And now for a short break

 

I've been blogging here for nearly four years and over that time, my life has changed quite radically for one reason and another.  When I started blogging I was having a 'career break', meaning I had been bullied out of the best job I ever had, and was so traumatised by the experience that I was unable to return to 'the office' for another year.  During that time I found the online world of craft and stitchers.  I had always had a sewing machine and I was already making corsets and dresses, but over this rest period  I spent my time crafting bags, and purses, and kiddies clothes along with keyrings, flags, bunting and and any other thing that could possibly be stitched.  My fabric stash grew along with the space I needed to sew and by the end of that year I had become very proficient with the sewing machine, a passion had been born and my friends insisted that I  do it for a living.  There is no coincidence that in my spiritual life, I was working very closely with the element of fire which of course has everything to do with action, creativity, and passion.

My first blog posts here

Well despite all that, I ignored the advice of my friends at that time and whilst still learning all I could about sewing, dressmaking, pattern making and corsetry, I did go back to the office, a lovely little part time job with a nice boss and friendly colleagues.  I stayed there for just over 2 years and found out lots about technical things like photoshop, illustrator and online publishing.  With all that knowledge I was able to build a small business of my own, Sew Curvy Corsetry and when that was all set up and running,  the call of my beautiful Singer became too loud to ignore, and it was time to take the leap into self employment, which I did on 1 April this year.

My book finished!

Sew Curvy is busy, but the main reason for me setting it up was so that I could eventually one day become a full time corsetiere.  This summer was spent consolidating all the information i've learned over the last 4 years,  honing my craft, researching everything I could about corsetry, finding techniques, and methods that work with my own style and ideals, dreaming up beautiful designs and deciding where to go with it all.  As you know there has also been book writing which is now finished and submitted to the publisher ready for spring publication.  Yes, the last 18 months has been intense, but oh so worth it!

source

Long time followers of this blog, will know that I work very closely with the seasons, and so it feels important to announce to you as witnesses, that now, just under 2 weeks before the winter solstice, I'm officially stepping out of the blogosphere into a period of deep and intense creativity, until the end of January when the light grows stronger, and life begins to stir. The perfect time for new ideas and ventures to be born.

New new beginnings..

Old desk complete with big Mac and Dalek

This week I left my day job.  I enjoyed the last two years, it could be said that it's the best job - or at least the best boss - I ever had, and it was very sad to leave him and my lovely collegues some of whom were into sewing!.  Can you see the pile of books over on the far side of the desk?  They were my leaving pressie, 3 beautiful corsetry books, and also the Dita von Teese "Art of Burlesque" book.  Lots of inspiration in there!

Last time I left a day job was 4 years ago when I had what I thought was a perfect job - the job I always wanted, but unfortunately, it transpired, it came with the worst boss in the world.  Avery nasty piece of work, universally despised by all who meet her, but  in a position of power and after 4 years of being bullied by her to the point where she made it impossible for me to do my job, I was unable to work, physically or mentally, and it took a long time for me to recover... I am not sure if I am fully recovered even now!

New desk!

Happily, things are VERY different this time round and very very exciting!  I have a whole new purpose and direction, everything seems to have fallen right into place as if it was all meant to be,  and when I returned home from my last day at 'work',  I received my first signed client contract and deposit - so I know it's REAL!  My client is a bride, and I am ridiculously excited to be working with her.

New work mate.  Good company, doesn't say alot

So....  It's full steam ahead with Sew Curvy for which I have big plans, book writing and corset making  ... with lots of sowing and growing in my spare time.  

I feel like it's going to be a good summer.

Threads of life

Another busy week - WHERE does the time go?  I spend a considerable amount of time - while i'm doing other stuff - wondering how people have time to make so many things, even if they have full time day jobs ... I have a part time day job which takes up most of 3 days a week - the other 4 days I can more or less spend doing what I like, but there is so much to do!  I left full time work 3 years ago for various reasons, and I really don't know how I would manage to fit a full time job in these days.  I have known people who say "I have to work full time otherwise I would be bored" .. How can this be?  There is just too much to do in life .. how could a person ever be bored?

