On a mending roll...

One of my 8 year-old granddaughters has worn one of her smocked nightdresses almost to ribbons. The yoke tore and the gathers at the back came apart. She kept wearing it so I undertook to mend it.

She remembered to put it in her school bag to give to me after school last week. My new apartment is within walking distance of their school and they are very proud of walking here on their own.

In the chaos of my new sewing room - with plastic boxes packed up inside the wardrobe, I managed to find the small piece of leftover fabric, now several shades darker than the nightdress.

I was able to cut out a new yoke and hand- stitch it over the  back yoke. I then stitched down all the torn edges on the underside and cut patches to cover the tears.

Hopefully, this will extend the life of the nightdress for a few weeks - enough for me to get my apartment organised and to make another round of nightdresses. Niamh was happy with the result!

The is not the most exciting of posts - my time has been consumed by downsizing and moving - still cleaning the house, trimming the garden ready for settlement in a few days time  and learning how to organise the apartment. Yesterday two friends came to sit and stitch - a milestone.

After settlement on Friday I will be more relaxed!

Bag mending

I have a very lovely leather bag made by the Nancybird company. Nancy Bird was a pioneering Australian aviator, whose granddaughter set up a company in her honour, manufacturing bags that were, at least originally, reminiscent of the bags Nancy Bird carried as an aviator. Many of them are a mixture of leather and fabric.

Jim bought me two Nancybird bags. The first of these was a lovely pale green leather with tan trim and two useful small pockets on the outside. It was lined in fabric which became soiled. The fabric lining on the flap also wore through. 

I really did not want to abandon this bag. Although I could see how to take it apart, I knew I would not be able to stitch it back together through the leather. Eventually I took it to a shoe repairer who cleaned and treated the leather, washed the lining and suggested removing the torn lining of the flap to expose the interfacing.

When I got home with the bag I dug around in my stash to find some suitable strong fabric with which I could reline the flap. I found some strong, hand-printed fabric in appropriate colours and set about fixing it to the inside of the flap, over the interfacing.

It wasn't easy stitching and I did not achieve invisible stitches, but I think the result works and will prolong the life of the bag. As well as being fond of this bag and finding it useful (which is why it wore out!), my parents and grandparents were all menders and it pleases me to remember my grandfather and father mending shoes, bags or straps, tools or equipment, my grandmother darning socks, unravelling cardigans to re-knit, my mother extending the life of clothes or linens. This bag looks used. It has been my organiser and companion throughout my current move.

It gives me great pleasure to repair and renew a useful object - more pleasure than I would get from replacing it.

I hope Nancy Bird would have felt the same.

Crochet progress

I've continued work on my crocheted flower cushion, finishing the 64 flowers. I spent a bit of time laying them out, rearranging, then joined them together. 

I wanted to crochet them together, rather than stitch it, to see if I could do it.  I put two squares together crocheting  through matching stitches on each, then moved on one stitch at a time, creating a chain along the join. This holds it firm.

I'm pleased with the result. 

I've now begun the back, which is worked in stripes using the same colour range. This will be a good project to do in the busy week ahead.

Ethnic Embroideries Study Group

                            Last Wednesday was the monthly meeting of the Embroiderers' Guild Ethnic Embroidery Study Group. This month's meeting was a presentation by Janna Lock who spoke about her years in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the women she met and worked with and their embroidery. She brought with her lots of examples, which we could examine in detail.

There were beautiful fans, mostly made with two sticks so they rotate freely. You hold the longer, outside stick and swing the fan around it in a circle. Apparently young girls are happy to do this for older women!

Janna had a complete outfit - a voluminous dress with belt, modelled by Colleen, first with the headdress of a single girl,

and then with a married woman's headdress.

This veil was worn by a bride on her wedding day to cover her face from her betrothed, until the point in the ceremony when she is married and can reveal her face to her husband.                                                                                                                                                                                                          These sandals are made from old tyres. 

There were bodices, 

and a host of examples of cloths and bags.

as you can see, we had a good time and saw some lovely pieces of embroidery.

Paul Lock has written a book about their experiences,

while Janna continues to support a widow's group by selling their handiwork in Australia.

Crochet progress

I have recently returned to work on my crocheted cushion squares. I am tailoring it a bit - reducing the size from a gigantic to a large cushion - 8 squares by 8 squares instead of 10 x 10. If it does not look big enough when I reach 64 squares I can add to it. I have laid it out to size and think it will work well. My granddaughters agree, so it must be OK.

I now know the pattern, so can work without checking. It doesn't mean I always get it right, but I can pick it up and put it down easily. It's a good project at the moment when I am sorting, packing and disposing of possessions in preparation for moving in a couple of weeks.

        I decided on a process of making the base squares in each of the colours before creating the flowers. This ensures I get a full range of colours in the bases. Of course, I did not count properly and ended up with four too many bases. Now I will have to think of something to do with the surplus squares...

I have completed 49 of the 64 squares. I'm very much looking forward to organising and connecting them together.

Towel in Celtic Backstitch

The other three hand-towels I bought to embroider had an inset Aida panel. I decided to try one of these as a 'grab and go' project for a recent trip to Canberra. I took a pattern from the book Celtic Backstitch by Helen Hall. I chose a pattern that could be repeated across the towel. 2 repeats (3 motifs altogether) were an almost perfect fit.

I settled on Perle 8 Dinky Dyes thread in variegated pink,made a copy of the motif and put these into a drawstring bag along with a couple of needles an my travel scissors - and set off.

It took me a bit to get back into the swing of counted thread work. After a couple of false starts I decided to use double running instead of Backstitch. That way I can advance the pattern more quickly, getting it mapped out before coming back to fill in the second row.

 

This was an improvement. Even so, when I had finished the motifs it looked a bit insipid,

so I whipped the running stitch with a variegated blue Dinky Dyes Perle 8.

This has achieved the effect I was after - a textured pattern in blended colours. These are slightly larger than the other hand towels I have recently embroidered and a good thickness. 

Poinsettia Hand Towels

In between the big projects from my Scottish Embroidery tour I continued to work on some of the towelling hand towels I had in my stash. 

The second pair I settled on was another with a printed pattern - this time featuring poinsettias and not, fortunately, cross-stitch.

The instructions specified satin stitch but I decided to use an open fly stitch. This gave me good coverage and allowed more precise laying of the thread than satin stitch would give me.

I needed to go back over the leaves to fill gaps but I was very pleased with the results.

It was simple, bright and effective.