WITH ALL MY PLATES SPINNING AT ONCE

Anyone who's a sole trader; that's the tax man's description not mine, will tell you that there are days when they feel like there's a dog in their head chasing its own tail round and round, and round again in a mesmerized state of confusion as to which one of the many tasks they need to do, needs to be done first.

Hand Embroidery by Rowena Luke-King.

In my case, and let's take today as an example, I’ve wasted a considerable amount of time pondering on what to prioritise. Should I write this blog post, which is well overdue, or should I finalise the instructions for my quarter-scale tailor's dummy kit, which has been on the back burner for several years, has recently and successfully been tested by two of my smocking students, and once edited will be ready to sell?

Should I practice my picture smocking for the second run of Embroidered Smocking for Fashion Part 2 , or should I start to tackle my 2019/2020 accounts; a task that I hate doing but will need to be done soon if I want to stay on the right side of my accountant and, I hasten to add, if I want to lift that dark cloud of doubt that hovers over me every year at this time, about tackling anything of such importance with numbers.

And so it goes on, even after some forty years of being freelance and even on a Sunday which others would see as a day off. But I had a day off yesterday and if I don't pull something out of the hat today, I will end up starting the new working week with that bloody dog running around in my head again.

Writing a list always helps, as long as I can remember that I’ve written a list, ticked off what I’ve done when I've done it, moved everything that I didn't do onto the next days list, remembered to check that list and not cheated by including get up, get dressed and get off Facebook.

Spinning a row of plates on sticks like a magician also helps, in fact always helps. In my head of course, not for real. I get one plate spinning before I start on the next and try to keep the first plate spinning as the second plate takes off and the third one is started. All this with the dog either out of the picture completely, which is my preference, or snapping at the plates as they spin, which has the distinct possibility of making you think that I'm mad, which prompts me to say that I am a person who thinks in pictures not words.

So to cut to the chase, today after getting up, getting dressed and getting off Facebook which I haven’t ticked off my list because I didn’t write a list, I put my washing in the washing machine and sat down to write this post. It might be cheating but I'm gonna count the washing as my first spinning plate for the benefit of this exercise. With this new blog post almost concluded, that's a second plate almost spinning while I take a break to decide on an accompanying picture; my third plate. My fourth plate which was spinning well by the end of last week i.e. written and live on my website, is my new online course; An Introduction to Hand Embroidery which I think needs a boost in the form of a group email to announce its arrival.

With all my plates spinning at once and my tail chasing dog well out of the picture, I’m thinking that once I’ve finished writing my latest group email I will have achieved quite a lot today. And so, all that remains to be said is that I hope it helps to have this visual image to play with, especially if you're self-employed with no boss to tell you what to do, how to do it and when.

SO WHAT'S THE VERDICT?

Now that the dust of confusion has settled, I think I should let the cat out of the bag and tell you where I’ll be getting my gingham from. Don’t forget that I’ve been looking for the traditional 100% cotton 1/4 inch check that I grew up with, have always used and plan to use now that I’m teaching smocking online. I’ve been looking for a reliable source with an easy to navigate website that I can recommend to students and would-be students who, in some cases, may be living in other parts of the world.

Since the mid 1970s when I first moved to London, and the whole ground floor of John Lewis was a fabric department, I’ve had the luxury of being able to pop into MacCulloch & Wallis to buy my sewing supplies. Their gingham fabric is narrow at only 90cm wide, but it’s the good quality, typical school uniform summer dress weight that I’m used to working with. They usually have a range of colours but at the moment they only have turquoise. However, if turquoise is ‘your colour’ then I’d most definitely snap it up! They have a very ‘user friendly’ website, so keep an eye out for new stock and if you are planning a trip to London, they have reopened with strict measures in place to keep you safe.

A first smocking sample by Rowena Luke-King.

I stumbled across Always Knitting & Sewing whilst trawling the net one day. Based in Lancashire, where most of our textile mills used to be, they have 100% cotton gingham 1/4 inch check, but due to the pandemic they are also running out fast. They have plenty of polyester/cotton gingham 1/4 inch check which I’d be more than happy to use, especially if I were making childrenswear or beachwear because it drys quicker than 100% cotton and doesn’t need much pressing.

It’s a small family business with an easy to navigate website, but it’s worth noting at this point that nothing compares to being able to see and feel a fabric in the flesh. Photographs and descriptions can be confusing at the best of times as I found out when I bought a yarn dyed gingham with what should have been a 1/4 check, but turned out to be a considerably larger 3/8 inch; something I would have known in advance of purchasing, if I’d taken the time to order a sample first. Naturally I didn’t want to make a fuss; afterall it was a beautiful fabric and I could always use it for something else, but I was understandably disappointed and quite rightly decided to give them a call.

Well, in true North of England fashion, they could not have been more friendly and helpful. They accepted responsibility for the confusion and gave me the option to send it back, which in the event I decided not to do. You see it was their willingness to ‘work with me’ to rectify the problem, plus the speed at which it had turned up in the first place, that cemented my enthusiasm as a new online customer who’s happy to recommend them to others. They don’t know that I’m writing this blog or that I have my eyes on their yarn dyed 1/8 inch check for my next project, but they will know, now I’ve become addicted to ordering samples first, that I’ve started to investigate their line in polka dots!

