Bustle & Sew Magazine Sampler Issue 148 May 2023

A Bustle & Sew Publication

Copyright © Bustle & Sew Limited 2023

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.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, or by any means, without the prior written permission of the author, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

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 2023 by: Bustle & Sew Station House West Cranmore Shepton Mallet BA4 4QP www.bustleandsew.com

Betweenthismonth’scovers…

If not at the beginning of May, then certainly by its end it’s warm enough to sit outside in my garden here in Somerset, enjoying the sights and scents as all around flowers are coming into bloom. The evenings are lengthening daily and at dusk the swooping flight of swallows and house martins is replaced by the fluttering of bats hunting for insects in the night air. Swifts have also arrived after their long migration from their wintering grounds in Africa, and their characteristic screaming calls announce their presence as they wheel and dive overhead.

Hawthorn, also known as the May tree, comes into blossom at this time of year, marking the beginning of the brightest and warmest season of the year. Hawthorn has

May

long been associated with the May Day festivities - the rhyme “here we

“Andthusitpassedonfrom CandlemassuntilafterEaster, thatthemonthofMaywascome, wheneverylustyheartbeginneth toblossom,andtobringforth fruit;forlikeasherbsandtrees bringforthfruitandflourishin May,inlikewiseeverylusty heartthatisinanymannera lover,springethandflourisheth”

Ireland it’s often called whitethorn due to its creamy white flowers and the writer H.E. Bates referred to the blossom most poetically as “the risen cream of all the milkiness of May time”.

go gathering nuts in May” originally derives from “knots” of May, ie sprigs of hawthorn blossom. In

Bluebells are a commonplace sight across most of the UK in late April and early May, but globally these flowers are fairly scarce with a restricted range in those countries that border Europe’s Atlantic seaboard: north-west Spain, France, the Low Countries, Ireland and of course ourselves. Indeed our mild, damp climate supports more than half the total world population of this beautiful intense blue flower. Bluebells are a classic indicator species of ancient woodland, and have attracted a wide range of folk names, including

fairy bells, bellflower, wild hyacinth and fairy thimble. The English bluebell is under threat though from hybridisation with a nonnative species, the Spanish bluebell. This is a popular garden flower that has spread into the wild where it crossbreeds with our native bluebells. These hybrids have taller, straighter stems and the flowers don’t droop in the same way as those of the native variety. They also have a less powerful scent.

In modern times May 1 is celebrated as Labour Day by trade unions, socialist movements and others. It is marked by rallies and marches in countries across the world. The Labour Day celebration originated in the USA in 1867 when the working day was reduced from ten hours to eight hours with effect from this date, first in Illinois and subsequently elsewhere. In other countries trade unions and socialists began to demand a day’s holiday on 1 May - this is the original of the UK public holiday on the first Monday of May which was introduced in 1978.

This year May brings a very special date as the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III and Her Majesty The Queen Consort will take place at Westminster Abbey on Saturday 6th May, 2023. As well as all the pomp and ceremony in London, there will be celebrations and parties up and down the country as we join together to mark this very special event.

May 19 is St Dunstan’s Day. Born here in Somerset in the early tenth century Dunstan studied at Glastonbury Abbey and became abbot there in 945.

He is the patron saint of goldsmiths and his emblem is a pair of metalworker’s tongs. According to Devonshire legend he was also a

Various Christian religious festivals also fall during May - Whitsun, Ascension and Rogation Sundays - on the last of these the clergy used to go out into the fields to bless the crops. On Rogation days also, the elders of the parish would walk the boundaries with their villagers and whip the young boys with willow wants at certain points so that they would remember the position of the parish boundary. Where the boundary was marked with a stream then the boys would be ducked. Fortunately for child welfare, these rituals are long extinct and today we can always consult an Ordnance Survey map if we need to know where boundaries fall!

May 29 is Oak Apple Day, remembering how King Charles II took shelter in an oak tree in 1651 while fleeing from Parliamentary forces after his defeat at the Battle of Worcester. After his restoration to the crown in 1660, May Day was for many years celebrated on this day.

keen brewer of beer who made a pact with the Devil to ensure the destruction of the apple crop on which his rivals, the cider makers, depended. In exchange for St Dunstan’s soul, the Devil agreed to blight the apple trees with frost on 17, 18 and 19 May at the height of their blossoming.

