A Singer's Song

Woman with a Silk Corset 1891

a painting by Mor Than

Last night, after following a few links from Curlypops, I made a discovery about my old Singer.

Obviously I knew she was old. But my mind couldn't really go back further than the 1920's at the very earliest, though I was more inclined to stick to a few decades later, the Forties.


I don't know much about the history of sewing machines - well at least I didn't.... and so I thought that perhaps Mildred (as I have named her) was a 'modern' contraption of those times. I imagined all the garments she would perhaps have sewn; dresses, aprons, shirts, blouses, perhaps even the odd flapper outfit if she really was that old, but mostly, the same type of things we sew today on our really modern contraptions.

But no! On closer inspection, and with much referencing of the serial number, it seems that Mildred is not just a Grandmother in my sewing room, but a Great Grandmother! For she was made in 1891!

Which means that one thing she probably did sew alot of when she was young, was real Victorian Corsets!

Wow!

I Heart Gingham

Having forgotton nearly ALL of the things I needed for Pattern class on Friday, I decided to use the scraps from my Cuba Dress MkII to make myself a pencil case.

I am in love with this heavy-weight red gingham and retro ribbon which I bought from The Cloth House last summer.

Holy Soap!

My soap is at last cured after 3 weeks, and i've been trying and testing it all weekend.

The white soap is from a "starter" recipie and contains olive oil, palm oil, and coconut oil. I scented it with patchouli, ylang ylang and sweet orange, and the smell now is quite delicate and fresh. It lathers up very nicely and feels 'soft' to the skin. I like it alot.

The chocolate soap lathers well too but doesn't really smell of anything. Maybe a very faint trace of chocolate. I like this recipe which includes olive oil, palm oil, coconut oil, caster oil and 70% chocolate, but next time I might add a bit of vanilla scent.

It's all wrapped and ready to go now - for some 'unofficial' swaps. The Italian Connection, who sampled my previous batch in January, has promised to send me some salami and parmesan in return for a few blocks of this!

I' also managed to post my "Time for Tea" swap on time!

Parents Evening

English Teacher:
"Oh I thought you were Jimmy's parents when I saw you"
How did she know?
"He talks about you alot, he says you're cool"
I fight to live up to this image as a tear springs to my eye

Geography Teacher
"Has he got a ruler? If he has no homework, he should make sure his book is tidy. With a ruler. Nice straight lines"
I am trying not to laugh as I remember
Jimmy's impersonations of this man

Drama Teacher
"He's a good actor"
Tell us something we don't know

German Teacher
"I heard him telling someone "I hate German but I'm good at it"
At least he's honest

Science Teacher
"He finds it hard to be motivated"
Is it any wonder?
Here is a man who makes jelly sound dull

General Opinion
"Appears to be daydreaming alot. Could do better"
Now where have I heard that before
.... oh yes ...
When I was at school

And when we got home, we found this


An innovative communicator
I would say.

Bring me Sunshine

The more usual March weather has returned, and we have cold winds, grey skies and rain interspersed with short bursts of sunshine. It seems more disappointing after the glorious weather we had last week.


But luckily I have these beautiful things to look at instead of the grey outside. Val sent me the chain to go with my glass hearts, and slipped into the envelope some jewelery pins (is that what you call them?) and this lovely little crochet brooch which I've put on my coat to remind me that summer really is just around the corner. I am posting back some of my famous bible paper but in true Marmalade style, I am late as usual. I will post this off along with my Time for Tea Swap tomorrow morning!

Chasing my Tail (and other body parts)

One day I might be a perfect woman. I will be able to tidy and clean the house (thoroughly), cook tea in time for dinner, bake a cake, paint my toenails, do the gardening, make a dress and put a ribbon in my hair all in one day. But for the moment I am struggling, hence the scarcity of posts over the last week or so. It must be something to do with spring and the beautiful weather, but now that the equinox has happened, there might be more time (daylight) to perfect my perfect plan...