Much of my 'spare' time is spent on Sew Curvy - the website/advertising/admin and ofcourse packing and sending orders.  The rest of my time is spent in various amounts attending to the garden, my 4 lovely hens, the allotment, my son now in his GCSE years,  cooking - no processed food in this house, Mr Marmalade, dog, home/housework, soap making,  and sewing, not necessarily in that order.

Sometimes I have coffee/drinks/cake/social time with friends.  And I also like to fit in some 'craft networking' by way of blogging, tweeting, and workshops/demo's at local sewing related establishments.

I have always been creative, but when I stopped full time work and took a year out, I had time to delve deeper into my creativity than I have ever had a chance to do .. In hindsight, there were so many opportunities open to me, that I am not really sure why I returned to 'the office' - I suppose if I didn't 'get out' by going to work, I would quite easily and happily stay indoors sewing all day, every day .... I think 'work' is good for me such as it is.

BUT ... All I want to do is stay indoors, sewing all day!  A day in my ideal life, might go something like:

• get up early
• take dog on long walk through woods and fields 
• return from dog walk via allotment to tend/harvest for a while
• on return from walk, have breakfast, do housework/domestic duties etc.,
• from 12.00 midday, sew, create, design.  Things on my making list : ongoing creation of my own stylish wardrobe, 'green'/alternative wedding dresses, corsets.
• finish around 5 (but more realistically 6), cook tea, relax...

As far as my work with Sew Curvy goes,  if possible, I would like to branch out into bra kits.  I like encouraging people to be creative, to explore.  That is my motivation behind Sew Curvy.  To be honest, the suppliers are 'difficult' and sometimes I wonder if it's worth it, but then I get lovely comments from my customers, and it does seem more than worthwhile.

But really ... I want to make things.  That's what I want to do.  And Sew Curvy takes up alot of my 'making time'.

Last weekend, I was at a shop in Oxford doing corsetry demonstrations.  I do workshops there too - dressmaking, corsetry, pattern cutting.  It's exhausting, but ultimately extremely satisfying and so interesting to meet all the different crafty people.  While doing my demo's  I met a lady who makes lace - also doing demo's.  AMAZING!  No wonder it is so expensive!  Maybe one day, I will commission some hand made lace, for a special hand made corset ... ahhhh dreams!  

So many bobbins to shuffle with the two main 'workers' which keep the weave together and define the pattern.  So many variables to choose from, and yet such order required to get it right.    It reminded me of life.  We have our anchors, and around them we arrange our threads, shuffling them with the constants, the ones which keep it all together, and and we weave the fabric of our lives...

I am really interested to know how other people fit in their creative time?  Is your creativity a compulsion? If you don't do it, do you get bad tempered and/or depressed? How do you make sure your life is balanced?

Celebrating the Dark

At last the Solstice! In a few days the nights will be shorter, and the light will start to grow. How glad I am. For now I shall revel in the darkness of the longest night and the pause between here and the return of light.

Heaving a sigh of relief, for it feels like the journey to this point has been a long one, I will be spending the next two weeks 'hibernating'. Such bliss. A pause before the next growth cycle, a time for renewal, regeneration, rebirth, recuperation. A space to just 'be' and a time to spend relaxing amidst family, friends, community.

Not everything is done yet, there are still gifts to create and deliver, but I have stayed away from the secular high street frenzy that is Christmas and will continue to do so.

Tonight our tree was decorated and lit, marking the start of seasonal festivities in the House of Marmalade.

Happy Solstice everybody!

Pooped!

Thankyou everyone for such lovely and kind comments on my last post! I am quite overwhelmed!! Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou!

