Okay, I’m not a granny. I don’t have any off spring for one thing. But as far as anyone born after 1995 is concerned, I’m ancient. A hag. An old crone.

Sometimes I feel it! I gasp when people say, ‘I’ve never seen Pretty In Pink,’ or ‘What did Bob Geldof do before Live Aid?’ or even ‘What’s Live Aid?’ I stay quiet when colleagues discuss online games and bite my knuckles when legwarmers come back in fashion – for the third time.

So, it’s kind of crazy that my new blog love is Teen Granny. She’s 16 years old. In theory, we have nothing in common. But it turns out we do! Teen Granny knits and has set up a Twit Knit Club on Twitter. She has planted the recipe for Oreo Stuffed Cookies in my head and now I must bake them or die unhappy. And, last but not least, she wrote one of the funniest things I’ve read in a long time in a list of facts about herself:

‘I once knitted for 14 hours straight. I drank 3 litres of Cherryade and halfway through, I forgot how to knit and started to cry. I wouldn’t recommend it.’

Teen Granny’s Oreo Cookies

When Teen Granny said she was looking for blog sponsors, I got in touch straight away. Then the two of us hit on the idea of interviewing each other. Shhhh. Don’t tell Teen Granny. She never need know how old I am…

 So, Teen Granny! I have to ask, do your fellow students know about your urge to make and what do they think of it?

NO! They know nothing. I recently moved schools. My friend from my old school knows about it, but no one from my new school does. I’m pretty sure if they found out they would kill me! My friends from my old school think it’s great and ask me to teach them how to knit, although I think this would be a disaster as I have no patience with other people and would end up doing it all myself.

 I love the knitted Prince William you made. How long did it take? Did you design the pattern yourself? And if so – how?!

Aw, thank you, I love him too. I found him in a book called Knit Your Own Royal Wedding by Fiona Goble which I love. It did take quite a long time because there were so many fiddly little bits but it was so fun in the end. I recently adapted the pattern myself to make my mum a knitted version of herself. I think when you start out knitting you’re so confused by patterns that you could never imagine coming up with one yourself but I was surprised when knitting my mum (that sounds so weird!) how easy it was to adjust the pattern a little to make it look like her and not Prince William.

Look! Teen Granny knitted her mum!

 Several of my readers are novice knitters. Do you have any advice for them? How can they join your Twit Knit club?

I know this sounds horribly modern but I actually learnt how to knit from Youtube! Trying to learn knitting from a book is impossible because it just doesn’t make any sense on a page but if you type ‘how to knit’ into Youtube you will get millions of the best videos. Twit Knit Club is a group of people on twitter who all knit and we try to do the same project at the same time! You don’t have to be good at knitting at all but if you tweet me @scarlyKFcurtis I will tweet your name to the rest of the club you can join in. And you can read this post about Twit Knit Club. It’s loads of fun!

What’s your take on the blogging phenomenon? Did you grow up aware of blogging, or come to it as you grew older?

For me blogging was one of those things where I’d heard of it but never really knew what they were, I always thought blogs were just for people who wanted to talk about themselves a lot! It was only when I started to get into crafts that I started discovering these amazing people (like you!) all over the world who were doing exactly what I loved.

I think blogging is so amazing because it gives you all these windows into the lives and worlds of people you would otherwise never have met. Not many of my friends are as into knitting as me so it also makes me feel like I’m not alone in the things that I love.

You do book reviews on your blog. What was your last stonking read? Do you have a Kindle?

I don’t have a Kindle but I am an obsessive audiobook listener! I think for people who like to read and do things with their hands audiobooks are the perfect option as it means you can do craft and ‘read’ at the same time. I just finished Hurting Distance by Sophie Hannah who is one of my favourite crime writers ever. Her books are incredible.

You recently made a quilt for your mum and dad. Any tips for people trying this craft for the first time?

Well, it was my first time making a quilt too which was pretty scary but I think the main tip is to leave yourself loads of time and just do a tiny bit every day. I don’t know about you but if I spend too long on one project I get frustrated and end up rushing things. So with the quilt I would just sew a few squares together every day and then one day I just realised I was nearly done.