The weather this month is variable, but as often as not, this being England after all, it is a wet month. There are many country sayings that illustrate this, such as “A leaky May and a dry June puts all in tune”, “Rain in May makes bread for the whole year,” and of course the cold weather may not be completely behind us as the well known proverb states “Cast not a clout till May be out.”

“We’llgatherlilacsinthe springagain Andwalktogetherdownan Englishlane

Untilourheartshave learnedtosingagain Whenyoucomehomeonce more.

Andintheeveningbythe firelight’sglow

TheMerriestofMonths…

OnMayDay,asIgatheredbranchestodecoratemykitchenforthe“Mayers”Icameuponan unsuspectedthrush’snestinthegardenhedge. Themotherbirdwassitting,anddidnotstirat thesightofmeasIpartedtheboughs. Iwas,infact,farmoreembarrassedthanshewas,for her bright, wise, patient eyes were so human I felt as though I had stumbled into a lady’s chamber,andfeltanimpulsetoapologizeasIhurriedlydrewhergreencurtainagain.

FeltisFun!

Felt comes in the most amazing variety of colours and is so versatile and easy to sew that it’s often the fabric of choice for beginner stitchers while those of us who’ve been stitching for quite a while love it too! It’s one of the earliest fibres known to man and there are many references to it in ancient texts.

To make felt you don’t need any complicated equipment or long processes, all you need is heat, water and pressure. The process of rolling, beating and agitating wool fibres together causes the scales on these fibres to hook onto each other forming a dense, tear- resistant sheet of fabric. It’s a very simple technique which is why historians and archaeologists assume that felt was the first woollen fabric - to get wool to the stage where it can be successfully woven into a textile takes quite a lot of effort.

There are a number of legends around the origin of felt, including the European tale of St Clement, a pilgrim who stuffed his shoes with loose woollen fleece to protect his feet on the long stony road, only to discover that the constant pressure and sweat transformed the wool into felt. There’s also a biblical version that tells of the floor of Noah’s Ark being transformed into felt carpet by the constant trampling of animal hairs shed by its occupants. In yet another story, a Persian shepherd accidentally creates felt by stamping on a sheep fleece in frustration.

Felt doesn’t fray as, unlike most fabrics, it isn’t woven but rather is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibres together using heat, moisture and pressure. Felt can be made from wool, acrylic or a mixture of both fibres. It is commercially available in flat sheets of various sizes and by the yard. It comes in different densities, measured in millimetres. For most of my sewing projects, I tend to work with felt that is 1mm - 3mm thick.

As felt doesn’t fray it can be cut to any size and shape you need for your project. I like to draw around my template straight onto my felt using a temporary fabric marker pen, then remove any

A(very)LittleHistoryof theTulip-astoryofmania anddelight…

Late April though May brings the season of the tulip here in the UK. But undoubtedly beautiful as these flowers are, coming in such a wide variety of forms and colours, whether pastel or vibrant in hue, smooth petalled or whorled, frilly and stripes, no other flower has caused such an economic phenomenon as the tulip in seventeenth century Holland - or did it?

Almost half of the 120 known tulip species are native to central Asia, where they thrive in the extremes of baking hot summers and harsh, cold winters. The small, often bright red blooms were a potent emblem for nomadic people and a welcome sign of spring.

By the 11th century, Persian poets were celebrating the beauty of the tulip. Three centuries later, tulips were being transported from the wild to the palace gardens of Ottoman sultans, where they were highly prized. It's likely that ambassadors and envoys from western Europe first encountered them here.

The first tulip bulbs were probably brought to Europe by the French. Cargoes of bulbs arrived in Antwerp from Constantinople in 1562 long before they were shipped into Amsterdam. The first known European

tulip bloomed in the garden of a Bavarian merchant around this time. Historical sources suggest that famed Dutch gardener Carolus Clusius was the first European to fully recognise their potential. He began planting specialised tulip nurseries around the time he became the director of the University of Leiden’s botanical gardens, in 1593.

