Grannymar

I wish I was in Carrickfergus. So goes the song.

Walking in the sunshine and perhaps watching a ferry as it leaves the port of Belfast through the lough on its journey to the open sea and Scotland. Looking across the stretch of water to the south side of the Lough and the landfall of Co Down. Talking to passersby as they exercise their legs or those of their dogs, while these little fellows call their greeting.

Carrickfergus also holds an Aladdins Cave for me in the form of Craftwoman Fabrics. It is a Fabric Warehouse at Kilroot, yet without a Website, where a very friendly staff are helpful and willing to share their knowledge in any area of sewing or needlecraft.

Today I had planned to visit but my plans are twarted once again. Today is not one where I feel like driving so I content myself with staying home and playing with fabric, measuring tape and pins. I am trying to stay away from the computer for a few hours, but normal reading, commenting and general playing should resume in a day or so.

The other day I was replacing a button on the waistband of a pair of jeans. They were not mine and the lack of a button was due to a lost battle with an expanding waistline. The strain on the waistband where the button should be weakens the fabric and sometimes causes a hole. To overcome these problems reach for the button box, a sewing needle with a large eye-hole, three matchsticks, sticky-tape and Dental Floss!

Now if you have the original button your problem is halved, if not look for one that will neatly pass through the buttonhole. If a button slips easily through the buttonhole, then it is not large enough and will open every five minutes. If it needs force to go through then it is too big. Then pick a smaller flat button with the same number of holes as the larger one.

Next find a little masking tape or sticky-tape and place the three matches in a row and wrap them in the tape. For safety reasons used matches are best, we don’t need any burnt fingers! This match stack will be placed between the top button and the fabric to leave the threads long enough to form a shank. I made one of these about twenty years ago and keep it in the sewing box.

Select the length of Dental Floss and thread it on to the needle. I double the thread and knot the end of it. Attach the thread to the fabric with a double stitch and then push it through the smaller button on the underside of the waistband. Place the large button on the top fabric and stitch through the fabric and the button. Make sure to slip the match stack in between the fabric and upper button.

When you have stitched the buttons securely bring the needle up through the bottom button and fabric, remove the matchsticks and wind the thread around the threads between the fabric and top button to give extra strength and finally take the needle through to the back and finish off with a small double stitch.

Now you only have one problem, how to conceal the ‘white’ thread in the centre of a dark button. Use your loaf Rollerball or ink pen to darken it.

My photos are a little blurred, but they will give you the idea. I used a scrap of material with light coloured buttons and contrasting tread for the sample. Hopefully I make a better job of matching my colours in the normal course of events.

Reading Happiness is… by Ms Cellania late this afternoon, I was inspired to write a blog post (I was at the desperate stage today for ideas, so went outside to work out my frustration on the path at the side of my bungalow and the patio. Please don’t tell Elly or I will have to endure another lecture about overdoing things). Ms Cellania wrote about purchasing a handbag (purse as my American friends say) for her mother.

I always liked bags; they came for me only in second place to shoes. During the 60’s on any spring day walking down Grafton Street in Dublin, passing by Fitzpatrick’s Shoe Shop was as difficult for me as an alcoholic passing the open door of a pub. In my early working days the turn of a season was the opportunity to buy a new pair of shoes with a bag and gloves to match.

I am sure I mentioned before about my experiences of going for job interviews. We were expected to turn up not alone punctual, but clean, tidy and sporting a neat suit, hat with matching bag, shoes and gloves!

To this day I have a selection of bags in different colours, shapes and sizes. A couple of the more dressy bags for evening use were produced by my own fair hands.

Nowadays, unless I am expecting to be out for a full day it is more usual to see me sporting trousers with several pockets. Skirts leave the legs cold and they seldom have pockets. I now like pockets because they carry all the necessities I must have about me wherever I go.