This picture is of Jimmy and I in Cuba a few years ago. I am wearing a dress that I made myself. It wasn't until our second trip to Cuba that I realised why the locals kept giving me strange looks. Between my black hair, brown eyes, Mediterranean blood, and handmade dress, they thought I was one of them "fraternising" with foreigners. I wondered why they kept speaking to me in Spanish and Mr M in German!! I still have this dress pattern, and have decided to make another, because it is my favourite summer dress and is extremely comfortable. Infact, the pattern envelope contains another, similar style, so I made that one first. Here it is:

It took alorra lorra concentration and consternation to finally realise that the reason it didn't fit up top at first was because the 'bust points' were in the wrong place. Once I figured that out and sorted the darts, it fitted like a dream. Hurrah!

Not only have I been busy in the sewing room/garden/allotment, having nearly killed ALL of my tomato seedlings by leaving them out in the greenhouse by accident, I have been busy learning how to be a fashion designer - which is how I figured out the bust point conundrum..

I have been on a Pattern Cutting course as previously mentioned and have been absolutely rivetted to my notes and the the techniques and tips gained from them and our lovely teacher June. It's been such fun! Did you know that the average body is 7 heads tall? And the average model is an '8 header', whereas fashion drawings depict bodies of 9 heads. In science, this is called "anthropometrics" where the human head is a modular factor of size. Fascinating isn't it? Here are some more:

The Arm is 3 heads long
Arm to shoulder is 3.5 heads
The hand is the same length as the distance from hairline to chin and half the width of the face.


The study of Anthropometrics came from the Renaissance where such questioning of human proportions was born. By the end of the 18th century the concept of clothes pattern systems became established, based on this system. It was the Guild of Military Tailors, in the laborious mass production of uniforms, who discovered that bodies of a certain height and weight have similar measurements. And so we have industry 'standards' which are used in fashion design and bulk manufacture. These standards have changed through the ages, as we have changed shape over the ages, and there are lots of basic standard measurements which go through several sizes, like distance from waist to upper hip is 20cm and radius of bust area from bust point is 8cm.

And so I have been making more blocks, and I now have a complete set for myself. I also have a set of quarter blocks. It's amazing how small these are - not much bigger than a Barbie!! These blocks help no end with altering commercial patterns to my shape, and drafting simple patterns of my own. Like this corset pattern - drawn from scratch, it's not yet perfect (or even remotely tight!) but there's nothing like making mistakes for learning.


But i don't think Vivienne Westwood need worry yet ...

Saucey by Name, Saucey by Nature

I've been a very bad blogger this week. It's just been one of those times where so many things need doing, and I can hardly believe that this week's episode of Gardners World will be on tv in less than an hour from now ... I swear I was only watching the last episode about 10 minutes ago!

But the glorious summery weather we've had this week has to be taken advantage of to the full, because by next week it could be snowing again. So it's been busy busy busy on the growing front too. I had planted lots of tomato seeds the other week, and they've shot up almost as I watch! So today, the replanting of about 40 seedlings took place. 3 varieties, Harbinger, Saucey, and Marmande (?) .. Do you sometimes pick seeds just for the name?

Tomorrow I hope to be able to tell you all about my pattern pursuits.

Busy Bee

I've been very busy the last few days, hence my lack of posting. I've been doing mainly three things:

1) Learning photoshop: Where I work they run courses regularly. It's amazing what you can learn when a real person tells you, rather than a book.

2) Learning pattern cutting: The lady who gave me a few lessons back in the summer is now running an official course. I've signed up along with BillieJane and her daughter. It's been great fun, and it's amazing what you can learn when a real person tells you, rather than a book.

3) Making a new blog for my allotmenteering pursuits. I got the idea from LucyLocket. Thankyou Lucy! It's mainly for my own records, but what is knowledge if it isn't shared. But don't rush there just yet, still a bit of tweaking to do and a post to write.

And now I have to make dinner and go out. No rest for the wicked.

Men and Motors

Today I felt like a man. I mean that in the 'mechanical' sense. You know how men like to get all grubby tinkering with cars and motorbikes. So.....

Here are my tools

Along with my dirty rag, and my nuts

A rusty piston ..

a wheel

Chrome accessories which need to be polished shiny shiny

And the all important badge ...

before

... and after

No tinkering would be complete without a manual

And here, in all her glory, is my machine ...

rescued from the shed after nearly 10 years.
(I know, don't hate me for it)

There is still much polishing to do!

