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Dream it, Do it! We talk to Lisa Lam of U-HandbagMeet the Makers: Louise Brainwood & Vanessa Salazar

Hints & Tips for Stitchers - new ideas to make your stitching easier!Book Review: Mary Corbett’s Stitch Sampler Alphabet

Plus Summer in the Garden, July Almanac, Writing Product Descriptions and more!

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A Bustle & Sew Publication

Copyright © Bustle & Sew Limited 2015

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 2015 by:Bustle & SewCoombe LeighChillingtonKingsbridgeDevon TQ7 2LEUK

www.bustleandsew.com

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Welcome to the July Issue

Hello, and welcome to the July issue of the Bustle & Sew Magazine.

Summer is now well underway and this month’s issue is all about the sunnier side of life. Inside you’lldiscover lots of colourful projects - I am particularly fond of the Vintage Holiday Hoops featuring acheerful applique car and caravan. I think this might be as my parents were very keen caravannersback in the 1960s and 70s (when I was very young) and I have many happy memories of setting offon childhood adventures with our caravan. Though I don’t think ours was nearly as stylish as theversion on page 7!

You’ll also find interviews with two very talented Makers, as well as a feature about Lisa Lam - founderof the U-Handbag website who took the plunge and gave up her day job to immerse herself full timein her own enterprise. Then there’s the baking corner, summer in the garden, July Almanac andmasses more to enjoy as well as all the other Bustle & Sew patterns and one from our guest designerthis month, Aida of Aika Maku who brings us a lovely tote bag - perfect for carrying all your possessionson a summer outing.

School’s out for summer too of course - how is it that when I was a child those six weeks of the summerholidays seemed endless, whilst now the same length of time seems to disappear in a flash? Anyway,whatever you and your family are doing this month, I hope it’s a very happy one for you all.

Best wishes

Helen xx

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When beginning a thread on fabric that’s quite an open weave, use an away waste knot.This is a knot on the surface of the canvas at least 3” away from your stitching and not in thearea you’ll be working on. You can cut the knot later and rethread the tail then weave it intothe surrounding stitched areas to secure the end. When beginning a thread for a stitch on

firm fabric, use an in-the-path or in-line waste knot. This is a knot placed directly in the pathof your stitching about 1 ½” away from your starting point. Work your first stitches over the

tail to secure, then cut off the knot and continue stitching as usual.

Tips for Stitchers

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Between the Covers …Contributors

Rosie Studholme

Puts together all our lovelyideas, shopping and bakingpages as well as researching& editing our features andinterviews.

Sabrina of Wolves in London

Crafter, gardener, writer andwaffler(!) Shares some hintsand tips for successfullytransferring images to fabric.

Louise Brainwood

Designs all her own fabricsand uses them to create itemsfor the home such ascushions and lampshades.

Amanda of Striped Spatula

Whose puppy Chloe canusually be found camped outin front of the oven whensomething is baking, like herlovely Jam Crumble Bars!

Vanessa Salazar

Creator of the most adorablelittle softies shares herinspiration - and disasters!

Aida of Aika Maku

Learned how to sew with hergrandma using an old pedalsewing machine when shewas just a little girl!

Lisa Lam of U-Handbag

From restauranteur tohandbag entrepreneurextraordinaire - amazing thingscan happen when you followyour dream!

