1

2

A Bustle & Sew Publication

Copyright © Bustle & Sew Limited 2013

The right of Helen Dickson to be identified as theauthor of this work has been asserted inaccordance with the Copyright, Designs andPatents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publicationmay be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system ortransmitted in any form, or by any means, withoutthe prior written permission of the author, nor beotherwise circulated in any form of binding orcover other than that in which it is published andwithout a similar condition being imposed on thesubsequent purchaser.

Every effort has been made to ensure that all theinformation in this book is accurate. However,due to differing conditions, tools and individualskills, the publisher cannot be responsible for anyinjuries, losses and other damages that may resultfrom the use of the information in this book.

First published 2013 by:Bustle & SewCoombe LeighChillingtonKingsbridgeDevon TQ7 2LEUK

www.bustleandsew.com

Visit the Bustle & Sew website to learn more

www.bustleandsew.com/magazine

3

Hello,

And welcome to the July 2013 issue of the Bustle & Sew Magazine. Thisis the first of the new-style issues, including not only the usual six Bustle& Sew patterns, but also a wider range of articles making it a good read (Ihope!) as well as a useful resource.

Notes from a Devon Village Page 4

Embroidered Daisies Cushion Page 6

Preserving Summer’s Beauty Page 13

A Taste of Summer Applique Page 17

The Colour Red Page 23

Flying Pigs Page 26

Talking About Typography Page 30

Summer Days Tote Bag Page 33

Vintage Roses Sampler Page 40

About Bunnies Vintage Images Page 44

Life in the Slow Lane: Simple Stitchery Page 45

Recipe Corner Page 49

Paper Dolls Page 51

Guardsman George Page 52

Herb Garden in Summer Page 57

This month will see the birth of the new Royal baby and, rather than theusual baby items, I thought I’d celebrate with my first-ever Bustle & Sew

rag doll - the first in a new series of Moppet Dolls. This one’s Guardsman George - a great playmatefor every little prince or princess whether Royal or not!

You’ll also discover the Summer Days tote bag with its evocative text, and a little about typography too- I know I learned a lot whilst researching that article! There’s also my new recipe corner and lots moreas well.

If you’ve any comments or suggestions about the new content, then please do let me know, I’d love tohear your thoughts. Next month’s issue will have a definite coastal theme and is published on Thursday25 July.

Meanwhile, have a wonderful (and hopefully warm and sunny!) month.

4

As June gives way to July we all begin to cross ourfingers and take great notice of the weather forecast,for the first Saturday of July sees the highlight of ourvillage events calendar - our PARISH FETE! Lastyear the heavens opened and we were forced to takerefuge in the school hall, but everyone is veryoptimistic that this year will be better.

One particular canine is especially hoping for goodweather this year as he is at last being allowed tofollow in Amy’s rather large paw prints and be acompetition at the fete. Yes, Ben is going to bethe“Guess the Weight of the Dog”competition. Sincethis was decided his demands for titbits have beeneven louder - I think he is determined to be as fat aspossible on his big day. (who am I kidding?! He isPERMANENTLY determined to be as fat aspossible, greedy animal!).

I’m writing this at the end of June so don’t have anyphotos of this year’s fete to show you yet, but willpost them on my blog after the big day. Meanwhile,here’s a picture of Amy just before she set off for hermoment of glory as a competition five years ago.(Ben was just a silly puppy then, rather as Daisy isnow, and had to stay behind at home).

The ice cream stall in 2011 (when the sun shone!)Always one of the most popular!

Notes from a Devon Village

5

Embroidered Daisies CushionI love daisies - I know many people don’t like having them in their lawns, but I adore

their sunny little faces and to me a sprinkling scattered across my lawn is for me one ofthe joys of summer. After all, who doesn’t remember making daisy chains during those

long, hot childhood summers?

6

…As lovers of floss, thread and fabric we love to save our memoriesof summer’s beautiful flowers by stitching them into our favouritepieces of work whether applique, embroidery or perhaps crochet,cross-stitch or tapestry.

But it’s fun too, to save the “real thing” by preserving the flowerswe see all around us at this time of year to enjoy in our homes overthe dark winter months until the days lengthen and summer returnsonce again.

7

Taste of Summer AppliqueTo me there is no taste more evocative of lazy summer afternoons than that of freshly

picked strawberries - preferably topped with some delicious clotted cream! Rememberthat summer feeling year-round with this easy applique design.

