Making a quilted voile Ogden Cami

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Making a quilted voile Ogden Cami

A little bit of 18th century Provence

A spinkle of Alabama Chanin style

An echo of Sashiko

A twist of Danish flare……..

That sounds a bit of a concoction doesn’t it?! Hi there, glad you’ve landed here today as I have an interesting dressmaking project to tell you about, which was in short, an experimental idea using a trusted pattern. The inspiration, as you can see, came from all sorts of different sources and spun around in my mind over a few months until it fused together to become this idea. I had no idea if it would work and maybe the jury is still out on that one, but it is so fun to experiment with stitch and texture and well, anyhow, I will let you be the judge of it.

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Making the Hinterland Dress (but really the #OutlanderObessed Dress)

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Making the Hinterland Dress (but really the #OutlanderObessed Dress)

Hello and welcome to a New Year on the blog. I hope you will join me in my sewing adventures this year and to start things up, I am putting another item into Ruby’s wardrobe of extraordinarily pretty things. As a novice dressmaker, I am slow and a bit sceptical about making my own clothes, but you don’t know until you try and my quest to find clothes that I like (as a 57 year old) and that fit me (as a 57 year old) is never going to be easy. The Hinterland Dress by Sew Liberated often pops up on my instagram feed and it looked like the kind of easy wear dress that would be good in winter or summer weight fabric.

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Breakfast at Tiffany's : A new Literary Thread

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Breakfast at Tiffany's : A new Literary Thread

After ’Pride and Prejudice’ and ‘Little Women’, I felt it was time for something a little bit more modern and Breakfast at Tiffany’s was my daughter’s suggestion. What is it with being 20 something and Holly Golightly?!!!! Of course it was an absolute pleasure to work on and I am thrilled with the result. I think it turned out to be a thoroughly contemporary design …..

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Yumiko Higuchi embroidery books

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Yumiko Higuchi embroidery books

I am a complete nut for japanese sewing books…I have quite a collection, can’t understand a word of them, but drool endlessly over the clean, spacious, photographs that make my heart beat faster. I suppose it’s the fascination of a different approach to things that you find in cultures other than your own, that is really the attraction, but I think it goes further than that with me. Years ago when we were on an overseas posting in Moscow, I was lucky enough to host a weekly class on Russian embroidery, taught by a real master of the art, Lydia Ivanova. This class was run by the International Women’s Club and was open to all nationalities and indeed all nationalities came. I loved the international flavour of this group, but it was always the Japanese ladies who fascinated me the most. Neat and petite, their immaculate appearance was mirrored in their approach to needlework. They always had beautifully tidy organiser boxes of threads, colour coded and labelled. Their work was perfect and delicate and almost ethereal. They were quiet and calm and measured and very studious in their approach to this new form of embroidery.

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A return to Needlepoint (with a little help from Anna Maria Horner)

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A return to Needlepoint (with a little help from Anna Maria Horner)

It is so good to revisit something in needlework that you had all but forgotten and to find that there is a whole new and modern world going on with it. Needlepoint might be a centuries old pastime but it is really a glorious thing.

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Swimming Days embroidery pattern

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Swimming Days embroidery pattern

What strange and difficult times we live in with this cover 19 lockdown. I know it is hard for so many people, but am heartened by the wave of creativity that is popping up everywhere. Perhaps some small and good things will come from this pandemic and if people find time to pick up some stitching rediscover the art of ‘making’ even if it is a small project. Creating something hand made is so special and I thank everyone who has bought my patterns and kits over these last weeks and am thrilled to have sent little parcels of Ruby’s designs to as far away as New Zealand and California.

Two of my patterns ‘Skiing Days’ and ‘Skating Days’ have been really popular so I decided it was time to switch to a more warm weather theme and the new design ‘Swimming Days’ is certainly that.

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Little Women Embroidery Pattern - a new Literary Thread

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Little Women Embroidery Pattern - a new Literary Thread

Hi there, I do hope you are doing ok in these difficult days. For creative spirits it is not as bad as for a lot of people and I wanted to thank everyone who has ordered patterns and kits recently and I hope maybe out there are a few new converts to the lovely world of sewing. I’ve been a bit slow with my new pattern because there has been so much going on, but finally the next in my series of Literary Threads is ready to share. I may have mentioned in an earlier post, how enamoured I was with the new movie version of ‘Little Women’, so it was almost a given that I would chose it for the next bookish pattern.

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Making a capsule wardrobe of extraordinarily pretty things

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Making a capsule wardrobe of extraordinarily pretty things

Recently I went to see the film ‘Little Women’ (twice). Have you seen it? It is Greta Gerwig’s new interpretation of the novel and I loved every second of it. In fact I was so enamoured of it that it plunged me into the world I used to inhabit as a teenager of Victorian style fantasy. I always desperately wished that I could wear the clothes of days gone by when women looked like women and wore what I may describe as ‘extraordinarily pretty things’. I remember when we were over the US a few years ago and we took the kids to Gettysburg. Driving away from it, I saw a shop selling civil war costumes - Scarlett O’hara style for sure. Oh how I wanted a crinoline dress. My husband laughed ‘what on earth would you do with it… wear it do the washing up???’ Of course he is right - I am neither actress or a drama queen. But after seeing ‘Little Women’, I saw lots of ideas that could easily be adapted to today’s wardrobe, which in my case, would absolutely have to include jeans.

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Literary Threads No. 1 : Jane Austen embroidery pattern

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Literary Threads No. 1 : Jane Austen embroidery pattern

One of the projects I am working on this year is a series of embroidery patterns based on famous books or authors. I am a bit of a nut for books and just love curling up with a good read and a quilt. I always loved to read as a child and a lot of my favourite books go way way back. I first read Jane Austen in my early teens and have always loved the dramatisations and films that have regularly graced the screen. Such is our thirst for her stories and insights that the latest adaptation of ‘Sandition’ was in fact an unfinished novel. The fact that Ms. Austen has finally made her way on the £10 note is testament alone to her standing in the world of literature and an acknowledgement of her well deserved place in our national conscience. Why is it that her writings still have such popular appeal today?

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New Pattern - Skating Days

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New Pattern - Skating Days

Frosty mornings are here and all things winter are here too. My latest embroidery pattern is full of winter sparkle and icy charm. I am actually thrilled to bits with how this turned out and perhaps more especially because it was inspired by a vintage piece of Russian embroidery….a real gem, picked up at the arts and crafts market in Moscow called ‘Izmayilova’.

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New Embroidery Pattern : Ski Days

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New Embroidery Pattern : Ski Days

As the colder weather encroaches it is lovely to sit by the fire with the some hand stitching and this little project has been so much fun. I know it has been quite a while since I posted a new pattern and this is in part because I have been thinking hard about what direction to take my work in. I often worry that I have such a mish-mash of stuff going on and perhaps it is time to focus things a little. I have always wanted to make embroidery modern and more fun and perhaps more enticing for young people. My daughter inspired this design with a sketch … new to skiing, she is totally smitten and it seems to me that for youngsters it is really a wonderful holiday. I had already decided to make a ‘skating days’ design (more about that to come) so skiing is a natural partner for a new pair of designs.

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NEW PATTERN & KIT : An Embroidered Diamonds Scarf

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NEW PATTERN & KIT : An Embroidered Diamonds Scarf

So after a bit of a break, I am thrilled to present my new embroidery pattern and kit. The ‘Embroidered Diamonds Scarf’ is just the tonic for spring days and it’s a versatile project to make and add to your wardrobe. When I first began to do embroidery, one of the first things I made was an embroidered wool scarf. I like things to be useful and pretty and this is definitely both.

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