The place where I live

I should have written posts at stages of making the dress for the Weaving Narratives Project but was too busy getting it finished ready for exhibitions!

The cotton sateen fabric from Offset Warehouse was dip-dyed in recognition of the dye-works at the end of the site, then discharge dyed to replicate the factory wall at the end of my garden (shown behind the dress drying on the line!)

Then it was screen-printed with a design based on Commer cars chassis from their catalogues.
The top layer of cotton voile was printed with a plan of the current residential estate.
























It can still be seen in Flitwick library October 13th - 15th along with a wealth of other textile art inspired by Bedfordshire Archives

Weaving Narratives

I am taking part in Weaving Narratives, a textile-based community art project celebrating the history of Bedfordshire's towns, in conjunction with Bedfordshire Archives.  I am hoping to design clothing with fabric designs that reference the history of the place where I live, for more on this see the blog post I wrote for the project.

The wall at the end of my garden is the remains of factories previously on the site which I will use for my colour palette.






Then I think I will use chassis patterns from the vehicles built here to form a stripe pattern.










I had a play at some samples during a recent workshop with Clive Barnett at Art Van Go. He showed us how to create layers of pattern using mono-printing and screen-printing techniques and Procion dyes thickened with Manutex. Great fun - but not all the techniques will translate to larger pieces of fabric!

Fair Trade Fortnight - Day 14 pm

I couldn't end the week without wearing one of my own makes - which also gives me a chance to talk about fair trade and ethical fabric.
So this evening's church youth event gave me a chance to wear a Wild Angel's clerical shirt in pink organic cotton from Offset Warehouse, with my Monkee Genes and the same wonderful boots as this morning. Offset was set up with the realisation that being ethical in the world of fashion is hard work and so they aim to source socially and environmentally responsible fabrics and haberdashery.

Final degree show - Inspired by Luton

The items in the cover photo on Wild Angels Facebook page were all made with Offset fabrics - dark red ahimsa (peace) silk and bamboo silk which I hand dyed and printed. And I went to a great garden party they hosted too - see blog from September 2013.


Greenfibres is also an interesting company; the dark red skirt is lined in red poplin that came from them, and I have other undyed fabric waiting to be used and made up. I have also bought organic sewing thread from them too. Their aim is to offer beautiful and useful textile products that are kind to the environment and to our health and well-being - and their range includes clothing and bed linen as well as fabric and knitting yarn.

Another source I have used frequently is Fair Trade Fabric - but more for garments made for others and for sale - I don't think I have anything made for me (yet?) in their fabric but they have recently introduced some wonderful prints ... could I risk the orange and pink circles print for trousers alongside this shirt, or would that be too much? Fair Trade fabric source cotton fabrics that help to improve the lives of poor and marginalised producers, from those who grow the cotton to those who due and weave it. They have a lovely range of colours in plains, stripes, checks and recently a range of fun prints.

Then one I discovered on the net recently, with gorgeous knitting yarn (though I haven't yet succumbed to buying any!) is Yarn Yarn which sells eco-friendly and recycled yarns handmade by women's co-operatives in India. They have a fascinating range of ribbon yarns and silk waste yarns, banana yarn ... and even spun newspaper!

Fair Trade Fortnight - Day 14 am

Not entirely fair trade today as I cannot vouch for the provenance of their fabrics, but my shirt is made by Sizanani, a sewing training project in Pinetown, Durban, South Africa which equips people with the pattern-cutting, designing and sewing skills for sustainable employment. This features appliqué in local traditional designs and  is worn with a Traidcraft linen skirt and my wonderful new Terra Plana boots.

Stylised guinea fowl and Ndebele patterns on the back of my shirt

One advantage of doing the internet research to write these blogs has been finding pairs of shoes; so both Sundays have been the first outing for a new pair! It is not easy finding shoes in Size 2, I generally hate shoe-shopping, and rely on the very helpful cobbler in Luton market to keep mine going. So to find pairs at sale prices in my size is remarkable ... and I am enjoying it!

Fair Trade Fortnight - Day 13

Today has been a 'blobbing around at home' day, so I have worn People Tree jumper and leggings, cosy Greenfibres socks with Soul of Africa boots, topped with a charity-shop find: an Edwardian silk slip worn as a dress. Not fair trade - but surely sustainable when it must have lasted over 100 years!














Some of the construction is clearly machine sewn, but I wonder if it was taken in as the tiny french seams at the sides are clearly sewn by hand - machines don't do running stitch! I think the edgings might be hand sewn too as it looks like blanket stitch, so may be the other embroidery is too - it is just exquisite. Beautiful to wear against the skin in summer, and so pretty worn this way in winter too, as it's a shame to hide it away for more than half the year!

Fair Trade Fortnight - Day 12

A lovely sunny day today which made me get out the fun People Tree tunic t-shirt designed for the Olympics but with wider messages.

















This is worn with Monkee Genes and Conker bar sandals, but wasn't suitable for work in the evening.

Home after work!

The lovely Terra Plana shoes just had to feature somewhere this fortnight so I chose to wear them with a 'little black dress' from People Tree with a Nomads cardigan, and a 'statement' pendant of fused glass, wire and beads made by Sarah Campbell and available from the gallery at Art Van Go.

Fair Trade Fortnight - Day 11

A different company to include today: Along with People Tree black leggings and overskirt, Elvis and Kresse belt, Soul of Africa boots and an asymmetric necklace in just the right colours, I am wearing a waistcoat by Aarong, This ethical brand began in 1978 as a means to empower rural artisans to rise above poverty. Today it supports over 65,000 artisans and has 15 retail stores across Bangladesh.

Close-up of embroidery

The lovely hand embroidery is a piece of Nakshi Kantha, a traditional rural craft. While each kantha (the word for a light quilt, originally made from sewing together layers of used and worn fabric such as saris) has designs that are unique to its maker's imagination, usually there is a basic traditional pattern. Common motifs include lotus, sun, moon, tree of life, fish and animals such as elephants, tigers or peacocks.

Aarong have some beautiful embroidered silk saris on their website - but it doesn't look as though they ship as far as here, sadly, as the prices look incredibly reasonable to UK eyes.