By the first half of the seventeenth century, the tulip was starting to be used as a garden decoration instead of the former medicinal purposes. It soon gained major popularity as a trading product, especially in Holland. Around this time the Dutch were enjoying a period of unmatched wealth and prosperity. Newly independent from Spain, Dutch merchants grew rich on trade through the Dutch East India Company. With money to spend, art and exotica became fashionable collectors items. That’s how the Dutch became fascinated with rare “broken” tulips, bulbs that produced striped and speckled flowers. First these prized tulips were bought as showy display pieces, but it didn’t take long for tulip trading to become a market of its own.

Botanists started to hybridize the flower and they soon found ways of making even more decorative and

ASpecial Celebration…

This May brings a very special Royal Celebration - the Coronation of King Charles III on the sixth - a ceremony that most of us have never seen before, and a oncein-a-lifetime event for many of us. There will be bunting and buns, street parties, flags and of course the Coronation Quiche, the recipe for which we include this month.

As well as the Coronation, May is the month when the countryside bursts into a riot of colour - the month of blossom and boom - the month in which there is so much going on in the natural world. Here at Station House, each May we look up at the old horse chestnut trees at the front of our garden and feel that never before were their leaves so green and their candles so beautiful and creamy. And if we are still and listen closely on a sunny afternoon we will hear the drowsy murmur of thousands of bees among those ivory candles, busy at their work as we sit and wonder at it all.

In the kitchen it’s a great time to make use of early herbs. There aren’t any big, full-flavoured vegetables to enjoy - those earthy root vegetables, so suited to winter stews, soups and casseroles, are a thing of the past. The herb garden now comes into its own, providing everything we need to make the most of the new season’s ingredients. Chervil, chives, lovage ,parsley, rosemary, sage, sorrel and thyme are all abundant this month and lend themselves to fragrant, fresh dishes that announce the new season has arrived. Just stuff them into chickens, crust them over new season lamb and coat fresh fish in them all month long!

Hopefully the weather will be kind and the day of the Coronation will be warm and sunny - a great day to pack up our baskets and head along to the nearest street party of other gathering to celebrate in the company of friends, family and neighbours. And if it’s raining the village hall will be pressed into service and if possible we’ll all have even more fun, packed in tightly and enjoying every moment!

CoronationQuiche

Ingredients

● 125ml milk

● 175ml double cream

● 2 medium eggs

● 1 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon

● 100g cheddar, grated

● 180g cooked spinach, liquid squeezed out and lightly chopped

● 60g cooked broad beans or soya beans (double pod the broad beans, if you like)

● 250g block of ready-made shortcrust pastry if not making your own.

Method

● Put a 20cm loose-bottomed tart tin or a 20cm pastry ring on a baking sheet. Lightly flour the work surface and roll out the pastry to a circle a little larger than the top of the tin and approximately 5mm thick. Carefully lift the pastry into the tin and gently press into the corners, taking care not to have any holes or the mixture could leak. Cover and rest for a further 30 mins in the fridge. Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5.

● Line the pastry case with greaseproof paper – to do this cut a disc

● Beat the milk, cream, eggs and herbs with some seasoning. Scatter half of the grated cheese in the blind-baked base, top with the chopped spinach and beans, then pour over the liquid mixture. If required, gently give the mixture a delicate stir to ensure the filling is evenly dispersed, but be careful not to damage the pastry case. Sprinkle over the remaining cheese. Place into the oven and bake for 20-30 mins until set and very lightly golden.

Adapting for different dietary requirements…

● Swap the pastry for a glutenfree version.

● Make the pastry using dairyfree spread and a dairy-free milk alternative. Most shop-bought pastry is also dairy-free. For the filling, replace the milk and cream with a dairyfree alternative – we find soya milk gives the creamiest result. You can replace the cheese with a vegan alternative, or leave it out and add 1 tbsp of nutritional yeast for a cheesy flavour.

● If you can't find tarragon or prefer another flavour, you can swap in other soft herbs like basil or parsley. You can use peas instead of broad beans if that's what you have.