July Almanac Page 6

Succulent Storage Tubs Page 7

Transferring Images to Fabric Page 11

Meet the Maker: Louise Brainwood Page 13

Selling Online? Writing Product Descriptions Page 14

Poetry Corner: Sea Fever Page 16

Plant a Garden Hoop Page 17

Lovely Idea: Felt Wallets Page 23

Baking Corner: Jam Crumble Bars Page 24

Wind in the Willows: Ratty Softie Page 27

Book Review: Stitch Sampler Alphabet Page 31

July’s Favourite Blogs Page 33

Barcelona Summer Bag by Aika Maku Page 34

New Hints & Tips for Stitchers Page 40

Vintage Holiday Hoops Page 41

A (very) Little Look at Smocking Page 45

Summer in the Garden Page 46

Dream it, Do it! Lisa Lam of U-Handbag Page 48

Thinking about Colour Page 50

Stripey Fishes Page 53

Meet the Maker: Vanessa Salazar Page 56

Summer Printable Page 58

Sunny Days Glasses Case Page 59

And finally ….. Page 62

Calendar Printable: July Page 63

Conversion Tables Page 64

Templates Page 65

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July

July is the seventh month of the year, and isnamed after Julius Caesar who was born on thetwelfth of the month. We are now at the highestof high summer, and the patchwork landscapeof the British countryside begins to transformonce more this month as crops start to ripen andthe fields gradually turn colour from green to gold.Modern crops tend to ripen sooner in the yearand so there is little, if any, respite for farmersbetween the end of haymaking and the beginningof harvest. Soft fruits such as strawberries,raspberries and blackcurrants are available inabundance, whether in gardens, shops andsupermarkets or at “pick your own” fruit farmsand it’s time to get busy bottling, pickling andpreserving this summer abundance against thecold winter months ahead.

Henley Royal Regatta takes place in the first weekof July on a stretch of the River Thames at Henleyon Thames in Oxfordshire. The Regatta beganin 1839 with a single afternoon of rowing races,and has grown over the years to become afive-day event and one of the highlights of theBritish social and sporting calendar.

Further afield, the first of July is Canada Day,formerly known as Dominion Day,commemorating the Canadian Confederation of1867; the union of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotiaand New Brunswick in the Dominion of Canada.It is celebrated throughout the country withparades, fireworks and other festivities. Canada’snearest neighbour also celebrates in early July -the fourth is of course Independence Daycommemorating the formal adoption by theContinental Congress of the Declaration ofIndependence on 4 July 1776.

The celebrations continue on this side of theAtlantic on the fourteenth when France celebrates

Bastille Day. On this day in 1789 the peoplestormed the Bastille, the state prison, which wasseen as a symbol of the despotic rule of theBourbon kings. The seven prisoners held therewere released and this event is generally regardedas the beginning of the French Revolution whichled to the overthrow of the monarchy and the birthof the republic.

Closer to home, at the end of July 1907, RobertBaden-Powell took a group of boys to BrownseaIsland in Poole Harbour on the south coast ofEngland, for what was effectively the first Scoutcamp. The aim of this experiment was to try outsome of the ideas that became the basicprinciples of the Boy Scout movement - fosteringa sense of honour, loyalty and good citizenship;achieving physical fitness through exercise; anddeveloping practical skills such as woodcraft,tracking, observation, signalling and first aid.

And finally - a long time ago now, but notforgotten here in England, 30 July 1966 was thedate England’s football team, captained byBobby Moore, won the World Cup beating WestGermany by four goals to two at London’sWembley Stadium.

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Succulent StorageTubs

MaterialsTo make both tubs you will need:

● ½ yard medium weight natural colouredfabric

● ¼ yard medium weight navy blue fabric

● ¼ yard of lining fabric for each box I usedquilting weight cotton

● 24” x 12” rigid plastic mesh - the sort usedfor bag bottoms - or if you don’t think your

tubs will need to be washed you could usestrong card

● Scraps of cotton and felt for applique. Thelarge succulent measures just under 3 ½”square so you will need one piece of greenfelt of at least that size

● Black and cream sewing thread

● Temporary fabric marker pen

● Bondaweb

● Embroidery foot for your sewing machine

Two very useful storage tubsfeaturing colourful succulentsmake a great place to store allkinds of odds and ends - and evena little flamingo softie! (Pattern tomake Florence is available topurchase from Bustle & Sew here).

I used plastic mesh to keep mytubs nice and rigid and colourfulscraps combined with somemachine applique to create thetwo potted succulents. I’veincluded an image for a third plantif you’d like to make a set of three.

Large tub measures 6” x 6” x 8”and small tub measures 6” x 4” x4”

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Transferring images to fabric canbe a bit of a tricky process but, ifdone properly, it’s a cheap and easyway to create wonderful gifts.Sabrina from Wolves in Londonshares her top tips for makingtransferring images to fabric thatlittle bit easier!

