Leave it to the professionals

Self sufficiency is over rated. Though I instinctively admire the rugged frontiersmen and make do and menders, it isn’t just that it is difficult to be self sufficient, it’s also not that good. Interconnectedness is where it’s at.

Here’s my little-bit-of-life to illustrate the point. My P had a pair of trousers that he liked, but the zipper was broken. Somehow a few teeth were missing, so it was either throw out an otherwise perfectly good item of clothing, or find a way to replace the zip. Now, I can sew, but zippers intimidate me, and replacing zippers on trousers is just way to hard, but buttons, snaps or Velcro just won’t do. So the trousers languished, neatly folded, for around a year or two. I considered looking on the internet for tutorials on zippers, but I just knew it would be too hard. I’ll admit it here now: Not only can I not replace a zip, I will never be able to, not in my entire life. And that’s o.k.

But having an un-wearable pair of trousers just hanging around isn’t o.k. So, what to do? Pay someone else to mend them! I’d passed the sign for Suzanne’s Stitch and Sew in Stockport several times on lunch break shopping expeditions, so I knew the service was available, but somehow paying to have clothes mended felt odd, like my grandmother would be spinning in her grave. When I finally psyched myself up and took the trousers in, I was really happy with the price, the service and the end result. So, with a bit of not-doing-it-yourself, I have what I think of as a successful mending project. It’s off my to-do list and back in P’s closet; what more could I want?

Finished project: Make Do and Mend bag

Looking back, I started working on patching my Make do and Mend bag almost exactly one year ago. It feels longer, possilby because it was written on every to-do list for a year. Yesterday, I finally finished stitching the new lining in. This morning, I used it around the shops and going to the People's History Museum, and it held up just fine.

Those aren't the bag handles sticking up- there's a brown bag with my current knitting project inside the Make do and Mend bag; the edge is just visible on the needles. The knitting hasn't been done on the bus, but I have been putting together the strips of fabric and winding it into a ball of "yarn" while commuting, and on the train after visiting a friend in Disley. It isn't easy to knit with fabric yarn, but it does feel nice.

The other side of the bag has some green and pink embroidery in a blackwork pattern.

Overall, I'm happy with the project and I think I'll enjoy using the bag again. It did drag on. When I started, I didn't realize I would need to line the bag. The lining was hard to figure out, and I'm sure there's better ways of doing it, but at least it is done. I have a new favourite phrase (from English as she is spoke), "A bad arrangement is better than a process." It describes my crafting a bit too well.

finished string of threads

It's been a while, but finally some progress to report. When I finally got around to cutting the toggles, I really enjoyed the whole making process, but the best bit is just having the thing done:

Originally, I was thinking of this as a garland or banner, much fancier than the finished object which I am now referring to as a string of threads. I didn't trust myself to choose a good fabric for a banner, but simplifying it to just a white crochet chain made it feel do-able again. It does look cheerful, but the test will be if it encourages me to embroider more.

I've not been very crafty lately, on or off the bus. Some of that is just indecision. I have a real problem with using stuff up. For example, I have an idea to make a rug by knitting up some fabric strips. The internet has some fancy patterns, but I just want a simple project, preferable one without counting. So, just a simple knit, using up some of my stashed fabric (especially a particularly, um, difficult purple print), and getting a honestly useful small rug for the hall. Last weekend, I even did a little test piece, to check how knitting with fabric works (yes, it is harder than yarn, but not too difficult). I like how the knitted texture makes the fabric a much gentler colour. But rather than starting in on cutting the fabric, I started worrying that if I used it all on a knitted rug, I wouldn't be able to use it on any other potential project I may want to make in the future. Not on anything I'm already planning, but on some ambiguous possibility. This is not a helpful way of thinking. So after a week of really pointless delay, I'm going to force myself to just get on with the project. Here's a look at what I'll be working with:

Butterfly returned

This butterfly was my contribution to the display the Manchester branch of the Embroiderer's Guild had at the Stitch and Creative Crafts show in February. Some of the blanket stitch edging and antenae were done on the bus, but mostly it was a home sewing project. Weaving with ribbons is AWFUL! They are slippery and fiddly and no fun at all. Well, ribbons are fun, but I found the weaving frustrating. I think I made it even harder by using ribbons of different thicknesses. Live and learn.

The piece was returned at the March meeting and is now stored away. I have a possilby mad idea of making a quilt with a garden of eden theme, and this butterfly may be part of that.

I think I started making the butterfly last September, but I'm not sure because I can't find a mention of it on my blog. I also missed doing a yearly overview in September, but while tidying my bedroom shelf I found my notes for the review, so with the idea that late is better than never:

• from 15/07/10 I did get the divider shelf made and it is working nicely


• from 10/06/10 I'm still not working on the comic, and it's still nagging at me. I know I'll never get better at drawing if I don't start practicing, but I just can't seem to find the way to motivate myself to just start in on it.


