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A Bustle & Sew Publication Copyright Š Bustle & Sew Limited 2018 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 2018 by: Bustle & Sew The Cottage Oakhill Radstock BA3 5HT UK www.bustleandsew.com
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Welcome to the February Magazine It may be cold and dreary still outside (and particularly cold if you’re on the other side of the Atlantic to us) but nevertheless the days are growing noticeably longer now and though it will be a while until I have daffodils in my garden, I can see their sharp green leaves pushing up through the cold wet soil, whilst there are snowdrops along the hedgerows and the buds on my rambling rose are fattening up nicely. This month brings Shrove Tuesday and Rosie has been digging deep into our old family recipes to bring you all kinds of delights that have one thing in common - they’re all cooked on the top of the stove, on a griddle or in a frying pan rather than in the oven. We have embroidery projects suitable for both beginners and the more experienced as well as the most cheerful little cat softie. And as it’s so cold and grey outside we take a very welcome journey through colour, discovering the weird, wonderful and sometimes frankly wacky world of natural dyes! I do hope you’ll enjoy this month’s edition, and just a quick reminder that the March issue will be published, as always, on the last Thursday of the month - in this case Thursday 22 February. So if you’re a subscriber watch out for it arriving in your inbox then! Until then, I hope you have a wonderful month!
Helen xx
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Tips for Stitchers When I’m working on applique, I like to trace my shapes onto Bondaweb (a double sided fusible interfacing) which I then fuse to the reverse of my fabric before cutting out my shapes. It’s not always easy to remove the paper backing when I’ve cut my shape, but it’s really important to resist the temptation to keep picking at the edge of your shape if the backing doesn’t peel away easily. Instead try scratching the paper with the point of a pin. You should then be able to peel the backing away starting from this “scratch”. Even better - I try to remember to make a cut into my traced shape before I fuse the Bondaweb to the reverse of the fabric. This gives me a nice clean edge to begin peeling the backing away with no chance of distorting or damaging the edge of my shape.
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Between this month’s covers … Tips for Stitchers
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Kissing Bunnies Cushion Cover
Page 41
February Almanac
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Tastes of the Season: Rhubarb
Page 43
Hello Zebra! Hoop
Page 8
Rosie’s Recipes: It’s Pancake Day!
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Lovely Idea: Candy Hearts Quilt
Page 11
Tastes of the Season: Parsnips
Page 49
Meet the Maker: Julie Bulle
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Succulent Wreath Hoop
Page 50
A Country Diary
Page 15
Mounting your work in a hoop
Page 55
A (very) Little Look at Muslin
Page 16
From Passion to Profit
Page 57
Happy Cat Felt Softie
Page 17
Lovely Idea: Tea Tin Clock
Page 61
A Journey through Colour
Page 20
Cactus Pin Cushion
Page 62
Instagram Favourites
Page 25
Home Comforts
Page 64
Spring is in the Air
Page 26
In the Kitchen: Conversion Tables
Page 65
Snowdrop Spring
Page 30
Templates
Page 66
Blast from the Past: Snowdrops Hoop
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A (very) Little Look at Vintage Textiles
Page 35
Mending More than Just Making Do
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Poetry Corner
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February February, the second month of the year, takes its name from the Latin , a feast of expiation and purification held at this time in ancient Rome. Many of its significant dates the Celtic Imbolc, and Christian Candlemas and Lent are concerned with absence, purging and fasting. Even its birthstone, amethyst, is a symbol of piety and humility (also to guard against drunkeness and to keep a sober mind). As February is so short, it is the only month that can pass without a full moon - as is the case this year - so even the nights (which are still long) aren’t illuminated by the cold brightness of a full winter moon. It can feel like a month of resting, time to snuggle down inside and wait for warmer days to come before the burst of activity and renewal that is spring. But the days are steadily growing longer now, there are signs of life returning, and though the sun is still weak, it’s strengthening every day reminding us that spring will soon arrive. But the lengthening days don’t bring warmth and February can often be the coldest month of the year as the sea that surrounds us cools to its
lowest temperature and frequent easterly winds rush in from Siberia, cutting through gloves, scarves and all but the warmest winter coats, chilling us to the bone. Still, rain and snow are welcomed by
“Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November; All the rest have thirty-one, Excepting February alone, Which hath but twentyeight days clear And twenty-nine in each leap year”
farmers to prepare the ground for the sowing and germination of seed hence the old sayings: “If in February there be no rain, ‘tis neither good for hay nor grain.’ Or ‘Much February snow a fine summer doth show.’