Choosing ImagesThis is the most crucial part, as thefinished product will only look as niceas the image you’ve selected. Ifyou’re looking for copyright-freeimages, there are some amazingsites on the Internet.

My three favourites, which I return totime and again, are the GraphicsFairy, which has all sorts of vintageephemera, cleaned up and ready touse, the New York Public LibraryDigital Gallery, particularly good forscientific stuff, I’ve found, like olddrawings of animals and so on, andClip Art Etc, which has loads of blackand white illustrations of just aboutanything you can think of.

Preparing the imagesThe easiest shape of image to useis a square, to make it easiest to cut,

but don’t be put off doing a morecomplicated shape. Silhouettes canlook really great, but just take carewith the cutting stage. It’s easiest touse a scalpel on a special surface(such as self-healing board forsewing). If in doubt, cut slightly withinyour silhouette, rather than outside.Anything you have left outside theoutline will show up shiny and clearand won’t look so great.

Before you start with the iron, checka few times that the image is in theright place. Is it horizontal? Is itpositioned where you want it? Again,this sounds obvious, but I’ve oftengot a bit carried away and wantedto start the exciting part, only torealise afterwards I haven’t put thepicture in the optimum place…

Using Transfer PaperThe transfer paper I’ve used hasworked in slightly different ways sobe sure you check the correctmethod first. For images that arebeing ironed onto light fabrics, youwill need to reverse the picture first(choose mirror image on your printersetting), as you put the image face

down and iron it on from there. Forimages that are being ironed ontodark fabric, you print it out as is,remove the backing (rather than thefront) of the paper and iron it straighton. Double check before you print,so you don’t end up with writing thewrong way round!

Not all transfer papers are equal.Shop around, check reviews, try outa few different brands to settle onone that gives the finish you’rehappiest with.

After CareI’ve not found that my T-shirts washas well as I would like. It’s best to putthem inside out in the washingmachine and wash them on a lowerheat. Don’t iron the image again, asit will start to come off and stick toeverything. Yeah. I tried…

Transferring images to fabric

Wolves inLondon

Sabrina describes herself as ‘a crafter,gardener, writer and inveterate wafflerliving in South East London, dreaming ofworld fabric domination.’

www.wolvesinlondon.com

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”talks to us about how she found her way into

textiles, where she finds her inspiration and how shestarted her business,

Meet theMaker

Louise is a textile designer basedin Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire.She designs all her own fabricsand uses them to create items forthe home such as cushions andlampshades.

I originally trained as a jeweller, atwhat is now UCA Epsom and thenUCA Farnham. I worked for manyyears as a designer jeweller but sadlyhad to give up due to a painfulcombination of RSI and arthritis. Aftersome time and two children, I foundmy way into textiles.

It was a deliberate choice to dosomething creative, I’ve sewn sinceI was young and an interest in vintagetextiles led me in that direction.Developing the textile designbusiness has been a slow processover the last 8 years. I started outusing bought in fabrics then beganto print my own but that is quiteimpractical without a dedicatedstudio. I then looked into having my

designs digitally printed and theresults and quality are so good thatit allows me to focus on the designside of the business.

Well I’ve sat here and looked at therolls of fabric leaning against thestudio wall and actually I don’t thinkI do have a favourite. I have a rulethat I only develop designs that I amtruly happy with, if it’s not quite rightit’s out, so in that way I have to lovethem all.

Not working in textiles no, lots whenI was a jeweller, mostly involvingflames and hair…

Take it slow and be prepared for alot of hard work, and do the groundwork and research before you start.There are legal requirements to betaken into account re. tax and

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Selling Online?Tips to help you

Write great productdescriptions

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Plant a GardenHoop

Materials● 11”square cream fabric suitable for

embroidery

● 8” hoop hoop.

● DMC stranded cotton floss in shades 310702, 704, 733, 742, 744, 792, 905, 3371,3706, 3713, 3766, 3831, 3833, 4095,4120, 4250, 4255

Notes:

● Use two strands of floss throughout.

● The text is worked in 310 (black) floss

This is a quote from AudreyHepburn and is, I think, especiallypoignant when you remember herdifficult and dangerous childhoodgrowing up in Nazi-occupiedHolland.

