1
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
2
Welcome to the October Magazine The nights are drawing in rapidly now and we’ve passed the autumn equinox. It’s time to light my wood burner and cosy up on my sofa with my hoop - and a mug of hot chocolate too - and enjoy some seasonal stitching. October is of course the month that Nature dresses in her autumn finery, and the countryside around my cottage is full of glowing colour. One line that always comes to mind at this time of year, is the first of Keats’ “To Autumn” - his words - always evoke memories of long ago walks through crisp fallen leaves, harvest festivals with their baskets of produce from orchard and garden and the first chilly mornings when you have to unearth your coat from the cupboard for the first time. This month we have lots of autumn goodies, as well as interviews with two very talented makers and some lovely traditional English pudding recipes from my daughter in Rosie’s Recipes. I do hope you’ll enjoy all of this month’s edition, and just a quick reminder that the November issue will be published, as always, on the last Thursday of the month - in this case Thursday 25 October. 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
3
Tips for Stitchers Don't economise when choosing a new hoop. A good hoop is essential to hold your fabric tightly for stitching, and to maintain that tightness as you work. Always take your fabric out of the hoop when you've finished stitching. Doing this will reduce the chance of permanent hoop marks or dirt rings appearing. Plastic hoops with a lip are more lightly to mark your fabric than good wooden hoops are as the lip has a tendency to trap dust and dirt.
4
13
37
21 31
6 52
15
Between this month’s covers … Tips for Stitchers
Page 4
Funky Panda Softie
Page 46
October Almanac
Page 6
The Creative Sewing Machine
Page 48
“Gather” Hoop
Page 8
Loving October
Page 50
Star Gazing in Autumn
Page 11
Lovely Idea: Foxy Basket
Page 51
Meet the Maker: Emma Gatehouse
Page 13
A Hoopful of Plants
Page 52
Colours of the Season
Page 15
An Autumn Day
Page 56
Christmas Gift Tags
Page 16
Home Comforts
Page 57
Choosing the Right Size Needle
Page 20
In the Kitchen: Conversion Tables
Page 58
October is Toffee Time!
Page 21
Templates
Page 59
Time to Sleep
Page 22
Lovely Idea: Painted Wood Hangers
Page 25
Harvest Owl Cushion
Page 26
The Autumnal Season
Page 30
Meet the Maker: Sara Moore
Page 31
A (very) Little Guide to Fabric Types
Page 33
Lovely Idea: Autumn Printable
Page 34
Safari Animal Prints Hoop
Page 36
Rosie’s Recipes: Proper Puddings!
Page 37
5
October In the October hedgerows, there is now a damp inevitability that winter will soon be upon us. Along the hedges, fluffy seed heads of wild clematis festoon the fading leaves, whilst below, families of hedgehogs rummage for autumn pickings beetles and worms, and the slugs that seem to be everywhere on damp autumn days. This year’s spiders are now fully grown and at this time of the year their large circular webs seem to appear overnight, stretched over hedges and across garden paths, their fine strands catching in your hair each morning. For gardeners, October is the time to clear up your garden in readiness for the cold weather to come. Lawns and other grassy areas need their last cut before the frosts and lack of daylight halt their growth. The spent heads and
stalks of summer flowers are sinking back into the borders, and the last leaves are falling from the apple tree. On sunnier days a few butterflies still flutter, supping
In the woodlands and fields it’s fungus time - October is the prime month for the appearance of their spore-bearing fruiting bodies mushrooms and toadstools.
“Day by day there are slight changes, subtle alterations in shape, in the mood of the season, it is as though everything is slipping and sliding very gradually downhill, like some great high hayrick sinking softly into itself as it dries. The year has turned and it is autumn….”
Still, October is a month of change, and though it can bring glorious golden days that remind us of summer, by the end of the month the sun rises to only just over thirty degrees above the horizon. This means that to reach us here on the earth’s surface its light must travel through a greater depth of atmosphere than it does at the height of summer, and this accounts for its rich and golden hue. October can also be very stormy and changeable, with winter storms quickly moving across the country bringing an end to any hopes of a lingering Indian summer.
sweetness from decaying fruit and searching for a place to hibernate.
