The Union Jack: Loving it yet?

Today, I am attempting a wordless blog post, with just lots of pictures.

Dang it!  I've failed at the first count.  Darn it and fiddlesticks, as we Brits love to say.  No, but seriously, we're always saying fiddlesticks.  And bother.  And oh my goodness.

We Brits also seem to be good  at bigging up our flag, the Union Jack, at the moment.  Flags are an emotive, powerful symbol and for a while there the Union Jack came with a lot of jingoistic and nationalistic sentiments that bordered on fascist, rather than being an emblem of pride and belonging.  Many of us rather flinched at it.  I make no claim to understand or know the complex historical and social reasons for this, but certainly, it was an indication that the bearer, waver or wearer was to the right of centre in their politics.  Now this is a democracy so bring it on, it doesn't matter what you vote, but I think many Brits didn't feel that the flag was theirs, except at world sporting events, when we felt safe in the knowledge it was ok to wapple it around and big up our countryfellows.  Yes, wapple is a word.  I just made it up, but it is still a word.

Enter Stage Left: the world of crafting.  The Union Jack has been gently and uncontroversially popping up in textiles; in pottery, in knitting, crochet, upholstery, fabric design....it is quietly gracing cushion covers, comfortably inveigling itself in different colourways onto rugs, and politely positioning itself on mugs.

The daughters with Aunty Mairi

I'm not for one second going to pretend the Royal Wedding in April didn't bring the jolly old Union Jack romping home as a symbol of parties and silliness (hoorahhh!) because I think it did - we, for one, went long on the flag-waving and Union Jack biscuits, got dressed up in wedding outfits and sat in our living room having proper afternoon tea, don't you know.  Significantly, I'm no royalist - I just like a good do.

And the fact that we've the Olympicationals coming to our town next year is making many of us very excited and flappy, and flags are a great accessory to have about your person when you feel like that.

Also, I like the colours of the Union Jack, not that for one second I stick faithfully to them when stitching one.

Good for eating too

We at OriginalStitch want ourselves a piece of this 'ere flag thang, and so Amanda and I have been taken an Olympic dive into the threads and fabrics and we're having a good play around with the design.

We'll keep you up to date as work progresses - we think we will get a lot more bonkers with it than it is now; maybe warp it and wangle it a bit, but we still like the bits we've been playing with so far.  Certainly, having learned how to render it perfectly, we will now let our imaginations loose on it. 



Have you ever tried to draw the Union Jack - let me tell you, it's a tricky beast....have a go - check out this tutorial here, and woe betide you get your diagonals in the wrong place!

I plan to bedeck my entire house in British-made Union Jack craft in time for the Olympics next year - will you be joining us?
What do you think of the Union Jack?  Has it changed for you in recent years?  And why?

Shoes - never out of place, even on a Union Jack

7 Reasons to buy our Sewing Patterns

We love our Sewing Patterns, and we're simperingly proud of them.  Shall I tells you for why?  Shall I?  Hm?

We've been doing lots of nice PR things lately, and people often ask what it is about our Sewing Patterns that makes them different, or special or easy or unique; and being a little slow on the uptake, it only occurred to me after the fifth person asked this, that I ought really to have answered this question already.

Like, duh...

Both Amanda and I have followed many, many sewing patterns in our time.  Some difficult, some head-bangingly impossible to follow, some wonderfully simple, some kinda in the middle, ish, somewhere.  Some nearly made me cry.  Some were joyous.  So it was from our experience as beginner users that our Patterns were born, and for this reason we have always fiercely defended the 'beginner' nature of them, in that easy patterns are nice for everyone, not just beginners.  My mother is an extremely experienced dressmaker (she made both me and my sisters' wedding dresses) but I can remember her frustration at the pattern she was using - it was tortuously written and omitted enormous chunks of information.  She found herself groping her way blind through vast tranches of tulle, netting, interlinings, stiffenings and other masses of froo in order to figure things out.  It wasn't pretty.  And the swearing was a little colourful.  And I nearly always came out the worse for it because I then had pins stuck in me during fittings.

Anyhoo, armed with all this history, here are the things we love about our patterns, and which we guarantee you'll get in each and every one.

1) No Wordy Cutting Lists!
Don't know about you, but honestly I find written lists tricky - I'm a very visual person, so I mean no offence at all to patterns which use them, but I likes pictures.  So we always use cutting list images - you can see literally every single piece you're going to need.

2) Consistently Named Pieces
When you sew from a pattern, you start off with lots of pieces, and halfway through you have half-constructed bits....I often got confused in patterns because there didn't seem to be the halfway house names; patterns often stated "Now take this piece" or worse, omitted the noun entirely - "Turn over and stitch along sides"  Turn which bit over? The bit I've just done or the thing I had to do before that?!!
We always make sure that once a construction is completed, we tell you what it will now be called, and when it comes up again in the pattern, that's how we refer to it.  Sounds basic - helps in the long run!