I have added some vintage-inspired embroidered flowers andtaken the opportunity to usesome more unusual stitchesincluding whipped spider wheel,bullion stitch and detached wheatear stitch. But don’t worry, thereare diagrams to help you work allof them.

Finished work is mounted in an8” hoop.

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Look!a lovely idea

Easy FeltWallet

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

These gorgeous felt wallets by the lovely Emily from Not SoIdle Hands are the perfect project to make with children thissummer. They’re perfect for stashing cash and other treasuresand so easy to make you’ll have a couple whipped up in no time!

Image & Tutorial: www.notsoidlehands.com

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For the base2 cups all purpose flour1/3 cup granulated sugar1/4 teaspoon kosher salt1/2 teaspoon baking powder3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled,and cut into small pieces3 tablespoons milk1 teaspoon almond extract1-1/2 cups fruit preserves or jam

For the crumble topping1-1/2 cups all purpose flour1/4 cup granulated sugar1/2 cup lightly-packed light brown sugar1/2 teaspoon kosher salt1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom, optional1/2 cup rolled oats (not quick-cooking)3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilledand cut into small piecesPowdered sugar for dusting, optional

JamCrumble

Bars

Instructions:

> Preheat oven to 375 degrees F with rack inmiddle position. Line a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking panwith parchment paper with a 2-inch overhang onthe long sides. Lightly coat parchment with cookingspray.

For the base:

> In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar,kosher salt, and baking powder. Using a pastryblender, a fork, two knives, or your fingertips, cutbutter into flour mixture until it appears sandy (finecrumbs).

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Wind in theWillows: Ratty

I’m delighted to bring you thefinal softie in my Wind in theWillows series - Ratty. He’s nota regular sort of rat of course, buta water rat with a shorter faceand whiskers, smaller ears andpale-coloured underbody.

He measures approximately 6”tall when sitting and has a lovelytwine tail.

The other softies in the series areMr Toad, Mr Badger and Mole.If you’ve missed any of thepatterns then don’t worry, they’llbe available in the Bustle & Sewstore from July.

Materials● 8” x 12” chocolate felt

● 6” square beige felt

● Small triangle fabric for neckerchief

● 2 small black spherical beads for eyes

● Strong thread for whiskers

● Tiny brown button for nose

● 5” baker’s twine or other string

● Brown and beige stranded cottonembroidery floss or cotton pearl thread

● Toy stuffing

● Stuffing stick. This is a simple bambooskewer with the point broken off andfrayed slightly. It’s really useful forpushing stuffing into small places suchas Ratty’s nose or long slender limbs.

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“After all, the best part of a holiday is perhaps not so much to be restingyourself, as to see all the other fellows working.”

Kenneth Grahame

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I’m sure that if you’ve enjoyinghand embroidery for any length oftime then you’ll have come acrossMary Corbett and her amazingwebsite, Needle ‘n Thread. Maryfirst got into embroidery whilststudying art history at college and,after 18 years in the academicworld, five of which weresimultaneously spent buildingNeedle ‘n Thread, took the plunge,stepped out of the academicworld, and devoted herself full timeto Needle ‘n Thread – now one ofthe most comprehensive andvaluable resources for handembroiderers across the globe.Mary’s ethos is to teach others toembroider, to inspire them to trynew things with needle and thread,educating a wider audience insomething that she’s reallypassionate about – the art of handembroidery.

Mary’s site is enviably well-organised, reminding me of mymum’s saying “a place foreverything, and everything in itsplace” and this is carried across toher new e-book, “Stitch SamplerAlphabet: Decorative Initials in aVariety of Stitches” This is a 120-

page pdf featuring a beautifuldecorative alphabet embroideredwith 18 basic stitches in over 65combinations. The book helpfullybegins with some tips to make surethat everything is downloaded andset up correctly – it’s a pdf filewhich can be opened and viewedon tablets and laptops alike.Following this, before you begin thebook “proper” there’s someadditional guidance on preparingto stitch.