Mounted on A4 artist’s canvas block (approx 8 ½ “ x 11 ½”)

8

Over the next few months I’d like to invite you to join me in my armchair travels around the world seekingout the historical dyes once used to transform all our textiles from dull, neutral colours into vibrant fabricsin all the colours of the rainbow. For many hundreds of years natural dyes were the only choice for dyingtextiles, since synthetic colours didn’t appear until the 19th century.

So let’s take a look back at some of the amazing and inventive ways humans learned to colour clothes beforethat time, as well as discovering some interesting and little known facts about colour history. Working myway through all the colours of the rainbow, I’m starting this month with red.

The history of the colour red begins in pre-colonialAmerica with a tiny creature that once formed thebasis of a large industry - the cochineal beetle. Thesebeetles were farmed by the ancient Incas and the

practice still continues inSouth America today. Thepicture on the left dates to1777 and shows cochinealbugs being collected. Theylive on prickly pear plantsand infest them so thicklythat it looks as though theplants have been coated inwhite flour.

The insects are collected atabout 90 days old - a very

labour-intensive process as they have to be knockedor brushed from the plants by hand and placed intobags.

The plantation manager has to gauge the timecarefully - if the insects are left too long to their owndevices they will kill the plants so the manager muststrike a balance between letting the cochineals growto their maximum size and keeping the cactuses alive.After each “harvest” the plants have two to threemonths rest before they are re-infested with cochinealbugs to begin the process again.

To produce the red dye the bugs are killed byimmersion in hot water, after which they are driedand pulverised. But this dried beetle blood alonewouldn’t pass any colour fastness tests - withoutadditives to fix the dye the colour would fade withthe first wash.

The cochineal dye, although a deep, intenselycoloured and very beautiful red is never used forBuddhist robes as there is too much death associatedwith it. You can find cochineal (otherwise known ascolour additive E120) in all kinds of substances -check your makeup - it’s entirely possible you’recoating your lips or cheeks with dried insect blood -indeed in the USA it’s one of the few permitted redconstituents of eyeshadow.

Returning to red dyes though, to make the colour fixthe ancient Meso-Americans used to mix it eitherwith tin or with alum. Today alum is very cheap andis such a specialist substance in industry that hardlyany attention is paid to it. But at one time this nowalmost unheard of substance was one of the mostimportant chemicals in the world. Without alum youcouldn’t fix any dyes onto clothes - you would havehad to dress in natural, drab colours - not thepreference of most people. Alum is what is called a“mordant” as it is so astringent it “bites” onto thecolour and makes it stick to the textile with itsmetallic teeth.

9

Flying Pig SoftiesThese little pigs look far too solid to be real flyng igs …. more as though they haverummaged around in their dressing-up box and found some wings to attach to their

plump little bodies.

They are really easy to make – most of the sewing is done by hand, apart from thewings which I have sewn by machine, though you could hand stitch these if you

wanted.

10

Talking about Typography

I hope you’ll enjoy stitching my “Summer Days” tote bag, with itsevocative summer text in different typefaces. At the moment artincorporating text – typography - is very popular, and Ithought it would be fun to take a little look at how ouralphabet, fonts and typefaces evolved.

The English language uses the Roman alphabet,though you might be surprised to learn that there arehundreds of others used around the world, thoughmany are dying out of use with the riseof IT and global communication. Someof the best-known alphabets are Cyrillic(Russian), Chinese, Japanese,Arabic, Hebrew and Greek. Indeedthe word “alphabet” is derivedfrom the names of the first twoletters in the Greek alphabet –alpha and beta.

The concept of using symbols torepresent the individual soundsmade by the human voice, ratherthan pictograms representing wholewords or ideas seems to haveevolved in many placesindependently. Even thebest known pictogramwriting – AncientEgyptianhieroglyphics – alsouses characters that can representsounds rather than words and has analphabetic element. Our own alphabetevolved from ancient symbols first usedin the Middle East about 3,000 years ago. These symbolswould have begun as pictograms, and then over time cometo represent the sounds associated with those words.Eventually, distorted out of shape by the various writingmethods used until they became the shapes we use today. Ofcourse this process of evolution hasn’t stopped – our alphabet isstill changing. We are familiar with letter shapes that would beunrecognisable to readers a hundred or even possibly fifty yearsago.