3) Integrated Seam Allowances
When you cut out our patterns, you won't be expected to add seam allowances.  I know this can in some cases be necessary, expecially in the world of dressmaking, but we tell you every step of the way what seam allowance you'll need.  It's almost always the same throughout the pattern, but even so, you will always be told what it is.

4) A Besquillion Diagrams

It's one of my very favourite jobs here at OriginalStitch, so maybe that's why we have so many of them, but we use looooooads of diagrams in our sewing patterns.  Don't know about you, but it is just so very much easier.  I draw them myself, when I have designed the product myself or stood over Amanda while she makes it, so they are straight from the very horse's mouth - I have drawn them from the exact construction at that very point, so if there's still pins there, I draw them; if there's loose threads hanging down, I draw them.  We then have our lovely designer Jon colour 'em in all pretty so they're even easier to understand, and have shading where there would be some, and right and wrong sides of the fabric properly coloured.  Lovely.  If you're terribly clever, you can probably almost make something without even reading, which is what my mother does.

"What seam allowance am I using?" she said once.
"It says it right there look Mum - quarter of an inch, see?"
"Oh I haven't read the pattern, I'm just using the pictures." she said.

5) No Template Enlargement

When you cut out our templates, you won't have to enlarge them.  I'm quite happy to admit this may be a matter of preference, but I try to think of the person sewing from their abode up the top of a Welsh mountain, with no access to a photocopier shop, and as temperamental an all-in-one printer as we have (shh, don't tell it I said that, it's easily upset...).  So our templates are designed to fit on an A4 sheet, so that when you print it out, it is real-size.  You may have to join pieces together to make the whole template before applying to the fabric, yes - but we make this as easy as possible by including full written instructions and using nice little symbols.

6) They're available immediately!
Our patterns are currently PDF downloads, which you can access right there in your purchase email, once you've been to the website and bought one.  We have chosen this method because of our eco ethics - we felt it was a little cheeky to go printing out reams of paper for our sewing patterns when we bang on about environmental concerns.
Having said that, we'd be interested to know if you would like them as a paper version, because we would seek to work with some lovely bonkers paper made from rhino poo, or beer dregs, or old Barbie packaging or something.   (We ain't joking, our tags ARE made from old beer dregs!

7) Online Support
You can get support when making your pattern from our OriginalStitch Cafe- it's where all the manuals and manufacturing information is housed for our stitchers to access, so it's where we put information relating to the sewing patterns.  Come and join, and any help shouts you put out we'll pick up - either myself, or Amanda, or even one of our lovely stitchers will soon come to your aid!

So, if you haven't taken a peek at our sewing patterns yet, have a little look - we're working on a whole raft of our Piece & Jam Collection items next, so we'd love to know - what would you most like to see next in our range of Sewing Patterns?

Life's Just Better With Jam

Of course, it's taken me so long, their feet no longer fit.  Ahem.

We discover, Dormouse Moneybags and me, that all of a sudden a half-term or an Easter or a Christmas holidays is slap bang sitting right on top of us.  Wham!  Just like that.  We're all, what the, how the, where the heck did the time go?  Are our children ever in school?

I like how it looks as if they've signed their feet...

And in those weeks of course there's little point trying to do anything involving the following high falutin' thinky activities - planning, strategy, website editing, product design, image editing.
You know, just the stuff in our jobs.  No way.  Forget it.  And certainly not making products for our lovely (we're curtsying right now, curtsying) customers, who deserve only the highest quality products we can muster.

Add one gorgeous bright red giant bathmat!

But we're addicted to sewing, so we do both attack little projects for our own home, since it doesn't remotely matter if we cock those up.  Yes, I like to make a right old scruffbag of a thing for my gaff.  I don't care about loose threads, scruffy edges, double-stitching, linings, neat hems, market trends, on-trend colourways or nuffink.  No, I just grab some scraps, cut 'em up, hoop up, throw a sausage at the kids, stitch something to something else, lob some squash at the kids, stitch some more bits to some other bits, cut, snip, stitch, say "Yeeees!" to whatever thing they've just asked for (crisps was it? Tequila? Tree-climbing? Fire-starting? No idea, just can't stop in the middle of machine-embroidery), stitch a bit more, pinking shear some edges, bob's your uncle and here's a bowl of ice-cream with chocolate sauce and yes, of course, help yourself to too much telly.

Enter me for Mother of the Year Award, you say?  Oh yes please, do, do.

