Crochet inspiration and a heroine for the modern woman

There has been a lot of chat recently about positive role models for girls in books and films. Pathetic princesses that hang about at the tops of towers waiting to be rescued are definitely out, and Hermione Granger and Pippi Longstocking are in. 

Well, I have been thinking about who are the heroines of the modern woman. Women like me who realise that the family unit cannot have it all. Someone has to cook, clean and be at the school gate at 3pm, and you either have to earn enough to pay someone else to do some or all of it, do it yourself, or your chap has to do it, and really any of those is a fine choice. In my world, I do it. I make the home, make the meals, remake the curtains, make presents for people. I don't make any money, but I save quite a bit (and spend quite a bit more as wisely as I can). 

So who is out there to stand for girls like me? Grown up girls who don't lack brains or ambition, but choose, at least for a while, to stay at home and be Mum. Molly Weasley, that's who. Seven Smalls, modest income, making the house, making Weasley jumpers for the people she loves, cooking and cleaning for the order of the phoenix, but totally up to the challenge when she is required to fight for what she believes in. 

So it is from Molly Weasley's unique and wonderful style that I have taken my inspiration for a little project I have been working on...

This is my coat. It was originally purchased from M&S, but I purchased it about three years ago from British Heart Foundation. I had finally shed my baby weight and was in need of a coat that was less like a tent. I was also just beginning to realise that I was allowed to wear colour rather than sludge, and that wearing colour might just make me happy.

(Speaking of colour, look I have new boots!)

I love my coat, it is warm, comfortable, fits really well, except... I have really long arms and coats are always too short in the arm. Cold wrists lead to cold hands which suck.

Also, I have been going off the buttons. Not because they are not to my taste, but because they seem to wear the thread inordinately quickly and I am forever having to sew them back on.

So the project: I made Molly Weasley inspired cuffs for my coat. They add even more colour, keep my wrists warm and make me very very happy.

I also changed the buttons. Bright green for the back,

and multi-coloured for the front.

I have had these buttons since I was eight when a sweet neighbour looked after me while my parents were packing up to move house. She amused me buy showing me the contents of her sewing box and let me have these buttons to take with me.

I have no idea even what her name was, but I have kept these buttons for thirty years, waiting for the right project to use them.

Sooo... Ta Da! I love love love my new-old coat!

Now, the more observant among you will have noticed that there are a few differences between my cuffs and the originals. The reason for this is that there is only one person who can do justice to the full, shoulder to fingertip, crocheted loveliness of the true Molly Weasley sleeve, and that is Molly herself. Not that that hasn't stopped others trying. (Google Molly Weasley sleeve and I think you will agree.)

So I have gone for a cuff, not a sleeve, lost most of the fullness and changed the colour pallet slightly to suit my taste.

I did however spend quite a large amount of time with the film on freeze frame so that I could study the colours and shapes in detail. About 12 minutes into Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in case you are interested.

xx

The most extraordinary place on earth

Arg! Everything has gone a bit mad here what with half term and what not. Normal service will hopefully resume shortly. In the mean time I thought you might enjoy this...


St. Helena Island from pillar2post productions on Vimeo.

I feel so privileged to have called this beautiful place my home.

xx

Not my Granny's Curtains Evening Bag

The thing I made, that so restored my faith in making for the love of it, rather than because I feel I should, well, here it is... Ta Da!

I have named it the Not my Granny's Curtains Evening Bag. Its was a gift for a lovely friend who had a birthday yesterday.

It was made from some lovely vintage upholstery material that I was give by a complete stranger a couple of years ago. I think, in the distant past, he used to be an upholstery salesman of some kind, because he gave me heaps of samples. Pieces less than a metre square, sometimes in more than one colour-way.

They are completely perfect for bag making, but call for a clasp which is a little bit sophisticated. Something a bit special.

So I hunted around on the interweb and found these. I think the technical term is a kiss clasp. I like that - it sounds very affectionate. These ones double up as a handle, which is even better.

I popped a little label inside because I like a label.

I am completely over the moon with how it turned out.