The main body of the book iscomprised of five sections. Thefirst concerns the order andmethod of stitching the individualletters, suggesting the best orderin which to work the variousstitches, as well as choosingcolours to suit your preferences.For example, Mary tells us that

This isn’t something I’d ever reallystopped to consider, but havingseen it laid out here, it makesperfect sense!

Section two is the longest sectioncontaining detailed stitchinginstructions together with massesof high-quality photographs foreach of the 26 letters. (I am VERYjealous of Mary’s photographyskills!). For me, I think the only“extra” I would have liked heremight have been the addition of theampersand – lovely for creatingspecial gifts – especially as we’renow in wedding season. But asMary provides such detailedinstructions for each letter, itprobably wouldn’t be too hard towork that out for myself. Scatteredthroughout the section are special“Stitch Tips” with hints and ideasfor making your letters the nicestthey can possibly be. The links inthese tips are all live which is greatwhen you’re reading through thebook as you don’t need to stop to

Book Review

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Barcelona Summer

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New Hints & Tips for StitchersLast month we held a giveaway over on the Bustle & Sew Facebook page and to enter we askedpeople to share their favourite stitching tip. Here’s a selection we particularly enjoyed ….

● Keep a small piece of batting orfleece near to catch snippets when handsewing/embroidery/appliqué.

● Washi Tape isn't just forpapercrafters. It is terrific for makingtemporary seam guide lines on your sewingmachine, and even on your projects - itdoesn't leave nasty sticky residue and, if youchoose an attractive design, it looks prettywhile it's there. Putting 2 pieces at rightangles makes accurately pivoting a cornerdead easy.

● Have your sewing machineserviced regularly. Don't wait until a problemoccurs as it will cost you more in the long run.And never sew over pins!!

● Place newspaper or tracingpaper between or underneath silky material,helps to keep in place

● I keep a magnet on hand to pickup all the pins and needles I keep dropping.

● Don't sew if you're tired orin a bad mood- you'll make mistakes,frustrate yourself, and waste time in the longrun. Take a break and then try again later.

● Always use scissors fortrimming end of thread, never your teeth. Itmay be a quick result but eventually you willchip your tooth!

● Always use good qualityscissors. ( I hide my sewing scissors from myhusband)

● I always use a "staystitch" on the neckline of dresses/tops, thishelps the fabric from pulling or stretching soyou get a nice neat finish

● Always do a practicein a spare piece of fabric if it is a newtechnique.....saves unpicking and spoilingproject!

● Always keep a littlestitchery at hand. If anyone looks like they'reabout to bother you with requests, just say"Sorry, busy", and stitch studiously.

● Hold the needleloosely for even stitches, much like you holda pen. Never tightly. This will keep everythingsmooth and even.

● Use a large needle with a largeeye when stitching with metallic thread!

● Keep your thread at a workablelength. To long will cause unnecessaryknotting and can cause frustration. Keep itat a workable length and your sewing will gomuch faster and you too will be much happier.

● Just go for it,what's the worse that canhappen? You have to do itagain? Don't worry andreally enjoy!

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Vintage HolidayHoops

Materials● Two oval hoops measuring 5” x 9” and

8” x 12”

● Two rectangles of medium weight creamfabric measuring 7” x 11” and 10” x 14”

● Two pieces of green fabric measuring 5”x 11” and 7” x 14”

● Scraps of floral cotton for the applique

● Light blue fabric for the clouds

● Two ¾” buttons for car wheels

● Decorative button for caravan door

● Assorted cotton floss for embroidery.You will need yellow and orange for thesun and greens for the leaves, butotherwise choose colours that will workwell with your applique fabrics.

● Bondaweb

● Temporary fabric marker pen

● Embroidery foot for your sewing machine

My parents were greatcaravanners back in the 1960sand our family travelled the lengthand breadth of the country -though we weren’t perhaps quiteas stylish as the car and caravanin these two hoops!

The majority of this project iscomprised of freestyle machineembroidery/applique, althoughthe caravan features a handembroidered detail. But don’tworry, if you aren’t a fan of handstitching then you could justapplique a floral fabric cut out intoplace instead.

Shown mounted in 5” x 9” and 8”x 12” oval hoops.

