Wednesday Wanderings – Birks Fell

Posted on September 8, 2021 by craftycreeky

Yesterday we ticked off another of the Dales 30 challenge, our tenth one, so we’re feeling pretty pleased with ourselves.

This challenge to walk up all thirty mountains in the Yorkshire Dales National Park has certainly been a challenge! It’s also been good for us, walking in areas we’ve never explored before and up mountains we would never usually have ventured. With hindsight whilst we have completed quite a few long distance walks where our average length of walk is 10 to 12 miles, most of it is relatively low level, along the valley bottom or on the moorland above, higher but usually easy walking. By contrast all these walks are for mountains over 2000 feet…that’s a lot of up for us!

Birks fell is at the top of Wharfedale near Kettlewell, we’ve already walked up Yockenthwaite Moor, Buckden Pike and Great Whernside, so this is the last of the Wharfedale mountains in the challenge.

Although Birks Fell can be walked from Kettlewell it does make for a much longer walk than we’re up to at the moment. We decided to walk from Littondale instead, the valley on the other side of Birks Fell. We parked at the pretty village of Arncliffe. It was a beautiful sunny morning, the weather forecast said sunshine for the first hour or so, then overcast until late afternoon. Our plan was to walk the two miles along Littondale to Litton village, ascend Birks Fell from there, walk back along the ridge and descend into Arncliffe.

The walk along Littondale was gentle, about 2 miles long so it got our legs moving before the climbing started (or that was the plan!) The river Skirfare was pretty much bone dry…

We ate our sausage roll and had a quick drink of water outside the pub at Litton and then started the climb.

It shouldn’t have been a difficult ascent, it was two miles uphill, pretty relentless but a good path. However the sun continued to shine and it was very hot, no breeze in the air at all. When we got about a third of the way up I needed a break, we sat on a convenient stone and had a welcome coffee from our trusty thermos flasks. I also ate a carrot cake muffin, mainly because I thought a bit of sugar might help and I also wasn’t sure the butter icing would survive much longer in a hot rucksack pocket.

We set off again and I soon realised the muffin was a big mistake as I was feeling increasingly nauseated and unwell. We took it very slowly and kept drinking water so I didn’t compound the problem by getting dehydrated. There are times when I was very close to saying I can’t do this. I must have looked pretty peaky as when I admitted later that the thought had briefly crossed my mind that at least the air ambulance can land where we were walking, my friend admitted she had the same thought!

We eventually reached the ridge after about two miles of up. It’s a long flat ridge without clear paths and lots of tussocky grass to make the going more tricky. The true summit was about 2km away along the ridge, although it was actually only a couple of metres higher than where we were. We sat down on a convenient rock and ate our lunch. I perked up a lot though I could only face an apple and some mandarin orange. There was a slight breeze up there which did help.

The summit was somewhere in the distance! It didn’t look like there would be a decent view from the ridge as it was so wide. We decided to call it a day and to return the same way, we knew it would be a reasonable descent and a good path back to Arncliffe.

We went down an awful lot quicker than we went up! We stopped at the lovely pub in Litton for a pint of lemonade with lots of ice cubes! The pub is the lovely white traditional building in the middle of the photo below.

We still had to walk along by the Skirfar river to Arncliffe but we made good time then as it was easy flat walking. Altogether we walked nearly eight miles, not a huge distance but a lot of up in hot weather.

We both felt it really shouldn’t have been so hard and could only think it was the heat and lack of a breeze. The sunshine just never stopped. Even at 4pm when we reached the car it was still 30 degrees.

Despite feeling ill, we still had a good day out,

So Birks Fell is ticked off the challenge, probably (and unfairly!) never to be walked again. 🙂

Posted in Walking | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Baby Shower Quilt

Posted on September 7, 2021 by craftycreeky

This is a proud mum post!! I’ve made my daughter Helen a couple of quilts over the years, but she’s never shown any interest in trying quilting herself, she didn’t start dress-making until after she left home but she makes all sorts now and even has a couple of etsy shops selling her makes.