Phew, I think I’ve got away with it! I strongly recommend that you check out Teen Granny’s blog. It has cakes, crocheted cakes, knitting, quilting, ickle dogs, spadefuls of originality – and it’s lots of fun! Thanks, Teen Granny. Don’t forget to pop by TG’s blog to read HER interview with ME.

The school was full of industrious students this week.

I was surrounded by interesting creations.

Our class has done more dart manipulation than Adrian Lewis.

But best of all, I’ve found a much better way of wearing my tartan skirt! Following suggestions from my readers, I teamed it with a jumper instead of the shiny blouse. Specifically, the Debbie Bliss sweater I completed three months ago. Don’t things look SO much better? I’m very tempted to make a second version of this sweater, as it’s just too darn cute to have only one in my wardrobe.

Thank you, readers. Like the fickle little sewing blogger I am, I now love my tartan skirt!

So, the streak of bad luck continues. I bought this fabric a few weeks ago, in a sudden panic when the Minoru jacket sewalong was about to commence. I was kidding myself that I might actually be able to keep up in real time. Ha! I don’t know how Sewaholic does it. Not only is she, you know, making a jacket but she’s blogging incredibly detailed sewalong posts as well. I can barely get my arse out of bed in the morning!

Anyway, I’d seen a swatch of this lime green waxed cotton and thought it would be the perfect fashion fabric for a practical take on this jacket for cycling in. The warning bells should have started ringing when I phoned through my order and the lady on the other end said, ‘I’m intrigued. Can I ask what you’re going to use this for?’ Readers, when the person SELLING you the fabric says that she is INTRIGUED by your purchase you know that it’s time to run for the hills. I didn’t.

The fabric arrived. If I’d been concerned, it was that the lime green in all its three metres of glory would scare me. It didn’t, actually. I thought I’d be perfectly happy to wear it. But the waxed cotton… Eek. I really, really didn’t like it. It’s slightly greasy to the touch, creases badly, is wipe clean only (on a jacket for cycling? hello?) and is incredibly heavy. For means of comparison, I weighed it and compared to three metres of wool fabric:

Waxed cotton: 1806g

Wool fabric: 1072g

That’s a big difference. I tried to convince myself that the waxed cotton might be less, well, repulsive if I put it through the washing machine to get some of that darned wax out. I was going to impulsively throw three metres of the stuff in the machine, but my wise old ma suggested cutting a swatch and putting that in a wash. I’m glad she suggested this. The swatch came out still feeling greasy but now with nicely permanent crease marks washed into it.

I suppose I could make use of this abomination. I could make tote bags or those door stops filled with rice – or a tent! But, honestly, I don’t even want it in the house. I’m going to put it on Ebay and see if some other sucker can make use of it.

In the meantime, I’ve bought some camel wool/cashmere mix off Walthamstow market. Three metres came in at £17 and my hope is to use my recent silk acquisition (from the same stall) as the lining:

I am not going to think about how much money I wasted on that waxed cotton. I am not going to worry that my camel wool may be about to make me the most Boring Coloured Jacket In The World Ever. I am not going to angst that my ability to judge any shade or fabric has just totally imploded.

Everything is going to be fine. Just fine… Just … can someone pour me a drink now?

Someone asked me recently if I ever have sewing disasters. ‘Hell, yeah!’ is the short response. The longer response involves me spending hours of my life sewing a skirt and blouse to prove on this blog that disasters are all par for the course. What type of martyr am I?!!!

Okay, not quite disasters – but certainly disappointments. The skirt’s fine – I know I’ll get some wear of it going into the office. But the fabric proved disappointing. It’s polyester, rather than wool, which means I can chuck it in the washing machine. But… Well, you all know how fond I’ve become of wool. If you want to make a similair skirt in better fabric, I used the pattern pieces from my Gertie Bombshell Dress. (It’s a Burda pattern: Burda 5/2011 Bustier dress.)

Sewing with tartan… If you suffer from any form of OCD, don’t touch tartan with a barge pole. You become absolutely obsessed with lining up all the stripes and squares. You can’t do this perfectly, it’s just impossible. As if to prove my point, one of the stripes on my skirt is interrupted by a waist dart so that I can see this displeasing lack of alignment every single time I pull the skirt on.