I have a head full of makes bursting to get out, so I am off to work on one...

xx

Perspective

Thank you to all of you that took the trouble to comment and leave your wise words in response to my dilemma. Sometimes the simple act of articulating a problem makes the answer leap out, and sometimes we need a little nudge in the right direction to see the blooming obvious. 

Small smalls and big sea

I have decided that for the time being I am going to make a few things for my Mum's market stall, which is partly to support her and partly to keep a tiny toe in the water, and apart from that I am going to make things for the love of it.

Big ice cream and small life belt?

 I am going to finish sorting out the unpacking and work on my house.

I may not be making money, but I will be saving it by not spending it on tradespeople unless absolutely necessary, and by making gifts rather than buying them.

Smallest small and biggest ice cream

I won't be clock watching and penny pinching over every make, I will be doing what I love.

Not quite knees

 In the future I may well explore the teaching route more fully, but I will try to stop worrying about missing the boat, and needing to do everything immediately if not sooner.

So, having found some perspective, I have made something I am super-pleased with, but it is a gift so you will have to wait until after the event to see...

I did so enjoy making it. Just because I wanted to.

Three foot prints...

Still not sure I know What I Want To Be When I Grow Up, but I have crossed a possibility off the list, at least for now.

xx

Project WIWTBWIGU: The thing

I have a thing. A thing that is filling my head and making my mind race in the wee small hours. A thing that is getting in the way and needs to be dealt with.

So here's the thing:

I love to make things and I have a seriously long list of potential makes in my head. The list is like a living thing, in motion, ever changing, and I do not dare to try to write it down in detail. The list includes wedding presents, new baby presents, birthday presents, christmas presents, clothes for me, alterations, repurposings, upcyclings, curtains, re-upholstery of our furniture, experiments, techniques to try, pictures in my head.......

Often when I make things and give them as presents, or use them myself, people tell me that 'I should sell those'. And when people ask me to teach them to crochet or knit they say 'you should teach classes'. I love both of those ideas, but. But but but...

When you make something and sell it you have to put a value on it. The maths is easy:

cost of materials + cost of labour + cost of overheads = value of item

This is where we encounter the first hurdle. If you want to pay yourself a half decent hourly rate, and as far as I am concerned, not to do this undervalues your skill and creative energy, the answer to that sum, even with careful sourcing of materials, turns out to be 'quite a lot'. The quite a lot comes from the fact that to sell things costs money. You need an outlet: a shop will want to buy from you at a wholesale price and mark up the item so they make a profit too. A market stall costs money to hire and time to man (remember the decent hourly rate), etsy or similar, charge a listing fee, plus you have to factor in postage...

The trouble is, there is another, very important way to calculate the value of an item:

what a customer is prepared to pay for item = value of item

It is very very hard to make the two add up.

Let us turn to the other idea: teaching classes... The actual process of planning a workshop or programme of classes, organising the materials and doing the teaching appeals to me very very much. But as soon as I think about the idea properly my head is filled with: venue? advertising? evening vs daytime vs weekend? are there enough people around here who would like to learn? what is a customer willing to pay for the service? am I really skilled enough?

And then, there is all that other stuff, the presents and the experiments and the ideas, where do they fit in? What happens when a Small is poorly? Can I commit to working at the weekend or evenings without destroying family life? Will there be time to do up the house? do the shopping? the washing? cleaning? gardening? help with homework?

I am trying very hard not to be pessimistic, but to be realistic. Why burden myself with a bigger work-load if I am not going to make some pennies, when I could concentrate on the things I love doing for my own pleasure, and the pleasure they can bring to others if I share them.

So you see, working out What I Want To Be When I Grow Up is hugely tricky. Should I attempt to sell the things I make? Should I have a go at teaching classes? Or not?

The thing about the thing:

The thing about the thing is that indecision and uncertainty are not good for me. They make me worry, make me grumpy and make me hide from life behind social media, tv, radio, audio books, magazines, books... I keep the input up so high that I don't have to listen to my own thoughts. So I can block out the worry.

It is ridiculous to be worrying about an idea, worrying about something that exists only in potential. I know I should get my act together and worry about only the really important things, but that does not help in the wee small hours.