I have just popped in very quickly to say thankyou (did I say that already?) ... I left the house at 06.45 this morning, and got back home at 7.45pm ... today is just the first day of the rest of a loooooooooooooooong week (which I am not especially looking forward to!). Tomorrow, estimated arrival home after work is around 9pm and so it goes on for the rest of the week.

Over the weekend, I shall mostly be sleeping, and then i'll be back next week with another dress to show you! (made a while ago).

I'm hoping the week goes super quick! But until then .. TTFN! And thankyou so much again.

Facts and Figures

Well I did receive some interesting questions from you so here (at last) are my replies answered in a kind of 'relevant' order because surprisingly, or perhaps not surprisingly, the answers are all connected in some way ...

Dubgirl wanted to know "a bit more about your pagan beliefs and green issues". As this is a part of me which underpins every decision I make in life, then it's the first answer. Yes, I am Pagan and have been for all of my adult life, and perhaps some time before that, depending on how old a person is when they become an adult! In my early 20's I discovered that there was a 'name' for what I believed to be true about Life, The Universe and Everything. By my late 20's I had found myself a teacher, and committed the next 10 years to intensive study in the Druid tradition. My personal definition of Druidry is this:

"At the centre of Druidry is the quest for inspiration. This is sought in the beauty of nature, music, poetry, art, dreams, mediation and the wisdom of our ancestors and the ancestors of the land. Druidry helps its practitioners to find deep personal healing and growth, and through this, connection to spirit, to the earth, to nature and to life. Druids usually live within the boundaries of a strict personal code of ethics, and for most this will include being vegetarian or vegan, and living as lightly as possible upon the land in order to cause as little impact on both their immediate environment and therefore the wider environment, as possible."

You can read other people's definitions (including mine) HERE.

Paddymade, wanted to know about my tattoos....

I have 6 tattoos. The first was done when I was 22 or 23, and at the time when I defined my spiritual path as pagan. It's a simple celtic knot at the top of my right arm. It symbolises infinity and the never ending cycle of life, death, rebirth.

The second was part of a profound earth initiation rite which I did after the first 5 years of my aforementioned study. Each 'module' (for lack of a better word), took the student through each element - Earth, Air, Fire, Water - in that order. This tattoo on my spine is an Adder, - a snake native to this land, Britain's only venomous snake, and symbol of earth magic, fertility, regeneration, darkness and healing amongst other things. This is my favourite tattoo and it was done by a lovely lady who understood perfectly the reason for it's being, and how to flow the energy correctly. I have two tattoos on my lower back which symbolise air (freedom, thought, inspiration, truth) and water (emotions). I have not yet had fire done - not for any particular reason, I just haven't got round to it. I also have a feather tattooed behind my left ear - this is part of the 'air' tattoo and symbolises the ability to listen - an important feature of air. I also have a tattoo on my left foot - it is a fun tattoo, a swallow resting on a branch done in the "old style" which ofcourse is quite new! I had it done in Italy with Italian Connection, it's a tradition of ours to be pierced or tattooed at the same time, so in someways, that foot tattoo symbolises a great friendship.

BillieJane wanted to know who my role model is ... hmmm... Well, I'm not like other girls! Ofcourse I have my 'idols' (in the loosest sense of the word), Audrey Hepburn being one, Sophia Loren another, and Vivien Westwood too .. but I don't consider these women to be role models really. The only role model I would say I had was a real woman, my aforementioned teacher. I met her 13 years ago, she was the Druid Preistess at our wedding, and it was after this that I asked her to teach me. At the time, she exuded an air of peace, tranquility and a solid, grounded confidence which, as an extremely angry and unhappy young woman, attracted me. She was a good teacher. I learned more than I could ever have dreamed possible, and I am deeply grateful for that.

