» Listings for 2014

1. Moccasins

   Posted on 4:16pm Friday 28th Mar 2014

   Last October I decided that I would like to learn more about shoemaking. I started looking for courses, within my budget. Last Sunday I went on the Prescott and Mackay one day moccasin course. This was taught by Rose Choules. This is a great intro into learning about making moccasins and I would thoroughly recommend the course and being taught by Rose.

   Below I have pasted pictures of the moccasins I made.

   

    

   This all came about after watching the BBC news and hearing about the events in Lampedusa early last October. A boat carrying more than 200 refugees sank, with a few survivors. (Lampedusa is a small island situation between Malta and Tunisia). This particular boat sank just 800m away from a tiny out crop of Coniglio. The poor weather hampered the rescue attempts. Over the past 20 years, some 25 000 people had lost their lives on such boats.

   Gavin Hewitt was the BBC reporter that day in October 2013 describing the tragedy. He mentioned, possibly in just one or maybe two sentences, that some of the victims had purchased new shoes ready for the new life they hope to find. My goodness! I was moved by this. The significance imbued in the shoes on such a perilous journey. I just had to learn.

2. My gloves in Sew magazine!

   Posted on 6:07pm Sunday 23rd Feb 2014

   A picture of my gloves is featured in the current issue of Sew magazine! How very exciting! Sew are advertising a course run by Katherine Pogson. If you like the idea of making gloves or working with leather check out her courses at  http://www.designercourses.co.uk/ (you may also see this familiar picture again as Katherine has taught me how to make gloves).

   I am also using the image to advertise Bucks Open Studios in June 2014 - Artists and Makers at St. Nicholas Kingsey. See http://www.bucksopenstudios.org.uk/ for details. Come and visit us!

   

   

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

3. Something old, something new!

   Posted on 8:22pm Tuesday 7th Jan 2014

   Something old?

   There are some things that are important in life. This can be a variety of reasons. The chance to breath new life into them is an honour. Below are a couple examples of recent work. The first is a peg bag.

       

    

   The next project was a cushion for chair, with piped edges and a zip at the back. A handmade cord finishing the zip slider. 

   

    

   Something new..................

   Working in leather is a real passion of mine. For Christmas here is the satchel I made for my husband (to his specification of course!):

   

    

   I am also working on making leather gloves. The aubergine pair also feature on the homepage. Forgive the repetition, but I thought it would be nice to see the progress so far. The aubergine gloves are stitched using a 'prix' seam throughout the construction and a 'between' needle, rather than a leather needle. Lamb nappa is the leather used to make these gloves.

   

    

   This is the latest example from November and December 2013. This is stitched with two other different seams. Round the fingers is an 'oversewn' seam (like oversewing into each stitch twice). At the base of the thumb insertion is a 'pique' seam, where one leather is overlapped to another giving a smooth finish. The leather used to make this pair is from 'hair sheep', in a wine colour from Pittards.