Summer shorts

So it has been too long, I have no real excuses other than taking pictures is so time consuming that I never seem to fit it in so I haven't captured all the things I've been making recently.

I'll try better, promise.

Anyway, I recently ordered my very first Colette sewing pattern. I've heard really good things about them and have also been in search of a shorts pattern for summer, so when I came across this one I thought I'd give it a go.

Not only is it a really easy pattern to follow, but the fit is absolutely perfect too. I hardly had to alter it at all once I'd picked the correct size. I fall between two sizes so I often have to trace from the original pattern, onto pattern paper, to get a good line between the 12 to 14 size and this made a perfect fit for me.

Apologies for the goofy pictures, that unfortunately is just me.

They are so comfortable, and the fabric I used is a very lightweight cotton with a mint green background underneath the flowers. Perfect for summer. I'm definitely going to make some more, I'm planning on making a longer, knee length pair which will be more suitable for work, as well as some higher waisted sailor type shorts, so watch this space.

One more thing I will say about the Colette patterns is how good the instructions are. They are clearly laid out in a book with great illustrations to go with them, as well as links to on-line picture tutorials if you are a beginner. I've been reluctant to buy a Colette pattern as they aren't cheap and it is important to buy a pattern knowing you'll get good use out of it, but I'm really glad I have splashed out. I'm going to make millions of pairs of these shorts! Maybe even some nice tweed ones for winter!

Well.... Hello there...

So it has been rather a while since I last posted! That's not to say I haven't been busy, I have, but I also can't say I've been too busy to post. I've just been a little uninspired to post I suppose!

FIRSTLY I hope you like the new look of the blog, I felt like I needed a name change to better represent what this space has become. All the content from the old blog is here but if you were following me through Bloglovin or any other channel, you'll need to add this blog again now the name has changed. Click the Bloglovin button over on the right hand side of the screen to follow me.

To keep things short, in the run up to Christmas I find it difficult to post anything I'm making, crafting or generally pottering with on this here blog because mostly, the things I'm working on are presents and it would certainly ruin Christmas if I gave sneaky peaks at everything!

Since Christmas however I've really no excuse. I've made quite a lot which I will post about soon, but I have no real reason why I haven't posted yet (other than the weather has been rubbish so I can't take pictures of things outside and the house is a mess so I can't take pictures inside!).

HOWEVER. Here I am typing away. I have been busy and I have a little something to show you....

During half term I was very worried I'd be bored/have nothing to do as I hadn't really made many plans so here's a little something I whipped up on the Monday. It was so very simple I really did make it and dye it in a day, which then left me with 5 more days to try and fill...

I've never really done a step-by-step-sort-of-blog-post so bear with me if this is not very good!

First, using a heavy weight canvas cloth, cut out a rectangle measuring 60cm x 50cm (ON THE FOLD) creating two rectangles joined at the lower edge. Along the folded edge of the fabric cut away a square measuring 11cm x 10cm at each end (The horizontal cut needs to be 11cm and the vertical cut 10cm. This allows for the side seam you'll be stitching later).

In the same fabric cut two strips measuring 70cm x 10cm. These will be used to make the straps of the bag.

Fold each strip length ways so that the raw edges meet in the middle of the fabric. Then fold in half again so the raw edges are neatly tucked inside the strap. Then stitch along the open edge sewing the strap closed.

Along the top edge of the fabric (on both top edges) fold the fabric down half an inch (2cm) and press it flat with an iron. Make sure you know which side of the fabric will be the inside of the bag, and ensure you fold inwards on both top edges. Next, fold the top edge over again tucking the raw edge underneath. This leaves a neat edge to the top of your bag, measuring 2.5cm (this should be the same width as the two straps you have already made) and stitch along the lower edge.

Using tailors chalk draw a line 20cm in from both ends of the main bag fabric, along the edge you have just created, on the outside of the bag.

Mark lines in the same place on both of the straps you have created (20cm from the end). Next mark two more lines 17cm from the outer edge of the strap. You should then have a total of 4 lines on each strap, 17cm and 20cm from each end. Match the ends of the straps to the edge of the main bag and pin down until you reach your marks at the 20cm point, match and pin securely.

