One Stitch At A Time
This post was born out of a throwaway comment that was directed at me recently: “sewing is a bit of an anti-feminist hobby, isn’t it?”. When I recovered from the initial shock of such an uninformed and uninvited opinion, I was not shy of explaining why this person were wrong in their rude assumption… I […]
In L. M. Montgomery’s 1908 novel, Anne of Green Gables, Anne Shirley dreams of owning a puff-sleeved dress. Set in the late 1800s, puff sleeves were the height of fashion and Anne’s longing for a puff sleeved dress speaks to her desire to fit in with all the other girls. Much to her disappointment, Marilla […]
This post was originally written for and published on the Sew Anonymous Sewist Blog. It’s mental health awareness week; my mental health and self-worth has always been linked to my weight. I have not always been comfortable with or accepting of my body. I was the chubby child who became the early developer with curves […]
I’ve always been fascinated by the ‘wild women’ of history – the women who broke the mould, challenged hegemony and refused to recognise limits; the writers and the artists, not least among them the iconic Frida Kahlo.
In Part One of this blog, I brought you a brief rundown of the symbolic significance of the cherry in culture from Medieval times to recent days. Fashion exists within that culture and so does the meaning of the fashion choices we make. As part of the #FruitSaladSewing challenge hosted by Yvette (@blossomsandwich) my plans are to sew up some cherry print. That could say a lot about me…
I was writing a short piece on cherry print in fashion (as I’m sewing with it for the #FruitSaladSewing challenge) but I could not resist a short cultural contextualisation of the cherry in history. I’ve made it a preamble to the fashion history blog post incase you don’t share my enthusiasm for art history and literature.
I really love this challenge Yvette (@blossomsandwich) has been hosting on Instagram (you can join in by using the hashtag #FruitSaladSewing). It got me thinking about how fruit has featured in fashion, historically. Fruit prints have been really popular over the last few years, instigated by a fruity revival on catwalks over the last couple […]
I’ve discovered a real love of the square neckline so I’ve chosen 15 of my favourite patterns to share with you. The original list had almost 40 and it was no mean feat creating this short list. If you manage to get to the end of the list you’ll find a self-indulgent (but brief) history of the square neckline in fashion.
There are so many great women who have made a difference, many of whom were women of the needle and I thought, given the day it is, I would round up some of the most interesting stories about notable seamstresses I have come across in my reading. Happy International Women’s Day Elizabeth Keckley Elizabeth Keckley […]
Happy International Women’s Day to all my sister sewists! This has always a day that has made me pause to reflect on women’s progress and admire the accomplishments of so many women past and present. This year, my thoughts have got a little more specific and have brought me to my hobby – sewing. For […]