One of the things which didn't go down brilliantly in my 'training', came out when I went through the 'fire' stage. This was all about exploring the fire in one's belly, the motivation behind all intention, and ofcourse passion. A passion which came through was sewing - I know, you would never have guessed! And sewing corsets at that. I was told that this was a little "superficial", so I put it off for a while. But it wont go away! So i'm going with it, and Twiggy asks "If you could make a corset for anyone in the public eye, who would it be and what would it look like?" ... Hmmm.... I think Helena Bonham Carter with the help of her husband has already done that look for me in Sweeny Todd, so I would say that there is no celebrity I would make a corset for. The people who I want to make corsets for are real women who say "I could never fit into one of those" or "I wish I had the figure for one of those" ... ALL women have the figure for a corset, trust me!

MummyBooBear asked what my 'top five soundtrack' is. VERY difficult question as I have always loved all kinds of music but in chronological (ish) order:

1. "I Want to be Free by Toyah" - caused much torment to my parents and defined my 'teenage attitude' and also later, was one of the 'anthems' enjoyed in drunken moments (of which there were many) with the queen of all Toyah fans, Italian Connection.

2. "Hong Kong Garden" by Siouxsie and the Banshees - the pop idol who defined my 'look' at age 14, she's the reason my hair is (still) black - it hasn't really changed all that much!

3. "Vagabonds" by New Model Army, when Mr Marmalade and I got together this was the band which was ..

4. "Death or Glory" by The Clash - reminds me of Jimmy and his skateboard -it was featured in the brilliant skateboarding film "Lords of Dogtown"

5. "Venus in Furs" by The Velvet Underground.

Fancy Elastic wants to know what my party trick is ... I would say 'shoes'.

And last but most definitely not least, Ginny asked "If your house was on fire and your family/animals were all safe, which one thing would you want to save from the fire?". The answer to that would be my trusty Mac as it has the rest of my life in it's memory banks! Really, the most important thing would be the photos. Everything else can be replaced one way or another.

Phew! I think I need a lie down now!

Opportunity has Knocked!!

Was anybody listening a few posts back when I mentioned that my red corset (under construction) is for "display" purposes?

Well....

I am extremely excited to announce that I have been offered a shelf in the Craft Gallery at Antiques on High in Oxford!

Antiques on High is a vintage emporium - a treasure trove of anything vintage you can think of, antique furniture, bric a brack and curios, vintage clothes, vintage jewellery, and crafts - the antiques and treasures of tomorrow.

So from now until 1 November, I will be busy busy busy, making a range of vintage inspired accessories which will be sold alongside my corset kits, and a few corsets! In the future, I hope to be able to hang a rail of corset muslins in different sizes to be tried on by clients and then made up in their chosen fabrics.

Isn't it EXCITING??!!

To a Special Friend

All the best things happen in September and today is no exception ... today 20 years ago that is, because today 20 years ago, is not only the day I arrived in Oxford, but also the day that I met my dearest friend on earth, known here as The Italian Connection - who had also arrived in Oxford on that day. We were by some curious twist of fate, assigned as room mates at college ...

This is us then, she's 18, i'm 20

We were bridesmaids at eachother's weddings

We've had more fun days and nights out than you can shake a pint of larger at

And no matter how bad I feel, or how far apart we live these days, she cheers me up as if she were a bottle of "happy tonic" - I've missed her terribly since she moved to Italy but a laugh is the closest distance between two people so they say, and I feel blessed that we still have plenty of those.

Here's to the next 20 years Paula!
I'm so very very lucky to have you as my best friend.

Where's my Baby?

I don't know ... One minute I had the cutest baby ..

I turned round for a second ...
Just one second while he was sleeping ..


And when I looked round again, the baby had dissappeared

And in his place appeared a teenage boy.

He's taller than me by 4 whole inches

And he's eating me out of house and home!

It wasn't really 14 years ago was it?

August Musings

There's been alot of musing going on in my little head lately...

It's been a whole year this month since quite a big change of lifestyle happened in my world, breaking, amending, changing habits and outlooks that I had been used to for the last 10 years and leaving me quite outside a large community of people who I had shared many rites and rituals with.  It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it has been a strange and sometimes difficult year.