Howtoreheat…

● On the day you make the quiche, make sure you cool it down by putting it on a wire rack. Ensure the base is off the surface so the pastry cools quickly and doesn’t form condensation. Take it out of the tin when it is warm (leave it on the base) and cool completely. You can put it back in the tin before wrapping to store it in the fridge if you like. This will make it more robust and less likely to get knocked.

● When you want to eat the quiche, heat your oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6 and put a baking sheet in the oven. Lift the quiche out of the tin and slide it onto the hot baking sheet (again, leave the base on), cover the top with a sheet of foil if it is already quite brown. Reheat for 15 mins. Don’t overcook it when reheating or the spinach might give off more liquid.

SweetSpringtime Treats

ElizabethanHerbSong

Plantmeagardentohealthebody

Betony,yarrowanddaisiestomend Sageforthebloodandcomfreyforbones

Foxgloveandhyssopthesicktotend.

Plantmeagardentohealtheheart, Balmforjoy,andthesweetviolet Cowslips,pansiesandchamomile ToeasethepainIwanttoforget.

Plantmeagardentohealthesoul, Agardenofpeaceandtranquility, Soothedwiththescentoflavender Andtheheavenlyblueofchicory.

HellotoMrsSewandSewortheRiseofMakedo andMend…

When you think about the problems of life on the Home Front during WW2, then probably the first thing that comes to mind is food rationing, but many other normally taken-for-granted items of daily life were also rationed or in short supply. Restrictions on clothing were just as severe as the curbs on the use of food and fuel.

The British government needed to reduce production and consumption of civilian clothes to safeguard raw materials and release workers and factory space for war production. The imposition of clothes rationing was announced on 1 June 1941. Making the announcement just before a Bank Holiday allowed the Board of Trade time to brief retailers before the shops reopened. The news came as a complete surprise to most people.

As with food rationing, which had been in place since 1940, one of the other reasons for introducing civilian clothes rationing was to ensure fairness. Rationing sought to ensure a more equal distribution of clothing and improve the availability of garments in the shops.

The maximum allowance for adults was 61 coupons in a 12 month period - the equivalent of one new outfit a year. This allowance was later cut to 48 coupons, then 36 and eventually just 20 coupons per annum for adults.

Children and babies were treated differently and families who were bombed out could receive coupons for up to two years’ worth of clothing, assuming that is, that they could afford to buy the clothes.

ThoseDarlingBudsof May…

The old Celtic calendar is divided into two parts - the light and the dark. Beltane, celebrated on 1 May, marks the end of the dark winter season and the beginning of the light-filled days of summer, sitting as it does at the halfway point between the spring equinox and summer solstice in the northern hemisphere. This moment has been celebrated with joy and festivity since ancient times - marking the end of the winter months and looking forward to balmy summer days to come.

In a northern country like ours, it isn’t surprising that the coming of spring and summer was such a cause of joy and celebration. As early as 1883 the folklorist Charlotte Burne was writing that:

Early on May Day morning is the traditional time to go out into the countryside and gather greenery and blossoms with which to decorate our homes. It is wonderful to be able to bring nature indoors after the cold dark days of winter, and to step outside into warmth and brightness once again. The hawthorn (pictured right) begins to bloom at this time of year and is a key symbol of the May celebrations, holding associations of fertility and the supernatural world. The traditional rhyme “here we go gathering nuts in May” would originally have meant “knots” of May, that is to say, sprigs of hawthorn blossom. In Ireland May, or hawthorn, is often called whitethorn due to its creamy white flowers and HE Bates poetically referred to the hawthorn blossom as “the risen cream of all the milkiness of May-time.”

The beautiful blossom of the hawthorn is inextricably linked with the month of May, to the extent that it is often called “May blossom.” Before the calendar changes of 1752 when May Day fell on what is now May 12, the hawthorn would have been in full flower on May Day and its blossoms used for decorations, garlands and superstitious rites. Early in the morning people would go “a-maying,” returning laden with may blossom to decorate their churches and houses, traditionally hanging a garland over their front doors.

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