In my left hand pocket I keep my GTN spray – it gives me the puff to chase Toyboys, mobile phone for emergency calls so Elly can keep track of where I go, and because it contains ICE numbers. In the other ones I keep tissues, a list of medical information that includes my name & address, contact details for my next-of-kin, doctor and details of the medication I must take and those to which I am allergic.

Finally I have this:

It is a small purse with two pockets. The smaller one is for coins while the larger pocket contains various cards and bank notes. On one corner I have punched a hole to attach a ring and have added to it all the necessary keys that I need to carry.

With all these items spread among my pockets I keep my hands free and am ready for anything. I don’t need to carry the kitchen sink with me everywhere I go and I no longer suffer back and neck ache from a heavy bag over my shoulder.

To add a little colour this is one of the bags I made from scraps:

Eileen Reid sang with a group called the Melody Makers in Dublin during the early sixties before joining the Cadets with whom she made the above hit record. She has continued to act, in films as well as on-stage. I last saw her portraying Imelda’s mother in Alan Parker’s The Commitments.

The song “I Gave My Wedding Dress Away” is very much in my head at the moment. You know how it is – you think of a line and you find you are singing it all day long!

Well now I will be able to say “I Gave My Wedding Dress Away” and mean it. For the past eighteen months I have worked on (When health allowed) a very special wedding dress. In fact I have always referred to it as ‘Elly’s Wedding Outfit’. That is because it was not really a dress at all. For most of her life my daughter REFUSED point blank to wear a dress! Jeans are her usual choice of apparel.

No way would I let her wear jeans walking up an aisle, no matter what building she chose for the wedding.

We did go out one day a lifetime ago or so it seems, so Elly could look at and try on dresses, even though she had already asked me to make her special outfit. I wanted her to be sure and not commit until she had tried several different styles.

There were one-pieces, two-pieces, meringues all frills and flounces, slinky little numbers and the more traditional with big skirts. She tried while I looked. My face sometimes told more than the mirror even if I was slow to comment. One she liked had a rather full skirt with mountains of underskirts to support it. I reminded her of how she disliked being restricted and she agreed that yes it would slow her down far too much. “Anyway Mum, your arms would not hack all that weight of material” she said. I think I was secretly relieved.

Since Elly’s Graduation outfit (which I made over ten years ago) really pleased her she hankered after a similar one for her wedding. I hunted out ideas and we settled on a boned bodice, trousers and a train. Detachable sleeves were also an option. We ditched the sleeves last month and the train unhooks for Dancing.

I set to work on the train as it would not be affected by a change in Elly’s weight. Next I did the sleeves and then the trousers. I left the waistband and hems semi-finished for the second fitting. The bodice was the last piece to be tackled as it was boned and the most difficult to alter.

All this was going on some 125 miles apart from each other. Each time we met her weight seemed static and her shape & measurements remained the same. I took a chance on it and went ahead with the boned bodice.

In February work decided to interfere with the calm steady arrangements. Work trips around the globe were suddenly arranged and Elly took off on her travels. Mammy sat calmly (on the outside) sewing away wondering when we were ever to have a fitting. I kept a stock of safety pins at the ready, after all Liz Hurley got away with it at the Oscars!

I travelled to Dublin for the Irish Blog Awards in March armed with Wedding outfit, sewing box, sheets to spread on the floor for the fitting etc.

Ha, ha, ha! Serves you right mother! Elly lost a little weight. Where? Up top of course, so the alterations started. I still had time… 23^rd June was a couple of months away.

Elly arranged to come up on 10^th June for the final fitting but the car objected and gave up on her north of Drogheda. The car was sorted and she finally managed to take time away from work on Friday 15^th June. We had a good six or seven hour’s together but:

Whaaaa! More alterations were needed. Beading had to be removed to do them properly. I managed to do the crucial ones while Elly was with me and that left four days to get it all finished.

All that work just to ‘Gift Wrap’ the most precious treasure I have before willingly and lovingly entrusting her to George.

George all I ask is that you mind her, love her and may you both live long and happy lives together.