Sewing the straps to the bag needs to be done slowly and carefully, not only to ensure the strap is securely attached but also to make sure the top stitching is neat and tidy as it will always be on show. Between the 17cm and 20cm marks you will need to sew diagonally between the corners, as well as sewing along the two lines you have marked this will create a box with a cross in it. I suggest sewing around the box two or three times to securely attach the strap as this part will suffer the most stress when you carry the bag. We wouldn't want the strap to fall off and spill all your lovely treasures all over the place....

The next job is to sew up the side seams of the bag, Super simple and quick, just ensure the edges are aligned perfectly and the top and bottom edges match up then stitch! I did a simple straight stitch from top to bottom then neatened up the seam allowance using a zig-zag stitch which adds a little strength to the seams too.

The next step is to sew up the corner seams of the bag giving it its shape and a flat base. To do this you must open the bag at the bottom of the side seam, folding the fabric at the corners and match it to the middle of the base of the bag. It will be clear once you open the bag what you need to do here.

Once you have tied up all of your loose thread ends, pressed open any seams and turned your bag the right way out this is what it should look like!! Using my measurements this bag is big enough to fit my sewing machine in so should give you an idea of the overall size.

I dip-dyed my bag too because I love a little bit of dip-dye! Sadly I didn't use natural dyes, the colours I used did come from a packet (mostly because my crops are still growing and it's not harvest time) but mostly because I was feeling pretty impatient on this particular day. Firstly I washed the bag in cold water, squeezed out as much water as I could, then dipped it in a lovely lilac for around 45 minutes to an hour.

After rinsing the excess lilac off and once again squeezing out as much water as possible, I dipped the bag in an ocean blue colour for another hour. As you can see my dyeing process is highly sophisticated and would be fairly difficult to replicate at home...

Whilst wet, the bag did look blue all over but once it dried the difference between the blue and the lilac became more obvious and the pale pastel shades look really good together. I'm really happy with this quick project and the finished piece. It makes a perfect shopper or beach bag. I just need to go to the beach to test it out...

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Spinning... Not the bicycle type....

Last weekend I cycled off into Oxford to a wonderful little yarn shop, the Oxford Yarn Store to take part in a wool spinning workshop. It is something I've wanted to try my hand at for a while now and when my lovely sister stumbled upon this shop and its list of workshops I couldn't resist signing up as soon as I realised they were holding a spinning workshop. I think being able to spin my own yarns would fit in with my natural dyeing plan perfectly as I could dye wool, then spin it myself to create some exciting and varied wools.

It was a long day sitting in a hard wooden chair, pulling at clumps of raw sheep's fleece in an attempt to create something that looked like a ball of wool. By the end of the day I proudly carried home my very own ball of fluff that I may never knit with but will forever cherish!

The course was run by the owner of the Oxford Yarn Store and two women from the Oxford Guild of Weavers Spinners and Dyers. Their combined knowledge of spinning and many years of experience was brilliant, I don't think there was a question they couldn't answer or a technique they couldn't show us to help us with our spinning.

My lovely ball of fluff was spun with two different shades of green wool roving to add a little something else to the ball, which I'm loving. Spinning is a fairly simple concept, but really quite tricky to master so my ball of wool really is quite rustic and uneven but I think that adds to its charm!

This weekend however something rather unexpected happened.... I may have accidentally bought a spinning wheel of my very own....! It is so very beautiful, moves so smoothly and was a total bargain! I found it in a local antiques shop and realised that I couldn't pass it by without seeing if I could barter the price down a little and success! I'm now the proud owner of my very own spinning wheel!

The wonderful thing about this wheel is that it was created in my home town by a local carpenter. I really hope it will stand the test of time, and wherever I may end up in life I'll have a wonderful piece of history that connects me to my home town for ever.

Its just so beautiful! Now I just need to convince my family to buy me a sheep/alpaca or two!

Natural Dye Garden

I've been intrigued by the idea of growing my own plant dyes for some time now, since I undertook a project using natural dyes during my art foundation course in early 2012. I've read some wonderful books about natural plant dyes, growing them, using them and the slow textiles movement, and having successfully dyed fabrics with dyes sourced from the vegetable isles in supermarkets, I really wanted to start growing my own plants and ultimately making my own dyes. 