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This year Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day falls on February 13, as Easter itself is early this year. This is the last opportunity for feasting and revelry before Easter, as Ash Wednesday the day afterwards - is the first day of Lent. This day takes its name from the custom of marking a cross of ashes on the forehead of churchgoers on this day, a reminder that “dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Genesis 3:19). Less well known is the old English tradition of “Collop Monday”, the day before Shrove Tuesday which was a time for using up fresh or salted meat, traditionally eaten with eggs. (A “collop” is a slice of meat or bread). This custom is rarely observed today as bacon and eggs are less of a novelty than pancakes for most of us. In gardens, woodlands and at the base of hedgerows across the country this is the month when the earliest spring flowers make their appearance and the tree buds begin to fatten on the branches. In gardens too, there is a promise of spring as bulbs begin to push up through the soil and the lovely smell of damp earth and new greenery
“You are as unique as all my creations�
Meet the Maker
Julie Bulle talks to us about her business, Les Miniboux, her Etsy journey and her plans for the future of her lovely screen printed homewares. Can you tell us a little about visual arts and applied arts are your home and where you live? really separated in France, all I am currently living in Caen, Normandy, in France, my hometown. After 7 years in Paris, followed by 7 seven years in Brittany, I needed a change of scenery and came back home. Right now, I'm living at my parents home, since they've got space and I just came back a few months ago.
Can you tell us a little about your creative background? I've always been drawing or creating something with my own two hands. My mom taught me a lot but I started taking drawing lessons at an early age.
taught in different schools).
Can you explain the techniques you use and tell us why they appeal to you? Since I create home decor, it mixes a lot of different techniques. The first step in my work is to draw. After I have a drawing that I like I can handpaint it on porcelain for the tableware I sell, or I'll use screenprint for all the linens I create. Once it is screenprinted, I still have to sew it all before it's ready to sell and ship.
How do you keep yourself Once I finished high school I left motivated and interested in home to study art in Paris. I your work?
have a degree in 3D animated It's quite easy to stay motivated films and visual effects and also when you love your work, it a degree in visual arts (Fine arts,
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If you love Julie’s simple, yet sophisticated, homeware and would like to find out more you can find her online at “Lesminiboux” ….
https://instagram.com/les_miniboux/ http://www.etsy.com/shop/lesminiboux http://www.facebook.com/LesMiniboux
really helps. But sometimes, I do Most of my inspiration comes heat a few walls and need to from the nature, I draw a lot from refresh my mind. the plants I like, it's really becoming the biggest part of my Getting my mind off work is the work. But I still creating some best way to get back at it, characters from animals that are sometimes just reading a good not always too usual. book is enough, sometimes I need more time and gardening I also keep my eyes open and would be the best way to relax. watch the work of a lot of other designers. I guess keeping an Do you finish a piece before eye out on new trends keeps my moving onto the next, or do mind hungry for new ideas..
you work on several projects at the same time? Most of the times, I work in bulk. It's the easier way to be efficient and save some precious time when screen printing and sewing. It goes the same way for the porcelain. It's like the first pieces I make are just a warm up and then I get faster and better.
Please tell us a little about your workspace. How do you keep organised? I work at home, after having a few outside studio, I find I work best at home, although it can be a challenge. But home is where I can work best on new ideas for new designs. And right now, I am not sure people would see my studio as organised. Some corners are kind of messy, but I guess it's just how it should be for me.
minimalist but they’re still something I really worked on to get it right.
And what's the best thing about running your own business?