11

Summer Days Tote BagDreamy summer afternoons …. Sunshine and flowers … time in the garden - this tote bagis so evocative of summer pleasures and will keep you smiling all through the darkest of

winter days. Just two embroidery stitches and some simple machine applique.

Finished tote measures 16” x 3” x 14” (approx)

12

Vintage Roses SamplerA cross-stitch sampler is one of the more traditional ways to bring typography into ourstitching, and I thought you might enjoy this pretty vintage design. It’s a pretty combinationof letters, numbers, borders and motifs and for a quick project you could choose just part ofthe design and work it as an individual motif on a smaller item, such as the bookmarksuggested on the next page.

It’s worked on even weave fabric - made up of countable, evenly spaced threads that form aregular grid, ensuring that your stitches are even and easy to count when working the sampler.

13

About Bunnies - Vintage Illustrations

I love old children’s books and the illustrations in this early 20th centurycounting book called “About Bunnies” are delightful! Here are six naughty

bunnies raiding a vegetable patch - great to use for scrapbooking or card-making perhaps? Hope you like them too!

14

Life in the Slow Lane - Simple StitcheryThis little elf and his mount are taking their time over their journey and have stopped for a

rest on this bright red toadstool. Easy stitching - just straight, back and blanket stitch.

Shown framed in an 8” hoop, or would be great to decorate a patch pocket perhaps?

15

Last week my friend Lisa came for supper. She is a lovely friend, but as she doesn’t eat wheat,meat or dairy products, can be an absolute nightmare to cook for! So my challenge was to preparea tasty summer supper that took into account her preferences - and these dishes were pronounceddelicious, as well as healthy. So if you’re cooking for someone with dairy allergies, glutenintolerance or a vegetarian, or even if you’re not(!) I hope you’ll enjoy my tasty summer suppermenu.

Note: You will need a food processor and ice cream maker for these recipes.

Fish & Tomato Curry

Ingredients:

� 2 tablespoons vegetable oil plus twoteaspoons� 2 onions, diced� 8 large tomatoes, roughly chopped� 4 garlic cloves� Thumb-sized piece of root ginger, roughly

chopped.

� Handful of green beans, chopped into 1”(2 ½ cm) lengths (optional)

16

Guardsman George Moppet DollThe first of a brand-new collection of moppet dolls from Bustle & Sew, GuardsmanGeorge was created to mark the birth of the first child of the Duke and Duchess of

Cambridge - after all every little prince or princess needs a handsome soldier of theirvery own!

George measures approximately 15” tall

17

“Nor be the little space forgotFor herbs to spice the ktchen pot:

Mint, pennyroyal, bergamot,Tarragon and melilot,

Dill for witchcraft, prisoners’ rue,Coriander, costmary,

Tansy, thyme, Sweet Cicely,Saffron, balm, and rosemary

That since the Virgin threw her cloakAcross it, - so say cottage folk -

Has changed its flowers from white toblue”

Summer in the Herb GardenHerbs have been treasured in our gardens sincemedieval times and even today we use them in ourhomes throughout the year. My favourite isRosemary - possibly because of its historicalassociations - mentioned by Vita Sackville-West inher epic poem, “The Land.” I have to grow it in potsthough, as our damp English west-country climateis so different to its origins along the shores of theMediterranean where it’s dry and warm.Because Rosemaryloves a dry soil and asalt-laden atmosphere

it is sometimes called the “dew of the sea.” It is evergreen,loved by bees and can be used around your home in a numberof ways. In olden times it was said to “gladden the spirits”wherever its richly aromatic leaves were pressed, and severalsprigs left to partially dry in a warm room will help relieve themost stubborn headache if pressed and the aroma inhaled.

Distilled oil of Rosemary is still one of the main ingredients ofeau-de-Cologne water, whilst the water from simmered leavesis good for adding shine to your hair, as well as a facial toner.

The ancient Greeks simmered the leaves in white wine to use to beautify their faces!Traditionally placing freshly gathered Rosemary leaves beneath your pillow is an effective aidto sleep. Bancke’s Herbal, the first complete herbal written in English, tells its readers that “theleaves laid under the pillow deliver one from evil dreams” which I guess is the same thing asensuring a good night’s sleep!

18

Handstitched Christmas - a collection of seasonal designs from

Bustle & Sew - now available from my website -and from

Amazon too! Just click here to learn more.

19