6
Across the world, far from the damp mists of a typical English autumn, Mohandas Karamchind Gandhi, known as Mahatma Gandhi, was born on 2 October 1869. His birthday is celebrated in India as Gandhi Jayanti, a public holiday on which people pay tribute to the “Father of the Nation”, remembering his life, work and doctrine with religious readings, prayers and songs. On 3 October 1906, at the Berlin Radiotelegraphic Conference, it was decided that SOS would become the international distress signal. Although it’s popularly thought that these letters stand for “Save Our Ship” or “Save Our Souls” in fact they were simply chosen because they could be easily and unambiguously transmitted by Morse code (dot dot dot, dash dash dash, dot dot dot). In America, on the evening of Sunday 8 October 1871, perhaps the worst ever bovine-related disaster occurred. On that day a fire began in a Chicago barn (possibly after a cow kicked over a lantern) and developed into one of the worst disasters in that city’s history - the Great Chicago Fire. The devastation caused by the
blaze, which killed about 300 people and left around 90,000 homeless, was made worse by the strength and direction of the wind and by the excessively summer that preceded it. The fire burned for nearly 30 hours, beyond human control, before it was finally extinguished by the welcome arrival of rain on the morning of Tuesday
“Witches then speed on their errands of mischief, some sweeping through the air on besoms, others galloping along the roads on tabby-cats, which for that evening are turned into coal-black steeds. The fairies too, are all let loose, and hobgoblins of every sort roam freely about.”
10 October. Here in the UK, on the last Sunday of October, which this year falls on the twenty-eighth, the clocks are
7
put back by one hour - a sharp reminder of the impending season. Traditionally this would have been the time for making final additions to your winter larder, laying in provisions and stocking up on fuel. On 30 October 1938, Orson Welles’ infamous radio adaptation of HG Wells’ science fiction novel The original story tells of a Martian invasion of earth, and Welles scripted his play in the form of a simulated news broadcast so convincing that man terrified listeners fled their homes, firmly believing that aliens from Mars had actually landed in New Jersey, bent on the destruction of the USA! And finally, the end of October also brings witches and goblins to our doors. In pagan times this was a brief season when the divide between this world and the next became less secure and the dead returned from their graves to haunt the living. Ritual fires were kindled at dusk on hilltops and open spaces to purify the land and defeat the powers of darkness. Boisterous games were played and horns and other raucous instruments blown to counteract the fear of evil spirits.
8
Star Gazing in Autumn When the clocks go back at the end of this month, and the daylight begins to fade earlier and earlier each day, we enjoy the opportunity to gaze up into the night sky where, away from cities and main roads with their street lights and neon signs, you can admire the wonderful spectacle of our evening skies.
temperatures drop away and it’s still comfortable enough to spend a few hours out in the open air without lots of cumbersome layers of clothing. At least five of the planets in our solar system can be seen with the naked eye, simply by looking up, along with the Milky Way, comets, meteors and galaxies. All you need is a clear night, an open space with no or little light pollution and a comfy spot to sit or lay back in ready to look up to the heavens. Stargazing does take a little patience as it can take around 20 minutes for our eyes to adjust properly to the dark sky, and to get our bearings on what stars are where. Using a compass and start chart will help to identify constellations and planets and many well known stargazing sites have information boards to help you understand what you’re seeing. To help you adjust to the darkness it’s a good idea to use a red light instead of a regular torch as this won’t affect your night vision. Take a blanket or camping mat to lie on, a flask with a hot drink and some snacks and extra layers to keep you warm if you do intend to stay out late.
For millennia, humans have been gazing up into the night sky in wonderment, forming ideas on the nature of stars, using them to navigate, tell stories and even to predict the future. Today as we discover more and more about space, the skies hold this ageless interest for us, as there’s always something to see and whilst instruments such as telescopes and binoculars are a good way to look deeper into space, there’s still plenty that can be seen by the naked eye. Star gazing can be as simple as looking up on a clear night, though with a little bit of knowledge it’s easy to start identifying constellations, planets and galaxies, even observing the stars at different points in the heavens throughout the year. At this time of year you can view the skies from the early evening onwards before the
9
10
A Very Little Guide to Choosing the Right Size Needle IIt’s important to choose the right size needle to suit your fabric and thread so you can achieve the best possible results when stitching - and here are some tips to help you do this: 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 tighter, closed weave will need a needle that makes the right size hole for both thread and needle to pass through. If you’ve pulled your fabric tightly in your hoop you may hear a sort of popping noise as you pass your needle through, but there still shouldn’t be any real resistance to the passage of your needle through the
fabric. If you have to really tug to pull your needle through then you should be using a larger size needle. There may also be a soft noise as the rest of the thread passes through your fabric, but not a loud zzzzz sort of noise. If you hear such a noise and are experiencing resistance as you pull your thread through the fabric, then once again you should have chosen a larger needle. And finally, the hole your needle makes in your fabric should be large enough for your thread to pass through it, but no larger. Your needle shouldn’t leave a visible hole in your fabric around your thread. Having said all this, there is no set formula to determine what size needle you should use at any particular time. Whilst you should consider the points I’ve raised above, your needle choice may well be based mainly on your personal preference - which needle are you comfortable using at any particular time, and with particular materials? Over time, as you gain experience, choosing the right needle will become automatic - something you don’t even have to think about!.
