The birth of a new blog

Over this past while, and especially these past few days, my interest in sewing has grown. It is fascinating - FASCINATING - to see the variety of blogs that are out there.

• Some people blog to gather their own ideas together like a collage (which is what this Design blog has been for me, a collecting-point for my thoughts and little by little I can see my own style become recognisable)
• Some people blog for support and to share their projects and ideas
• Some people blog as a business - they promote their shop or their products
• Some people blog to promote their ideas and way of life, to voice their opinions

One blogger, Adrienne, from All Style All Substance, is doing a thesis on feminine studies, and if I understand correctly the topic is sewing and women and the blogosphere.

I enjoy my Design History Musings very much. And I am still grappling with what "design" really is... or at least what it really is for me.

I don't want to confuse my sewing projects with my design musings. I want to partake in the sharing and commenting and admiring of the community of sewing bloggers! And my sewing projects don't need to be interrupted by postings about spoons!!!

There are many other online ways to gather together sewing enthusiasts. And by 'sewing' I really mean dressmaking because there are quilters and crafters out there and they're a whole other kettle of very interesting fish! Other tools include

• burdastyle
• flicker for photos
• etsy or dawanda as an online shopping 'street' for retailers, consumers and window-shoppers all
• pinterest (although I don't get the need to link to facebook or twitter)
• facebook
• twitter
• patternreview

But for all that, I find blogs are leading the way.

My past few posts have been very wordy... that needs to come to an end too! More images, please.

I bought this postcard in the Museum in Ixelles in Brussels recently. I saw so much on my month in Europe that I haven't processed the half of it! I loved the postcard because the work is so concentrated and the pencil is touching the paper. He his Paul Hankar, an architect during the Art Nouveau style period. It is a poster drawn by Paul Crespin (1859-1944) and shows Hankar's concentration while doing the work and his body bent over the desk. I need my mind to give way to my hands and give way to physical production too.

I chose another two postcards while I was away; it strikes me now that they all have that theme of physicality and concentration on the task at hand.
This one is of a choral singer doing a solo line, or maybe she is a soloist and the other singers behind her provide backing... I'll never know! It resonated with me because I sing. I sing in a choir. And just before I left for Europe, I sang at the funeral of a good friend's grandfather. And I daresay I didn't look as composed  or as humble as this soloist does!

The image is a painting by Henry Lerolle (1848-1929) entitled À l'Orgue. I picked up the postcard in the Orangerie gallery in the Jardin des Tuilleries in Paris.
The next image could be haunting, but when you study the girl, she is just so concentrated and so immersed in reading the pages that the feeling changes to one of intrusion on her space. I imagine she's reading a script and about to go on stage. Or maybe she's directing the play or the film or... I don't quite know why I like it and I don't quite know why I can't help looking!

This postcard was bought in the Pompidou Centre in Paris. It is from an oil painting by Gerhard Richter (b. 1932) and is entitled Lesende.
I hope these three images are a satisfactory way to remind me of the purpose of this particular blog and to satisfactorily make the move to a dress-making only blog. Find it at fuail.blogspot.com

Irish Sewing Blogs and suppliers

I'm off work for a few days, off sick and not up to much other than sitting up in bed with my laptop and surfing and planning projects and things to do when I'm back to myself.
Yesterday, I got immersed in sewing patterns... and blogs and fabrics... I ended up spending almost €100.
Today, it struck me that I should have a trawl around the web for local bloggers, and find out where they source their patterns and their fabrics and notions. How do they avoid paying overseas postage and packaging... etc.
I'm going to start off with a "disclaimer" and that is my disinterest in quilting and patchworking so I have quickly left blogs on those topics that I have come across rightly or wrongly. Wrongly, undoubtedly, because there is something to be learnt from everything but the sheer amount of blogs and postings causes me to impose some kind of 'rules'.

A great start: Etsy Ireland Crafty Team - but they seem to be quite beady and cardy and crafty orientated as opposed to sewing specific. Hmm. This sourcing is tough.

Fiona in Dublin has an Etsy shop called Threads2000 selling 100% egyptian cotton threads sourced from Greece.