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Summer in theGardenYour treasured plants mayneed a little extra help duringthese long hot days ….

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Lisa Lam is well-known amongthe sewing and crafting sectionof the Internet as handbagcreator extraordinaire andfounder of the incredibly usefuland inspirational U-Handbag sitewhere she stocks a wide rangeof bag making accessories aswell as her own patterns andbooks. But Lisa hasn’t alwaysbeen an online entrepreneur, asin the past she’s owned and runher own restaurant, studied forher psychology degree andbecame a designer maker of softfurnishings and homeaccessories before setting up herown craft stall in GreenwichLondon.

Now you could argue that awebsite selling bag makingcomponents isn’t an obviousbusiness choice so we askedLisa how U-Handbag cameabout. She told us that duringthe time she was running market

stall her bags became her best-selling items. This meant shehad to greatly increase theamount of bag making suppliesshe was buying, but back then itwas difficult to find pretty andoriginal supplies, which meant alot of time-consuming shoppingaround. A lot of other craft andbag makers were complaining ofthe same problems and beganto ask Lisa where she sourcedher bag components. It becameclear that there was a gap in themarket and so she began to thinkthat selling bag componentsrather than the finished articleswould be a good way tosupplement her income as wellas freeing up some time fromconstantly sewing. Today U-Handbag is her Lisa’s mainsource of income where shestocks everything you need tomake your own bags and pursesat home, as well as lots of helpand advice (on the site and the

We spoke to Lisa about turning her dream into areality, her hopes for the future and the inspiration

behind U-Handbag

“Just do it! It’s goingto be scary and

uncertain at times butthey are not goodenough reasons for

not giving it your bestshot”

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Thinking About Colour

Colour is a hugely important part of our day-to-day lives, exerting enormous influence on ourmood, feelings and even has the power tosuggest hidden messages – whose interpretationmay vary depending upon the viewer. We allreact to colours in different ways, depending agreat deal upon our background and culture.Most of us have the opportunity to travel morethan ever before, and we are surrounded byimages of the world around us, so we have plentyof colour combinations, both the familiar andmore exotic to choose from, from the hot coloursof India and the icy blues of the polar regions, tothe hues of nature that surround our homes.

In the west we associate green with fertility, redwith anger, whilst white is the colour of purity andinnocence used for brides’ dresses and babies’Christening robes. However in China white, notblack, is the colour of mourning whilst Indianwives wearing white are considered to be invitingwidowhood and unhappiness. We also dividecolours into “warm” and “cool” – reds, orangesand yellows as opposed to blues and greens.Our prehistoric ancestors viewed red as thecolour of fire and blood, whilst we continue toview it as the colour of love, seduction andpassion. Nobody can be indifferent to red.Indeed, red is one of the top two favourite coloursof all people, and is regarded as the colour ofgood luck in Asia.

In English (and most languages), there areseparate words for “green” and “blue” that welearn from our earliest days. But - did you knowthere are a number of cultures with a completelydifferent system of grouping and naming colours

- whose members do not see the (to us obvious)different colours that are blue and green. It’sinteresting to think that different people lookingat the same photograph will see the samewavelengths of light but, due to culturaldifferences, they will perceive these colours invery different ways.

We are all aware that colour influences ourfeelings and emotions in a much deeper way thanwhether or not something is simply visuallyappealing to us - what do the colours red, whiteand blue in combination say to you? Or red andgreen perhaps?

Maybe that’s why we’re so anxious to “get itright” when we’re starting a new project as sadlythe wrong colour choices will spoil a finishedpiece, no matter how skilled the stitcher or howtechnically perfect his or her work.

Most people have a natural feeling for colourwhich we use every day without really thinkingabout it. When we decide what clothes to wear,paint our walls or even pick and arrange a bunchof flowers we’re making colour choices quitenaturally without even thinking about it. But

For me one of the most exciting parts of any project is choosing the colours I’m going to use. Ifyou’re using new fabrics, then designers make this process easy by offering fabric collections - all

guaranteed to work with one another - and look beautiful too. These are great and can offer awonderful starting point when you’re deciding upon your palette, but it’s fun to mix and match your

own colours, especially if you’re working with scraps, remnants or vintage fabrics.