Last weekend we had our last blast of warm weather for the foreseeable future and I took the opportunity to get outside and get my garden going. As the seasons change over and autumn settles in, it was also a great time to hit up the garden centres for some bargain plant sales.

The raised planters have been built using old cement manholes stacked up on top of each other.

French Lavender

 Yellow Onions, these will be harvested for their skins as well as then being eaten!

Camomile, another plant which can be used for dyes as well as an edible source.

St Johns Wort

It'll be another year perhaps before these are ready to harvest for dye purposes and it won't be until then before they flower again but I'm already excited for this prospect! I've taken a lot of my inspiration in this field from India Flint, she has really created an amazing collection of naturally dyes textiles exploring not only colour but pattern. For me however, being a Brit, I found a lot of the plants she used aren't native to little old England and this was something I was quite interested in, whilst this book by Sasha Duerr provided some really great information and inspiration about growing your own native plant dyes, a book I would highly recommend.

Before you point it out, I'm aware French Lavender isn't native to Britain but we already have some lavender growing in our garden and I thought it would be interesting to compare the two types to see whether their colours would vary.

Natural Dip Dye

During my art foundation course I did some research into natural dyes and ended up using it as a process in my final project. It is a process that has stayed with me and I hope in the future to grow my own plants to use as natural dye stuffs but in the mean time I use what I can easily get my hands on.

I've been planning this project for a while now but just never seem to get around to it, but today I had good enough weather to hang stuff in the garden so I got my saucepans out!

To dye this simple shirt I used powdered turmeric as it creates such a bright vivid yellow that is perfect for summer. Turmeric is a great natural dye to get hold of as it is a common spice that is already powdered which makes the dying process much quicker and simpler too. I boiled half a pan of water with about two tablespoons of turmeric powder in until it had mostly dissolved. I hung the shirt over the pan so I could dip dye the end rather than dye the whole thing.

The deep orange colour is difficult to achieve from Turmeric once dried, the top has turned much more yellow than orange after it had dried during the afternoon but I might dye it again in the future to try and get a deeper yellow/orange than bright yellow.

The great thing about using natural dyes is that the colours do change over time, exposure to the sun, wear and washing will change the colours but it just means I can re-dye it later on to create another new looking top without having to actually buy one!

I love it! I love it even more because it took about 20 minutes to dye then all I had to do was wait for it to dry!

Summer Fruits

Summer holidays mean fruit picking and this year our local PYO is looking pretty good. All that sunshine we've been having and the soggy year last year seems to have provided a pretty good crop so far!

I spent a lovely hour in the late afternoon sunshine picking blackcurrants and strawberries to bring home for some summer jam making.

I picked a kilogram of each and once I'd got them home I washed them and took out all of the stems (I'll be honest I didn't pick all of the bits off the blackcurrants because I'm lazy and... someone told me it would simply add to the rustic taste....great advice!).

To make jam you need the same weight of fruit to preserving sugar and knowing I had 2kg of fruit I knew I'd need 2kg of sugar... However, when I came to weigh the fruit, just for the purposes of double checking, I didn't quite have enough... I've since heard this is a common mystery that occurs when living with other people, food just disappears....

The first step is to soften the fruit over a low heat in 125ml of lemon juice (if you're using 2kg of fruit/sugar). Once the fruit is soft and the amount of juice has more than doubled in the pan you can add the sugar. Keep stirring until all of the sugar has dissolved. Once it has, you can bring the fruit to the boil for around 15 - 20 minutes then test it to see whether it has set. If you don't have a jam thermometer there are a few other ways to test for the setting point. I recommend trying both the first time then in future you can use the one that worked the best for you. Here is a good video demonstration of the saucer test. The other method is the flake test.

I did these tests and thought my jam was set but once it had time to cool in the jar it was still a little runny. BUT TASTES AMAZING!

Jam making was actually much easier than I thought and I'm definitely going to do it again. It is so satisfying making something for yourself that you can then enjoy throughout the year (my batch made about 9 jars!) and I'm certain it tastes better than bought jam just because I made it myself!