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Welcome to the January Issue

Hello,

January is traditionally the time to hunker down and sit out the winter months. Although the days aregrowing longer again at last, spring is still a long way off, though if you look carefully, especially during amild winter, there are already the first signs appearing in the hedgerows.

This month brings the 60th issue of the Bustle & Sew Magazine - I can hardly believe that it was FIVE YEARSago that I sat down at my (then brand new) laptop and began to put the first issue together. Things havecome a long way since then and I do hope you’ll enjoy all that this sixtieth issue contains. As always thereare six Bustle & Sew designs, including the first two in a new series of dog trophy heads (there’s a specialpattern for cat-lovers coming next month), lots of hand embroidery and a cute little Suffolk Puff (or yoyo)bunny. Then we have interviews with three very talented designer-makers, articles, features and the firstcontribution from our new team member Debbie, who shows us how to make some lovely fragrancedbath bombs - perfect for relaxing after the Christmas rush!

I think that’s enough from me - just a quick reminder that the February issue will be published, as always,on the last Thursday of the month - in this case Thursday 28 January. So if you’re a subscriber watch outfor it arriving in your inbox then!

Until then,

Best wishes for a very happy New Year 2016

Helen xx

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Between the Covers …Contributors

Rosie Studholme

Puts together all our lovelyideas and baking pages as wellas researching & editing ourfeatures and interviews.

Enhar Koc

Talks about crafting, creatingand her online business, Love,Joy Create

Brooke Becker

Describes how her dreamsbecame reality, her hopes forthe future and the inspirationbehind Lady Belle Fabric

Breezy Guerra

Doesn’t believe in followingrules - just inspired creativityand having fun!

Debbie Thomson

Joined Bustle & Sew inNovember and is keeping usvery well organised, as well ascoming up with some lovelycrafting ideas.

January Almanac Page 6

Keep Cozy Cushion Cover Page 8

Fragrant Flowering Hyacinths Page 12

Meet the Maker: Enhar Koc Page 14

Lovely Idea: Thimble Necklace Page 16

Naughty Pups Trophy Heads Page 17

Nice and Easy: Freestyle Machine Applique Page 20

Poetry Corner Page 25

Fragranced Bath Bombs Page 26

Signs of Spring Hoops Page 28

Dream It, Do It: Lady Belle Fabrics Page 34

A Little Look at Linen Page 36

Baking: Champagne Cake Page 38

Magazine Pocket Page 39

Meet the Maker: Breezy Guerra Page 42

Drifts of Snowdrops Page 44

January’s Favourite Blogs Page 46

New Year - Time to Blog? Page 47

Puff Bunny Page 48

Matchbook Needle Keeper Page 51

Fabric Collecting Page 52

Cup of Tea Hoop Page 55

And Finally … Page 58

January Calendar Page 59

Templates Page 60

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January

For many folk, especially in Scotland, thecelebrations of New Year’s Eve, or Hogmanaycontinue into New Year’s Day without a break.According to tradition, to guarantee good luckthe whole year round, the first person to enteryour house on 1 January should be a dark-haired male bringing gifts of coal and whisky.Such visitors are welcomed with appropriaterefreshments and in Scotland people go fromhouse to house first-footing. In the past over-enthusiastic partying and lack of sleep on NewYear’s Eve led to widespread absenteeism inthe workplace on 1 January and in 1974 it wasfinally declared a public holiday throughout theUK.

Rather than stay indoors all day in January,tempting though this may seem, going for a longwinter’s walk can be very enjoyable. Rememberthe old saying “there’s no such thing as badweather just the wrong clothing!” I love to headout into the woods with the Newfies in Januaryas there’s so much to see now the trees arebare. There are generally four layers of habitatin our English woods - a ground layer of smallplants such as mosses; a field layer of flowersand ferns; the undergrowth of hazel, hawthorn(and brambles and nettles in the summermonths!) and finally the tree layer or canopy.

Many insects will be hiding or hibernating in theleaf mould or tree bark and you may be luckyand spot various species of birds hunting forthem, including woodpeckers, wrens, robinsand blackbirds.

The winter months are also a good time to seeowls in daylight as the shortage of food forcesthem to hunt for many more hours than in thesummer months.