Anyway, over the summer she came to visit (she lives 200 mies away in Surrey) and said she wanted to make a quilt for a friends baby shower, but not a cot-size quilt, more of a single bed size…oh and it’s in about two weeks time!

She was only up for a weekend, so we managed to choose a fairly simple pattern and buy some fabric. I scribbled some basic instructions instructions like cut 5″ squares, 10.5″ squares and 1.5″ strips and lent her some basic equipment and a book which included instructions on binding a quilt…and off she went.

We had a couple of telephone calls to discuss quilting or backing and I had to quickly post down my walking foot etc, but just in time she finished the quilt. She’s just sent me photos and it looks fabulous.

She even managed a pieced backing and a scrappy binding, mainly to save buying more fabric! Her friend loves it and she’s very touched that Helen made it for her.

Helen is even saying she is thinking of making herself a new quilt…I’ll get her hooked yet 🙂 If anyone is into instagram, she shares her makes at @sew.me.pretty

Posted in Quilting | Tagged , | 11 Comments

Monday’s Meander Round the Garden

Posted on September 6, 2021 by craftycreeky

August was a bit of a damp squib here in Yorkshire, I’m a fair weather gardener so I didn’t get out much! The weather has finally picked up a bit and there is now LOTS to do in the garden!!

I’ve started the autumn tidy up, cutting back perennials that are over, dead heading roses and pruning any diseased bits…and lots of weeding! The annual weeds are suddenly setting seed so I’m madly trying to get them all out, some of them are very clever – bitter cress pings it’s seeds away as you try and pick it.

I’ve also started a long overdue overhaul of the area beneath the bird-feeders, it’s been getting more and more out of control and the teasing Georgia rose hasn’t done much at all for the last few years, to be fair it must be at least 15 years old, it was one of the first ones I bought, it’s also in the worst soil of the garden…and it succumbs to blackspot every year too….I’m trying to defend myself for the fact that I’ve dug it up together with the honeysuckle which equally hasn’t performed for years!

I’ve cleared out much of the geranium too which had spread all over, I’ve still got the big magenta Ann Folkard geranium, though I’m planning to move it to a better place, Jack Frost brunnera is also safe, together with a clematis which has also been in for many years. I still need to divide the Dutch irises and probably move but save the astrantia…

My plan is to build a new arch, similar to the arbour you can just see at the top of the photo, I’m removing a lot of the soil as I want to plant another rose, if you try and replant a rose in the same spot you risk rose sickness in the new one. I’ll put either some planks or log roll round the edges to raise it a bit, so I can then put lots of compost and some topsoil, hopefully improving the soil enough so a new rose will thrive. I just need the purple clematis on the other side of the arch to finish flowering before I remove the rotten arch…

When I’m sitting in the amber & amethyst garden (AKA the beer garden!) having a cup of tea or a glass of wine with my OH, we usually sit in the same places out of habit. I was up there gardening and sat for a rest on his chair. I realised he had a completely different vista and could see between the roses and the osmanthus to the rest of the roses…and it looked nice and colourful.

Another corner by the obelisk up there is also looking very colourful.

The bright yellow one is a rudbekia I think, though it’s a lot taller than ones I’ve had before, it adds a nice splash of colour. The pinky purple echinacia is one I planted this year, I think it works well next to the dark red sedum.

I’ve started tidying the autumn bed, which is just behind the amber & amethyst agraden, considering it was only planted last year, it’s looking pretty full. The rose Lark Ascending has been beautiful, it’s flowers are a gorgeous apricot colour and look so delicate.

I’ve another pairing of sedum and echinacea by the lawn and completely by chance. I think I bought the echinacea on the market and then wondered where I was going to put it!

The pond area is looking like a jungle at the moment, it’s another area that needs a lot of work over the next few months – as well as the raised bed down by the conservatory…I think I’m going to be busy!