Definitely the freedom it gives! Although self employed people really need to work a lot, and probably more than people are used to, it is still adaptable. It's easier to deal with mishaps on a daily life. And the only boss I have to please is myself! I might not be the easiest boss, but at How did your business begin? least I know what I like and what At first I was more thinking about I don't like. being an illustrator for children books but I was not comfortable What are your plans for its with soliciting editors to actually future? sell my work. And I needed to create actual objects you could This (coming) year I will be hold in your hands everyday, it focusing on finding new retailers seemed more tangible. That's to showcase my work. Since I how I started creating illustrated moved, I need to create a new local network, with all kinds of objects for everyday life. professional contacts and that In a popular and crowded will be a lot of work. I'm also market, what do you think working on a new online shop besides from my Etsy shop, I makes your work unique? hope it can be launched soon. There's a lot of great talented designers out there but I think we all have a little something that the designer next door won't have. Our work expresses our own personalities. Most of the times my customers will love my work because it is simple yet sophisticated.
Where do you find your I spend time on my designs so creative inspiration? they look simple, almost
And finally, please describe your style in three words. Sophisticated, minimalist.
dainty
and
Thank you so much for chatting to us Julie, I know you were a bit worried about your English as your first language is French - but I don’t think you had any cause for concern at all!
A (very) Little Look at Muslin The origin of the word "muslin" is uncertain - it may derive from the Hindi word "mulmull" which has been used in India for centuries to describe a plain woven, sheer cotton cloth - or possibly from "Mosul" - an area in Iraq. Butter muslin, cheesecloth, gauze and flag bunting are all different types of muslin. The first two names refer specifically to their original culinary uses - to strain or to wrap butter, cheese, bacon and puddings. Butter muslin is still used for this purpose today, and for straining and clarifying soups and sauces. These practical uses are reflected in the coarse,
unbleached cloth that still retains the small dark flecks of the cotton seed that are removed in further refining and bleaching processes. In contrast, more than three hundred years ago craftsmen in Dacca (now part of Bangladesh) were spinning and weaving cotton into the most fine and beautiful cloth used only for royal and ceremonial occasions. This cloth was so light that, yard for yard, it weighed less than a quarter of the weight of a fine quality muslin today. As fine as a cobweb, with dainty "butis" or floral sprigs embroidered in a slightly thicker yarn, it caused a sensation at the
Watercress with muslin cloth
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Great Exhibition held in Hyde Park, London in 1851. Today the best and finest muslin cloth is made from Egyptian cotton - a name which no longer refers only to its country of origin,but to a type of cotton plant that produces one of the highest quality cottons in the world. The length and quality or staple of the cotton fibre determines how fine the yarn can be spun. Except perhaps for USA Sea Island cotton, Egyptian cotton has the longest, finest staple and this is why muslin woven from Egyptian cotton yarn is so fine and delicate, with a lovely subtle sheen.
A (little) Journey through Colour The amazing world of natural dyes
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For many hundreds of years natural dyes were the only choice for dying textiles, since synthetic colours didn’t appear until the nineteenth century. So I thought it would be fun to look back at some of the amazing and inventive ways used to colour cloth before that time, (how were they ever discovered?!) as well as discovering some interesting and little known facts about colour history. used for Buddhist robes as there is too much death associated with it.
Red The history of the colour red begins in pre-colonial America with a tiny creature that once formed the basis of a large industry - the cochineal beetle that’s the size of about a grain of Arborio rice. Living on cacti, primarily in the Oaxaca area of Mexico and between the highlands and coast in the Andes, the female cochineal insect produces carminic acid, a deep crimson dye. Cochineal beetles were farmed by the ancient Incas and the practice still continues in South America today. The beetles live on prickly pear plants and infest them so thickly that it looks as though the plants have been coated in white flour.
Orange The richest orange-red natural dyes were from a small bush with a pink root called madder. Madder roots have been used as a dye for over 5,000 years. Archaeologists have found traces of madder in linen in Tutankhamen’s tomb (1350 BC), and in wool discovered in Norse burial grounds. The roots of the madder plant grow so long and so quickly that in 17th century Holland, where madder was extensively grown, farmers working on land reclaimed from the sea were legally obliged to harvest their madder crop after just two years in case the roots grew too long and strong, burrowing too deeply into the dykes and so causing floods. Although the root of the madder bush is actually pink, the addition of alum to a madder dye bath means that any white textile treated in it will emerge the most vibrant shade of orange.
