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A Bustle & Sew Publication Copyright Š Bustle & Sew Limited 2017 The right of Helen Dickson 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 2017 by: Bustle & Sew The Cottage Oakhill Radstock BA3 5HT UK www.bustleandsew.com
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Welcome to the November Issue I always feel that November brings the really SERIOUS start of the run-up to the Christmas festivities, culminating as it does, in Stir-Up Sunday at the end of the month. We have two more seasonal patterns in this month’s issue, and both our Makers have some great Christmas ideas that I hope you’ll love. Of course the colder weather really begins to bite now, so Rosie has been busy in her kitchen cooking up some lovely warming soups, perfect for winter picnics and cosy suppers too. Many of the designs in this issue feature applique, so I’ve also included a revised and extended guide to this technique which I hope will inspire you to have a go. If you’re in the Bristol area, then please do make a note in your diary as Bustle & Sew will be exhibiting at the Etsy Makers Fair on December 2nd and we’d love to see you there! And finally, do look out for the December Magazine which will be published on Thursday 30 November Have a lovely month!
Helen xx
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Tips for Stitchers Feeling less than creative? Allow yourself time and space to sit and dream, let your imagination run free and give your ideas your full attention. Daydreaming isn’t a waste of time, it’s food for the creative soul.
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Between this month’s covers … Tips for Stitchers
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Tastes of the Season: Parsnips
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November Almanac
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Rosie’s Recipes: Souper Soups!
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Party Panda Hoop
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Tastes of the Season: Squashes
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Lovely Idea: Leaf Stamped Napkins
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Cactus Pin Board
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Meet the Maker: Diana Watters
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Instagram Round-up
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The Last Show of the Year
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A Little History of Velvet
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Two Mugs with Succulents
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Nature Notes: Gossamer
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Applique Made Easy
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Lovely Idea: Tin Punched Votives
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Poetry Corner: November
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Reindeer Pennant
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Chic Pompom Cushions
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The Countryside in November
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A Very Little Guide to Thimbles
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Meet the Maker: Karen Fleming
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Snuggle Down and Keep Warm
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Nativity Set Part Two
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Lovely Idea: Leaf Cake Toppers
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Home Comforts
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Nature’s Remedies
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In the Kitchen: Conversion Tables
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Of Trees and their Leaves
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Templates
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If you love Diana and Emily’s style and would like to https://www.instagram.com/dianawatters_handmade/ find out more about their patterns and kits, then you https://www.etsy.com/shop/dianawattershandmade can find them online here ‌. https://www.facebook.com/dianawattershandmade
The Last Show of the year‌ November is the month when, traditionally, gardeners enjoy their last fling, their last riot of colour in the final flower shows of autumn, showcasing their dahlias and chrysanthemums. As a rule, there will also be classes for fruit and vegetables at these shows, where we can see apples that are almost too good to be true, and pears and grapes that are perfection itself. Then there are startlingly white leeks and a yard long, and onions like teapots too. But many years ago, at a London show, a fierce argument erupted as to the worth of these giant specimens. In the end, a famous chef was asked to come and give his opinion. He said that there was not one thing on view that he would have in his kitchen. But no one will argue with the gorgeous chrysanthemums and when the flowers fade at last their owners will bend their backs and their gaze to ground level and start rummaging around to take cuttings, to start all over again next year. Gardeners there’s no stopping them!
Albert Butler: Book of the Countryside
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Applique made Easy!