Posted in Garden | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Jacquie SAL

Posted on September 5, 2021 by craftycreeky

It’s time for an update on my Jacquie needlecase. This is a stitch-a-long by Faby Reilly, a new section is released every two weeks, we’ve just completed section five.

Three weeks ago I’d just finished a gorgeous dragonfly with lots of sparkly thread, sequins and beads, it looks amazing…

The section I’m working on now looks like it’s going to be the front of the needle case, it has another beautiful dragonfly sitting on a stem. I do struggle doing chain-stitch on evenweave fabric, I have no problem getting nice neat stitches on normal embroidery fabric, but somehow trying to count the threads and keep the loops even is hard work! Last time I tried was on one of the earlier pieces and I thought using two threads had made it more bulky and uneven…

… so this time I just used one thread…and I’m still not happy with the effect! But isn’t the dragonfly gorgeous!

The sequins and beads have already been added as you can see so I’m eager to see what the next section of stitching will be. In the information about the stitch-a-long Faby mentioned that there would be two levels of stitching, sort of intermediate and advanced, so far it’s all been the same, I think this area left blank at the moment on the bottom right will have a choice of stitching. I’ll find out on Wednesday if I’m right!

This stitch-a-long is organised by Avis, from Sewing by the Sea, we post our progress on a piece of embroidery every three weeks, just often enough to keep me motivated! Please follow the links to see everyone else’s progress…

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, AJ, Cathie, Linda, Helen

Posted in cross-stitch, Stitch-a-long | Tagged , , | 12 Comments

Stitching on the Move

Posted on September 4, 2021 by craftycreeky

I always have a little something to stitch in my handbag – I almost get anxious if I don’t after spending five hours stuck on a commuter train a few years ago! It’s usually one of my cross-stitch smalls and earlier this week I finished another one. Sticking to my New Year Resolution I’ve made it up straight away…

This is a free pattern from La-d-da, my original plan was to make it up on my usual 32 count linen. When I looked at the pattern I realised it would end up about 6″ square, too big for what I wanted…so I had a crazy idea and stitched it over one thread instead – every time I’ve stitched over one thread I’ve vowed never again!

This time it actually worked out fine, I think the important factor for me is that it is a pretty simple, one colour design. I actually quite enjoyed it and it’s made me think this would be a good way to use the 28 count linen in my stash.

In my sewing room, which is painted a soft shade of purple, I have a mini shelf unit…on pinterest I’ve often seen printers trays with a different cross-stitch in each hole, I’d love one but I really haven’t the room or the pennies. My little unit is the shape of a house, with six cubby holes which I intend to fill with cross-stitch smalls, especially purple ones or sewing themed ones. This little cross-stitch was going in one of the 3″ holes.

Yes it really is that small!! The rabbit is actually stitched in a darker shade of grey, it’s come out a bit darker than I anticipated but he’s staying. I found in my scrap box a piece of fabric left over from my Down the Rabbit Hole quilt, it was just about big enough to do the back.

It needed a little something to titivate it a bit round the edges. I thought of making a cord, but I rummaged in my thread box and found one of those threads I fall for at quilting shows and then never seem to work out how to use! It’s just the right shade of purple with a bobbly feel to it. It was just the right weight.

I found some co-ordinating beads in my bead box and stitched them about every centimetre as I couched the thread down. I left the two tails long and threaded a glass bead on the end. It’s just what it needed, a little bit of titivation!

So I have my first sewing room small to go in my house…

Posted in cross-stitch, embroidery, Smalls of the Month | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Two Whernsides in Two Days

Posted on September 1, 2021 by craftycreeky

I’ve just had a fabulous couple of days walking in the dales, my friend and I can now tick off another two of the Dales 30, Whernside and Great Whernside. Typically, Great Whernside is the smaller of the two!