Dangerously Delicious!

Back in August, Mr Marmalade made some Beetroot Wine. After tasting at the prescribed time and deciding it was decidedly "thin", we left it to mature. And forgot about it. Until today's clearout.

Now having a glass while cooking dinner, I am happy to report that we will certainly be making some more for next year!

Quick Fix

picture from Technobillies

Do you sometimes wish you had a slice of cake to go with your much needed cup of tea in the afternoon, then find your cupboards bare and wish you'd made a cake that morning? And then have to console yourself with the enforced calorie save?

Well fear not! For those desperate moments of craving, look no further than HERE. BillieJane has posted a recipie for Five Minute Cake in a Mug.

Modesty

The other day my son came home from school, noncholantly pulled this acrylic picture frame from his bag and made for his bedroom. "What's that?" I enquired? "Oh I made it", he said casually, continuing on his way. Now I don't know about you, but when I was his age, my school made items were proudly given to parents as trophies and displayed as such in the most prominent places! Some of my things are still on display 30 years later. But not my Jimmy. Perhaps he sees 'making things' or being creative as a normal pursuit in this house, but I was very impressed indeed, and now instead of the mantlepeice/windowsill/dressing table, I have a blog to display his work!

Hearts of Glass

I have a thing for glass, and a thing for hearts, and these I bought from a bead shop in Bath.

But from this collection, I like the metal one best, and bought a number of them to sew onto handmade items as gifts.

A Day in the Garden

Despite living in Oxford for 20 years, and although it has been on my "places to visit" list for a long time, I had never been to The University Botanical Garden until today. It's the oldest botanical garden in the uk, having been here for 380 years!

Here is what I found there.

The Palm House with Magdelen College Tower in the background.

Gold wind veins on top of the four main turrets
against the blue blue sky.
I am wondering how they stay so clean?

An innocent looking flower in The Insectivorous House.
Dangerous for flies..

A fossil in The Fern House

A tree from South America with built in snake!

Spring and silver birches.
Somehow I find it impossible to capture the luminescence
of these beautiful ethereal trees.

A cheeky devil overlooking the Lily pond

And three of life's essentials...

Chocolate

Coffee

Cotton

Ranting or Raving?

When we returned from Bath this time last week (boo hooo), there were a few parcels on my doorstep and these are the last two I have to blog about.

The first from The Organic Gardening Catalogue. Just the usual types of seeds for the year ahead, but I get them from here not so much because they are organic, but because they come from an independant British supplier. I was horrified to learn a while ago, that as much as 80% of the worlds seeds supplies are controlled by only 3 conglomerates, one of which is Monsanto who I refuse to have anything to do with if I can help it. Even seeds which appear to come from small businesses, are owned by large companies like Suttons and T&M - who's parent companies are one of the three seed supplying giants, and I have been un-inspired to fund these companies anymore by buying their seeds, often F1 hybrids which are not fertile. I could stand on my soap box for hours and hours about the badness of companies like Monsanto, their effects on the world, and their rapacious crimes against humanity, not least small indegenous farmers in third world countries, but instead I will recommend two books which disclose this problem in a far better and more eloquent rant than I could manage here. These books contain essays on all aspects of life and living, written from the viewpoint of a talented writer who is a woman like all of us, trying to run a household and raise a family as consciously and as honourably as life and times will allow. Her words are pragmatic, down-to-earth, funny and endearing. The first book is Small Wonder which I have mentioned before, and the second is Animal Vegetable Miracle. These are both treasures on my bookshelf which I refer to often.

My second parcel came from the wonderful Kitty, to say thankyou for the bible pages that I sent her. She saw this piece of printed fabric and thought of me. Can't imagine why!

I am going to make it into an apron for my soap making (this may help reduce my nerve panic when mixing lye). I might even sew some real tassles on! I am looking forward to 8 April when there is to be a Bloggery Picknick organised by Lucy Locket, only a few miles away from me at Millets Farm Centre . Kitty and lots more of my bloggy friends will be there. I've never been on a bloggy meet up before, and am quite shy really, so it will be very strange, but lovely to meet the real people behind the blogs I have enjoyed for so long!