away in the sounds

For 4 glorious days we nestled ourselves along side the tui and bellbirds in the bush at Kaireperepe bay in the Marlborough Sounds. We ambled from the beach house down to the beach and back again (and again and again).

We went biscuiting behind the boat,

lost our thoughts out in the deep blue sea,

were mesmerised by a multitude of colourless and sting free jellies wafting and waving in their massage like motions,

vaguely understood what the carved tree fern people were saying when we visited the Lochmara Lodge,

waded in warm low tide waters,

to even smaller and less accessible beaches,

collected kai moana, 

marvelled at the brilliance and safety of two very long child gates, extending the whole way around the veranda, keeping her well penned in, 

encouraged a bit of make believe,

celebrated a 34th birthday... mine

breathed in and considered the canvas backdrop of the kauri timbers

felt pangs of nostalgia for the old food safe, left wanting and hungry

dreamed in dimly lit bunk rooms on spongy sprung mattresses,

felt heady in the darkness and drama of the bathroom,

saw poetry and patina in an antique plug

and laughed when I saw the brand name of the vintage washing machine planters.

It was a real privilege to stay and recharge our batteries here. It is out of the generosity and trust of the owners that they share their house, its history and seclusion for the benefit of others. Thank you Parker and Western families, for every lovely moment.

weekending

scissor hands

Check out these bad boys! I can hardly believe they're mine. They have been gifted my way via the lovely Deidre (whose blog will have you in satirical stitches of laughter). Deidre is also the force behind the fantastic Stash Rehash gigs. Both pairs of scissors are engraved in her name and one pair awards her title of "the best all round student" in 1988 at Polytech's Fashion School here in Christchurch. This kind of generosity coupled with the fact that they have obviously been sentimental to her, means that I now think of her as some kind of sewing fairy godmother whose spirit I will channel and call upon in times of sewing confusion or distress ..."Oh Scissors, tell me what Deidre would do..." 

Yes, they are heavy but they are very sexy. They cut long and make a mean sound when doing so (I'm tempted not to oil them for this very reason). Somehow I feel the intention of my every cut when I use them. The weight also means you are less likely to go swinging them around in a gesticulating fashion while you're talking and for that reason they feel safer to use because you're more conscious of them. Having said that, you want to know exactly where they are and what they are doing at any given time (had they a mind of their own, like the car Christine in the horror film and were they not under tight rein, someone might lose a leg). So, despite their somewhat intimidating presence in my sewing room (all the other scissors have run away nervously) I keep taking them down from the hook where they hang just to play with them, taking turns between each pair to cut the air.

The fabric in the background was pretty much the biggest fabric score of last year. It was snaffled up from some dingy corner of Jan Howdens legendary Mayfield Junk shop. I'm about to make cushions out of it. So sorry.

finding fimo

Over and over again we get the Fimo out and mould and sculpt it into some strange and not so strange things with varying degrees of crudeness. We bake the pieces we are most proud of until they are quite unbreakable and use them to play with in the dolls house or to make small sets or dioramas. Grandma Becki still makes her own personalized buttons this way. The kids love it because its firmer than play dough to touch but as tactile and more permanent than plasticine. So fond of Fimo are we in these parts, that I once had a birthday whereby we stationed a Fimo craft corner as part of the evenings activities and prizes were awarded to the best creations. It was an adults party. But wait, things get weirder still..

Er yes, this is a Fimo toilet with a poo in it. At the insistent request of the 3 year old.

And much to my delight. Available from most stationary, craft and DIY stores. Go getcha selves some.

sleepy and selfish

What a funny week that has been had. Felt like I was under some sort of a strange spell. 

There has been sickness and sleep deprivation too, so I've been relying on a lot of stimulants just to make it thru. But as always there have been lovely moments to savour.

The pears are dropping in abundance. If you live locally and want some let me know.

They are organic and from a prolific 100 year old grandaddy tree. Bon cretien variety.

I try my darnest to make sure none get wasted, but most years we resort to putting free bags of them on the side of the footpath. Upside is they have always been chocka in our freezer and make great winter crumble (with cardamon and cashews and ginger) and baby food galore. So far, no one has been donked by one falling. But the kids are in the direct line of fire as the sand pit is under the tree. Maybe I should enforce helmet wearing in the sandpit right thru march.

