Good Intentions

Hello Everyone, despite feeling bad and trying to ignore it I think people actually really like to read blogs.... for me its a time shortage, not a shortage of things to say. I would really like to share with you all about lots of things going on at Harland Works, and all the things I've made for friends and family and all the other things that I think are important in the craft, eco and fashion worlds.

For those of you that can remember I stopped buying new clothes in Jan 2012, except for basic essentials such as underwear, shoes (obviously) and long sleeve t-Shirts. This was mainly due to not being able to close my wardrobe and having so many clothes I don't really wear. Since then any 'new' clothes I have either made, or bought from charity shops to wear / upcycle, or exchanged at Sheffield Clothing Exchange. Landfill stats for clothing are shocking and the disaster in the Bangladesh Clothing Factory hopefully highlighted the conditions people work in to produce low value clothing for European markets.

So now no new clothes for 1 year and 9 months and I'm not really missing it to be honest.

So lots of things have been created since I last blogged - Circle Project (embellished and free machine embroidery), lots of little owl broaches for gifts, a pink dress in progress, a green linen summer top, a lampshade, a decoupage giraffe, a free machine embroidered new home gift, a recycled sausage dog draft excluder and lots more.... the bay window curtains are finally finished too so I will post some photos soon.

Vintage Patterns and other musings...

Today I met a lovely lady who has passed onto me some fantastic vintage dress patterns. She has always made clothes for herself, her mother, her children and now her grandchildren and great grandchildren - what a wonderful woman! I love chatting to people who have this sort of knowledge and enthusaim for sewing and crafting, she reminded me so much of my dear Gran, who taught me to sew, and knit and crochet and other crafty things. The lady had heard my interview on Radio Sheffield and gave me a call about her patterns as she has loads and loads and they would only end up in a skip, or thrown out in the end (perish the thought!) - some of them even date back to the 1940's and the images on some of them as so fabulous - a whole different era (Grace Kelly, Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, Eve-Marie Saint et al)

Here's a picture of just a couple of them, I'm going to go through the two bags tonight. If you are lucky enough to be booked on the workshop tomorrow I'm planning to bring them along for our tutor Sharon and everyone to have alook at. I am very tempted to make the 'dust coat' pictured here.

In keeping with the vintage theme I finally finished a little hat which I started at a Millinery class (which must be a year ago now.... - I have a long 'to do' list). It was created from scratch from steaming the buckram pieces over mould to create the curved body and then covering it and lining it and adding the hair comb. The only problem is that it keeps slipping out of my hair, so some industrial strength hairspray may be in order!

Dress in a Day photos

On Saturday we had our 'Dress in a day' workshop. As always I am seriously impressed with the dresses everyone makes at the workshop, they are always so different. The dress is such a flattering style, easy to make up and you get to take home the pattern which is made to your measurements! I was very inspired after the workshop that I decided to start making a linen top which has been on my 'to-do' pile for some time. Here are some of the dresses from the workshop modelled by their smiley creators!

Lisa's lovely check fabric which matched up on the side seams perfectly + some bias binding  + two patch pockets = fab dress

Joanne's 'Liquorice Allsorts' dress (very Sheffield!), a short and very sweet version!

Sara's black and white chic number, which I think is very Mary Quant! Sara bought 2m of the check fabric fabric in the John Lewis sale, before realising we need 2.5 metres to make the dress, so we added a strip of black fabric at the bottom of the dress to extend the length and made some black bias binding for the neckline in the same plain fabric.

Our next 'Dress in a Day' workshop is on Saturday 27th October!

Phew.....autumn here we come...

Well I'm back (and just slightly embarrassed that its been so long since my last post), things have been quite hectic here at RWS H.Q. We have been planning our autumn workshops, which are now ready for booking (hurahhh) although there are some more to come too. We were also at sharrowvale market which was a really busy, as well as sunny, afternoon - so a BIG hello to everyone who discovered us there. Our Private Sewing Tuition sessions are becoming really popular and also we have been working really hard to find a more permanent venue for Running With Scissors (we're almost there... more news on this soon).