That my dear bloggy friends is the thing. I would very much value your thoughts on the thing.

xx

And now the bin-men have been and I have been so busy self-indulgently worrying about the thing that I forgot to put the bin out. Bother.

Meet the Maker: Julie at Hide and Tweed

Hello hello!

I am a very excited lady today. I have several talented friends who make beautiful things and I thought it would be fun to share them with you. So... this is the first in an occasional series of Meet the Maker posts. 

First up is Julie Lockie at Hide and Tweed. You can find Julie's work online at her Etsy shop, or in her home town of Berwick upon Tweed where she is one of over 20 artisans who sell their wares through a charming high street shop: Serendipity.

Julie works from her home studio with fabric, leather and paper to create wonderful notebooks, photo albums, and handbags. She also takes orders for bespoke items. I went for a nosy around Julie's studio and asked her about her work.

How did you begin working with leather?

I did an Accessories Design course at the London College of Fashion where I was taught by a very skilled leather craftsman.  From the first session on the course I loved working with leather.

The combination of masculine leather and feminine liberty prints is very striking. Where does the inspiration for your pieces come from?

My family and I spend a huge amount of time outdoors walking and cycling in the Scottish Borders and Northumberland countryside and I've found that I've naturally gravitated towards the colours I see, both in the leather and tweed I use.  I've always been a huge fan of Liberty prints and think they make a stunning contrast to the more masculine leather.

Can you talk me through your creative process? Do you have the finished article in your mind’s eye or are you led by the materials? 

  

A bit of both really.  The two main materials I use are leather and tweed/wool, hence the business name of Hide and Tweed!  I then often use Liberty print fabric and silk (usually tartan) for highlights and detail.  My main focus for products is books and handbags so the combination of the materials and products drive the creative process.  There is never a shortage of ideas popping up in my mind but the hardest part is finding time to develop and bring them to fruition.

Having a studio at home is many budding crafter's dream. How do find working from home?

Mostly, I love it.  It’s the most efficient way for me to maximise my creative time around being mum to my four year old son.  I am usually extremely disciplined and work the whole time he is at school but it can be very easy to get distracted by phone calls, the computer etc.  I also feel torn when I want to be in the studio creating but can see the kitchen floor needs washed or the whole house dusted.

What is your favourite piece to make?

My favourite process is easy – stitching my leather books.  I’ll have decided which style to make, cut out the covers and ties, spent a long time cutting hundreds of pages of paper, selected the linen threads and stitching design and then the real treat comes - sitting in peace and quiet stitching together a batch of books.  Making bags is a much more lengthy, complicated process and because many of my bags are unique I never quite know how they’ll turn out.  It’s very satisfying when you complete a bag and the finished product makes you smile.

Do you have plans to add your handbags to your Etsy shop?

Yes.  I’ve been very pleased with how well they’ve sold in Serendipity but I’ve still been refining the style and design.  My immediate focus is building up my stock of books for Christmas but I hope to have time to make bags for my Etsy shop.

  

If you enjoyed meeting Julie pop over to her Esty shop. I am sure you won't be disappointed!

xx

Some things and a plan

Some good things: The sun shone, J's parents and a lovely friend from my choir came to help, accompanied by a crowbar, and unloading the crates was not as awful as I had anticipated. 

A dispiriting thing: I spent three days attempting to unpack and my dining room now looks like this.

A big thing: I have been force to come to the conclusion that we own TOO MUCH STUFF. We have a reasonably big house and can't fit it all in. I have been taking stuff to the charity shop and recycling centre for weeks and I am pretty fed up with everything being in a mess.

The plan: Today I am going to make my living room into a place I like to be. I will fold and remove the clean washing, sort out and find a home for the multitude of paperwork, tidy the mantelpiece and put onto it a few choice items that make me happy, and run the hoover round. Then, I will the pack a couple of bags because we are going away for a weekend of fun and frolics with some lovely, uplifting, good-for-the-soul folks and I will walk away from the mess.

On Monday, I will make a new plan.

xx

PS Thank you for all your kind words after my last post. Bloggy types are also good-for-the-soul.