hometown tourist: Upfest 2016

 My eyeballs are still reeling from the weekend, in the best possible way. 

Upfest, a live street art festival (apparently Europe's biggest), was right on my doorstep in Bristol so I took a wide-eyed wander round. 

Saturday afternoon, the sun was blazing, ice cream vans were out and so many artists were busy creating. There's something pretty magical about seeing beautiful things progressing right in front of you. I love gawping at people's WIPs (hello, Instagram) any day of the week, but one dedicated weekend where it all happens live? That's pretty cool. Count me in.

I'm a real sucker for illustration, so I enjoyed seeing this mind-boggling Russian doll by Liz Clayton materializing. Note: she wasn't the only one whose outfit coordinated with their work! 

Add of course I tracked down some yarn. Can I say life goals? This embroidery in the wild by Danielle Clough is the best thing ever. I'm so pleased I came across her work. She stitches seriously beautiful stuff. Makes a girl wanna pack up her own suitcase full of yarn, right?

Some of the other enchanting things I spotted included pugs, children spray painting a car, Skeletor riding a banana (a painting) and an IRL glitter beard. I mean, am I the only one who thought they just didn't exist outside of Pinterest? Sadly no pictorial evidence of said be-sparkled facial hair was obtained - we chickened out of asking for a pic!

So much colour, vibrancy and inspiration. I basically know nothing about street art, so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, but I will say that I'll be back next year for more colour-fuelled gawpings. With bells on. Nice one, Bristol. 

Have you encountered anything awesome in your hometown lately?

Hello 2015

2015 has fallen, clean like a fresh covering of snow or a swimming pool before the first dip of the first toe. The start of a new year is a good time to take stock of the last. 2014, you're worth remembering. 

Firsts: anniversary, swing dance class, shawl, mittens, package holiday, supergroup gig, commute, sailing class, migraine, using airplane bathroom, run on the beach, interview, punt, eye test, dry cleaning, moussaka, sleepwalking, liking Taylor Swift, emergency passport.

There were weddings, baptisms, prayers, a funeral, job changes, laughter, sadness, silly dancing, sage cupcakes, train journeys, tears, new adventures, old routines, bad habits, favourite books, no haircuts and an unspeakable amount of peppermint tea. My highlights were celebrating a first anniversary with Mr P, exploring new places with my best girlies and feeding a baby alpaca. 

I've had a look back at what I wrote this time last year and it seems I did in fact meet a couple of my goals for 2014. I did start running again and I did crochet a blanket (it just needs joining. That still totally counts, right?). I'm still working on becoming a morning person. This year I want to pray harder, love deeper, be grateful, be kinder to my body, knit a pair of socks and write something that means something. That's enough to be getting on with, isn't it? 

Do you have goals for 2015? 

Embroidering again!

Hey folks, hope you've had or are still enjoying a blessed and peaceful Christmas period with your loved ones. We've been catching up with family, eating roughly our own weight in cheese and marvelling at the unseasonable sunshine (no snow to be seen in the South West as yet!) 

But just before Christmas I excitedly attended the beautiful wedding of a dear friend. And of course a wedding means Becca gets crafty. Only this time the needle I reached for wasn't a knitting needle, oh no. I stretched some polka dots over a hoop and set about stitching a sweet monogram embroidery hoop for the happy couple. 

Since finishing my textiles degree two years ago (crikey, that long ago already?), I hadn't so much as threaded a needle. I'm definitely more of a yarn gal these days, but making this hoop reminded me how much I love hand embroidery. I like the slow, stitch by stitch pace and how it really is just like drawing. My precious pal Letty is a dab hand at these sort of things and recommended that I draw out my design onto tissue paper, trap it in the hoop over the fabric and stitch through it. Let me tell you, it worked a treat. I was able to place the design exactly where I wanted it and avoided the inaccuracy and pitfalls of trying to draw directly on the fabric (I'm so not ready for that). Plus, I could tear away the tissue paper with a triumphant flourish at the end, like removing a dome from a silver platter. 