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Each month I try to include projects using a variety of techniques - including different kinds of applique - most usually freestyle machine and also hand finished (though not turned edge - sadly I don’t really have the patience for this, enjoying the quick results that other techniques can give me). Freestyle machine applique in particular gives great results in a remarkably short period of time - perfect if you’re working to a deadline or if you’re making lots of handmade items for gifts this Christmas. I know many people are a bit nervous of trying this technique, I was most definitely among them, but now I love working in this way and view my sewing machine in a whole new light as means of creative expression, not simply
a method of joining pieces of fabric together. Over past issues of the magazine we’ve featured some very talented makers in our “Meet the Maker” who take this technique to amazing heights (see work by Emma Giacalone below), but you don’t have to be an expert to achieve really nice results. And even nicer, you don’t need any expensive equipment for this technique as you’ll almost certainly have everything you need already. You’ll need your sewing machine of course, but it doesn’t need to be an expensive complicated model. Indeed, this is one instance where simpler is better as you’ll only need to use the basic straight stitch option. You will
Applique work by Emma Giacalone. featured in our May 2017 Issue
however need an embroidery or darning foot for your machine. This holds the fabric in place for each stitch whilst allowing you to move your work in all directions so you can “draw” with your sewing machine needle. I’ll come back to machine applique later on, but for now I thought it would be good to begin with some more general hints and tips that apply to both machine and hand embroidery. Before beginning your project it’s important to take time to look at the design carefully and work out how the pieces fit together, where they overlap, and where it would be best to begin building up your design. Where pieces overlap you will need to cut extra on the bottom
Starting to stitch: Before you begin to stitch do be sure that all your shapes are firmly ssecured in place - if you’re using Bondaweb, then you need to hold your iron over the shape for 10 seconds.
For hand applique I like to use two strands of matching embroidery floss (or you could use a different thread if you prefer) and work small stitches at right angles to the edges of the shape. Blanket stitch is also a great choice. Hand stitching gives quite a different feel to your piece - the little badger and fox above are hand stitched - I think it
gives a softer-looking, less defined finish. Machine stitching on the other hand clearly defines the edges of your shapes and is also extremely hard-wearing - in my experience the fabric is more likely to tear or wear than the stitches to come loose!
November November is a spinner Spinning in the mist, Weaving such a lovely web Of gold and amethyst. In among the shadows She spins till close of day, Then quietly she folds her hands And puts her work away.
Margaret Rose 11
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A (very) Little Guide to the Thimble We all know what a thimble is - I’m sure that like me you’ve been familiar with them forever! I remember playing with my own grandma’s battered and worn thimble when I was allowed to “sort out” her button box. Thimbles can also be decorative, collectible items, but here I’m more concerned with their use as a sewing tool. A thimble may be defined as “ ” though today thimbles are made from a wide variety of materials, including rubber, leather, and elastic. You can even purchase an adhesive disk instead if you don’t like the feel of a traditional thimble. Normally, you wear your thimble on the middle finger of the hand you use to push the needle through the fabric. If you prefer to use another finger instead, then simply move the thimble to that finger. The thimble will then protect your finger from the eye end of your needle when you push it through the fabric. Some stitchers also like to wear a rubber thimble on their index finger to help them grasp the needle more firmly. The word “thimble” itself is thought to come from the old English word thymel, meaning
thumbstall. Thimbles have been around for a very long time - in excavations near Moscow bones were found that were used 30000 years ago by mammoth hunters to stitch pearl embroideries onto pieces of leather. The Romans popularised the use of bronze thimbles throughout their empire and around 1150 a thimble is mentioned as part of a noble lady’s dowry upon her entry into a convent. To learn to use a thimble successfully it’s really important to find one that fits and suits you. There are lots of different sizes and types! This is a very personal decision which may take a little trial and error. Choose a thimble that is not too tight and not too loose. To test for a good fit, try a thimble on the middle finger of your sewing hand. Hang your hand down at your side and move your fingers around. If it stays on and doesn’t feel too tight, then it’s a definite possibility! Wear it around and go about doing other things for 15 minutes or so. If you’ve found the one that’s right for you then your thimble should stay on and feel comfortable enough that you can nearly forget you’re wearing it!
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Snuggle down and keep warm ‌ there’s nothing quite like a real fire to toast your toes - and enjoy some cold weather stitching!
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Rosie’s Recipes: Super Soups!