Of course a leopard never changes its spots and so it goes without saying that I’ll always be on the lookout for new and reliable suppliers. I’ve just ordered samples from Minerva Crafts; double jersey gingham, scuba diving gingham, seersucker gingham and iron-on repair gingham which I didn’t even know existed. They also have your ordinary, every day 100% cotton gingham with 1/4 inch checks but stocks again are low, and of course I’ll wait to see the samples before recommending them to you.

AN UNEXPECTED HUNT FOR GINGHAM

When I was training to teach in schools, I very quickly realised that a major part of my job would be crowd control. As a short course tutor at Central Saint Martins however, my main challenge has been to find a way of teaching design and make skills from the absolute basic first steps to the highest possible standard, in an extremely short allocation of time. Add to this a unique concoction of would-be fashion students within a mixed ability group from all walks of life, aged from eighteen to the grave; with mixed expectations and a mixed command of the English language, you can easily see why I am always on the lookout and quick to develop foolproof, win-win teaching techniques that allow the faster sewers in a class of twelve to remain blissfully occupied, while the slower students catch up without pressure and fear of being left behind.

Good old fashioned gingham has always been my go-to fabric for teaching smocking; 1/4 inch squares to be precise. It’s an absolute delight to work with; cheap and easy to get hold of, or so I thought, and everybody’s favourite since time began. Typically still used for school uniform summer dresses, some of us will remember it from learning to make and embroider a school cookery apron in what used to be called a needlework class.

The embroidered hem of a child’s school cookery apron made from yarn dyed gingham.

Anyway, once I’d decided to take the bull by the horns and offer short courses online during lockdown, I figured making a smocked summer dress in quarter-scale would be a great way to start; not to overwhelming for beginners, no miniature zip required because the smocking stretches, and potential students would be able to buy their own gingham online. Well, here’s the deal! Buying gingham online has turned out to be a minefield of disappointments and misunderstandings and I’m now working on a list of links and swatches not only as a way of keeping my own ducks in a row, but to prevent anyone studying with me from purchasing a fabric that isn’t suitable for the project in hand.

The first thing to point out is something that would never have occurred to me since I’m not a quilter, is that fabrics online are often sold in what is commonly known as a ‘fat quarter’. Imagine my disdain when what I thought would be a quarter of a meter of 112cm wide black and white gingham, turned up and turned out to be a 50cm x 50cm square! Quarter inch checks, that’s 6 or 7mm in new money, are not always quarter inch checks, and when it says a ‘beautiful quality’ that means it’s too thick for smocking. I’ve learnt that there’s corded gingham which has a slightly thicker, white warp thread either side of the coloured checks; yarn dyed gingham which is a clear indication that it’s not printed gingham as opposed to woven which is what I’ve been looking for, and polyester/cotton is a lot easier to find than 100% cotton which is what I prefer.

With all that said and done, my advice to you when buying any kind of fabric on line is to take the time and spend the postage money which is usually all it costs, to get a sample first. That way when you order meterage for any kind of project, you will be in a better position to know exactly what you’re getting and be able to push for a refund if what turns up is not what you asked for.

MAKING A FRIEND OF ADVERSITY

Back in 2011 when Central Saint Martins first asked me to consider teaching short courses online my initial reaction was, “Wow! Does that mean I could be spending my days on the beach in Bali, waddling down to my favourite internet cafe every so often to deliver a lesson, whilst sipping on a mango smoothie, and looking forward to a chat with the locals on my way home to the little house on stilts that I rent every time I’m there? Sounds good! Sign me up. I'm already on my way!”

Once reality kicked in however and I started to analyse the pitfalls; sporadic power cuts, slow internet connection and the relentless screeching in Balinese, “Hey! Cewek! Cewek!” (Hey! Girls!) from the cafe’s wolf-whistling pet mynah bird. Couple this with the all-roads-lead-to-question of how to recreate the unique and welcoming ambiance of my real time classroom within the confines of a computer screen, and I unreservedly concluded that teaching online was not for me.

Dressed in traditional kebaya, Balinese women wait to perform a Hari Ibu (mother’s day) temple dance.

Now fast forward to 2020, a global pandemic, a lockdown with no definitive end in sight, all of my face-to-face teaching at Central Saint Martins cancelled for the foreseeable future, and with no furlough, I have found no other option but to throw myself in at the deep end and embrace this ‘new normal’ by teaching everything I have in my box of tricks via zoom and other social media platforms?

Of course there have been hiccups, mainly due to my ‘old school’ aversion to technology, but my first few students have been absolutely wonderful, teaching me new ‘shortcuts’ and advising me on how best to support them as they learn. And although I have really missed teaching in my classroom at CSM this summer, now that I’m up and running it has to be said, that I’m having a really good time.

After all, here I am sat with my hair up and my lips on but for all you know, in my pyjamas from the waist down. I've used the age old 'World of Interiors' trick of styling the part of the room that will be captured on camera behind me, whilst being careful to angle my computer so there will never be sight of the pile of washing-up in my kitchen sink, that people who know me will know is there.

Now don't get me wrong, it's been tough and it may well get even tougher, but I’ve come up with a plan to keep on teaching which is what I love to do most. And what’s more, I’ll have you know, that once this dreadful pandemic is over, not only will I have found a new, independent and possibly less stressful way of working, but I will have developed the skills, the experience and the confidence to finally, if of course I still want to, give teaching online from Bali a go!