• from 27/06/10 The quilt with text is  'Punctuation' by Sara Impey, found thanks to the Travels in Textiles blog that I've been following


• from 16/06/10 That Make do and Mend bag is still not mended, but I'm still working on it. How much longer can it take? I dread to think.


• Not made anything at the Fab Lab. Hopefully it will still be around when I'm finally ready to make something.


• Also, I quickly gave up on tagging my blog posts. Not best practice, but it just feels too hard to think about meta content. Content is hard enough. (Why do I do something hard for fun?)

Garland Prototype

O.k., this is what should have been done first:

The last idea on the list- making a toggle from plastic bits- seemed the best one. It's like a legal tag, not one of my favourite bits of stationery, but a tried and tested fastener. Also, it uses up stuff I've horded and doesn't require buying anything at all! Win-win, as they say.

The toggle is made from the little tube from the squirter bit in a deoderant bottle, pierced by a thumb tack then trimmed down to size. The plastic tube is easy to punch through and the hole made is easy to get a threaded needle through. Win-win, again!

The thread shank is made by pulling the thread through the fabric, then the hole punched in the tube, tieing it around the toggle square knot-style so there's a shank length, going back into the fabric, holding the toggle so both lengths of the shank are the same and doing a little back stitch knot. Easy. A normal hole punch at the top of the cardboard spool to attach it with. Easy. Not sure if it's a win-win, because the aesthetics come into play here, and this prototype does look rough.

I like where this is going. Needs a bit of measuring, and I'll need to find the right fabric to use. Not sure if I want to pretty up the toggle or not. I could try putting beads on each end, running the tread through the tube to give it a bit more colour, but I kind of like the way it looks now, a bit rough and functional, not fussy. I feel like it's enough to be getting on with.

Flaw in my plan

I've wound 9 and a half spools or bobbins of embroidery thread, but it then dawned on me that I don't know how to hang them in a garland. My original vision probably featured fancy ribbon with neat little bows, but it's highly unlikely that I'll ever tie a neat little bow. I did gather together some paperclips, thinking I could thread them through a hole in the cardboard spools, then attach them to a ribbon or a strip of fabric. But think about that a bit. Paper clips are easy to use with paper, nice thin and stiff substance that it is, but they aren't so easy to get on and off of fabric. Now remember, the reason for the garland is to encourage me to use the embroidery thread, and if it is a hassle to get the thread off, it won't be much of an encouragement!

I've been thinking about the problem, and here's a list of my ideas so far:

• bend the paper clips into hooks (how? and how would they work?)


• use old curtain hooks (but they are u-g-l-y)


• tacks (how to attach to fabric? but would be good on a board)


• screws (see above for tacks)


• picture hooks (could stitch through the hole and secure with a bead)


• little buttons, very little


• mini toggles cut from plastic tubes from spray bottles (the coat I've been wearing has toggle fasteners, so that's where this idea came from)

It was a mistake to start on the project without a good idea of how to do it, and that has dampened my enthusiasm. While the problem spins around in my brain, I'm also reading a book on Celtic Art during my commute, or rather, looking at the pictures. On the way home today, there was also the amusing drunk Irishman, "Tallest of 11, 7 sisters, 1 brother, and my Ma and Pa, and I was the tallest. And I'm only 5ft5! Bless my Ma and Pa for having me!" I probably shouldn't admit how funny I found him.

And a neat thing while I was walking home- the Aris fans were filling Store Street on the way to City's grounds, and they looked like a life size version of Gormley's A Field for the British Isles. The link is to the Field for America, I think, but they all look pretty much the same to me.

Paused

The thread wrapping is going too quickly. By Tuesday, I had wrapped all the spools I had cut from an old tea box. So now I need more spools and a plan for the garland/banner/hanging thingumy before I can make progress on this project.

But the pause in crafting has allowed for some good people watching. Going home yesterday, two young children and their mom were heading home from swimming. They were eating crisps and a bit loud and excited, but the mom was managing them. My attention was caught by this bit of their conversation:

Mom: No, the flowers aren't toys. They were just for the protest, so I could find you in the crowd.

This concept was explained further, but the children found fault with it.

Child 1: But what if another child had a flower? Would you take them home instead?
Mom: No, I'd still recognize you.
Child 1: How?
Mom: I'd recognize your cute little faces. (That isn't a paraphrase, she really did say that exactly.)
Child 1: But what if the other child was cute?
Mom: I'd recognize you by your voice.
Child 2 (between crisps): But what if they had mouths like us and sounded like us?
Mom: I'd recognize you by your coats.

Do you see the pattern in this conversation? Well, it did go on and on. I had to look away and cover my mouth to keep from giggling, and so I notice the older woman sitting in front of me was also following the coversation. I only saw a bit of her face, but it had such a beautiful, sweet, nostalgic expression, that it made the situation even more touching. The conversation finally ended with:

Mom: Yes, if they had a flower, and the same coat, and sounded the same, and had the same bracelet, then I probably would have taken them home instead.

The bus was later graced by giggling teenagers, not nearly as entertaining.