The final hoop is a lot simpler than the initial design I had in my head, but a cute heart-shaped button and a scalloped crochet edge (took absolutely ages but was totally worth it) made it pretty enough. I was glad I had made something special for a special day. I think I'll be embroidering again soon. 

MimiBespoke: I Couldn't Make Without...

The lady herself, rocking a tricorne hat like it's nobody's business. Photo by Joanna Jacobs.

Fashion design, pattern cutting, sewing and millinery, is there anything Emily can't do? The super-talented creative madam behind MimiBespoke talks weddings, Grace Kelly and Japanese style.

Hey Emily, can you tell us about what you make and how you got started? 

"I make garments and hair accessories for everyday wear and occasions such as weddings. My designs often stem from period fashion, mainly the Victorian and Rococo eras. I think to look forward in fashion we need to look back at those times with fresh eyes and create something elegant and new. I mainly make bespoke wear for clients, but I do have a stock of ready-to-ship garments and accessories too. 

 I've always been creative and liked making things, and my mum taught me the basics of sewing and how to cut dresses and outfits. I've never been a fashion follower per say, but I've always had my own style and I was able to make the dresses I wanted, with my mum's help.

I studied art and design at the Arts Institute in Bournemouth, which is now called the Arts University of Bournemouth. That's where I got my first taste of historical and theatrical garments. I was fortunate enough to do work experience with the costume department of the university. I fell in love with costume and wanted to create those beautiful garments and see them up on stage.  My love of theatre and film has not diminished, even though I have taken a different turn and gone down the fashion route rather than the costume route. Isn’t fashion a form of costuming anyway, as we all wear a style to convey who we are? I chose the fashion route because I feared losing my love of theatre. I've seen what it does to people with my own eyes when they work from morning till night on a production! Also because I met my lovely husband and a life in the theatre is not always a good one for relationships, especially if the other half is a chef! After uni, I went to work in a bespoke bridal salon where I cut all the wedding dresses out for 18 months. I learnt a lot from my time there about cutting. All of these stepping stones are what have got me on the road to starting my own bespoke occasion wear line. I was very fortunate to find what I enjoyed most and what I was best at from a young age.

Victorian-inspired dress and fascinator. Photo by Poole Portraits.

You have such a variety of fab designs, what inspires you? 

Lots of different things inspire me! I'm always researching different eras, at the moment I am loving 1920s and 30s fashion - its simple elegance really stands out. Other things that inspire me are art and theatre, nature and Japan. I love Japanese fashion, it's so fun and fresh but also draws inspiration from the past. In Japan, it's not about blending in but standing out and showing your personality. 

A 1930's-inspired bias cut gown from her new collection. Sigh. Photo by Emily. 

How do you stay motivated? 

What keeps me motivated is my clients, finished garments and how happy they are wearing the garment on their special day or event they are involved in. It gives a sense of accomplishment. The other things that keep me motivated are learning new skills and experimenting, I have been working on and off now for a year on fascinators and period style hats. I have done courses in millinery and I hope to do more, I love learning new skills and improving the ones I have. The best feeling is looking back at your work and seeing how far you have come in the last year.

You've made some really stunning gowns. What's been your proudest making moment?

 It's hard to say. I'm generally proud of my work because I put a lot of effort and time into each piece, with the help of my business partner. If I were to pick just one dress, it would be the one I made for a client the summer just gone, it was a beautiful vintage-style dress. It reminded me of Grace Kelly, it was demure but sophisticated and suited the bride perfectly. 

Endless lace and tiny buttons? Umm, yes please. 

And finally, what is the one thing that you simply couldn't make without?

 It would have to be a good pair of sharp scissors, without accurate cutting you can’t make a perfectly fitting dress. The cut is the most important aspect of the garment, if that's not right then the rest of the garment will not go together easily and will not look as beautiful as it should."

Gah! So fabulous. MimiBespoke is on Facey B at https://www.facebook.com/Mimibespoke so you can see what Emily's been stitching and snapping lately. I'm off to gawp at her gowns and appreciate my scissors.

craft guilt and hitting snooze

Convinced I would have the best dreams were this my bed!  It's from this post.  

