an original rather than the Topshop take on it in inferior fabric.

You will note I am wearing a belt with the garment above. You have to have a bit of a gung-ho attitude to vintage things you buy: if it doesn’t fit, make it fit. It’s my experience that most things fit if you put a wide enough belt round them and are determined enough, but if your style is less hippie tunic + jeans then you might need to get things altered. I once spent a fortune having the shoulders on a furry coat taken in, but it was worth every penny as now it is my favourite thing in the world. It makes me look like a directional Honey Monster.

Tshirt from Print Liberation, bags under eyes from Dad. You can't do photoshoots without makeup. This seems to be a sad fact. I am going to have to read Andrea Dworkin to see what she advises

This is a sixties patchwork leather jacket. I have been stalking patchwork leather on etsy and ebay for about a year, one came up in my size, and I snatched it up. If you read ‘about a year’ and winced, I understand, I do. You have to see it kind of as a hobby, know what you want, and pounce. I won’t tell you how long I’ve been looking for brogues and a seventies sequinned jacket because you might fear for my sanity.

I’ve had the most luck with vintage from etsy sellers (feel free to trawl through my favourites) – there is some fantastic, fantastic vintage on etsy, and it’s very realistically priced and excellent quality. If I was reliant on buying vintage from some of the brick and mortar shops I’ve been in, well, let’s just say I’d be spending a lot more time with the M&S Classic Collection than I do at the moment.

What do you think of vintage? Pretentious and overpriced or stylish and cool?

And she aches just like a woman. But she breaks just like Martha Stewart with a paypal account

I have finally dug out and finished my Anna Maria Horner Evening Empire Dress. I will try and get pics for next week. Even though it has been hanging about for probably actually a year it only took a couple of hours to finish, isn’t that always the way? I went into Emergency Craft Lets Just Get The Bloody Thing Finished mode so I have not lined it and the zip isn’t inserted into the bodice lining properly, but. It is for me. Who will see? It will be fine. And look what I unearthed when I was tidying out my bookshelves, shoved quietly at the back and all unloved.

When O When will they have tops with strange protuberances in Primark?

Pattern Magic! Now, I have to say, I think Pattern Magic is probably better for someone who understands how to make a fitted bodice toile, but, I am getting there and who knows, this time next year I may be churning out tops like these.

And as a bonus you get to see my scruffy cuticles

I love this book. It shows you shapes based on a fitted bodice, but hugely, hugely innovative: nothing that you are ever going to see in Burda (much though we love Burda, obviously). There’s nothing I like more than a good unwearable pattern. Fancy shoving it to the back of the shelf. When I was doing a particular job a couple of years ago, I took my mind off the daily re-enactment of the less self-aware bits of the Jeremy Kyle show by buying craft supplies. Obviously I cannot recommend dealing with employment issues through spending money, it is a Very Bad Idea which may end in terrible debt or forced participation in Hoarders, you never know: but, on the other hand, not only do I no longer have to do that job, but I also have a great stack of fabric! Result! And sometimes I turn up gems like this that I had squirrelled away. Well done, Stressed Unhappy Susie: you had excellent taste in books. This is the exciting thing, though. Pattern Magic is now available…in translation.

Yes! In translation! My copy is in Japanese, and while I agree that if you know what you are doing the pictures are enough to go on, I do not entirely know what I am doing (it really is quite hard, I say in my defence) and I would like to be able to read the text as well. I think it would be particularly helpful if the text said something like, ‘Although this looks scary, don’t panic. Put the book down. Breathe deeply. Go and make a cup of tea. Have a nice digestive. There. Does it look a bit better? Good. Now get out your French curve and go and draft a fitted bodice from scratch. Jump to it!’.

Ridicule is nothing to be scared of

Readers, I could not help myself. I have bought Pattern Magic 2 in English. I will show you the things in it when it arrives. And when I manage to actually make some of the things within, I am sure my loved ones will be very polite about my creations and will say, Gosh, is that hugely directional garment Junya Watanabe couture? Rather than, What the hell are you wearing? Honestly, Susie, I wish you would go to Marks and Spencer like a proper person.

And I am expecting them to be polite when I wear the Evening Empire Dress as well ;-).

WIP Wednesday: The Quilt of Dooooooooooooooom

Hooray it’s WIP Wednesday again which as well as being delightfully alliterative lets me prove to all of us, and myself, that I do occasionally create things and don’t just sit about eating biscuits and muttering. So thank you again to Tami from Tami’s Amis and if you want to see who else is taking part (and how much better their stuff is than mine, natch) then get on over to her blog.