Moving on! The Taffy blouse. Ah, the Taffy blouse. Chewing on a mountain of toffee would have given me less head stress than the clenched jaws involved in this make. Now, don’t get me wrong. The basic shell is lovely and I would really like to use it in an adapted make. But if any of you are considering making your own bias binding for the FIVE METRES OF BINDING that are required on this make, I beg you to think again. I spent half a day making my own binding from the grey satin, and attaching the binding to the sleeves. What a big fat mess that was. Truly. See?

Shoddy binding with random badly placed seams!

I painstakingly undid all the binding and… No, I didn’t! What, are you crazy?! I lopped off my bound sleeve hems with some scissors and started again with some shop-bought contrast binding tape.

Look into my eyes. Buy bias binding. Do not make it. Buy bias binding. Do not make it…

If you are making the Taffy blouse I urge you not to skip the step of making notches. They are really important with something cut on the bias because bias cut seams will stretch like you wouldn’t believe and you’ll need to know what goes where.

I made a very quick toile of the main body to check fit. Mine is a size 6, which is spot on to my bust measurement (36″). It was nowhere near my waist measurement, which should have taken me up to a size 10, but I didn’t worry about that as I knew there’d be give in the bias. It fit absolutely fine, though is more suited to wear with skirts than over jeans.

I didn’t add the waist ties. I’m the type of person who walks out of public bathrooms with toilet roll stuck to the heel of her shoe. I knew that waist ties coming loose were begging for my blouse to start looking messy on me.

A lot of effort went into this make, we can agree. So it’s a shame I think it looks absolutely awful on me! Mutton dressed as lamb. My boyfriend agrees. But I can’t let this blouse go to waste, so if anyone wants it, I’m happy to give it away. It’s cut to a size 6 – 36″ chest, 28″ waist, 38″ hips. I’ll impose a deadline – say, Wednesday 1 February midnight GMT – but a deadline assumes anyone will want it. Don’t worry, I won’t be offended if you politely decline!

As I said earlier, I like the shell. But if I’m going to make this again, I definitely need to draft a new sleeve treatment. Good job I’m on a pattern making course, then! I’d also make the back neckline less scooped and widen the shoulders.

So, there we have it.  I told my boyfriend I’d decided to give the blouse away.

‘Give it away?’ he asked in a surprised tone of voice. Pause. ‘You must really hate your readers.’

You’ve gotta laugh, or you’d cry!

So, what did I carry home from Edinburgh in my carry on case? Oh, Scotland, you’ll be the death of me! I have a huge weakness for wool fabric. It’s just so wonderful to work with, always looks incredibly classy and doesn’t often fray. What’s not to like? Ask my bank manager! In fact, I was relatively restrained in my spending, but I’d arrived in Scotland – home of wool – with a make already in my mind. I’d seen this retailing at Jaegar:

I think the simplicity of the cut, combined with that huge, slightly eccentric patch pocket is inspired. £230-worth of inspired, or £65 in the sale. Nah, mate. I don’t think so! In Edinburgh I bought a metre of dark navy wool for the skirt and a smidgin (I think an eighth of a metre) of complementary, expensive Harris Tweed. (Have you SEEN Gertie’s latest dress in Harris Tweed?)

My hope is to use my vintage A-line skirt pattern to cut an above-the-knee skirt and fashion my own high end patch pocket. Any advice on tailoring patch pockets, let me know.

I also bought two metres of stretch lining, which I’d never seen before or even heard of. (In the spirit of full disclosure, I shamelessly copied Scruffy Badger who was buying this.) I imagine this to be perfect for lining pencil skirts. You know how the lining can really pull at the seams on a pencil skirt? Not with a bit of stretch in it!

In the pattern swap, I scored two vintage patterns from My Happy Sewing Place. I felt a bit guilty taking these, but no one else seemed to be leaping on them. (Fools!) If I do have an ambition for this year, it’s to sew a bit more vintage. I’ve only used two vintage patterns so far in my sewing career, and one of those is for an A-line skirt – I don’t think that counts!