I must admit, I'm in a bit of creative rut and am really struggling to finish anything.  I'm working full time.  Now that I'm focussed on one thing instead of juggling three, why has crafting fallen by the wayside?  I'm trying to figure out how I can max out the time between crawling out of bed and crawling back into it.  I even attempted my first ever run the other day.  Things are getting serious.  

What's the secret, ladies?  Do I need to just sometimes be okay with the neglected embroidery, the unwritten stories and half-finished blanket?  Perhaps they'll be better in their own sweet time anyway.  

How do you deal with craft guilt, and make time for making? 

Dissertation Survival #3: taking tea

"Tea passed pleasantly, and nobody seemed in a hurry to move."

Emma

Jane Austen

I can't seem to achieve anything significant without a dosage of tea.  As my house mates would attest, some of my best work this term was done in an Earl Grey-fuelled haze.  All of a sudden my flask became a handbag essential and an invaluable library companion.   

When you reach that point when sleeping isn't an option anymore, you just need to power through and get some words down, that's teatime.  Sometimes you have to crawl out of the dissertation den and get a brew on.  

A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate enough to go and hide from my deadlines in the beautiful surroundings of Bea's Vintage Tearooms.  (Bathonians  - they've popped up next to the Assembly Rooms).  Charming red-lipsticked staff, and lovely tea and cake served on pristine vintage china.  And they didn't mind me doing a bit of knitting.  Go, feast, try the orange cake.     

The tea ensemble, complete with sugar tongs/nippers/nips.
Just don't make the mistake I did by googling sugar nips.  Yikes.

If you can find a dapper chap to pour for you, that's 10 tea points!

 There's something undeniably soothing about the ceremony of taking tea, the quiet symphony of spoon against cup and the brushing of crumbs.  

It was so good to take a break.  Now back to the books/ sewing! 

hocus crocus

Today I went through the park to get to the arts campus and saw the first proud blooms of the crocuses and early narcissus. The first hints of spring are always so precious and exciting, I can't help feeling they should be documented in some way.   Not having a camera handy, I thought I'd share these crocus inspired embroidery samples from last year.  I reckon spring could well be on it's way, at last! 

I'm looking forward to hanging the laundry outside, swapping my winter coat for a trench and seeing the new lambs up on campus.

What do you love about spring?

Wobbly ribbon and French knots

Chain stitch and scraps of tulle

the power of glove

Ventured to the Fashion Museum again last week, all in the name of research.  It paid off too.  I came across these stunning 17th Century gloves.  These richly embellished beauties were worn only for portraits or visits to court.  As a girl who's now on her fourth pair of  gloves this winter, I was glad they were safely behind glass.  Imagine losing one of those!

I drew for quite a while before scampering off for coffee.  The plan is to get a fresh sketchbook and head back there.  So much to be drawn.  In the meantime, here are my scribbles. 

What's made you grab a pen this week?

Sewing, snoods and other magic

This week: my internship turned festive (see above), there were handmade treats in the post from Gina (see below) . . .

Look - aposable thumbs!  Perhaps they will save me from this yellow wall . . .

and I finally finished the snood 2.0!  Huzzah!

For the pattern check out this blog post.  I used size 10 needles, cast on an extra 10 stitches at the beginning and worked six more rows at the end. It's super cosy and Nan friendly.  One Christmas present down, heaps more to go. 

What's been magical in your week?

To embroiderererererer er?

I don't know how things ever get done. Necessity has dictated that I take embroidery with me everywhere. This has so far included the uni bus, Emily's kitchen and the pub. I have been too frantic to notice anyone's reations!

This will be a recurring theme, having realised that it is the 1st of December, and consequentially, I am hidiously behind on knitting, cards, shopping, writing, sewing, jewellery making, and am still lacking in genius ideas. Also, I can't find the pack of 50 envelopes I bought last week, and I seem to be either allergic to something in the flat, or have something very wrong with my eyes. On the plus side, I got away with using the word 'fug' in writing, as apparantly, Plath once did in a poem. Excellent.

Now, off to photocopy some ribbons.