11
October is Toffee Time! October brings the start of the colder weather - the time for ice creams enjoyed in the garden or on the beach is long behind us. But there are compensations - what could be nicer than an afternoon spent making toffee in a cosy kitchen surrounded by the aroma of warm caramel? It’s really easy to do, but children should never be left unsupervised as the boiling sugar does reach very high temperatures. To make a simple caramel toffee, melt 225 g unsalted butter, 450 g caster sugar and 450 g golden syrup in a large heavy-based saucepan. Bring to the boil and then add 150 g condensed milk. Boil the mixture steadily, stirring constantly - if you leave it for even a moment it stick and burn to the bottom of your pan - until the mixture reaches the “soft crack stage” on a sugar thermometer, then carefully pour into a lightly oiled Swiss roll tin. Allow to cool, but before it’s completely hard, score lines on the surface with a knife, marking where you want your toffee to break. When it is hard break into bite sized pieces or larger slabs as desired. Wrap in squares of baking parchment and twist the ends to seal - or for a super-special finish tie the ends with twine - red and white baker’s twine has a lovely festive air.
12
Time to Sleep… 13
14
Rosie’s Recipes: Proper Puddings!
Here in England we’re famous for, and very proud of, our traditional puddings - and autumn is the perfect time to indulge… 15
Baked Apples Serves 4
Ingredients
Method
● 4 large apples
● Preheat your oven to 190C (fan 170C, gas mark 5)
● 8 tablespoons luxury mincemeat
● Using an apple corer, scoop out the core from the apples. Mix the mincemeat, breadcrumbs, cinnamon and sugar together. Put each apple on a piece of foil and fill the core cavities with the mincemeat mixture. Fold the foil up loosely around each apple and stand them on a baking tray.
● 65 g fresh white breadcrumbs ● 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon ● 2 tablespoons brown sugar
● Bake the apples in the oven for 45-60 minutes or until they are soft. Check them individually after 40 minutes, as the odd one may need removing before the rest if it cooks more quickly. ● Serve the baked apples with custard.
We’re loving these dreamy October days ….. Bracing walks along our local beach now totally deserted - mugs of hot chocolate when we get home that we drink while warming ourselves on the Aga!
Snuggling into cosy knitwear, lighting the fire and toasting our toes Crunching through the fallen leaves…..
Less time in the garden means more time for sewing!
T hat oh-so-evocative smell of cold nights and smokey bonfires … walking home beneath the stars on a crisp cold evening, seeing all the lights on in the cottages along the road - such a homely sort of feeling….
The sun’s rays reflecting the warmth of the beautiful leaves russet, scarlet and burnished gold.
Spooky time at Halloween!
Farewell to summer salads - until next year - and hello to comforting casseroles, warming soups and wonderful English puddings … spotted dick, treacle sponge and sticky toffee .. Yum! Starting on my Christmas projects - but still plenty of time to complete them - what’s not to love about October? xx 171
18
Home Comforts There’s still plenty of time to plant bulbs for next year, whether your choice is daffodils and narcissi, tulips, muscari or hyacinths. A quick and easy way to do this is to plant the bulbs into plastic pots that you can drop into borders and containers later on. Line up a whole series of pots and fill them with a mix of multi-purpose and loam-based compost for added nutrients, as well as some grit or pot shards to aid drainage. For a superspectacular display, plant your bulbs closely together to the extent that they’re almost touching. Label your pots and keep them in an open position in the garden until the first green shoots begin to emerge. And don’t forget to water them occasionally if the weather is dry.
19
20
21