We decided to tackle Great Whernside on Monday as it was a bank holiday here in England and this would be the quieter of the two, it also meant we missed the show traffic for Kilnsey Show on Tuesday. My OH has been wanting to go for a walk recently, but he walks much faster than me, he walks for exercise, I walk for the enjoyment of being outdoors. As my daughter was also up for the weekend, I hatched a plan!..

My friend and I got dropped off up Park Rash, a narrow, steep single track lane which goes over to Coverdale from Kettlewell. It meant we started less than 2 miles from the summit! My OH and daughter Helen then returned to Kettlewell, parked and walked up from there, this route is nearer 4.5 miles and obviously a lot more up!

This was the view of Great Whernside from our starting point…

We had a good walk up to the summit, the cloud was down but there’s posts along the way to mark the path which does make life easier. Just as we arrived at the summit, so did Helen and my OH, perfect timing!

As you can see Helen was still full of the energy of youth!!! This is despite filling her rucksack with tins from the kitchen as training for the army – her pack weighed about 20kg!!

Apparently from the top of Great Whernside on a clear day you can see both coasts, Morecambe Bay to the west and the North Sea to the east. Obviously when we went we couldn’t even see down the valley!!

Helen and my OH descended the way we had come up but then walked down the road into Kettlewell. We walked down the way they had come up, past Hag Dyke hostel. I have fond memories of Hag Dyke, it’s a remote scout hostel belonging to the Ben Rhydding scouts. I first went there on a school trip, when we were about 13 years old our school organised a class residential for a week. We went to Hag Dyke. It’s only accessible by walking up – they used a tractor and trailer to get our bags up. In those days it was lit with gas lights too, very atmospheric when they tell you it’s haunted, the first night we were that scared in the girls dorm that we pushed two bunk beds together and slept five on the top and five on the bottom!

I organised a trip up there myself for a Rotaract group in my 20’s, I was slightly disappointed to see it now had an electric generator! Apparently now it’s energy comes from solar panels and wind power. It also has the highest chapel in the country, a little stone outhouse at the top of the field has lovely stained glass windows.

Hag Dyke

From there it was quite an easy descent down to Kettlewell, and perfectly timed again, my OH and Helen arrived about two minutes after us!You can just see a couple of cottage roofs in the village peeping through the trees. As you can see from the photo, this is classic limestone country at the head of Wharfedale.

Yesterday my friend and I walked up Whernside. This is one of the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge, the challenge is to walk Pen-y-ghent, Ingleborough and Whernside in under 12 hours – its about 25 miles long. This was our main reason for not doing this walk over the bank holiday weekend – it would be heaving!

Whernside is the highest peak in Yorkshire, number 1 of the Dales 30.

We parked at Ribblehead by the viaduct. This icon railway line is part of the Settle to Carlisle railway line. Beeching tried to close it in the 1960’s but there was a big campaign which went on for decades before the line was safe from closure. We arrived just in time to see one of the steam trains going over the viaduct.

Behind the viaduct is Whernside. The route up is very clear due to all the work that’s been done to protect the paths from erosion from the hundreds who walk up here on a weekend We walked up the right hand side to the mouth of the railway tunnel. It was quite interesting here as next to the stone bridge over the railway line was an aquaduct to take a stream over the line. I’ve seen any aquaducts for canals, but never for a steam…

The peak in the photo is Ingleborough, one of the other three peaks.

The path climbed pretty relentlessly up to the ridge. We stopped for a coffee and bun on the way up…and a couple of squares of Kendal Mint Cake. The views kept us going too. This is one of the few places where you can see all three peaks clearly…

Ingleborough, Pen-y-ghent and Whernside

We finally made it to the top, there’s a curved stone wall with seating so we could eat our sandwiches out of the wind. We declined to go through the squeeze stile to the actual trig point as it was pretty narrow!! It would certainly have been a squeeze!