Machine-embroidered scraps for a picnic blanket

Anyway, so here are the things I'd been meaning to make for donkeys' years, and scruffy though they are, I'm glad I've done them.  They are the very things I love - they inject creativity into the fabric of this house.  They are there to please no-one but me (and if they please other people, hooorah!); they are spontaneous; vintage; sustainable; re-used; and best of all, being used, so I get to have a little cock-eyed smile at them each time I see them.  Slightly smug.  You know that smile.
I must tell you that the bathmat idea is not mine, no - I saw it in passing at a nice blog once, and always meant to do it.  You can find a smashing tute for it here if you're not confident about tackling it freestyleeee....

The picnic blanket idea has been germinating for a while in my bonce.

 

These are all machine-embroidered squares with daft phrases on them, like our Piece & Jam Collection.  Ok, it's going to take me a while, but once I've done 12 or so, I'll throw them together with some other squares to make a picnic blanket - whack an old shower curtain on the back and hey presto, all ready for an English picnic, for which waterproofing is always advisable. A load of foody phrases, coz life is just better with Jam.

Whose voice can you hear now?  Yep.  That's right.  Homer Simpson.

Yes, that is Eddie Izzard, most beloved of this Isle.  There'll be a few more of his by the time this picnic has finished.  Cake or death?

So, now then - I'd like to know any of the following in your comments please...either here or on our Facebook page....

a) What did you make in the holidays, and on a scale of 1-10, how scruffy was it?
b) What were your most shameful hands-off childcare tactics?  Share.  Seriously - I need some tips!
c) More Eddie Izzard phrases for the picnic blanket please.  And by the way, these are for everyone - please make a picnic blanket using them!  Could you pass me the idioms please.  Thank you.

10 No-Messin’ Rules for an Efficient Laundry Day

The Mama of All Bung-It-In-Bags

You think I'm kidding don't you?  I'm so NOT kidding.  I've only gone and written a perrrrrroper, nice and domesticated blog post!  This will knock your socks off. Just make sure you pick 'em up and clean 'em after.

My Hardcore, No-Messin’ 10 Rules for an Efficient Laundry Day

Our new Piece & Jam Collection takes iconic shapes and phrases and turns them into mini-artworks on every day stuff. Sound a bit arty farty? It's not really - this approach to our products comes from trying to make the paraphernalia of housewifery fun, not just functional.

I am not known for my enjoyment of washing chores (I'm a very shoddy Domestic Operating Officer), but that’s exactly why I need it to be an efficient and time-saving operation.  I would rather be sewing, you see?!  So here it is:

1)   Count your pegs. Have I gone mad? Seriously – count your pegs, and check out how much hanging space you’ve got. We’ll come back to the pegs and line in a minute...

2)   Sort your laundry bins. Don’t have huge ones. But do have a few, because you’re going to sort clothes the moment you get naked, my friends. Establish the following laundry baskets:

a.   one for white undergarments

b.   one for dark undergarments

c.   one for workshirts

d.   one for dark clothes

e.   one for light clothes

f.   I tend to shove all the kids’ clothes in one or two bins divided into lights/brights

g.  I have one for woollens and silks etc (which, ahem, never really get washed.) Anyway – you get the drift, yes?

Try to plan your Laundry Baskets so they relate to where you put things away – so if you have all the kids' tops and t-shirts in one chest of drawers, have a laundry basket for that category.  All the husbands’ pants and socks in one chest of drawers?  A laundry basket for that category. 
Pyjama drawer? Pyjama laundry basket.

3)   DON’T move your laundry baskets from their allotted positions, on pain of death! They live there to catch yer smelly smalls – let your Laundry Bags do the moving jobs.

Disobey the Receptacle Rule at Your Peril

4)   Start thinking in ‘loads’ and ‘receptacles’. Have SMALL receptacles such as laundry bags to take your stuff from laundry basket to washing machine. We designed our Laundry Bags in two sizes – half and full load!  Don’t overload!  Too much and you’ll end up with ditched knickers on the floor. Moreover you’ll have too many clothes to hang on the line and not enough pegs to hang them with!  Ah, do you see? Told you it would make sense.

5)   Obey the Receptacle Rule: Always have Only One Load Per Receptacle, and Always One Receptacle Per Load! The laundry bag is like a faithful bodyguard – it stays with its load at all times.  Leave the bag by the machine (a line of rustic hooks on the wall by the machine is perfect for hanging bags on), and there it is – ready to decant your shiny smalls into when done.  

6)   The Load fits the Line! Now your perfectly size-defined load of washing will magically fit the number of pegs in your lovely Peg Bag, and the amount of space on your line.

Peg Bags like art. Bring it, they say.