The past couple of weeks have proved rather busy for me. I am trying to finish all my sewing tasks for the wedding. I have Elly’s outfit ready for the final fitting and hopefully my calculations are not totally off the scale. I now need to make a cushion for the Ring bearer and a little bag for the Flower girl.

I have completed my own headgear and my bag for the day. My project for this afternoon is to make some decoration to hide my scrawny neck…. Alas sacks are forbidden….

These notes are by way of an apology for not posting or Podcasting more regularly. I have lurked and added the odd comment. I am depending on my store of amusing stories and graphics and hopefully they are keeping you interested until my time becomes my own again. Hang in there because like ‘Old Blue Eyes’ I will be making a come back!

So to keep you going:

Lucy spent the first day packing her belongings into boxes, crates and suitcases.

On the second day, she had the movers come and collect her things.

On the third day, she sat down for the last time at their beautiful dining room table by candle-light, put on some soft background music, and feasted on a pound of shrimp, a jar of caviar, and a bottle of spring-water.

When she had finished, she went into each and every room and deposited a few half-eaten shrimp shells dipped in caviar into the hollow of the curtain rods.

She then cleaned up the kitchen and left. When the husband returned with his new girlfriend, all was bliss for the first few days.

Then slowly, the house began to smell. They tried everything; cleaning, mopping and airing the place out. Vents were checked for dead rodents and carpets were steam cleaned.

Air fresheners were hung everywhere. Exterminators were brought in to set off gas canisters, during which they had to move out for a few days and in the end they even paid to replace the expensive wool carpeting. Nothing worked.

People stopped coming over to visit. Repairmen refused to work in the house. The maid quit.

Finally, they could not take the stench any longer and decided to move.

A month later, even though they had cut their price in half, they could not find a buyer for their stinky house. Word got out and eventually even the local realtors refused to re turn their calls.

Finally, they had to borrow a huge sum of money from the bank to purchase a new place.

Lucy called her Ex and asked how things were going.

He told her the saga of the rotting house. She listened politely and said that she missed her old home terribly and would be willing to reduce her divorce settlement in exchange for getting the house back.

Knowing his ex-wife had no idea how bad the smell was, he agreed on a price that was about 1/10th of what the house had been worth, but only if she were to sign the papers that very day.

She agreed and within the hour his lawyers delivered the paperwork.

A week later the man and his girlfriend stood smiling as they watched the moving company pack everything to take to their new home………

And to spite the ex-wife, they even took the curtain rods!!!!!!

In a comment to my latest Podcast about my Sewing Box, Brianf mentioned ‘a round tin box with an Amish hex sign on it.’ It was where his late mother kept all her sewing needs. One item he had fond memories of was a Darning Ball or Egg.

Typically, darners were in the shape of an egg with an attached handle and were quite handy for darning socks at the heel. Most were made of wood, but more expensive models were made of silver with ivory handles.

It must be about 40 years since I heard of anyone taking time to darn socks, but who knows they might be next years top fashion item! Don’t laugh, over the past few years we have had torn or slashed clothes, seams on the outside and even underwear worn over the top of clothing!

Brianf’s comment made me think of some little items I have collected over the years and consider to be my treasures. None of them are of any great material value but when I handle them they bring the previous owner a little closer to me.

A silver spirit level which measures 3” long in old money, but for the young folk out there who never used inches lets say it is 7.5cms long. This object belonged to my late husband and was well used over the years. I keep it to hand and still make use of it.

Next I have a ladies Mother of Pearl penknife. Compared to penknives today it is rather ancient. It has two simple blades and that’s it. I sometimes carry this in my handbag it comes in handy for peeling fruit.

A Tuning Fork that belonged to my father’s eldest sister. She was a Primary School Teacher and the lady who gave me my love for sewing. I might talk more about her in a blog someday.

Going the full circle I come back to the sewing theme. I have a wooden spool from Leek in Staffordshire, England. These early spools were refillable. You sent back the empty spools and paid the fee to have a new supply of thread.

Now what do you consider to be your special treasures?

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