Meet the smockers

One of my favourite book titles

Following hot on the heels of last weekend's Margate Soul Weekend, Broadstairs Folk Week is now upon us and, in honour of the anticipated morris dancer invasion, I've dug out my smock book to bring you some pics of some men (women and children) modelling the very finest in rustic separates. You're welcome!

Portobello Market?

Stone-age man

Get off my land

Sally Tuffin-designed jumbo cord smock

From Smocks and Smocking (WI Books Ltd, 1980)

Tiny embroidered toys

That lion sure looks cross

These gay ornaments also double as useful pin cushions, it says in the book. I think they'd be lovely hanging one under the other on a string!

Use back stitch, straight stitch, couching, thorn stitch and sequins to decorate these beautiful felt beasts – which don't have to be tiny – make them whatever size you like.

Taken from McCall's Needlework in Colour (1972), you can find a template for the bird, and further instructions here.

Lucky black cats

What with more adventures in my local Cats in Crisis charity shop, cat sitting for some friends' snow-white cat Eira, then finding a sad little note on the doormat when I got back home, saying a furry friend from the neighbourhood had been run over and was 'resting' on St Luke's Rd, it's been a cat-themed week – so here's a feline-based project to round it off...

Wishing you luck

I found these beautiful appliqué kitties in McCall's Sewing in Colour, first published in 1964, which explains: 'The entrancing cats are worked with a hand-operated sewing machine, by way of being an antique, so giving the interesting hoppity-hoppity line'... however, you can get the same results on an electric machine set to a very narrow zig-zag stitch.

Detail showing the 'Hoppity-hoppity' stitching

If you want to go about creating your very own 1960s-style cat picture, all you need are a piece of canvas for the background, black felt for the cats' bodies, two colours of felt for the eyes and flowers, and small pieces of gauze for the flowers (plus ruler, scissors, tracing paper etc). For a grid to follow and detailed instructions, just click here.

What a lovely good luck present this would make!

What I call a stall

When I spied the Judith Mansfield Books stand at the Knitting & Stitching Show in the pretty northern spa town of Harrogate this weekend, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven...

Just a teeny part of the stall

Packed with secondhand books and magazines about sewing, knitting, crochet, weaving, embroidery, cross stitch and printing, not to mention the boxes of old sewing patterns, this was a vintage craft book collector's dream come true.

Wonderwall

Or it would have been if I'd not been working. I was hoping for an hour off from teaching workshops to have a proper rummage, but my classes were all booked up and all I could manage was a dash to Judith's stand just as the show was closing. Judith herself wasn't there but I had a chat to her husband, who told me they don't have a website or sell online, but they do have a seven-day-a-week stall at the Hebden Bridge Antiques Market I feel a special trip back to Yorkshire coming on!

More Swedish stitchery

Last September, I posted 1950s Swedish Stitchery, about the beautiful embroidery in the book Hemslöjdens Handarbeten by Andra Delen.

Remember this?

A Pinterest favourite

It's my most popular post by far, so thanks to everyone who has checked it out over the past year. Thumbing through the book once more, I remembered how spoilt for choice I was last time – there were so many lovely images I didn't have space to include – for instance, how did this amazing cushion not make it into the original post?

Blåsväder (Windy Weather) cushion

I had a bash at translating the Swedish captions, but didn't get very far. Love the name of this one though. The hair!

Windy Weather (detail)

I also found out that 'kudde' means 'cushion' and, hazarding a guess, 'mönster' means 'maker', but if there are any Swedish speakers reading this, I'd love some help piecing it together!

Beautiful washed-out pink

I'd give anything to see this thing of beauty in colour – or even to be able to understand the caption...

Is it a bell or is it a tree?