We are running 7 new workshops in the autumn block as well as your favourites. Here are some images for the new workshops, I'm intending to do a more detailed blog on each one:

Free Machine Embroidery (+ water soluble fabric) very exciting - its like drawing with stitches, lots of possibilities and lots of scope for creativity! (which is what we are all about at RWS)
 

The Baguette Bag!
As the name suggests - perfect for carrying your baguette home, without it falling out or snapping! Use some lovely fabric and they make great gifts for your friends..

Easy Peasy Shirt to Top
A bit of up-cycling - made from a man's shirt you can run up this little top in a couple of hours. You will get to have a go at attaching some bias binding which is a nice way to finish raw edges.

Improvers Knitting 
Our knitting tutor Fran is running our improvers knitting workshop to give all the beginners out there the chance to have a go at some more techniques, such as increasing and decreasing, stitch patterns and reading a pattern.

101 Ways to Felt
I am very exciting about this workshop which is going to be run by me and Fran. Everyone will get to have a go at wet felting, dry felting and using an embellisher machine and then we are going to chat about knitting and felting in the washing machine! You will get to play about with lots of wool, have a good experiment and make lots of little things to take home! This is a little purse decorated using the dry felting technique (using a felting needle), which you can make at the workshop (we'll put the zip in for you)

Patchwork & Quilting
Our fab tutor Janet is back in December for our place mats and coaster workshop (which would make great Christmas gifts) - they are the wonky house and trees pattern so they have their own individual charm! if you prefer you can make a table runner instead with a little row of houses!

Improvers Crochet
Laura will be running a more advanced crochet workshop for everyone who has grasped the basics and wants to learn more techniques. Provisional date is Sunday 28th October (images and booking details coming to the website soon)

Hope to see you all at a workshop soon
Emma x

Felt Fanatics

Felt..felt...felt it's just so tactile I can't resist it. I have lots of felt items and I love crafting with it because it doesn't fray - just cut and use - it's my type of fabric. Making your own felt is also great fun people often get a bit confused but basically there are 3 ways to make felt:

1) get a wool jumper and wash it in the washing machine on a setting that's too hot (we've all shrunk a jumper this way in the past)

2) Needle Felting - this is dry felting using a specialist (very sharp) needle

3) Wet Felting (see more info below)

The wet felting technique is the technique our tutor Fran will be using for the felt bowl and coaster workshop on 13th August. You start with pieces of pure sheep wool. This is built up in layers and then essentially 'mashed' together to form a piece of felt. A combination of heat, friction and soap makes the tiny hooks in the wool fibres lock together with adjacent hooks so the wool becomes firmer and shrinks a bit. It's great fun (and a bit messy) to do and the end product is so unpredictable and beautiful. I've also recently come across a guy called Thomas Horst who makes exquisite designer felt dresses, in the article I read it said that he uses a Black and Decker sander, soap and garden hose! - how cool is that!

The Fashion Essay

Hello everyone,

Well the Spring and summer workshop programme is nearly ready I'm hoping to upload all the information this weekend! There will also be a couple of guest tutors giving you the opportunity to try soemthing new and exciting (more information coming soon.....)

I have been avidly watching Project Runway again this weekend (freeview channel 11 or 12, can't quite remember, Sunday evening). The budding designers names make me laugh - Suede, Blayne etc! Anyway I think Suede deserved to win this week with his bias strip dress whcih looked fantastic. I did feel sorry for the girl who did the gold dress with the extra loops on it, I don't think it was that bad really and it was well made, but the judges really slated it!

Some of you may be under the misaprehension that I am a complete fashion victim, which those of you who know me will know is far from the truth. I would hate to be involved in the 'fashion industry' - far too much back stabbing and paper thin shallowness, however you have got to admire the designers who turn out stunning creations every season. We all know that they don't actually make them and other designers then have to take the creations and turn them into something wearable, but watered down for for the high street. I'm more of a fan of uniqueness I think that people should dress the way they wish by making, customising, buying / acquiring vintage, altering, accessorising, wearing old with new or upcycling - generally mixing it up to get a look that you're happy with. Although I slob around in jeans just like everyone else I do feel that its a shame that people don't make more of an effort in general. It seems that having 'style' has becoem a rare comodity these days which is a shame, but don't get the wrong idea - I don't pop out to get a pint of milk in full make up and heels (although I'd like to think I could!)