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Tastes of the Season: Colourful Squashes Squashes are often overlooked in favour of their large and flamboyant cousin the pumpkin. Squashes, pumpkins and gourds belong to the same family as cucumbers, melons, marrows and courgettes. There is an amazing variety of sizes, shapes and colours, and although most are edible, some are used for decoration only. All squashes and pumpkins have a tough outer rind, an inner cavity filled with hard seeds and sweet, rich, well-coloured flesh with a dense, nutty and earthy flavour. Below are some of the most commonly found here in the UK. Butternut squash – the most common and popular of autumn squashes, the butternut squash is a pale creamy beige and comes in an oblong shape with a rounded bottom. Like its name suggests, the flesh has a buttery flavour that is enhanced by brown sugar or cinnamon. Spaghetti squash – this curious oval squash has a golden-yellow skin and bright yellow flesh. When cooked, the tender flesh separates into spaghetti-like strands. Turban squash – is a beautiful shape that resembles a fat teardrop. Deep-green in colour with flashes of orange, the intense orange flesh is rich and nutty and mellows upon roasting. Acorn squash is small with deep ridges that can make peeling difficult. To get to the peppery, nutty golden-yellow flesh, cut the squash in half then bake with plenty of herbs and spices.
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Inspiration
inspiration
A closer look at some of the accounts we love…
@bettyjoydesignstudio
@ellaandtheroo
Based in Sheffield, Lucia is a freelance designer for Lemon Ribbon. Inspired by her love of nature you can find Lucia’s designs on everything from bedding to stationary!
At Ella & The Roo you’ll find gorgeous handmade artisan woodland animal head wall hangings, as well as Cool & contemporary posters & prints.
@lapetitealiceshop
@ellisandhiggs
Linen baby clothing & accessories hand made, sewn & embroidered in Vilnius, Lithuania. With so many gorgeous pieces to choose from it’s hard to pick our favourite!
Nadra is a a fabric designer for Riley Blake Designs, pattern designer, quiltmaker & teacher from Germany. Her feed is full of the gorgeous things she makes.
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The Countryside in November Few feel very cordial about November when the countryside sinks grey and sere under the fall of the year and the heartbeat of the hills grows slower. Yet all is not a grim sort of “nothingness” in November. True enough the bold dahlias have been reaped by the frost, but last roses still shine in sheltered places, and the lemon-yellow fireworks of winter jasmine have burst out on house and cottage walls. There is still the comfortable scent of last bonfires and, of a Saturday, the game-dogs racing over the stubble for the fall of the pheasant to the sportsman’s gun. And the beech woods, arching over their clean and weed-free floorings, never look so beautiful as now in this last flaunting of the copper leaf. Beech woods shining in the gathering mists of November afternoons hold a strange, still splendour. In the open countryside the gatherings and movements of the wintering birds are upon a big scale, and plain to see against their background of bare ploughland and coppices naked of leaf. The landward gulls lie white as pebbles on the brown earth, the green plover rise in looping flocks, morning and evening the dark rooks trail across the pale cold sky. The birds of the garden - they become noticeable as well in the absence of foliage, and these are the birds which belong to most of use wherever we live, and if we have a few square yards of land. There is much beauty in the hedgerows of November, spotted with scarlet rosehips and pink spindleberry drops; much beauty in the bare spokes of the unflowered hemlock parasols at the wayside and in the dark gloss of the blackbird pairs, orange beak to orange beak, already staking out their springtime claims along the garden hedge. These are the pinpoints of pleasure which light the down-drop of the year, and make a little more than bearable the month which is not just a “nothing”, but a true November.
C Gordon-Glover Book of the Countryside
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“A prettier side of life!”
Meet the Maker
Karen Fleming talks to us about beaches, driftwood and the unique creations she crafts for her business, Tildy’s Room A big Hello to you all from sunny Yorkshire! My name is Karen and I am the creator of Tildy's Room, the place where I get to make gorgeous little dioramas and scenes of beach and village life inspired by own life in Yorkshire, Australia and Bermuda.