From the top the view was great, as you would expect from the highest point in Yorkshire. As well as the dales in front of us, on the other side of Whernside we could see the Lakes, Morecombe Bay and the Howgill range where we walked a couple of weeks ago…

The Howgills

The path down was a little testing, steep with stone steps – totally irregular, not great when you have no balance! We took our time and got down in one piece. Altogether we walked over 8 miles, boy do I ache this morning!

Posted in The Dales 30, Walking | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Daisy Chain

Posted on August 29, 2021 by craftycreeky

A few months ago I stitched one of the Raggedy Ruff kits I had in my stash, it was called Susie the Cat, it had a black and white cat surrounded by echinacia flowers. I made it into a cushion for my friend…

When I was hand embroidering a white denim jacket with flowers last month I thought it would be nice to embroider white daisies round my blue denim jacket. I’ve worn my white one a few times already and I love it…

Initially I thought of hand-embroidering them but I was concerned by the fact that this jacket, unlike the white one, was made with a stretch denim. I didn’t want to spend hours embroidering them only to find they totally distorted when I wore it. Equally I really didn’t want to use a stabiliser as it would make it difficult to work through that as well as the denim.

I remembered the echinacia and decided that made in white, they would look like daisies! Unfortunately I couldn’t find the pattern but Andrea kindly sent it again. I traced about twelve flowers onto bondaweb and then had a rummage through my fabrics. I’m hoping that the bondaweb and stitching on top will make everything stable enough to withstand a little stretching.

I thought of using white on white patterned quilting cotton at first but it looked a bit too stark. I then had a rummage through my batik scrap box and found some light ones which I’d used for the low volume background of the humming bird quilt I made for my niece. I did a bit of fussy cutting too as some of them had daisy sort of designs, they worked out pretty well, though they were fiddly to cut out! I arranged them along the back and two just coming round each side. It would have been nice to have more on the front but then I would have stitched through the pockets! I used thirteen flowers all together.

I thought of using a denim needle but couldn’t find one in my drawers so I used a top-stitching one instead. First thing to do was to do a basic outline. I chose a fairly dark variegated blue thread. Some of them were somewhat wobbly but I know from previous Raggedy Ruff patterns that wobbles are not noticeably once it’s finished – luckily!!

I went round a second time putting a bit more definition on the petals. I also used a variegated orange to stitch on the centres of the daisies.

Once I was happy with the basic flowers I changed to a cream/off white variegated thread and added some detail on each petal. Once that was stitched I just need to add a few stems so they weren’t just hovering in mid air…

I thought of adding a few grasses but having shared a photo on my Skipton Stitchers whats-app group, the general consensus was that it was finished enough.

I’m really pleased with this one, I love the effect and it didn’t take half the time it took to hand embroider the other one. It did make me wonder what a denim jacket would look like with a large design of Andrea’s on the back, she’s just done one with a baby giraffe and the mothers head looking down, wouldn’t that look amazing on a jacket! If you fancy doing one of her raw edge applique designs, please follow the link to her website, she’s got some beautiful designs.

Posted in embroidery, Sewing | Tagged , , | 12 Comments

Seaside Quilt HQAL

Posted on August 22, 2021 by craftycreeky

I’ve made reasonable progress on my seaside quilt, though not as much as I hoped as I ended up distracted this week by the Little Book of Comfort and Flossie the Barts Bunny! This is the quilt design by Kathryn Whittingham, she kindly gave me the book after I enjoyed making her Cottage Quilt so much.

Three weeks ago I had finished the top row and just started four of the smaller embroidered blocks.

The lifebuoy still needed some rope stitching on it. The instructions call for perle thread, whilst I have a good selection I haven’t any white, so I found some thick but smooth thread inn my stash and used my cordmaker to twist it into a length of cord. Once it was made it was just couched in place…I say just, but I needed my biggest chenile needle to get the cord through the fabric for all the loops round the ring!