Firstly though, I’d like to share with you my relief that my swap package arrived with its recipient – she is blogging about it on her blog here, go and look, and I am so pleased she likes it, because this was my first swap and I was terrified I would do it wrong. So all is well and I am very pleased indeed that imaginethatanid likes what I bought her, even though I read on her blog that she lives within visiting distance of the Wollmeise shop* (yes!) and was nearly paralysed with stage fright, thinking, there is nothing I can give to someone who has the Wollmeise shop on their doorstep, I might as well stuff a few balls of fun fur in an Asda carrier bag and go and weep in a corner. But all is well so hooray!

Admire my juxtaposition of Marcus Aurelius's meditations with Bridget Jones. I am postmodern, postfeminist and eclectic. Go me

Now onto WIPs. Firstly, this is my pixie-hat-in-progress, using the beautiful Manos del Uruguay I myself got from Xtiand in the Blog Hub swap, and the Woolly Wormhead pattern I won from Gradschoolknitter (I’ve had quite a lucky week, haven’t I?). This is its second incarnation, because my first attempt seemed to be starting out quite big, so I have gone down a needle size and am now knitting the small size and it seems fine (I am hoping it won’t look like one of those things you put on top of Innocent smoothies when it is finished). The Manos is beautiful and I particularly like the depth of colour. It’s a quick, easy pattern, but with enough going on to keep you interested, and I’m enjoying knitting it. Not like the soul-sucking quilt of doom:

It will kill me. It will kill me dead

This quilt has not been easy. It has involved blood. It has involved cutting out 324 identical squares. It has involved pulling a buttock muscle leaning over the cutting board in a way that convinced me I had developed a deep vein thrombosis (I hadn’t developed a deep vein thrombosis). And then in my weakened state, cross eyed from cutting *&%@@ blue strips, I went into the garden to put some nuts out for the squirrel and something bit me eight times on my foot. Eight times! I know it is a stretch to blame the quilt for that, but sod it I am going to. I am now about a quarter of the way through piecing it and if I actually like it when I finish it you must forget this rant, and we will pretend I made it with Love and filled it right up to its adorable brim with Positive Karma.

Does my bum look big in this? Yes, it looks monstrous but directional

And this is my almost-WIP. I am going to make the skirt on the right. I have got as far as cutting it out and will have a crack at it as soon as I have burnt the quilt and danced a jig on the ashes finished the quilt carefully and competently. I don’t think it will be complicated: I do think it will be unwearable, as I have seen it in the shop and it made the mannequin look like the Venus of Willendorf. Now, I am quite a bit bigger than the mannequin was, and although obviously I admire the Venus of Willendorf from a feminist perspective I am not quite evolved enough that I can take her as a fashion icon. Anyway I will make it, and we will see how rough I look. Doesn’t that sound fun? Watch this space!

* For those of you non-Ravelry-obsessed people, Wollmeise is the Sine Qua Non of Yarn. It is the Ultimate. It is as desirable and as difficult to get as the Hermès Birkin bag. I believe it changes hands for huge amounts of money and possibly firstborn children on Ebay. No wars have yet been started over a skein of Wollmeise Sockenwolle but, well. It’s a narrow line.

The Friday Interview: Jennifer from From The Fig Tree

Today’s interview is with Jennifer (Fig) from From The Fig Tree.

Fig from From The Fig Tree

One of the things that really sold me on Etsy when I discovered it a few years ago were the clothes. It was just at the point where there was loads of publicity about the conditions clothes from chain stores were produced in (and just as a side note, I’m not sure the big firms have gone much beyond lip service even now: check out Clean Up Fashion for up to date info on how they’re dealing with their suppliers; Asda seem to come out particularly badly. Also Labour Behind The Label), and to find somewhere where I could buy direct from people making their own clothes, with creativity, craftsmanship and love, was fantastic. I particularly loved how clothes were made to be worn and worn, and to fit and look good on different sizes: it was such a different philosophy from high street fashion. Needless to say, From The Fig Tree has been one of my favourites since I first found etsy, and I’ve got a few pieces from her which I’ve worn and loved for ages. Indeed she made me a custom magic skirt which I wore right through quite a dark time in my life, and which was, shall we say, a cheerful companion on the way ;-). So I was thrilled when she agreed to be interviewed! Here are her responses below.

1/ How would you describe your clothes and what you do?
I love the idea of community, it's something I aspire to create in the modern world. When I make clothing I often look to tribal cultures, Native, Gypsy and Vagabond people.

2/ Do you feel you’re part of the ‘Fashion Industry’? (In quotes?).
Most of what the big names of fashion do is search out trends and scout to see what other people are wearing. Then they make the designs their own and market them to their audience. So I suppose I am unwillingly part of the fashion industry. I really try to stick with things that I want to wear, clothing I need to fit into my life. I don't worry so much about what trends are, I think of things I would like to wear and make that for others. It does not always fit in with the status quo. I think there is a big push to move away from mass produced big label companies and either make it yourself, or to support independent artists. Not only are you rewarding makers, but rewarding yourself with a item made by a craftsperson.