7)   When dry – fold as you take down. And this is where that tip about matching your laundry baskets to where things live helps – on a good day, I fold all the items from the line onto a chair, then carry up and put them all away in just ONE place, not 18! No stray teatowels, no odd socks, no belligerent towels creeping in. And the trusty Laundry Bag gets put back upstairs, ready for its next lovely filthy occupants.

8)   One in the Machine, One on the Line, One to Put Away. Have a Maximum of 3 rule! A cheeky queue of Laundry Bags next to the washing machine isn’t so bad, if you have a utility room that can accommodate such guests, but get upstairs and put the clean and dry ones away first, you slattern you.

9)   Have a Washing Calendar.  If you’re really efficient, you can even do a calendar, for all your categories, including towels and sheets (for which bulky monsters our beefy Bung-It-In Bag is designed). Not forgetting of course, Sunday Evening at 9.30pm – School Uniforms.  Ahem...

10) Be green in your washing choices - if you prefer a stiffer alternative to Laundry Bags, you could try sourcing a fairtrade jute basket, or look for a recycled plastic basket like the ones in Folksy store Merja’s Crochet Recycle.  For other washday products, try Nigel’s Eco Store; for some cool British-made and green pegs, you could give these recycled clothes pegs from GreenTree a try and if you really want to have some fun – make your own cleaning products – that’s what I do.  For all the ingredients to make them, try Summer Naturals, and give this smashing little book a try – Natural Stain Removers, by Angela Martin.

Ooh, you'll be mean, green cleaning machines in no time!

The Piece & Jam Collection Launches!

Well, we are delighted to announce the launch of our brand new, hard fought, hard won, 'Piece and Jam' and 'Stratford' Collections!

Now then, when Amanda and I decided it was time our Kids' Collection got some company on the site, we wanted to get back to basics and sew something from our hearts.  We agreed to go off and pursue our own stitchy little agendas and come up with a collection each, that we would then market.  This allowed each of us to do her own thing, and remain faithful to it.  Teamwork is essential in business, but sometimes you also have to let your own creativity spark fully into a great big fire too!

Piece and Jam is my fire, and Amanda's burning desire is Stratford.


When I was a nipper, I and my several other nipper siblings used to play outside. Of course, then we'd get hungry and hassle that lady who lived in the kitchen.  That's right, Mum, her name was.  Or rather "Mu-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-ummm....." which is what all self-respecting children call their mother.  Even when they're grownups with children of their own and want their mother to take up a hem or design a whole product for their vintage and recycled fabric homewares company.  Ahem.


Wanyhoo.....so, she would lob at us what she called a 'piece'n'jam' to shut us up and keep us outside.  I believe it is a Scottish phrase, or at least, that's where she found it, her parents being Scots.  A piece'n'jam is just bread and jam.  No butter or anything fancypants like that, oh no.  Just a piece of bread.

With jam on.

Now, although our Piece and Jam Collection is sort of, essentially, my baby - in the end it was actually Amanda who has made the products.  Lazy aren't I?  So I was sitting here with my free-motion embroidery head on, sketching vintage sewing machines or radios or socks or pants or shoes (well, go and look!) and thinking up phrases, and fiddling with embroidery threads and having enormous fun 'writing' in thread on bits of vintage fabric, and then I'd turn up in the school playground, and shove my makes at Amanda.  Kind of drop them at her feet, like a cat with a dead frog.
And say things like - "Um, fancy putting that on a pegbag?" or "Hey, you know how good you are at making Tea Cosies?" or "Oh you're so pretty and clever at making great big laundry bags.....ooooh look at this, wouldn't that look nice on one?" and then I'd run, run like the wind....
Poor woman.

So, in the end - Amanda pieces together the fabrics, linings, straps and templates to make the actual product and I supply the 'Jam'! Of course, our lovely stitchers will make them once we have sent them the patterns and they're ready for the jammin', and so when you order, you must still have a look at your OriginalStitch Tag to see which of our stitchers made your product.

What's great about Piece and Jam is that you can choose your piece, and your can choose your jam.  Want wholemeal with raspberry?  No problem.  Rye and Stoneground with Gooseberry?  Ciabatta with Fruits of the Forest you say?  Done.
Oh, no, hang on - that's actual bread and jam, sorry....

Let's try again, yes?
Want an Apron with a Radio on?  We're on your wavelength.
Want a Shoe-Bag with a Sewing Machine on? We're sew with you on that.
A Tea-Cosy with Bunting on? Just flag it up when you order.
A Laundry-Bag with Shoes on?  We'll toe the line...

Am I having a little too much fun with this?  Well, why not.  This is a fun collection of iconic shapes and phrases turned into mini-artworks on everyday things.

Coz why should your laundry bag be boring?  Get jammin'!