Finally, in other purchases, look what arrived today:

Yes I Like That shared a post on Galibardy recently, and I was straight on Paypal ordering one of these rings. It’s absolutely lovely. Brass! Why don’t we see more shiny brass these days? I’m not sure I’m ever going to take this off.

Hope you’re all gearing up to exciting weekends. Me? I have the day off work today. (LUSH, as they say in Wales.) There might be a spot of sewing going on…

]]> http://didyoumakethat.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/lush/feed/ 24 didyoumakethat patterns and fabric jaegar skirt ring http://didyoumakethat.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/sewing-self-love/ http://didyoumakethat.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/sewing-self-love/#comments Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:00:03 +0000 didyoumakethat http://didyoumakethat.wordpress.com/?p=4074 Continue reading →]]>

Yesterday, I went to The Foundling Museum for lunch with a group of people. They have a wonderful cafe in Bloomsbury that’s well worth knowing about if you don’t fancy a generic menu in a chain restaurant. And after your food, you can poke around the museum for free.

The Foundling Museum is a bit sad, but also uplifting. The Foundling Hospital was established in 1741 as Britain’s first home for abandoned children. They would be treated severely, within the cultural perameters of the time, but the hospital helped establish the concept that society had a duty of care to all its children.

There was an exhibition of children’s school shirts with name tags. The tags carried quotes from contemporary children of cruel things that had been said to them. Yeah, sad – especially with those grubby collars.

But kind of not sad, also. Anything that enables people to express themselves, without fear of retribution or judgement, can only be a good thing.

These shirt tags and their messages reminded me of sewing, which can be a powerful way of making a statement. It strikes me that dressmaking (or knitting or crochet) often empowers people. Those with poor body image or a history of eating disorders, others who simply don’t want to conform to a perceived norm, or even people stuck in a jail cell. Writing something down when you can’t say it out loud, or sitting at a sewing machine instead of in a therapy room are both forms of healing. I think. I think I think – my thoughts are muddled! But making things is one of the best methods of self-love there is. I definitely know that.

What do you reckon?

]]> http://didyoumakethat.wordpress.com/2012/01/26/sewing-self-love/feed/ 29 didyoumakethat label 2 label http://didyoumakethat.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/topping-top-shop/ http://didyoumakethat.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/topping-top-shop/#comments Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:08:19 +0000 didyoumakethat http://didyoumakethat.wordpress.com/?p=4068 Continue reading →]]>

Have you seen what Top Shop is selling for £38 a pop? I think we can do better than that, don’t you, with the help of the Colette Sewing Handbook and the Meringue Skirt pattern.

Though I do like the idea of using boucle… Okay, I’ll give you that Top Shop – excellent fabric choice.

A Fashion Student

A Sewing-Themed Tattoo

Back copies of fashion magazines

Library samples of … um, you decide.

Wearers of aprons – your duty is to serve and protect!

In hindsight, a Spin class and cycle commute weren’t a good idea on the same day as my pattern making course. Halfway through the evening lesson, I crashed and burned. I had no idea what I was doing. I carried my hatchet job dart adjustments over to my tutor.

‘You’ve been cutting random slices, haven’t you?’ she asked. I nodded dumbly. ‘You’re usually so sensible, Karen.’ She’s only known me two weeks! I told her I was over-tired. I didn’t dare admit I’d been having too much fun at the weekend. After all, sewing is a serious business…

The day started bright and early. Well, early and dark. Like, pre-dawn. No matter – I was off to have loads of Edinburgh Excitement and my adrenaline levels were sky high. I hadn’t been this excited since childhood Christmases.

At Gatwick security, I was braced for the usual round of questions:

‘Did you make this coat yourself? Did you have any help making this coat?’

No such luck. They didn’t even question the penny weight in the hem! Not a single person asked me about my crochet, even when I brandished my rosewood hook in the cabin and started crocheting! I waited for a flight attendant to throw herself into a roll across the aisle and wrestle the offending item out of my grasp. Instead, she asked if I wanted coffee. Most disappointing.

No matter. Soon enough I was in Edinburgh. Bags unceremoniously dumped at the hotel, I ran out to meet my friends and strangers-I-already-knew-I’d-like at Frederick’s Coffee House. I pretty much flung myself into the arms of Roobeedoo, who’s been a blog friend for ages, though we’ve never met. Scruffy Badger suffered a fierce hug, also. Meanwhile, Kestrel Finds & Makes was doing a sterling job of organising us all, along with My Happy Sewing Place and Kristen Makes.