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StripeyFishes

Materials● 12” x 16” (30 cm x 40 cm) Artist’s canvas

block for mounting

● 15” x 18” medium weight dark blue non-stretchy fabric for background

● 12” square lightweight cotton fabric (this isfor the base to create your stitch n flipfishes and won’t be seen once your workis complete)

● Bondaweb

● Assortment of cotton scraps

● 4 x ½” black buttons

● 4 slightly smaller light coloured buttons

● Sharpie or other felt tip pen

● Staple gun

● Embroidery foot for sewing machine

● Temporary fabric marker pen

● Temporary fabric spray adhesive

This pattern was first released inJune 2013 for a short time, sincewhen it’s been tucked away in myfolders waiting for the perfectmoment for me to review, reviseand improve it. That moment hasfinally arrived and I do hope you’llenjoy my little shoal of stripey fishes.

They’re a great way to make themost of your scraps using an easystitch n flip technique - and whystop at a picture - they’d look greaton a bag, pouch or even resizethem for a quilt!

My fish are shown mounted on a12” x 16” artist’s canvas block.

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Roll out those lazy crazy hazy days of summer,Those days of soda and pretzels and beer ……

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Sunny Days GlassesCase

Materials● 8” x 10” medium weight natural coloured

cotton fabric

● 4 ½” x 3” gingham fabric

● 3 1/8in (W) x 2 3/8in (H) (8cm x 6cm) purseframe (see above for details)

● 8” x 10” quilting cotton for lining

● 8” x 10” light weight low loft fusible fleece

● Stranded cotton embroidery floss in white,two shades of pink (light and dark), twoshades of green (light and dark) and darkblue or black for the text

If you’re looking for somewherenice to stash your sunglasses, thenlook no further - this case is sureto fit the bill!

Measuring a generous 7” x 4” itfeatures a little easy handembroidery “for Sunny Days”combined with a cheerful ginghambase and cute bobbled purseframe. I used one of U-Handbag’sSherbert Pips sew in purse frames,but there are plenty of others onthe market too.

If you’d rather not use a frame,then you could always add a loopand button at the top of yourglasses case.

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And finally ……I do hope you’ve enjoyed this, the 54th (can youbelieve it?!) issue of the Bustle & Sew Magazine.Each month Rosie and I try to bring you not onlya collection of Bustle & Sew patterns, but lots ofother lovely content too.

If you have an idea for an article, would like us toresearch something and report back in themagazine - or if you’d like to share photos of yourfinished work/ask questions or have any otherthoughts and suggestions as to how we couldmake your magazine even nicer, then please doget in touch.

You can email us at hello@bustleandsew.comand we’d love to hear from you.

This is the last issue I’ll be bringing to you fromthe current Bustle & Sew HQ here in Devon, asthe packing is nearly finished and next week theNewfies and I will be on the move! We’ve founda lovely little stone cottage in the heart ofSomerset, just a few miles south of the beautifulcity of Bath that we think will be absolutelyperfect for us. It has a walled garden with NOSTEPS for Ben to negotiate and, even nicer, aconservatory with a cool tiled floor where theycan slumber away the summer days in comfort.

Some of you may know about Daisy’s healthproblems, and her emergency admission toanimal hospital a couple of weeks ago. I’mdelighted to be able to tell you that her conditionhas now stabilised and although her life won’t bea long one it will most certainly be a very happyone! She is quite reconciled to taking her tablets- as long as they’re concealed in tuna treats orchicken chunks(!) and has taken to sitting in frontof the fridge staring very hard at the door whenshe thinks it’s time for her medication!

So now it’s time to say a fond farewell toCoombe Leigh (above), where Bustle & Sew wasborn, around six years ago and begin a wholenew set of adventures - it’s all very exciting!

Some things won’t change though, and I’mlooking forward (with Rosie’s help of course) tobringing you the next issue, as well as our 2015Christmas Collection - yes it’s nearly time forChristmas in July! from my new little home. Ifyou’re a subscriber, then do please watch outfor the August issue arriving in your inbox on

Thursday 30th July.

Best wishes

Helen xx

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