Fabric Shops in Dublin:
Hickey's on Mary or Henry Street (can never remember where on starts and the other ends)
Murphy Sheehy's near the Powerscourt Shopping Centre and Grogan's Bar
Woolen Mills, near Ha'penny Bridge on North Side (upstairs for the big range of fabric)
TWI, 24 Mountjoy Square East - I haven't been here yet.
Ikea

Other crafty shops in Dublin:
The Yellow Brick Road, Bachelor's Walk (though I think it may have closed down?!)
Trimmings shop on quays near beside Crown Alley / Temple Bar / Ha'penny Bridge
Rubenesque in Powerscourt Shopping Centre (used to have shop next to the music shop but may have moved from there into bigger premises)

Knitting shops:
Craft Cottage, Ratoath, Co. Meath
Trim, Co. Meath
Winnie's Wool Wagon, Woodbine, Booterstown (near UCD), Co. Dublin
woolshop in Swan Centre, Rathmines, Co. Dublin
This is Knit, Powerscourt Centre, Dublin
The Gingham Duck, Sligo

Lots of info on Knitting Classes in Ireland. I keep getting distracted by information that is available as opposed to the information that I want.


The Crafter's Basket, North Sligo - have the facility for selling patterns but none in online shop as I look today. Sells fabric, vilene, a dressmakers dummy, sewing machines and other items.

Yay! I've found Pippablue. She's blogging from Galway, Ireland. Further investigation... there's an online Pippablue Shop - hurrah! The list of products is potentially very exciting... but the stock is very low. One to keep an eye on, I suppose. The real shop is on 1 Middle Street, Galway City.

Just Judith is in Belfast - a quilter though, not my métier!
A room in a cottage - sewing homewares made in Ireland
Sarah from Cork is also a quilter
Fluffy Sheep Quilting is based in Ireland... but I think the clue is in the name! She has blogged a brilliant list of quilting fabric stockists in Ireland
Emily lives in Ireland and she likes to make things... here's hoping there'll be a link or two to a whole world of Irish bloggers in her blogstream....
Linda Coleman is in Dublin. Her projects seem different to mine but I might steal a friend from her blogging community.
Cuada are a textile designer in South West Ireland... website seems to just sell finished products.
Millie (the same name as my Gran!) lives on a dairy farm in Ireland and she SEWS. Just like me. My hopes are raised again.
The Roma and Mary blog is kept by Amanda in Ireland who likes a variety of handiwork and crafts, including sewing, she says.

A lot of these links were found using the "Sew Irish" group on flicker. But many of the members of that group are not based in Ireland. I just think in terms of sourcing materials and fabrics and patterns, and sew alongs (for practical time-zone-related reasons!) that it would be nice to be part of a community of Irish amateur dressmakers. But maybe my expectations are too high. I have a few leads and will follow them later.

Sewing patterns

Wow! There I was thinking that sewing patterns were limited to

• Burda
• Butterick
• Simplicity
• New Look
• Vogue

Because that's more or less the supply in a Dublin shop (Hickey's); the only shop I know of in Dublin that stocks patterns. Murphy Sheehy fabric shop will order Vogue patterns.

But oh! My delight today in discovering other pattern brands / companies / drafters:

• Sewaholic
• Lisette
• Colette
• Sewing Workshop
• StyleArc (nice tunic dress with large pockets but postage from Australia is $16!!!)
• Anna Maria Horner
• Betty Kingston
• Megan Nielsen
• Sew Liberated
• Eva Dress - accurately reproduced vintage patterns
• Jamie Christina
• Ottobre magazine
• Farbenmix
• Make It Perfect
• Neue Mode
• HotPatterns
• Rebecca Ruth Designs
• Favourite Things
• Victory Patterns
• Modkid
• Jalie
• Marfy
• Fishsticks Designs
• Serendipity Studio
• Sis-Boom
• Indygo Junction
• Imagewear magazine
• Sewn Square One

Japanese (pattern books):

• Simple Chic Dress Patterns by Machiko Kayaki
• Feminine Wardrobe
• Stylish girls' clothes
• I Am Cute Dresses by Sato Watanabe
• Linen Wool Cotton by Akiko Mano
• Simple Modern Sewing: 8 basic patterns to create 25 favourite garments by Shufu To Seikatsu Sha

and for children only:

• Clever Charlotte
• Figgy's
• Peek-a-boo
• Oliver and S
• Leila and Ben
• Olabelhe
• Sewbaby
• The Handmade Dress
• Ellie Inspired
• Brynnberlee
• Frog Legs and Ponytails

Underwear:

• Danglez

Bags:

• Amy Butler
• Ali Foster
• I Think Sew (including shoes - for adults and kids - and bags)
• Artsy Crafty Babe (Rebeka Lambert)
• Keyka Lou / Michelle Patterns
• Lazy Girl Designs
• Studio Kat Designs
• Patterns by Annie (I chose the yoga bag as a lot of the others are very quilted-y)
• Atkinson Designs (bags and other 'projects')
• Betz White (I especially love the Sidekick Sling)
• Charlie's Aunt (esp. The Poacher's Bag; Melford Messenger)
• Hemma Design (lots of bicycle bags!)
• Make your day designs

I'm not really into quilting but Lizzie House's stuff impressed me.
Curious to know more about The Lutterloh System of pattern making.

Creativity in the Kitchen: Lemon Curd

Making home-made jams, chutneys, sauces etc isn't just about the cooking in my house, it's also about the labelling, the jars, the presentation of the finished product.

Thanks to Glenilen Farm for their lovely yogurts and the pots which I re-used.

The labels are too big and maybe should be written in yellow or the likes but I think the yellow paper ribbon sets off the finished product!

The information on the label is:

• my name / producer - Róisín's
• name of product - Lemon Curd
• ingredients - Lemons, Sugar, Butter, Eggs
• care instructions - Store in fridge
• use by date - 31 May 2012

My mam has a nice stamp which says "homemade by___". I don't know if computer printed labels or handwritten, or stamped are best. They could benefit from a little graphic design, I think! And maybe a picture of a lemon?!

The recipe was easy peasy but I haven't sampled it yet (they're still cooling). I love a recipe that's about "chemical process". At one point it looked impossibly runny but another 10 minutes on the heat and the consistency started getting thicker.

ingredient	cost
3 very large lemons	0.89
caster sugar (third of bag)	0.36
butter (used approx 1/4)	0.55
eggs (4/6 pack used)	1.39
total	€3.19

I filled 5 pots = 800g of finished produce!

There was one egg white left over. I whisked it up with 2oz of sugar and baked it at low heat.

Off I go now to have meringue with lemon curd, and yes, I think I will add a dollop of cream. Yum.

Dirk Wynants

When I posted about the Visit to The Design Museum in Gent, I mentioned I'd write more about the exhibition about Dirk Wynants.
I loved this product:

• Arthur

I liked this product:

• Picnik

And I kind of liked this one:

• Donut

I did not like this one:

• Kosmis 'oris

A kind of podium thing. Too "designery". Too "cool". A bare bulb? An overall unaesthetic shape. But I thought the internal step, the space for computer/notes to be hidden etc were good. Good ideas but badly manifested (in my opinion, of course, I think the Museum in Gent are very happy with it and they use it for launches and speeches).

But back to my very favourite of Dirk Wynants designs for the Extremis range: Arthur.

Arthur is a fold-up / flat-pack table that can be put together temporarily for a dinner party. Move the usual, regular, day-to-day bits of furniture and life aside, and fill the room with a table for friends and food. Everybody can have a large dinner party!
Comes in three different sizes for 8 or 10 or 12 people.
And the centre circular plate rotates (which I love and experienced in Cairo for eating mezze).

Sewing "cake" or "frosting"

Reading another blog about sewing, the blogger, Tasia, discusses her concept of "frosting" and "cake" and how she much prefers sewing frosting.
She puts it much better than I ever will! And you can find her post here.
Put simply:

• frosting = fancy dresses, beautiful fabrics, lushness, showing-off, fun and frolics
• cake = jeans or black skirt, for example. the sensible, classic items of clothing that form staples in a wardrobe.

As a designer, I think I'm ALL about the cake!!! I don't go for frills and decoration for the sake of it, I want my core object to be beautiful and practical and wearable and interesting. 

I wonder what my favourite cake is...? I do love lemon drizzle.

I certainly and absolutely prefer a soft lemony sugary cake to a cupcake, for example, which is normally all sponge and mostly sugar-coated excessive swirl of excessive coloured sugary cone on top.