The birds on this Bird Wreath cushion go round in a circle, facing a green leafy garland. Just look at the detail in their wings:

Fåglar i Krans or Bird Wreath cushion (detail)

The one thing I find frustrating about old craft books in general is the lack of colour plates. but colour printing was such an extravagance, it's actually surprising there is as much of it in this 1954 book as there is. There are loads more beautiful images in here though, even in black and white, so watch this space.

1954

When life gives you lemons

Feeling like a lemon

… have a gin & tonic.  That's what I thought when I spied these fresh yellow lemons embroidered on duck egg blue linen in Golden Hands (part 56/vol4) from 1977. I can see this simple design mounted on a board and hung on the kitchen wall.

The lemons are worked in double knot stitch (Palestrina), the leaves in stem stitch and the red satin stitch pips provide a lovely finishing touch.

I'll raise a glass to that – cheers!

Tapestry time

When I had time to have a good look through that haul of school library books I mentioned, the first thing that caught my eye was this splendid wallhanging.

And it struck me how rarely I see this type of textile art these days, although I do know for a fact that, as well as a mini one in my flat, there are a few cosifying the walls of a Swedish bakery in London and a restaurant on the Isle of Mull in Scotland, like rugs on a wooden floor.

Appliquéd in linen and felt, rather than woven, the tapestry above is taken from a book with one of the best ever covers:

First English-language edition, 1970 (Batsford)

And the back ain't bad either:

By and large consigned to dustbins and attics c1979, I think it's time for a wallhanging revival – and if you'd like to join me, I bring you (free) instructions for the wondrous wall warmer at the top of the post. You're welcome!

Knitting in Iceland

Rainbow-coloured unspun wool for sale at the Handknitting Association

I've just (reluctantly) returned from my favourite place in the world – the Icelandic capital Reykjavik, a paradise of beautiful friendly people, hot spring baths, smoked salmon breakfasts and midnight sun (not to mention delicious cocktails and homemade gin).

A pile of lopi sweaters, handknitted by Icelandic sheep. Or something

Icelanders just sort of seem to have their priorities right and, as you might expect in a country where cosy woollen clothing is a year-round necessity, and to describe the winters as long, dark and cold is an huge understatement, knitting is BIG here. 

The doorway to a knitter's paradise

Tucked up a side road off Laugavegur, the sweet main shopping street, on the way to the cathedral is The Handknitting Association of Iceland shop. Step through its humdrum front door, head to the back room and you'll be dazzled by floor-to-ceiling shelves stuffed with characteristic Icelandic lopi sweaters, each one a unique colour, pattern and size. Fashioned from Icelandic sheep wool by local women (and men?), it seems everyone in the country owns at least one of these super-warm circular-yoked sweaters – and what better place to buy one?

Mitten display at the National Museum of Iceland

The next day we paid a visit to the National Museum of Iceland. Partway through finding out all about the country's history and after marvelling at the rest room with an inviting single bed you can have a quick lie down on if you feel fatigued looking at the exhibits, we stumbled upon an area devoted to knitting. It was small and mainly consisted of colourful mittens displayed in a cute 'holding hands' arrangement. 

Hands up who loves these two beautiful pairs of embroidered rose mittens

Thence to the museum shop. I was so very tempted to buy these beautiful embroidered rose mittens but they cost 9500 ISK (£50) and, as I already have Icelandic mittens from my last trip, I made do with a photo – alongside a 'Happy summer' postcard, which I also regret not buying!

I have so much to learn about Icelandic textiles and I'd particularly like to find out more about the saumaklúbbur, or sewing clubs, that I've heard all Icelandic women belong to. If anyone knows anything about these, I'd love to hear it in the comments!

Bæ bæ Reykjavik, til next time!

School library scoop

I thought my eyes were deceiving me when I happened upon a massive collection of 60s, 70s, 80s (and one 30s) craft books in my local bric-a-brac market yesterday. All from a school library in East Dulwich in south east London – and at £1 a pop, I bought as many as I could carry.

