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A Bustle & Sew Publication Copyright Š Bustle & Sew Limited 2017 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 2017 by: Bustle & Sew The Cottage Oakhill Radstock BA3 5HT UK www.bustleandsew.com
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Welcome to the November Issue I always feel that November brings the really SERIOUS start of the run-up to the Christmas festivities, culminating as it does, in Stir-Up Sunday at the end of the month. We have two more seasonal patterns in this month’s issue, and both our Makers have some great Christmas ideas that I hope you’ll love. Of course the colder weather really begins to bite now, so Rosie has been busy in her kitchen cooking up some lovely warming soups, perfect for winter picnics and cosy suppers too. Many of the designs in this issue feature applique, so I’ve also included a revised and extended guide to this technique which I hope will inspire you to have a go. If you’re in the Bristol area, then please do make a note in your diary as Bustle & Sew will be exhibiting at the Etsy Makers Fair on December 2nd and we’d love to see you there! And finally, do look out for the December Magazine which will be published on Thursday 30 November Have a lovely month!
Helen xx
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Tips for Stitchers Feeling less than creative? Allow yourself time and space to sit and dream, let your imagination run free and give your ideas your full attention. Daydreaming isn’t a waste of time, it’s food for the creative soul.
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Between this month’s covers … Tips for Stitchers
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Tastes of the Season: Parsnips
Page 36
November Almanac
Page 6
Rosie’s Recipes: Souper Soups!
Page 37
Party Panda Hoop
Page 8
Tastes of the Season: Squashes
Page 42
Lovely Idea: Leaf Stamped Napkins
Page 10
Cactus Pin Board
Page 43
Meet the Maker: Diana Watters
Page 11
Instagram Round-up
Page 47
The Last Show of the Year
Page 14
A Little History of Velvet
Page 48
Two Mugs with Succulents
Page 15
Nature Notes: Gossamer
Page 51
Applique Made Easy
Page 18
Lovely Idea: Tin Punched Votives
Page 52
Poetry Corner: November
Page 24
Reindeer Pennant
Page 53
Chic Pompom Cushions
Page 25
The Countryside in November
Page 56
A Very Little Guide to Thimbles
Page 28
Meet the Maker: Karen Fleming
Page 57
Snuggle Down and Keep Warm
Page 29
Nativity Set Part Two
Page 61
Lovely Idea: Leaf Cake Toppers
Page 32
Home Comforts
Page 63
Nature’s Remedies
Page 33
In the Kitchen: Conversion Tables
Page 64
Of Trees and their Leaves
Page 35
Templates
Page 65
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Party Panda Hoop From time to time one of these puzzles pops up on my Facebook feed, and so I thought it would be fun to create a stitched version too. It’s really easy to spot the “odd one out” though as the little panda is sporting a brightly coloured party hat complete with fluffy pompom, all ready for the party season ahead. This hoop is very simple to stitch and would make a great beginner’s project - its success depends upon the accuracy of your backstitching, which is all worked in a single strand of black floss. Shown mounted in 8” hoop.
Materials
Method
● 12” square white fabric. As you will mostly be stitching in a single strand of fIoss be sure that it’s a fine weave. I actually used felt which worked really well.
● Transfer the design to the centre of your fabric using your preferred method. ● All the bears are worked in a single strand of black floss. Their outlines and mouths are back stitch, ear inners and noses satin stitch and their eyes are two straight stitches. Be sure to be very accurate with your back stitching, passing your needle through same hole at the beginning and end of each stitch. Work longer stitches in the straight areas and small stitches around the curves of the mouths and ears to keep the lines smooth.
● 8” embroidery hoop ● DMC stranded cotton floss in 310 (black) and very small amounts of white and three bright colours of your choice
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● The panda’s nose and mouth are also worked in a single strand of floss. The panda chest, ears and eyes are satin stitch worked in 2 strands of floss. The white lines on the diagram right show the direction of angle of the satin stitch. The ears radiate outwards, so you’ll need to work some infill stitches towards the outer edge. There is no need to stitch the bear outlines adjacent to the panda tummy as they will be clearly shown by the edge of the satin stitching. The panda’s eyes are tiny white stitches. ● Work the hat as you choose in 2 strands of floss - I went for diagonal stripes and worked the pompom in ghiordes knot stitch. ● When finished press lightly on the reverse and mount in hoop.