January 6 brings the festival of Epiphany,commemorating the arrival of the Magi - thethree wise men who travelled from the East toworship the baby Jesus, bearing gifts of gold,frankincense and myrrh. In the OrthodoxChurch it marks the baptism of Christ by Johnthe Baptist around thirty years later. Also knownas Twelfth Day or Twelfth Night, this is the lastof the Twelve Days of Christmas and is the dateby which you should take down your Christmasdecorations to avoid bad luck. On Twelfth Nightat London’s Drury Lane Theatre, the cast of thecurrent show are served with a glass of wineand a piece of cake by staff in powdered wigs

and 18th century livery, courtesy of the actor andformer chef Robert Baddeley, who died in 1794and left money in his will to fund this annual treat.

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In January we’re loving fragrant

winter flowering Hyacinths

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“Do not look at whatothers do, do not

listen to what otherssay, just listen to

your heart & workhard!”

talks to us about where she finds creativeinspiration, how she got into crafting and how she

started her business,

Meet theMaker

Enhar started her business fromher home near Istanbul,Turkey back in 2012. When shebecame a mum she became acrafter and now designs andmakes gorgeous homewares andquirky gifts.

I was working as a Senior HRSpecialist but when I had my childI left full time work. I became a stayat home mother but within a fewmonths I got bored! I didn’t want togo back to working long hours soI decided to take sewing classeswhich is something I had alwayswanted to do.

Once I started sewing I ended withthousands of meters of fabric in myliving room! It was a hobby for meuntil a friend of mine told me aboutEtsy. I started adding any bits Imade, I had no idea aboutpromoting my shop, I was moving

with baby steps. Almost after a yearI decided to concentrate more onmy shop, I totally changed what Imade, designed new collectionsand that’s how my shop hasevolved into what it is today.

First of all I always collectmemories; souvenirs, photos,tickets, maps, stones, flowers,drawings etc. All of these memorieswill be an inspiration someday!When I start to design a newcollection or product, conceptcomes first. I start draft drawing byhand. Then comes the colours & Imake the digital designs. And lastI decide on the fabrics I'll use & getthe demo prints to see the shape& colours on fabric.

Yes, I have a homestudio. Although sometimes Idream of having a fancy artistic

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Look!a lovely idea

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This is such a wonderful idea – why notmake one for yourself and another for thefavourite stitcher in your life? You’re sure

to receive compliments wherever youwear it! Pop over to Laura’s website for

the full tutorial.

Image & Tutorial: www.thewindandthesail.com

ThimbleNecklace

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Nice and Easy …..Freestyle machine embroidery/applique

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A Little Luxury

Fragrant BathBombs

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Bake!a delicious treat- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A boozy cake for a booze filled celebration!What are all of you doing for the last day of the

year??! It better be fun, no excuses.

Pop over to Courtney’s blog for the full recipe.

Read more on Fork to Belly - tales from a littlekitchen in a big city!Image & Recipe: www.forktobelly.com

ChampagneCake

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● Place your front panel on top of the backfabric and mount together in the hoop,making sure the bottom of your design isat the centre bottom of the hoop (3).

● Make sure they’re taut and tighten thehoop as far as you can. (The fabric willstretch a little with use).

● Trim fabric to 1” beyond hoop edge, turnto back and secure with hot glue gun.

● Hang your magazine pocket, fill with yourfavourite publications and wait forcompliments!

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1. Jenny is a Londoner with 2 young childrenwho loves making stuff. She likes to sharethe things that make her happy on her blog,The Gingerbread House

2. Izy is a 19 year old Londoner who studiesFood Science & Nutrition at the Universityof Leeds. She thrives on lattes, cyclingaround on pretty bikes, wearing her hair inmessy buns or plaits (always) and eatingcake batter straight from the bowl. Catchup with her at Top with Cinnamon

3. Rosie Tapping lives near Bournemouth withher husband and dog, Bodhi. By day she’sin HR, but by night (and at the weekend)she’s reading, baking, going onadventures, buying clothes and shoes andfilling her house with pretty things – allwhich she documents at Rosie Outlook

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Collecting Fabric …..I’ve been busy over the past few daystidying up my work room and sorting outmy fabric collection … and while I wasfolding and pressing each piece to createnice tidy stacks on my cupboard shelves,I started to think about the variety offabrics I have acquired and where I found

One of my favourite sewing techniques isfreestyle machine embroidery. It’s a greatway to obtain professional-looking results ina short space of time - and is deceptivelyeasy to master. But you do need a goodvariety of fabrics as the right choices canmake or spoil your project. Luckily for us,fabric is very versatile and it’s possible tobuild an interested and varied fabric stash atvery little cost - provided we remember tokeep our eyes open and search for fabricsin all kinds of places.

