The right of Helen Grimes to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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Every effort has been made to ensure that all the information in this book is accurate. However, due to differing conditions, tools and individual skills, the publisher cannot be responsible for any injuries, losses and other damages that may result from the use of the information in this book.
First published 2025 by: Bustle & Sew Station House West Cranmore Shepton Mallet BA4 4QP
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WelcometotheMarchMagazine
March brings lighter, brighter, longer days and won’t be long until the clocks go forward giving us longer evenings to hopefully spend outside in our gardens as the days grow a little warmer too. Though I do hope nobody reading this will be booby-trapping their daffodils like Ellen Willmott (page 32) is reputed to have done. My fingers are crossed that this year’s colder winter will have decimated the slugs that munched their way through my spring blooms last year - but even if I don’t have as many daffodils as I hope then at least I’ll have a lovely sunshine-y spring is here hoop (page 28) to display on my mantelpiece.
Easter is late this year - falling nearly as late as it possibly can - on April 20th, which means that this month brings Shrove Tuesday or, as it’s better known today, Pancake Day. I’ll definitely be flipping my pancakes on the fourth and have included a recipe for traditional British Pancakes (perfect for flipping) in the recipe section.
I do hope you’ll enjoy this month’s magazine and the April edition will be published on Thursday 27 March, in four weeks time. Until then…
Very best wishes
The weather in March can be blustery and cold. Storms are a frequent occurrence and there is a risk of frost almost every night. Yet there can be glorious sunny days when air temperatures climb dramatically and puffy, white clouds dash across crystal clear blue skies. The spring equinox, when daytime and night are of equal length, falls on the twenty-first and brings the beginning of spring. Even Easter, that most moveable feasts, and falling very late this year, is calculated from this immutable astronomical event. March brings the beginning of the growing and breeding season in the UK. By the time the lion has mustered its final winter roar and given way to the gentler days of April , the landscape has been transformed and life has
March
awakened from its long winter sleep.
An old English word for spring was “Lenct” - which survives today as “Lent”, the forty days preceding Easter when the days noticeably lengthen. Throughout much of the country the first hint of the coming season is characterised by the flowering of the Lenct or Lent lilythat glorious harbinger of spring we know today as the wild daffodil. Writers from the time of the first Elizabeth describe how it grow in abundance in damp open woodland, heathland, commons and meadows. In March country women used to travel to the heart of London and other great cities selling great armfuls of the sunshine-
coloured blooms, bringing a vivid splash of colour into the town.
The cultivated daffodil varieties that we enjoy today come mainly from the Isles of Scilly where they flourish on specially prepared soils and are stimulated to bloom by the mild temperatures of the islands’ winters.
Yellow is the prevailing colour of early spring. Its vivid hue catches the eye, especially on sunny days, attracting the early insects on the wing, signalling that they are ripe with pollen and nectar. Heathlands blaze with the yellow blooms of gorse which, in today’s warming climate, often flowers earlier in the year. And then of course, March brings the Mad March Hares frolicking across the fields.
Free from Seasalt Clothing: Beginner’s Guide to Natural Dyes
SomeHand
EmbroideryBasics
It’s tempting to pick up a project and get started straight away, but considering these few basics will help you get the best results every time…
ChoosingyourFabric
A large number of fabrics (and other materials too) are suitable for hand embroidery, ranging from fine cottons and muslins to heavier fabrics such as denim and felt. A plain fabric will give you most freedom with your colour and pattern choices as it won’t be “fighting” with your work, though a carefully chosen pattern can enhance your stitching.
f you decide to use a lightweight fabric then you may discover that the fabric alone isn’t strong enough to take the embroidery threads and you may then have to use a backing fabric behind your work. Plain white cotton is good for this as it provides strength and stability but doesn’t add any bulkiness. Sometimes, however, you may wish to use a double layer of your chosen fabric for example to retain the semi-transparent quality of a sheer fabric. If the item isn’t going to be washed then I like to use a nice soft wool blend felt as a backing. This is because it’s sturdy enough to take quite a lot of stitching and also as it’s non-woven it’s easy to place your stitches more accurately.
Thebestneedletouse…
It’s important to choose the right size needle to suit your fabric and thread. Your needle should be able to pull your thread (and that includes the doubled-over part behind the eye of the needle) through your fabric quite easily, without putting too much stress on the thread as you pull it through the fabric - you shouldn’t have to tug, it should pass through quite easily.
I was always taught that the shaft of my needle should be about the same thickness as that of my thread. That’s fine if you’re using an open weave fabric, but for most surface embroidery you need to consider not only the thickness of your thread, but also its thickness at the needle’s eye where it’s doubled over, as well as the weave of the fabric. A
“The English Gardener” 1829 William Cobbett (1763-1835)
BloomingLovely!
A(very)LittleLookat theAuricula
SomeTipsforSuccessfulSatinStitch
Satin stitch seems to be a very popular stitch at the moment, featuring in lots of the lovely designs I've been seeing lately. You might think that satin stitch is an incredibly easy stitch to sew - after all you just go in and out, out and in, from one side of the shape to another - and in one sense you'd be absolutely right. But satin stitch is in fact very hard to work successfully, I still find it hard to achieve results I’m happy with and so I thought I’d share some tips from my mum and grandma that you might find useful too….