The veg garden has been wrapped in its snuggly winter pea straw blanket. 

 

I have discovered new ways to redirect the attention of the smallest child. She is dextrious and carefull enough to play with the pins in their cushion and also the old cotton reels, but alas she has tired of it lately. This is where bowls of things have come in handy. Bowls of nuts in their shells and measuring cups to transfer them to and fro in. A bowl of drift wood pieces and string. Who isn't partial to sucking on a salty piece of driftwood?I got myself a whole hour this way.

It's these little set ups that buy me time to sew along side her. A few seams in a dress that I work on and off on over a couple of days. I still feel selfish when I'm not sewing to finish an order or for the kids, but I have been working very hard to try and over come this. To proove it, I have a few garments to show that I've sewn for myself over summer.

A burda pattern, Comfy as with a side zip and lots of twirlability.

The was the first of my Japanese patterns (also from stylish dress book no.1).

It's a bit of a preggy number if you are used to things being more fitted.

But it's one that I will wear outside the house nevertheless. A good winter smock for wearing with merinos underneath.

This is a winner. A little Anna Maria number. A shape which I think would suit all shapes and sizes. I love the side seam pockets and I' m already cutting out another!

And finally, dress S from stylish dress book no.2. 

Fabric from these guys.

Had some probs with this one. But nothing that wasn't rectifiable with the seam ripper and made right again. It has a flouncy Alice in Wonderland feel to it. Not too Grand Motherly and pinny-like I hope. 

The pattern doesn't suggest you do the shirring high around the waist. But this clever lady does. I don't think it would of been right without it and it was so much fun to do, that I think I might be doing a lot more of it from now on.

It has to be said that one of the reasons I really like these patterns is because they have a lot of pleating and gathering around the neck lines. They puff and billow but look equally good cinched with a belt or shirring. This does wonders for creating fullness around a bust that is lacking or has dramatically diminished in size (having been suckled by 3 gorgeous babies for 3 years and ten months total). Not so selfish after all.

sewing in sunday morning sun

From the Japanese Stylish Dress Book number 2. Introducing Pattern X.

The most important construction steps are well depicted and technical, albeit in Japanese! Luckily a girlfriend of mine does know a little and helped decipher the sizing chart (busto,waisto, hippo or something to that effect). These patterns tend to assume that you already know the fundamentals of sewing, as there are a lot of beginner level steps that are omitted.

That being said, I do consider myself an intermediate sewer and this is my third garment from this increasingly popular series, but twice I forgot to add my seam allowances (which aren't included on the patterns). D'oh. I'm blaming it on the dreamy photography and styling. If you aren't familiar with this series you really should check them out. Here and here. They really are quite addictive.

Over all, this has been a quick one to whip up and results in a blouse (I guess you would call it that) which is part bat wing, part peasanty, very floaty and thus will be very cool to wear in summer and great for keeping the sun off my skin. Apologies for photo above but it isn't really that short on the torso (I was being playing coy and scrunching my shoulders up). It also doesn't show the shape very well, which has turned out just as I hoped, altho I am in the habit now of taking a couple of inches off the sides of these patterns as they are exceptionally voluminous. 

The mister's verdict was "...it'll be good for wearing around the house" Jeez!! I actually really like it!

tools of the trade

Serviced, sharpened, oiled. 

I'm quite sentimental about my tools. 

The Mundial Serra sharp scissors aka 'the big reds' were given to me by my Dad who worked in haberdashery for many years (and incidentally used to cross stitch and embroider and is therefore responsible for some the most well executed but god damn ugly cushions I have ever seen ...the tapestry mallard duck cushion being the ultimate eye sore).  

But back to snips. 

The Prazsion Sanokaulen by Soungen (try saying that after a couple of drinks) are pinking shears from Germany and were picked up at a church fair. I like using these on children's clothing in particular, to prevent the fraying that happens when an over locker can't be used. There's also another pair of Soungen scissors with H Y Kaufmann and Sons inscribed on them, which I use for cutting out my traced patterns in transparent interfacing. And lastly, there's the pair of Fritz Bracti by Soligen nurses' scissors, presumably for cutting bandages off and the like. (the sharpener guy told me this after I had assumed they were old hairdressers snips.) Not that I'm into DIY surgery of any kind.