To produce the red dye the bugs are killed by immersion in hot water, after which they are dried and pulverised. But this dried beetle blood alone wouldn’t pass any colour fastness tests - without additives to fix the dye the colour would fade with the first wash. The cochineal dye, although a deep, intensely coloured and very beautiful red is never
The Madder plant looks - honestly - a bit boring, but produces a rich natural orange dye
Dyeing with cochineal beetles
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Drifts of snowdrops carpeting the woodland floor are one of the earliest signs of spring …. This month graceful snowdrop flowers will carpet the floors of some of our deciduous woodlands. “Chaste snowdrop, harbinger of spring” wrote Wordsworth, though rejoicing that winter is over when you spot the very first snowdrops is, to say the least, a little hasty! Snowdrops begin their flowering season when the weather is still decidedly chilly - although they look delicate their leaf tips are tough enough to push up to the surface through frozen soil, which is how they gained their name of in France and Snow Piercers in parts of the UK. A Snowdrop flower looks like three drops of milk hanging from a stem which gives the plant its Latin name Galanthus which means milk-white flowers. There are seventy five different species and varieties of snowdrops, which are all white - and that’s probably why only two species are commonly cultivated, though snowdrop enthusiasts, known as Galanthophiles cultivate large collections of different types. A Snowdrop flower looks like three drops of milk hanging from a stem which gives the plant its Latin name Galanthus which means milk-white flowers. A snowdrop walk is a wonderful way to enjoy the countryside in late January and early February when snowdrops are in full flower. Many country estates
and gardens open at this time of year to host these events. If there isn’t a snowdrop walk near you, then try wandering around your local churchyard as snowdrops and churches have an historical affinity. Many churchyards were planted with snowdrops so that there would be plenty of flowers available to decorate the church for Candlemas on 2 February to celebrate the feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary. It was traditional to leave Christmas greenery up until Candlemas when jugs and bowls of snowdrops would be brought inside to take its place. Wherever you go to enjoy snowdrops this spring, don’t plan to bring any home with you. We all know we shouldn’t pick flowers in the wild, but many people also consider snowdrops are unlucky flowers to bring into our homes. This superstition arose in Victorian times when it was believed that the flower structure resembled a corpse wrapped in a shroud, If you’re in the UK, then visit the National Trust website to find details of snowdrop walks near where you are. http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/lists/top-spots-forsnowdrops
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blue stripe - as though the stems were sitting in the mug. (4)
● of the mug and the edges of the blue stripes twice. Don’t be too neat, you are aiming for a sort of scribbled effect. (3)
● Stitch your snowdrops in accordance with the stitch guide.
● Now transfer the snowdrops design to your background fabric. Notice that the stems overlap the white felt at the top of the mug and finish at the top of the first
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Tastes of the Season: Rhubarb Here in the UK we are lucky enough to have two rhubarb seasons, naturally grown rhubarb is available from April to September and “forced” rhubarb - that which is grown under darkness that appears much earlier - from as soon as December until the end of March. Rhubarb grows from short thick rhizomes (stalks) that have a distinctive red colour. The leaves are poisonous and should never be eaten - it is the stalks that are edible. Although rhubarb is technically a vegetable is is generally used as a fruit and is most commonly used in cakes,pies and crumbles. Its tart, sharp taste is generally best when it’s sweetened with sugar which first became affordable in England during the seventeenth century.
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Rosie’s Recipes: It’s Pancake Day!
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Home Comforts Make a Valentine’s wreath from dried rosebuds which are sold by weight by stockists of dried flowers and pot pourri. The easiest method is to thread the rosebuds directly onto florist’s wire and then shape the wire into a heart. Tape the ends of the wire together at top centre and cover with a bow or lace. For a scented wreath, add a few drops of rose or rose geranium oil.
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