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The Last Show of the year‌ November is the month when, traditionally, gardeners enjoy their last fling, their last riot of colour in the final flower shows of autumn, showcasing their dahlias and chrysanthemums. As a rule, there will also be classes for fruit and vegetables at these shows, where we can see apples that are almost too good to be true, and pears and grapes that are perfection itself. Then there are startlingly white leeks and a yard long, and onions like teapots too. But many years ago, at a London show, a fierce argument erupted as to the worth of these giant specimens. In the end, a famous chef was asked to come and give his opinion. He said that there was not one thing on view that he would have in his kitchen. But no one will argue with the gorgeous chrysanthemums and when the flowers fade at last their owners will bend their backs and their gaze to ground level and start rummaging around to take cuttings, to start all over again next year. Gardeners there’s no stopping them!
Albert Butler: Book of the Countryside
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Two Mugs with Succulents Succulents remain a popular trend this autumn, and I have planted two lovely enamel mugs, brought back from a birthday trip to Prague a long time ago, with two lovely spiky green plants. And I like them so much I thought it would be fun to stitch them too, though I have changed the colours a little to fit in with current design trends. To make a bit of a change I’ve mounted them on 4” artists canvas blocks, though they would look great displayed in small hoops too.
Materials
Method
● Two 8” squares white background fabric (you need extra to wrap around the backs of the blocks to secure)
● Transfer the design to the centre of your fabric using your preferred method. ● Stitches used are back stitch, chain stitch, French knots, satin stitch and basket weave stitch.
● Two 4” artists’ canvas blocks ● DMC stranded cotton floss in colours ecru, 310, 420, 841, 945, 3766, 3824, 3852
● If you’re unfamiliar with basket weave then you might find my Little Stitching Bear tutorial useful. Just click here to download.
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● Pink, fox red, white and black stranded cotton floss or other thread suitable for applique
● 1 5/8” pom pom maker - or use the traditional method of two cardboard rings to make your pompoms ● Bondaweb
For both cushions
● Glue gun (optional). I attached my pompoms with my glue gun, but if preferred you could stitch them in place instead.
● Wool yarn to make pompoms in colours of your choice. These are quite big pompoms and I found I could make six from a 50g ball of yarn.
● Apply ears and features in the same way.
Method
● Secure the edges with short straight stitches worked at right angles to the edge of the shapes using two strands of matching floss.
● Trace the templates onto the paper side of your Bondaweb and cut out roughly. Fuse to your felt and cut out carefully making sure the edges are nice and smooth. Alternatively as these are large pieces and will use a lot of Bondaweb, you could trace around the shapes and cut out, then use a basting spray or pin in place while you stitch if your cushions are going to be mainly decorative. Otherwise I do feel that Bondaweb makes the applique stronger and harder-wearing.
● Stitch mouths in three strands of black floss using back stitch and add tiny white stitches to each eye for a little “sparkle”. ● Press lightly on the reverse. ● Place face up on a clean flat surface and place the back pieces on top (hemming one short edge of each if you’re not using felt. In this case put the hemmed pieces face down on top of the main panel) so that they overlap at the centre forming the envelope closure.
● Peel off the paper backing and position your shapes on the front cushion panels aligning the bottom edge of the shapes with the bottom of the panel, so that the edge will be taken into the ¼” seam allowance.
● Stitch around the edge with a ¼” seam allowance. Clip corners and turn right side out.
● The rabbit is very straightforward as it is just a single piece. I built the fox in three pieces, first applying the lower body, then the white bib and finally the top of the head. You could if you preferred simply cut the body as a single piece, and applique the bib over the top but I thought it looked nicer this way. If you do cut in three pieces then remember to allow for an overlap and cut a little extra for this at the top of the lower body and bib.
● Make your pompoms. You will need 8 for the fox cushion and 10 for the rabbit cushion. ● Glue or stitch pompoms in place around the cushion edge, one at each corner and one in the centre of each side (fox) and one in the centre of the top and bottom edges and two equally spaced on the sides (rabbit).
● When you’re happy with the positioning of the shapes fuse into place with a hot iron protecting your work with a cloth.
● Insert pads. ● FINISHED!!