I feel a bit like I have strayed away from my personal path a little, or maybe alot, but I know it's not permanent, more of an exploration of what's right and wrong for me, losing connections, and finding new ones in my own way.  I guess this might be reflected within the pages of this blog now that it is nearly 2 years old.  In my first year here I spent alot of time writing about nature and green issues, and this year, as I have delved deeper and deeper into my own creativity, the blog has taken a turn in direction away from those types of issue.  It was intentional as I always wanted this to be a crafty blog, rather than a 'lifestyle' blog, but at the same time, I wanted the whole thing to reflect my outlook on life, the universe and everything. 

I am thinking of perhaps starting another blog later this year, to focus more on matters of the spirit, in order to share the wonder of teachings I have been given over the years.  

In the meantime, it's a good job that Emma and Rachel have created a new blog, That Little Bit Greener which gives members the opportunity to write every second Wednesday, about the green issues which affect their lives and which they can share with the wider community.  There are already lots of links on my blog in each sidebar, to ideas and opinions on green ways and light living, but it will be nice to have the opportunity  to focus on these again here, perhaps in a slightly less militant fashion than I did in the past!

In the meantime, it's been such a lovely weekend weatherwise, that we've been down on The Marmalade Patch again.  Check it out!

Celebrations Galore!

A very busy weekend at the House of Marmalade. We had the carnival to start with. Luckily the weather was just right, not too hot, plenty of breeze and no rain despite the looming clouds. I love Carnival day! It's a real party atmosphere and everyone comes out to play. It's the one day of the year where you can guarantee seeing pretty much everyone you know in the village.

This is our street, and we live right in the middle of it, next door to Mr and Miss T who invited me to their pavement party to watch the shirt race and the floats go by.

Mr Marmalade was one of the competitors in the Shirt Race with his friend Tim. You can read all about the shirt race and what it is if you click the picture below. It's Mr Marmalade pushing a 'stable'

Here's the front. They had been busy all week preparing and you can see it took a lorralorra work! It's supposed to be a take on the Queens Jockey drug scandal that has been in the news recently.


After seeing the various processions go by - pictures of which you can see here, everyone goes to the field for the main events. The most popular show in the arena this year was "Jive Pony". I had imagined that this would be dancing ponies (after all there were dancing dogs and dancing sheep too), but no! I was stunned. Here we had two lovely girls, doing striptease on the back of a cantering (yes cantering) pony in time to the song "Do You Love Me?"

Look! No hands!! Spectacular! It all happens in this village I tell you!

Mr Marmalade and I have only missed a couple of carnival days since we've lived here. One of those was in 1997 when we got married! Some people didn't come to our wedding in favour of the Carnival, but luckily the most important ones did. Ofcourse we are forever in their debt.

Very greedily, we had two weddings, one in the registry office on the Friday, and then a 'proper' wedding on the Saturday. I had always wanted to get married in leather, so that's what I wore in the registry office where it was just us two and our two witnesses. Just what we wanted, but my mother had other ideas...

The next day, off we trundled to a hotel in Alcester for the "ceremony". We had a "green wedding" which doesn't mean that we all wore a green outfits, but that it was as 'eco friendly' (to give it a label) and inexpensive as we could make it - total cost around £2k including dresses! We had a hog roast and hedgerow wines after an outdoor Pagan ceremony. My dress was made of crepe with a silk chiffon cape. Here it is.

It was the lady who made this dress who inspired me to sew. She was Amazing (note capital A). The most creative person I have ever, and probably will ever know. Which leads me to the next cause for celebration this weekend.

Look!!! I am famous!!!!! I am in this month's issue of Sew Magazine ... Not once...

but TWICE!!!!


This is good news for me because although I haven't mentioned it for a while, my "idea" is taking shape and I hope to have further news by August.

In the meantime, I better get on with some serious sewing now that I have a reputation to live up to!!