3/ How did you start sewing, and what advice would you give to someone who was interested in making clothes? 
I would tell anyone who is just starting out to try it all. Even if you think it cant be done, you learn so much from trying. Often your experiments will take on a life of their own and you never know where it will take you. I started sewing by hand because I did not have access to a sewing machine, my first project was a leopard print tube top from the car seat of a Karmaan Gia that we had sitting in our front yard. Eventually, a friend of mine saw that I was truly interested in sewing and offered me her Old Riccar Sewing machine that had very little use on it. That machine was a lifesaver. It is a relief to go from taking an hour to sew a seam to ten seconds! Soon after I began taking Dance classes and was making outfits for the women in my class all the while selling at concerts and making extra cash there. I wasnt perfect, but I did have a good grasp of what I wanted to see myself wearing and was able to put colors together and mix up the style a bit.

4/ I really love your patchwork style of clothing. How did you develop this, and was it influenced by recycling/ using up fabric?
At the time I started sewing, I was a new mom and had very little money or resources. So I learned to use what I had and nothing was off limits! From Car seats to bedsheets I was using whatever I had on hand to create and eventually sell. I would take clothes that no longer fit and chop them up into patchwork items. I found the local thrift store and began using vintage fabrics, I got word out that I would love to take fabric off of anyones hands who is not using it. Soon I was accepting donations from friends and family for fabric (and sewing lessons!). I learned to use every scrap out of necessity and soon learned it was good for the environment as well. My son was a huge blessing in my life and really shaped me into the artist I am now.

Mum and son!

5/ You say in your etsy shop that you’ve been ordained Priestess of the Sacred Dance by Caya Coven: this sounds fantastic. Do you find that your spiritual beliefs inform/ enrich your work?
Certainly! I feel that everything carries energy with it. I sing songs of blessing when I sew, I bless my thread, my machine and all the tools I work with so that we can work together to create a garment designed specifically for someone.  When the piece is complete I have it sit on the altar at our full moon rituals. Then it is continually carrying the energy of Goddess and the Magic of community in it. This helps me have a better appreciaton for the materials I work with and connects me to the people I create for.  Sewing really changed my life, its not just something I do to make money or get famous. I really needed an outlet and a talent that I could own.

6/ Which of your designs are you most excited about/ enjoying making at the moment?
I really enjoy my SugarBritches at the moment. If I could wear them everyday I would and they offer so much variation that they are constantly fresh to me. They are great for when I like the look of a skirt, but really want to wear pants. They are both! [Note from me, I can vouch for this – I’ve got some Sugar Britches, and they are fabulous].

7/ Are there any other clothing/ other designers you admire that you’d like to tell us about?
Hazel at www.Phunkybrewster.com is a major inspiration to me. She creates some of the most beautiful unique pieces that I have ever laid eyes on! Truly someone I admire and respect.

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Thank you Fig, that was great, your answers are really interesting! You can see From the Fig Tree clothing in her Etsy shop (and I am particularly liking the Duster Jacket at the moment, I think that looks lovely).

Have a good weekend everyone – I shall be popping in with more blog hub swap goodness and hopefully doing a bit of patchwork as well, because I’ve splashed out on a rotary board and cutter (it’s bloody huge. I must learn to measure things before I buy them. I really, really must).

Musings on colour choices

As you know, I love bright fabrics patchworked together.

Never miss a chance to put purple and orange together

But I’m also trying to experiment with more muted colours. This is a cushion cover made of recycled ties.

It’s mostly grey and navy silk fabric with a tiny print, with that stripe of red in there to liven it up a bit. Does anyone remember there was a year in the nineties when some designer or other decided we would focus on Texture not Colour, and the shops were full of grey? Because we were all supposed to be wearing grey cashmere and possibly a bit of grey jersey if we were racy? If you’ve seen Ab Fab, you might remember the minimalist couple who design Edina’s kitchen: we were all supposed to look like that. Only in grey. No, the nineties were not a good decade for fashion as there is a limit to what anyone can do with a redefined classic white tshirt and a black nylon bumbag. Anyway, it didn’t work and I think Marks and Spencers made a loss of some shocking amount because nobody bought anything, and so they became quite cross, and that was the end of grey, and the death knell for Urban Minimalism, it was rung. It was rung comprehensively.

Well I lived through that and I still love grey. It’s hard to put me off things, you know. It needs dedication. Sometimes it practically needs a sledgehammer.