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Tastes of the Season: Colourful Squashes Squashes are often overlooked in favour of their large and flamboyant cousin the pumpkin. Squashes, pumpkins and gourds belong to the same family as cucumbers, melons, marrows and courgettes. There is an amazing variety of sizes, shapes and colours, and although most are edible, some are used for decoration only. All squashes and pumpkins have a tough outer rind, an inner cavity filled with hard seeds and sweet, rich, well-coloured flesh with a dense, nutty and earthy flavour. Below are some of the most commonly found here in the UK. Butternut squash – the most common and popular of autumn squashes, the butternut squash is a pale creamy beige and comes in an oblong shape with a rounded bottom. Like its name suggests, the flesh has a buttery flavour that is enhanced by brown sugar or cinnamon. Spaghetti squash – this curious oval squash has a golden-yellow skin and bright yellow flesh. When cooked, the tender flesh separates into spaghetti-like strands. Turban squash – is a beautiful shape that resembles a fat teardrop. Deep-green in colour with flashes of orange, the intense orange flesh is rich and nutty and mellows upon roasting. Acorn squash is small with deep ridges that can make peeling difficult. To get to the peppery, nutty golden-yellow flesh, cut the squash in half then bake with plenty of herbs and spices.
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Cactus Pin Board This is a really simple hack of a cheap cork pinboard, easily available from shops and online - I purchased mine from UK supermarket Tesco. It was a boring brown square when I brought it home, but a lick of white chalk paint and some cheerful applique have transformed it from a bit of an eyesore into an attractive board that I’ll love having on my kitchen wall to keep all those cards, telephone numbers and other useful pits and pieces that have a tendency to wander if not securely pinned down! Board measures 40 cm (16” square) ● White chalk paint or emulsion
Materials
● Embroidery foot for your sewing machine
● 40 cm (16”) square cork pin board (another size would be fine as long as there is room for your applique!)
● Bondaweb
● 14” x 12” white felt (this will be the base for your applique cactuses)
● Temporary fabric marker pen
● PVA glue
● Glue gun - for attaching hanging loop if desired.
● Variety of green fabrics and felts for the cactuses ● Small scraps of pale pink felt for the flowers ● Black stranded cotton embroidery floss ● 10” twine (for hanging loop - this is optional)
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Inspiration
inspiration
A closer look at some of the accounts we love…
@bettyjoydesignstudio
@ellaandtheroo
Based in Sheffield, Lucia is a freelance designer for Lemon Ribbon. Inspired by her love of nature you can find Lucia’s designs on everything from bedding to stationary!
At Ella & The Roo you’ll find gorgeous handmade artisan woodland animal head wall hangings, as well as Cool & contemporary posters & prints.
@lapetitealiceshop
@ellisandhiggs
Linen baby clothing & accessories hand made, sewn & embroidered in Vilnius, Lithuania. With so many gorgeous pieces to choose from it’s hard to pick our favourite!
Nadra is a a fabric designer for Riley Blake Designs, pattern designer, quiltmaker & teacher from Germany. Her feed is full of the gorgeous things she makes.
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The Countryside in November Few feel very cordial about November when the countryside sinks grey and sere under the fall of the year and the heartbeat of the hills grows slower. Yet all is not a grim sort of “nothingness” in November. True enough the bold dahlias have been reaped by the frost, but last roses still shine in sheltered places, and the lemon-yellow fireworks of winter jasmine have burst out on house and cottage walls. There is still the comfortable scent of last bonfires and, of a Saturday, the game-dogs racing over the stubble for the fall of the pheasant to the sportsman’s gun. And the beech woods, arching over their clean and weed-free floorings, never look so beautiful as now in this last flaunting of the copper leaf. Beech woods shining in the gathering mists of November afternoons hold a strange, still splendour. In the open countryside the gatherings and movements of the wintering birds are upon a big scale, and plain to see against their background of bare ploughland and coppices naked of leaf. The landward gulls lie white as pebbles on the brown earth, the green plover rise in looping flocks, morning and evening the dark rooks trail across the pale cold sky. The birds of the garden - they become noticeable as well in the absence of foliage, and these are the birds which belong to most of use wherever we live, and if we have a few square yards of land. There is much beauty in the hedgerows of November, spotted with scarlet rosehips and pink spindleberry drops; much beauty in the bare spokes of the unflowered hemlock parasols at the wayside and in the dark gloss of the blackbird pairs, orange beak to orange beak, already staking out their springtime claims along the garden hedge. These are the pinpoints of pleasure which light the down-drop of the year, and make a little more than bearable the month which is not just a “nothing”, but a true November.
