Sew far, sew good

Over the Easter break, Looking Our Best (LOB) nearly choked on her chocolate egg while reading one of the 'quality' newspapers. The affront was over a TV review with the following claim:  “No-one in Europe under 50 sews, or wants to…”  The critic was referring to the new series, The Great British Sewing Bee, which started this week on BBC Two.  But much worse were his criticisms about the presenters of this show’s predecessor, The Great British Bake-Off,  as being old (Mary Berry) and fat (Paul Hollywood).  

Well, how dare anyone considered old or overweight be allowed on television –  really, what is the BBC coming to? 

Amy Butler's simple ruffled scarf

Seriously, the review was also about how old-hat, so to speak, the notion of a programme celebrating DIY crafts is. (LOB would wager a bet that this same reviewer spends a small fortune on his artisan fondant fancies, and hand-made shirts, yet scorns the idea of anyone actually taking time out to learn or indulge these skills.) Sure, we have time-saving gadgets galore, and information available at the tap of a fingertip.  But with the economy banjaxed, the weather rotten, and wallets emptier than an episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, the nation can do with a comforting, nostalgic bail-out now and then.

All of this is by way of introducing this week’s post celebrating ye olde craffte of home sewing. LOB believes it’s our current time-poor culture, not age,  that holds us back.  That, and perhaps a lack of basic skills. And a sewing machine.  Modern sewing machines are a far cry from the designs of old which were so large, they were actual items of furniture. IKEA has a lightweight and basic design for around the €55 mark that will sit easily on your kitchen table.  And while you're browsing around the store, the range of Scandinavian designed textiles here will surely inspire you on to DIY home furnishing. The simplest thing of all to brighten up a room after the long winter, and for a novice to make,  is a wall-hanging, tablecloth or light bedspread – basically a length of fabric which can be neatly hemmed all around. From that, graduate to making a simple cushion cover, and hey presto, you’re off.

Patterned cushions and fabric bags by Amy Butler 

 Hemming, like sewing on a button,  is a skill everyone should have, young or old, male or female.  You know the scenario, you’ve found a garment that is almost perfect – if only it was a little longer/shorter?  There are online tutorials for basic sewing skills, while most fabric stores can supply information on sewing classes available locally. LOB’s current favourite fabric outlet is The Cloth Shop, brimful of dress and furnishing materials, as well as haberdashery. 

An old favourite is the family run Murphy Sheehy, who has been supplying Dublin dressmakers and upholsterers with keenly priced fabrics since the 1940s. Likewise,  Hickey Fabrics stores stock a wide collection, including their printed cotton craft materials which make the most colourful simple summer bags and cushion covers. World -famous Liberty fabrics can be ordered on line if you are in the mood for delicate cotton lawn in retro prints.  Worth checking out for beautiful trimmings is A Rubenesque in Powerscourt Townhouse Centre – great for simple but appealing ideas on customising a plain garment.  

Truly inspirational is the online site of Amy Butler, where you can even download free sewing patterns, as well as avail of helpful tips. 

Summer coat in Sandalwood print

This advocator all things sewing- related designs sumptuous fabrics which can be used for a variety of items to easily make.  Illustrated at the top of this post is Amy’s simple but effective ruffled scarf.  There are also patterned cushions and roomy tote bags (above left).  For the more adventurous needlewoman, check out the Sandalwood print lightweight reversible coat (pictured right) made up in her bright Rowan design.

All information on online purchases, as well stockists, and a sewing forum are available on her site.

As for the notion that sewing (and a television programme on same) is only of interest to Older People, that tv pundit should trying telling that to young fashion and textile students in art colleges, and hip twenty-something blogging on sewing forums.

Too old, eh?  
The little sew-and-sew....

Spring is the new Winter

There’s a big reason why Greenland hasn’t produced a Karl Lagerfeld.  
 It’s also the reason your style blogger has been trudging to work in the same dark, winters’ garb for what feels like a millenia. Freezing cold weather and getting dolled up to the nines don’t mix, especially when you are of the, ahem, more mature end of the age spectrum and wearing so many layers you can no longer bend your arms and legs. Despite the danger of wandering into the seniors' fashion wasteland of ‘cosy knits’, Looking Our Best finally threw her woolly hat at the whole style thing last week and wore her Christmas jumper to the office. But with Easter just days away, the prospect of guzzling chocolate eggs whilst wearing a reindeer patterned gansay feels just plain wrong.