Have you always enjoyed crafting and creating, Karen? I have enjoyed creating things for as long as I can remember, my earliest complicated make was a knitted rabbit which I made for my new baby sister when I was 9 years old! I had a fair bit of help from my Mum and Granny Tildy and I remember it had some holes where I had dropped stitches, but overall it was quite adorable and I remember being very proud of it! And I remember loving woodwork class in Junior School where I made a fabulous sword with anatomically correct sword parts including a guard, hilt and pommel! So I guess I first created something decent out of wood at the age of 10! That really amuses me now! I wish I still had the sword but sadly,
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over the years and international abodes, it has gone astray.
How did you begin working with driftwood and develop your business idea into Tildy’s Room? I first became fascinated by driftwood in the 90's (long time ago now!) when I lived in Far North Australia in Cairns. I was very lucky to live in a house right on the beach and used to spend hours walking the beaches and fishing and sailing in the wide estuaries. The vast quantities of driftwood that washed up on the beaches was incredible and we would sometimes build temporary and abstract models and leave them as they were to be enjoyed until the next high tide took them out! Again, I was very lucky and lived in Bermuda for a few years and it was here that I first saw driftwood used as a permanent art form including little houses and cars. On our return to the UK in 2000 we began starting a family and I reduced my working hours as an Intensive Care Nurse to be a Mum.
As a hobby, I began making pieces using driftwood for my own personal interest and this developed further as I began attending local craft fairs a few times a year and found that people really liked my work and even better…they bought it! In 2012 I decided the time was right for me to focus on my creative work as a business and Tildy's Room was created. So you see, this was a slow grown and organic process for me as it worked around my nursing career and my family. It worked at the pace that was right for everything to blend and synchronise as well as possible. Since 2012 I have been selling my work, in various shops in Yorkshire to begin with, in addition to learning the art of on line business through Facebook, my own website and more recently on Etsy which is developing steadily. In 2015 I attended my first trade fair to get a taste for the world of wholesale… I honestly hoped to
attain business with around 6 galleries and by the end of day three I had confirmed orders from 20 and a waiting list of 10 plus!! It was incredible and far beyond what I had expected! So from May to December 2015, I had a huge amount of wholesale orders, my own website to run, large craft fairs to prepare for as well as a large amount of bespoke work! It was a hugely busy few months to say the least! By Christmas I had realised I needed a plan for 2016 to ensure things could slow down somewhat so I didn't have to work 16 hours every day with few days off! This year has been much more manageable and enjoyable and I am thoroughly enjoying my work with Tildy's Room…and a social life too!
Do you have a favourite creation? Ooo! That's a tricky question as I love so many aspects of my work! I think it would have to be my larger pieces purely for the reason that I can let my imagination run freely and there's so much more flexibility
with the houses shapes and sizes, the wire work I can include and the additional bits and bobs such as hand twisted wire bikes, hand felted woolly trees and tiny benches with even tinier newspapers! There literally is no limit to the possibilities on a large piece.
What is your typical day? I like to spend a good 3 days preparing the reclaimed wood and cut and sand it into lots of houses in all different sizes. Then I select around 10 pieces of driftwood I want to work on so I have a good batch prepared and ready for the fun part. So generally I start with the painting of the houses, and whilst they're drying I cut out the roofs and doors. Next I paint the windows and once they are dry, I can start attaching doors, roofs and chimney pots. Then I play around with what houses look good on certain piece of wood and then decide on what other aspects suit each piece.
Home Comforts Christmas is approaching fast, and the last Sunday of this month (this year it’s 26th) is traditionally known as Stir-up Sunday. It is a tradition that dates back to Victorian times, when the family would gather together to stir the Christmas pudding before Christmas. The opening words of the Book Of Common Prayer, read on this Sunday before Advent, are ‘Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord’, so the tradition began that this is the day to get stirring! The traditional Christmas pudding contains 13 ingredients to represent Jesus and his disciples. Each member of the family takes a turn to stir the mixture - while making a wish of course! It should be stirred from East to West, to remember the Wise Men that journeyed to Bethlehem in the Nativity Story. Adding coins, originally charms, to the pud was said to bring luck if you found them in your portion on Christmas Day.
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