Last time I wasn’t keen on my bumble bee beach hut. A few of you suggested changing the front door,well thank you, it worked brilliantly! I couldn’t remove the old yellow door as it was bondawebbed on so I just stuck a new door over the top. I decided not to add the heart in the middle as it was already hard to stitch with three layers of fabric and two layers of bondaweb. If I feel it needs something at the end I can always add a tiny button.

I’ve made up the sets of four squares to go in between the lifebuoy and the beach hut, I haven’t stitched them into a long row yet as I want to see how the colours work. This will be in a line going down in the quilt, it was just easier to put a long photo across ways here!

I embroidered the lollypop to go with the 99 ice-cream though they are at the other end of this quilt row.

Next to make up were two flying geese blocks with fussycut fabric in the middle. Theses are made with half square triangles, rather than the usual way of a rectangle base. This makes it easier to stitch this particular block together. I’ve made all the half square triangles and trimmed half of them to size, just need to trim the others and stitch the squares together. At the moment the blocks look quite dark and prominent, but I think they will settle down once everything else is made. I love this harbour fabric by Macower, it reminds me of Whitby, there’s a photo of Whitby below.

The next block is one of my favourites. The Yorkshire coastline has lots of little villages right on the coastline, hugging the cliffs round the natural harbours such as Staithes and Robinhoods Bay, we walked through many of them when we did the Cleveland Way a couple of years ago…

This block perfectly captures the higgledy piggledy nature of these villages. I haven’t finished the embroidery yet but I’ve made a good start.

The windows looked pretty dominating to begin with, but once I embroidered the window frames on in a very light grey they settled down nicely. I’ve still to do the shoreline and the seal bobbing about in the sea – that’s the grey blob!

Hopefully by the time I next post about my Seaside quilt in another three weeks time this row will be starting to come together.

If you fancy making this quilt the book is available (together with the cottage garden quilt book) from Kathryn’s website, Patchwork Katy. They’re both gorgeous designs and the instructions are very easy to follow.

Affiliate links; I was kindly gifted this book by the author, but my views and opinions of the quilt and the book are my own.

Hand Quilt Along Links

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, and Daisy

I’ll also be linking up with Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday

Posted in embroidery, Quilt-a-long, Quilting, Serendipity | Tagged , , , , , , | 16 Comments

A Comfort Book

Posted on August 21, 2021 by craftycreeky

Ever had an idea and just run with it…

A friend who is going through difficult times at the moment recently posted on facebook that she had heard about comfort boxes, the idea being that friends and family wrote something nice about you and when you’re feeling low you can read the comments for a pick-me-up. Lots of people wrote comments.

I suddenly had the idea that if you made a little fabric book with pockets in, you could put messages in there and carry it with you, a little book of comfort.

I felt it needed some words running through it and chose a poem from Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne. I selected some variegated thread and stitched the lines of the poem with simple back-stitch.

The pages sort of came together as I went along, finding fabrics that worked as I stitched. My friend has very different colour tastes to me, she is brilliant at mixing colourful textiles, when I think of her I think of oranges and reds. In my stash I found a little square which I made at a Embroiderers Guild dyeing workshop a couple of years back, it was perfect for the first page…

I stitched everything onto wool felt squares, I find it very forgiving as a backing, you can hide stitches in it for a start! Each double page spread had a pocket stitched on one side and a line from the poem plus a few embellishments on the other…

I raided my button box and bead box for suitable things to sew on, just to add a little something without spending hours embroidering.

My friend comes from Manchester which has the symbol of the bee, so cheerful sunflower fabric with bees on fitted in perfectly…

I just used a simple running stitch most of the time to stitch on the fabric…or tiny beads!

I bound it using some coloured glass beads from Hobbycraft in between each page. I think I’m on about my fourth packet of these beads as they are so pretty and a useful size. For the cover I used two different quilting fabrics, I made a sleeve and then stuffed some heavy interfacing in between the two layers. It was a bit fiddly but it wasn’t an iron on one and I didn’t want the extra bulk in the seams. I embroidered her name and the title on some spare linen, made a cord from two co-ordinating DMC threads and stitched a button on the front as a wrap and tie.