The Audrey coat, new from Jigsaw

As the snow falls outside, LOB is wont to drift into a reverie….  While still a nipper growing up in the 60s, this would traditionally be the time of year to cast off the winter coat for something lighter in weight and colour. Church on Easter Sunday was very much a dressy-up affair back then. Although family style didn't quite go to the extreme of an Easter bonnet, a pastel coloured mac, or as LOB’s late mama often referred to it - a duster coat - was the stylish mid-decade cover-up over that first lightweight dress. Duster coats were very loose fitting, A-line or swing shaped, with pockets,  three-quarter length sleeves, and either edge to edge, or simple button fastening.  Big sister would be a la mode in a creaky plastic mac, with op art accessories. There was also a trend for two tone macs (most likely in Terylene) with an iridescence that shaded to different colours in the light. The opposite spring alternative to these was the more defined shape of the double breasted trench coat with belt, referred to in LOB’s distant school days by the generic term ‘gabardine’ (in reference to the fabric).

Old style habits die hard, so despite the prospect of a white Easter, this week’s post contemplates a revival of the lighter weight spring coat.

Top of the bunch is Jigsaw’s white 'Audrey' design, very much in keeping with the aforementioned duster coat of the 50s and 60s, with round collar, glossy buttons and simple shape.   Also from this label is the London Trench,

The London Trench look from Jigsaw

a much simpler version of the classic mac in bonded cotton.  Mail order company Boden  have several variations on the Spring coat, such as Florentine, a cotton/linen mix style with lace bodice detail and slightly gathered waist, available in white and navy.  Toast has also channeled the classic duster coat style in their over-sized shower resistant Lana raincoat with chambray lining and bracelet length sleeves. Reiss describe their Spring coat

Blush pink mac from Reiss

as ‘Tudor fit’ which thankfully doesn’t mean Henry V111 style shoulders but is actually a blush pink affair in cotton with nipped waist and asymmetric fastening. 

Still on a regal theme, the ‘Imperial’ trench coat from Hobbs  
 is more figure flattering than the bulkier traditional trench, plus it comes in a feelgood sorbet red. These styles all look great, but  

even though the clocks are going forward this weekend, LOB is wondering if us grown-ups really have to switch to a mac?  
Especially now Spring is the new Winter ….

In Spring, the grown woman's thoughts turn to (Mad) Men

Brrrrr. Looking Our Best (LOB) is way too cold to rustle up much enthusiasm over new season collections. Gazing at rails of sleeveless blouses and bum-freezing dresses feels ridiculous while shuffling around the stores clad in full Inuit rigout topped with a domestic water tank lagging jacket. The calendar says Spring, but it’s still November on LOB’s radar.

But hello! Here are words to bring warmth to LOB’s chilly heart:  Mad Men Season 6 returns to our telly screens on 10^th April. To paraphrase Shelley, if Mad Men comes,  can Spring be far behind? (This blog is so classy, you even get poetic references thrown in). 

Series creator Matthew Weiner promises this new season will be “very much a reflection of the period that we chose”.  1968 is the year in question,  so will we see Don sporting a kaftan, Pete with with an Afro? LOB has also been musing on which looks the award-winning show’s costume designer, Janie Bryant, will adopt for the lead female characters. What Joan, Betty and Peggy (and laterally, the new Mrs Don Draper, Megan)

 wear plays a significant part in communicating each character’s role and personality. Bryant could well direct her sharp style gaze towards Ossie Clark. His signature look of the period was bias cut dresses in gossamer chiffon topped with huge floppy hats. When Clark married textile designer Celia Birtwell in 1968, they virtually became fashion royalty. The couple are immortalised in David Hockney’s painting, Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy, 

and it remains one of the most visited works in Tate Britain. Clark was killed by his gay ex-lover in 1996, but now the Designers at Debenhams range includes a new collection this season bearing the iconic Ossie Clark London label, designed by Nic Georgiou. The perfect excuse, then,  to indulge in nostalgia for sixties style and pick looks from the current label for those Mad Men women.

Joanie may now be the all-woman partner in the all-male management world of SCDP, but something tells us she won’t be donning the pin striped suiting anytime soon. This black and orange print dress, being bias cut, easily accommodates womanly curves. As Celia Birtwell once said “Women felt pretty (in Ossie’s designs). His dresses were never vulgar or rude.” Perfect for our Joanie, then.

We really hope that desperate housewife Betty has stopped gorging on the leftovers, forsaken the nylon housecoat,  and headed to the nearest fashion boutique instead. This dreamy blue and grey printed chiffon maxi dress with bell sleeves could catch former hubby Don’s roving eye again.

Love her or loathe her, aspiring thespian Megan and chanteuse of the cringing Zou Bisou Bisou, has been the most fashion-forward of the Mad Men women so far. 

Channelling the military styles favoured by the King’s Road set in this royal blue Belsize jacket and print Oxford trousers could be right up the rebellious Mrs Draper’s street. 

Of course Peggy is the real creative force behind SCDP’s best campaigns, and that has finally been recognised by a rival agency. 

As trouser suits became a strong trend in the sixties, she could look the business in this black scalloped edge Kensington jacket and matching trousers -  and without a backward glance to Pete and his Sugarberry Hams and Secore Laxatives. 

All clothes from Ossie Clark London at Debenhams