There is a bewilderingly large variety offabrics available to the machine stitcher.Compare for example, a light-weightpatterned cotton used for a summer dress,the thick tweed of a winter coat or the softpile of a silky velvet fabric used for luxuriouscushions piled on a favourite armchair.

Notice how people use fabrics both in theirchoice of clothing and in their homes. It’sinteresting to consider the ways in whichdifferent fabrics have been used andwhether you like them or not.

Look at the scale of the pattern - large orsmall? Is the colour appealing or is it toobright or too mute. Consider texture too -fabric an be soft and warm, cold and shinyor even rough and hairy!

A freestyle project …

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Ideally you should try to have a large selectionof fabrics in your collection so you alwayshave just the right piece available for yourcurrent project. That doesn’t mean howeverthat you need to spend a lot of money. Saveall your scraps from dressmaking or quilting- they’re sure to come in handy and youmight be able to swap, or be given pieces offabric, by other stitchy friends. Jumble salesor village fairs can also be treasure troves.Look out for plain fabrics like linen tableclothsand napkins, plain curtains, skirts, cottondresses with small prints - fabric salvagedfrom all kinds of garments can be used.

Some interiors shops will hold sales of fabricoff-cuts and remnants from time to time, andyou can also sometimes acquiremanufacturers’ fabric sample books at thesesales. Fabric mills and other manufacturerswill also sometimes offer parcels of fabricpieces on their websites, whilst markettraders will often sell short pieces of fabric.

Your collection of fabric may well begin totake up quite a lot of space (mine is far toolarge!) so it’s a good idea to try to be braveand discard pieces that are never likely to beused in one of your projects. Over time youwill become much more aware of whichfabrics are likely to be the most useful. Butdon’t discard any pieces of firmly wovenfabric that might make a suitable background- these will always come in handy.

It’s much easier to keep track of yourcollection if you organise it in some way andmany people organise their fabrics into colourgroups, ie reds, yellows, blues, greens, darkneutrals and light neutrals. You may also findthe following groupings useful:

● Small formal prints and patterns such asspots, checks and stripes in cotton andcotton blends, viscose, and fine wool.

● Plain fabrics such as linen, canvas,

A = Offcut of Harris Tweed brought back by friendfrom holidayB = Furnishing fabric sampleC = Japanese Kimono fabric - small piece found oneBayD = Checked woollen scarf from charity shop

A = Cotton lining fabric from old summerskirt

B = Wool blend felt from local craft shop

C = Vintage eiderdown fabric from eBay

D = Floral blouse (with nice wooden buttonstoo) from charity shop

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And finally …..We find ourselves yet again at the end of anotherissue. Here at Bustle & Sew HQ we have so muchfun putting each issue together and I do hopeyou’ve enjoyed the contents too. But althoughwe’re at the end of this issue, 2016 brings thebeginning of lots of exciting new ventures to lookforward to.

The most exciting and eagerly-awaited newventure is of course is the arrival of Rosie & Dan’snew baby. He arrived over the Christmas Holidaysand I am now a very excited grandma who islooking forward to sharing more about him in theweeks and months ahead!

I’m also going to be teaching some classes thisyear. Rosie will be coming with me to Toft Alpacain Warwickshire in April, and we’ll be showingattendees how to make French Hens and PinCushion Mice, so if you can possibly get alongwe’d love to meet you. If you’re not close by thendon’t worry - I am also involved in PatchworkPosse’s Quiltalong in June where I’ll be showingyou how to make my Woodland Alphabet Quilt.

I’m also planning more Bustle & Sew patterncollections, kits and books, and of course we’renow entering year six of this magazine! It seemsso long ago, and yet only yesterday that I satdown with my little old PC to put together the veryfirst issue. So much has happened since then -who would have believed it!?!

I’ll be back again next month with issue 61 - andif you’re a cat-lover then do watch out for a newfeline-themed design. After all, as I’ve started anew series of dog faux taxidermy heads I thoughtit was only fair to include something for cat loverstoo!

I hope you have a wonderful start to 2016 - andif you’re a subscriber then please do watch outfor the February issue arriving in your inbox onThursday 28 January

Helen xx

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