Anyway the point is, they all come from some place long ago. They would have been used by untold hands and various craftspeople, have probably been sworn at and may have accumulated some good cutting karma along the way. That's why I love them so.

I had all 4 pairs sharpened for $30 direct at home, by a man who came with a van, with a lathe in the back of it and it took him all of about 15 minutes to make them as good as gold. A decent pair of sewing scissors still cost upwards of $30-$45 and some will reach well into the hundreds (particularly for those 40cm blades which the textile manufacturers use to cut the bolt from the rolls- I want me a pair of those puppies). Actually I'm beginning to feel like I could turn into Mrs Edward Scissors Hands any moment now.

All this makes me think about how people used to service things out of necessity. There used to be big business in fixing , repairing and making things last. Now our toasters are assembled with inconsistent screwdriver holes that no universal screwdriver or philips can touch, as their heads require triangular head drivers. Toasters designed so that no handyman can attempt to fix them and destined as a throw away item despite that fact that 99% of the device is still functioning. Toasters that have you searching the web in fury to see if an appropriate tool exists with which to remedy the situation. Toasters you have no luck with, to the point where you contemplates drilling said holes out. Toasters that have you thrash around with them to the point where, when you eventually give up trying to fix them, you plug them in and they work perfectly again!! Toasters that will teach us for tampering with the untamperable!

 

But lets not give up folks, for there is something to be said for regaining control of your life via craft and DIY rather than having some corporation feeding it to you. You know, people verses the machine and anti hyper consumer culture etc It seems radical now days. Funny that. 

So get out your oil and get lubricating ladies! ...your scissors that is.

Free motion darning. The accessory otherwise known as the embroidery foot. It attaches to the presser foot holder of sewing machine and effectively allows you to draw with the stitches any which way you like. It's initially slippery and hard to control and my attempts so far have been a little wonky to say the least. But it does have the advantage over hand embroidery in terms of covering a lot of ground fairly quickly and with a finish (once mastered) equal in stroke thinness to that of an ultra fine point tipped sharpie. Which alone makes it beautiful. I have noticed tho, that If you move or turn direction too fast, the stitch length becomes quite long and I think in a final product would be likely to snag and catch on things. Which is why I'm still a fan of hand embroidery. It's amazing how much can be learned by going into a sewing shop and asking lots of questions about all the small, mysterious and useful tools and equipment there are on offer.

Acrylics. Non toxic. Applied to 'pingies' and 'tooties'. The 3 year old loves it, the 1.5 year old cried and didn't understand about keeping her extremities off anything but the paper. So be warned with the younger ones that you do have to kind of force their palms and bare feet flat, press down, hold and have rags ready to clean the paint off pretty quick.

Because the wee lady's growing like a mushroom I have two dresses (one denim pinafore and another cotton smock) a peasant blouse and some leggings on the go. For the mister (for love and to really test the tolerance for homemade garments) a raglan T in teal and black fine stretch knit. Pour moi a Japanese bat wing blouse ...more of that to come later. Oh and ginger crunch, double generous topping of course.

Woodblock prints that are hanging in my workroom window right now.

They are printed from a letter given to me by my late friend Arnold Brooker. Arnold used to work in the printing trade and when he was in his 90's he had his late wife Louise's last letter to him made into a wood block.

The letter tells of how Arnold had insisted that he buy Louise a rubber mattress for her bed, despite her protests of it being too expensive. She wrote of  how it had bought her more comfort than she could have ever imagined and thanks him for his kindness and generosity throughout their marriage. That was the last communication Arnold ever received from his wife. He was in a psychiatric unit undergoing electric shock therapy and she was lying in her comfortable bed dying of cancer. Arnold went on to become a mental health rights activist and a Wellington icon of sorts. He was instrumental in getting chapels put in psyche units all over the country and was subsequently commended in parliament for his efforts. Arnold died in 2006. I know all this because many moons ago I made a documentary about Arnold's life called 'The Whirling Man' (he used to wear placards around his neck that were always flapping in a whirl around him where ever he went). The doco was selected for the New Zealand Film Festival and became a bit of a 'sleeper hit'. Arnold was still alive at the time and dutifully and rather proudly attended all of the screenings. He was a true inspiration to me and I get quite chocked up reflecting on him in this way. Needless to say this letter and its sentiment are very dear to me. I think the connected cursive of Louise's writing style and the red ink look very romantic. RIP Arnie.