I wrote all the various comments from facebook on luggage labels so they can be read at random, she can even add poems or words that she likes.

I’m really pleased with how it came out, it really didn’t take too long either, an afternoon and a couple of evenings. Time well spent if it helps her in some way through the next few months.

Posted in Books, embroidery, Textile Books | Tagged , , , , | 34 Comments

Barts Bunny is ready for duty

Posted on August 19, 2021 by craftycreeky

When I made a Barts Bunny as part of the Great British Sewing Bunny competition held by Cool Crafting, one of my former flatmates said Pleeeease could she have one too, how could I refuse, they are so nice to make…

I started Flossie the bunny whilst we were away last week and finished her over the next few days, of course she needed some lacy undies before any photo shoot…

I then started making her uniform. For the GBSB we had three hours to make an outfit. Confession time, for my Barts Bunny, there was a judicious use of pins behind the scenes to hold everything in place. I clearly couldn’t do that this time, I could hardly send Flossie through the post with pins in her!! So, it did take me a bit longer this time!

I made the dress using the raglan dress pattern but changed it to a front opening, with a white collar and short sleeves. It closes with a little press-stud.

The apron is just two squares of cotton. As Flossie is somewhat pear-shaped two rectangles didn’t sit tidily on her middle, so I added a couple of tucks either side. I made the navy belt from some satin bias binding, it worked very well as I could shape it with the iron so it sits better around her ample middle. A shiny button makes her silver buckle which we were so proud to buy when we qualified. I think our aprons tied with buttons, that was too fiddly so Flossie has a ribbon tied in a bow across her back.

Flossie has already learnt that a Barts nurse always folds her apron across her lap when sitting to prevent creasing!

I was well chuffed to find doll sized fob watches on etsy, they’re just the right size, even if I think they’re designed more as pocket fob watches as they have a little chain hanging down. We always had a pair of nursing scissors in our top pocket (and strings of safety pins!!) so I attached them straight to the apron to give the effect of a top pocket.

The beady eyed amongst you may also have noticed a hospital badge by Flossie’s collar, the hospital badges at Barts (were made by Fattorini no less!!) had a enamel blue surround and a shield in black and white. There’s no way I could reproduce that, however I’m pretty pleased with Flossies badge, I used a little blue sequin with an even smaller ivory one and a shiny dark grey bead in the middle…

We had the lovely black wool capes with a red lining and red straps coming from the shoulders so they hung nicely without being fastened. I decided to use some black felt, a bit more realistic than the quilting cotton I used for my Barts Bunny, but a little stiffer too. Again I’ve tied the red ribbons in a bow for ease. Both the dress and the cape patterns are adapted from patterns in the first Luna Lapin book.

All that was left was the cap,ours were made from a square of starched linen, we made them over a shortbread tine,secured with safety pins and hairgrips. They were meant to have five pleats down each side and neat tails over the middle. I got the knack of making caps so I regularly made them for friends, everyone had their preferences whether they liked a deep brim or not, big tails or short tails…

For Flossie I used a square of cotton, about 8″, and made it round a bead container with a few stitches to hold it in place. This one is attached to Flossie with pins as I couldn’t think of any other way without making it permanent! Ours were held on with white hairgrips, the caps were great for holding long hair out of the way. I remember one of our group, Judy, had her hair cut really short so the hairgrips wouldn’t work…so she stuck her hat on with blutack!!

To be accurate Flossie should also have black tights or stockings and flat lace-up shoes, they were meant to have three pairs of eyelets for laces and no moccasins, which were trendy at the time!

Although the modern nurses uniform is much more practical, (I wear scrubs all day) I loved our uniform, you felt like a proper nurse!

So Flossie will be winging her way to London over the weekend, all ready for duty.

If you fancy making your own Luna Lapin, follow the link at the top to Cool Crafting for both books and kits.

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