Sadly, for reasons of shelf space, I had to leave behind titles on macramé, plaiting, braiding, soft toy making and other skillz just a little out of the scope of my interests, but this little lot will keep me going for a while. Watch this space for some of the highlights.

Gay flowers

 

'Gay flowers on a trellis-work background' (detail)

I was delighted when my colleague and neighbour* gave me this copy of Stitchcraft magazine, published in September 1934. It's hard to believe it's nearly 80 years old, especially as the iron-on embroidery transfer is still folded up inside, in pristine condition.

Autumn modes

Several colourways are suggested for the Gay flowers design, but I'm ever so taken with these bright blooms on black linen, reminiscent of a design by Celia Birtwell.

The Stitchcraft people propose making your finished piece of embroidery into a cushion and runner set, a dressing table set or even a Radio Times or telephone directory cover (it says you need to make two phone book covers if you live in the London area – back in 1934 was there one directory for north London and another for south, or perhaps one for inner and one for outer London?)

Iron-on transfer, free with Stitchcraft, September 1934

The clever thing about the design of the transfer is that you can use sections, separated along the lines of the trellis, depending on the size of your project. I adore the flower with the sunray (/eyelashes) in its centre.

The 80-year-old transfer (detail)

I'm desperate to put this truly vintage transfer to use soon, but it seems such a shame not to keep it. Think I'd better trace it instead!

 *(thanks Cleo!)

Number 73

All that's missing is a bike chained to the railings

I love the way blackwork, the monochrome counted-thread technique that was all the rage way back in fifteen-hundred-and-something, can look so modern, like a pen and ink illustration – and the patchwork effect of areas of different black and white geometric patterns side by side.

In Creative Needlecraft (Sundial Books 1979), author Lynette de Demme had the brilliant idea of depicting one house in blackwork (above) and in three other stitching techniques:

Colour embroidery, blackwork and a bit of applique

To me, no73 looks just like some of the grand Victorian houses around Highgate, north London...

Gritty realism in applique

I'd love to see these lined up together as if they were neighbouring houses on the same street.

Close up on the drawn fabric work version

How nice the way the qualities of each technique emphasise different features of the building – the drainpipe, the balcony, the tiled front steps and three square decorative panels towards the top of the house.

If you'd like to sew your own house in black and white, you'll find a basic guide to blackwork here, and part 2 here.

Danish embroidery

A Glad You Could Make It reader who got in touch a while back brought my attention to the work of the 'grand old lady' of Danish craft books, Lis Paludan. Somehow, this inspirational person had passed me by, but a quick Google search and I was eyeing some of the folkiest, most typically seventies pieces of embroidery I'd seen since primary school.

Published in this country by Mills and Boon, 1970

This is my first Lis Paludan book in what I hope will become a collection. I'm not sure how many were translated into English, but who cares when the pictures are this good?

Village atmosphere

Smiling butterflies

If only this was in colour

Love those tiger feet

Snail's pace

Seedy

Creature from the deep

Tree of crazy owls

Last but not least...

Next on the list, Paludan's finest work, Broderier for Alle...

An apple cushion to stitch

The sofa is not bad either

Don't know about you, but with the nights starting to draw in and a harvesty feeling in the air, I'm in the mood to hunker down and embroider a lovely bright apple cushion.

Here it is in all its chain-stitch glory:

From Golden Hands part 55/Vol 4

I'm a big fan of everything about Golden Hands, even the chapter headings:

Good graphics

The cushion cover is made from a silk linen, which is lovely to work with and has a beautiful texture. The only stitches you'll need are chain stitch, bullion knots and stem stitch, so it's easy-peasy to do.

Even the template is easy on the eye:

Felt-tip pen on graph paper = pleasing

If you fancy having a go, click here for the full instructions – they're free, naturellement.

For more cushions to make, including instructions on how to make up the actual cushion cover, check out my Make a midcentury cushion post.

As ever, I'd love to hear from you and to see any finished GYCMI projects, so do share in the comments!