Kestrel organising House of Pinheiro

I really enjoyed meeting House of Pinheiro. At the fabric and pattern swap, she had the most hilarious way of dismissing an item with a roll of her eyes and a dismissive flick of the wrist as she tossed an item back on the table. I don’t think so, darling. I love you, House of Pinheiro! (NB Ask Scruffy Badger what patterns she took away with her – ask, ask!)

Not only did we each receive a name badge, but a darling fabric brooch that our three valiant organisers had made, working through the night no doubt by candle light:

The brooches were so pretty! Here’s me wearing mine with Scruffy Badger:

The best decision I made all day was to eschew salad for lunch in favour of carbs. We were going to be using up every last scrap of energy over the next nine hours! First up, a group photo call in Edinburgh gardens, with our valiant photographer David aka Debi’s husband aka Most Glorious Honorary Sewist:

Unfortunately for David, some of us were getting over-excited (again) taking our own snaps:

Three of the finest women to walk Edinburgh streets: Roobeedoo, Scruffy Badger and Kestrel Finds & Makes.

Look! Scruffy Badger is wearing my snood and carrying one of the bags I made and gave away at the Fabric Fandango! We’ve agreed that from now on, I’ll accessorize her for all occasions.

Group photos taken (I can’t WAIT to see the official shot), we started the serious business of shopping. We stopped by W Armstrong & Son vintage store:

Then we took in a knitting shop (drool) and three fabric stores. Buses were involved. So was walking. Highlights of the day for me:

• Lazy Stitching‘s several, ahem, wardrobe malfunctions. (Top tip – don’t wear half circle skirts in windy Scotland!)
• Admiring Roobeedoo’s cheekbones. She has bone structure to die for.
• The hilarity of the pattern swap. Uniform fashion, anyone?
• Drooling over the Miss Marple Cape Kestrel Finds & Makes was wearing. The perfect union of pattern and fabric.
• Discussions of bodice darts and things looking a bit ‘nippley’.
• Seeing a Sewist collapse on the floor, so exhausted from shopping was she!

Can’t. Shop. Any. More…

Fabric was bought – oh, yes! (More on that later.) Patterns were swapped. (More on that later.) Finally, we retired to the Voodoo Lounge. Soon enough, with food and wine in my belly, my tired limbs were aching for bed. I retired, fairly confident that the youngsters in the group were settling in for a night of fun. Ah, youth!

Now I have nothing left to do other than laze around, stroking my fabrics. I might poke my head out of the door to wander up to the castle at some point. Then I’ll wind my way home.

This has been the best organised meet-up EVAHHH!!! Thank you so, so much to our organisers. I really enjoyed seeing friends new and old, chatting to people, shopping, laughing. My one regret is that Dibs and the Machine was unable to join us because of illness. Next time, Dibs! And there will be a next time…

Eep! Remember back in July when I made the Butterick B5605 dress for a friend’s wedding? Well, it’s only gone and been featured in the February issue of Sewing World magazine.

I’m really thrilled to be part of an issue devoted to all things vintage. There’s an article on Vintage Vogue patterns, an interview with Second Hand Rose, several pattern suggestions for that vintage vibe – and little old me! There’s even a pattern pull out for three different patterns: a pencil skirt, some lush-looking French Fancy lingerie and a little retro-inspired shrug. Could they cram any more in there?

Here’s an insight into publishing: nothing happens quickly. I was first in touch with the editor last March. Yes, 10 months ago. Thankfully, because I work in publishing (albeit books, not magazines) I already understood how far in advance people work.

And, anyway. Aren’t the best things in life worth waiting for?

You can buy Sewing World direct from their website here or from newsagents. Perhaps I’ll keep my eyes peeled at the airport newsagents this morning. Yes, as you read this post I am on my way to Edinburgh for the Crafters’ Ceilidh. Watch out, Scotland, I’m coming to get ye!

NB If you want to read a really good conversation about sewing magazines, pop by Tilly’s blog post here.