C Gordon-Glover Book of the Countryside
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“A prettier side of life!”
Meet the Maker
Karen Fleming talks to us about beaches, driftwood and the unique creations she crafts for her business, Tildy’s Room A big Hello to you all from sunny Yorkshire! My name is Karen and I am the creator of Tildy's Room, the place where I get to make gorgeous little dioramas and scenes of beach and village life inspired by own life in Yorkshire, Australia and Bermuda.
Have you always enjoyed crafting and creating, Karen? I have enjoyed creating things for as long as I can remember, my earliest complicated make was a knitted rabbit which I made for my new baby sister when I was 9 years old! I had a fair bit of help from my Mum and Granny Tildy and I remember it had some holes where I had dropped stitches, but overall it was quite adorable and I remember being very proud of it! And I remember loving woodwork class in Junior School where I made a fabulous sword with anatomically correct sword parts including a guard, hilt and pommel! So I guess I first created something decent out of wood at the age of 10! That really amuses me now! I wish I still had the sword but sadly,
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over the years and international abodes, it has gone astray.
How did you begin working with driftwood and develop your business idea into Tildy’s Room? I first became fascinated by driftwood in the 90's (long time ago now!) when I lived in Far North Australia in Cairns. I was very lucky to live in a house right on the beach and used to spend hours walking the beaches and fishing and sailing in the wide estuaries. The vast quantities of driftwood that washed up on the beaches was incredible and we would sometimes build temporary and abstract models and leave them as they were to be enjoyed until the next high tide took them out! Again, I was very lucky and lived in Bermuda for a few years and it was here that I first saw driftwood used as a permanent art form including little houses and cars. On our return to the UK in 2000 we began starting a family and I reduced my working hours as an Intensive Care Nurse to be a Mum.
Method ● The fronts of the characters are all made in the same way - simply appliqued onto a felt background, so the following method should be used for all. The templates are full sized and reversed for tracing onto the paper side of your Bondaweb. ● For the adult characters cut a rectangle of midnight blue felt 7” x 5” approx and for the sheep 5” square . Work the applique in the centre of these shapes. ● Trace the applique shapes onto the paper side of your Bondaweb. Allow extra for them to overlap I have included an additional diagram of Joseph from last month with the overlaps marked in red to show how much to include, and also photographs of the steps for assembling the angel. The angel’s halo is worked in gold or dark yellow chain stitch. Notice that the arms are cut in one piece which makes them much easier to handle and to position correctly. ● Cut out roughly and fuse to the reverse of your fabric, then cut out carefully. Peel off the paper backing and position on your felt background. Work from the bottom upwards.
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● When you’re happy with their positions, fuse into place with a hot iron, protecting your work with a cloth. ● Fit the embroidery foot to your sewing machine and drop the feed dogs. With black thread in your needle and a paler colour in your bobbin go around the edges of each shape twice aiming for a sort of scribbled effect. ● Embroider the features with two strands of floss. The eyes are black French knots, the cheeks pink satin stitch and the mouths red back stitch. ● Press your work on the reverse. ● Trim your softies to shape by cutting around them allowing an approximate 1” border from the edges of your applique. This border doesn’t have to be the same all the way around, so don’t be too fussy about measuring. ● Cut your backing fabric to the same shape and join with right sides together leaving a gap at the bottom for stuffing. using a ¼” seam allowance. Clip curves, turn right side out and stuff. ● Close stuffing gap with slip stitch. Your softie is now finished.
Home Comforts Christmas is approaching fast, and the last Sunday of this month (this year it’s 26th) is traditionally known as Stir-up Sunday. It is a tradition that dates back to Victorian times, when the family would gather together to stir the Christmas pudding before Christmas. The opening words of the Book Of Common Prayer, read on this Sunday before Advent, are ‘Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord’, so the tradition began that this is the day to get stirring! The traditional Christmas pudding contains 13 ingredients to represent Jesus and his disciples. Each member of the family takes a turn to stir the mixture - while making a wish of course! It should be stirred from East to West, to remember the Wise Men that journeyed to Bethlehem in the Nativity Story. Adding coins, originally charms, to the pud was said to bring luck if you found them in your portion on Christmas Day.
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