My reason for sewing is to make wearable unique clothes that suit my style and my shape. I have no desire to be a couture fashion designer or be on the catwalks. If my friends come to me with fabric and an idea, and I can produce an outfit, I'll be happy!

Easter Egg

I received a gorgeous Easter Egg this year. And - after opening it - realised how well produced / designed the egg and packaging were, hand-in-hand.

• Firstly, the circular tube + the base of the chocolate egg: the chocolate base is poured to just the right diameter to fit in the tube. The base keeps the egg steady in the packaging.

• Secondly, there is a hole in the back. At first I thought it was useful for getting out the little chocolates (theegg is full to the brim of little chocolates!) but then, of course, I realised the reason for this hole wasforgetting the little chocolates into the big egg in the first place!

• And thirdly, the chocolatier's name was displayed on the front of the chocolate egg in a square of chocolate dyed red. Yum!

The chocolate is delicious. Thank you, Monsieur Pierre Marcolini and, indeed the aunt who presented me with it ;)

Design Museum Gent

During a Month in Europe, I made a day-trip from Brussels to Gent.

Gent is a very picturesque city - quite Dutch with it's canals and bicylclists. It was very cold when we were there and not the most comfortable to walk around. We went to the Design Museum first but decided not grab lunch before heading in to the exhibitions. Nothing worse than an empty stomach + trying to take in what a museum has to offer (well ok, there are many many worse things...)

The guy at the desk was odd. He never gave us tickets although we paid, nor a map of the building. And pointed us in the direction of the cloakroom. We then entered into some period-style decorated rooms, a tour of which brought us back to the foyer and the ticket-man. Utterly confused, we wondered if we should cross the hallway and go through a passageway marked with a do-not-enter symbol. Perhaps the "do-not-enter-ness" applied if you hadn't yet bought your ticket...?!

We overheard a French couple being told the way... and on we went...

Much of the museum is housed in the rear building behind the courtyard. A modern insert behind an old facade. Apparently the floor is hydraulic and can be adjusted depending on the items being exhibited - a two-storey boat, I assume! Or a dinosaur...!

The permanent exhibition focusses very much on style - Art Nouveau, Rococco, Art Deco. This is not my own personal strong point. Historic referencing. Nor is it something I am interested in. Style and Period and School. Bah.

There were two temporary exhibitions which we visited: 'Design Works?' - a collection of the designed products by Dirk Wynants and 'Eternal Spring' - Barbara Nanning's glass sculptures.

We think, although it is not listed in the exhibition, and we somehow missed it on our walkabout in the galleries, that there was also an exhibition on Tablewear. Qui sait. As I said, this museum is not the easiest to manoevre about.

The Dirk Wynants exhibition started very bizarrely with an information board telling the story of how much globes meant to this person. No introduction about who the person is. I felt it was a marketing exercise for this designer. A chance to justify his designs and "explain" them. I think I will do a separate blog post about what I liked about his work and the pieces I liked.

Barbara Nanning's objects made me think that there is a distinction between creating or artistry and being a designer. I think "design" must define a separation between thinker and maker. The designer must communicate ideas through drawings or models or verbal instructions and someone else then produces the finished product as closely, hopefully, to the intentions and 'vision' of the designer. I think that is where the magic or the mystery occurs. In laying down the ideas, in describing them, and in their interpretation. There is a process of:

• client describes brief
• designer interprets brief and describes solution
• workmen produce solution
• client lives with the production

That process, I think now, is what fascinates me about "Design".

And not to confuse the issue too much, but always there is another element to the process:

• consumption

It also fascinates me that the client and their brief, for example "I need to buy a draining board rack", can be influenced by so many factors to do with marketing and shopping experience, and branding, and cost... whereas designers are influenced by creating a piece that is... what? dramatic? useful? etc... and how, in real life, do these needs collide?

To be continued....!!!

Oh - to conclude re the Design Museum in Gent. I saw some Lalique glass. A vase. And am fascinated to see more of his work.

I think Design Museums are tricky. Are they aimed at the general public? At designers? At creating awareness of "design" - etc. I think of the museum in London which Terence Conran was involved with and the wonderful museum in New York.