In which I attempt to find inspiration

Gradschoolknitter (go and look at her blog) has posted a contest asking about what people do when they want to get their knitting mojo back. Well, when certain orangey-named patterns have killed my knitting mojo stone dead in the manner of Jack The Ruffled Ripper, I crochet instead. But as that’s not particularly helpful, what I also do to feel more creative is, I venture into the wide world and look for things that inspire me, because if I can make myself feel generally more inspired, it sometimes leads to an explosion of useful fabric-craft related progress. Or, sometimes it doesn’t, but I do put really interesting outfits together for a while. Anyway, as I happened to do a quick inspiration-trip yesterday round the East End, (mother, before you ring me up, it rained, we went on impulse, you wouldn’t have enjoyed it), I will share with you the fruits.

Firstly, the one that got away. In the café at the British Museum, I saw a woman wearing the Perfect Shoes For Next Season. Seriously: they were perfect. But, I could not face approaching that woman and asking her whether I could take a photo of her feet for my website. If someone asked me that I would be suspicious, and this woman seemed to be a retired academic (I am assuming this from her conversation with her friend) and I am not, says she carefully, aware that retired academics have been at the forefront of the craft blog explosion: I thought she might be alarmed. So I will tell you that her shoes were flat Oxford laceups in a honey-brown leather with slightly elongated toes and I will be searching for their like until my dying day: and I took a photograph of my scone instead.

Next, dresses in Spitalfields Market:

I think I have a little bit more African Wax Print appreciation left in me, I really do. I actually wonder how African Wax Print would look in a short circle skirt shape. I may try. Then I fought my way through the drizzle and I found this jacket in the window of a shop up the end of Brick Lane:

I didn’t see a price tag (which, says she sagely, tells you all you need to know) but I can tell you that it seemed to be made out of woven thick elastic. I’m not sure how much I like the idea of woven thick elastic, but I love the idea of a jacket made of woven something. It actually reminded me (for some reason) of the bandage skirt by I Heart Norwegian Wood, which I always think is very stylish. Does anyone think a jacket like my picture would be doable?

Tshirts. I am declaring AW10/11 the Season of the T Shirt, despite the going downhill of American Apparel, which I will not crow about although if you wear a thong in meetings you deserve all you get, seriously. What’s that about? Why would you even do that? I can only say, I’ve been to a lot of meetings in my time, Oh God have I ever, and not one of them did I ever feel would be improved by either more nakedness or more sexual tension. More biscuits, certainly, or by not existing at all. Anyway I digress and if I get onto Miserable Meetings I Have Known we will be here all day and I will have to start on the Gin, so just take it on trust that sometimes the solitary redeeming factor was that people kept their clothes on, even though their neuroses were quite exposed. So anyway! Yes! Tshirts! I shall be wearing mine with a short ruched black lycra skirt (which I shall make), black lace tights, heavy boots, and a cardigan. I will look very cool and I may buy a tripod so I can take photographs of outfits to share without pressing Partner into service every time, because he is not supportive of Fashion, and he makes fun of me.

Gradschoolknitter, I have not helped you, have I, although I did mention a cardigan. I hope you get your knitting mojo back soon!

A style crisis and a fish hat

I'm feeling very blah at the moment, style-wise. What I think I need to do is go through my wardrobe and start thinking how to wear all my lovely vintage pieces, or, accept that someone could certainly carry them off, but that someone is not me, and let them out into the world. Pieces like this

Maxidress for being Margot in The Good Life, should one wish

which I love (it’s a seventies maxi dress), but which I’m not sure is entirely my style. I think it’s the nehru collar that doesn’t quite work on me. Or perhaps I’m in a style transition? It’s all very difficult. What am I working next season? Am I doing goth-sophisticate, am I doing ironic hippie, am I doing urban maximalist, what (taps finger to lip, thoughtfully), is my vision for Autumn/ Winter 10/11? I shall go and mooch round shops for inspiration but not purchasing. I’ll tell you what definitely isn’t my style, though, although I am rather proud of it

to prove I do finish things occasionally

It’s a hat in the shape of a fish! It’s the Fish Hat from Knitty! It’s swimming across our bush, dur dur dur dur (that was the theme tune from Jaws, are you scared? ARE YOU SCARED? :-).) This was a great, easy pattern, ideal for using up odds and ends of worsted or aran, and I see more of these in my future. The bit that took longest was getting round to sewing the eyes on, and then it took about 5 minutes, isn’t that always the way? I do have one piece of advice: try and do the lips on a circular needle, not doublepins – I had a lot of stitches, and faffing about with 5 doublepins and short rows was a bit of a challenge. However I don’t think you can see the mistakes ;-) so, welcome Fishy to my gallery of completed works and let us hope you are soon joined by a Citron.

(Thanks to everyone who’s left comments so far on my Giveaway post – I really appreciate it, and I’m thrilled to think of one of my bags going to a new home. You’ve got until next Thursday if anyone else wants to enter. Although. I’m rather sad to announce that I’ve already had to ban someone from all future giveaways. Yes. Official Announcement: My mother cannot enter, as that would be nepotism. Honestly, mother. Honestly.)