Brighton Souvenir Tova Dress

Though we didn't go away during the school Easter holidays, exciting day trips and action packed lovely long days have resulted in my accumulating something of a blogging backlog. Like the recent lost two weeks of The Archers during the Ambridge floods, I'm not sure if I'll ever properly catch up, so instead will attempt to blog the things I most want a record of, starting with this – my latest Wiksten Tova dress in lime Brighton Pavilion fabric.

The Brighton Pavilion print is by Inprint at Makower UK and has been in my stash since last summer. It features drawn illustrations of Brighton's landmark buildings including the Royal Pavilion – John Nash's extraordinary oriental fantasy palace, built for King George IV in 1786. 

I bought two metres of the lime green version of this material from Ditto Fabrics knowing full well I'd made enough summer dresses for one season, but had to snap it up while it was there as whenever they get a new roll of this design, it sells out fast.

The yoke is made from Hemingway Designs Knotted Up print in brick, another piece from my stash which was left over from making bags. The two fabrics make a loud colour combo, just right for the sunniest days. This Tova is pretty much the same as the previous two, but I added in-seam pockets this time and finished the sleeve with a simple turn up hem.

This makes a hat trick of Wiksten Tovas for me and I think I've now got Tova manufacturing out of my system. For the time being at least...

Take Two Ticket to Ride Dresses: Simplicity 2363

Brighton's budget fabric emporium Fabric Land has come up trumps again with Ticket to Ride another great in-house print design. I recommend a visit to one of their shops (they have several branches across the UK) as their astonishingly bad website doesn't do justice to their own brand fabrics. Ticket to Ride is a printed collage of vintage tickets, labels and coupons. It's a sturdy cotton with a linen-like feel and is available in 3 colourways. At just £3.99 a metre I thought it prudent to get 2.5 metres in Royal and the same amount in Yellow.

It's the same type of cotton I used for the Berlin Macaroon Dress - a garment that is greeted with gasps of delight every time I wear it out and about. I decided to make the Simplicity 2363 pattern again as it works so well in this material but this time drafted a new closed-front yoke for a change. For the first version I used the darker (Royal) fabric for the body and sleeves with the paler (Yellow) fabric for the yoke. 

I was so taken with it that I immediately made another with the fabric combination in reverse. 

Each dress cost £9.98 to make. Good enough for everyday Worthing wear but also fabulous enough to wear to the Grand Futurist Concert of Noises and just the thing to wear when trying out Peter McKerrow's hand built intonarumori.

Photo and intonarumori by Peter McKerrow, dress by Ivy Arch

Seeking Occupants of Interplanetary Craft at Earthship Brighton

It's been a beautiful sunny week in Sussex, a fine start to the school holidays and a complete contrast to last year's bitter Easter holiday weather. On Wednesday we travelled by train to Stanmer Park, a nature reserve with open downland and woods on the edge of Brighton. Our event horizon was Earthship Brighton a sustainable 'green' building constructed using waste car tyres, wine bottles and recycled materials. It's the first Earthship to be built in England and has been designed to provide its own heat, electricity, water and food. Our walk there took us through wide open spaces, blossom heavy orchards and through the grounds of Stanmer Manor where we stopped for a picnic. Continuing uphill we passed allotments, a forest of roughly carved wooden faces (with eyes that followed us) and getting warmer, reached Stanmer Community Farm.

The Earthship was closed but we explored the outside of this intriguing building and its grounds which resemble a glorious eco-friendly Teletubby Land. Heading back downhill we sensibly took a detour to Stanmer Park Tearooms and refuelled with tea and cake before hiking back to Falmer Station.

July Butterfly Smock: Stylish Dress Book - Y (again)

A trip to Brighton's budget dressmaking emporium Fabric Land harvested this beautiful butterfly and bird print cotton. I chose a ditzy beige and pink floral to contrast, having Stylish Dress Book's smock dress Y in mind as the perfect garment for this fabric. 

I've made dresses using this sewing pattern a few times now (see my first effort here) and haven't had a result I'm unhappy with yet. Dress Y seems to work in all fabrics from lightweight gauzy cottons to a textured barkcloth as long as the contrasting material for the bodice panel trim is the same weight as fabric used for the body of the smock. 

At £3.69 a metre for both gorgeous printed cottons, the dress cost £11 and took me just under three hours to make. I plan to wear it to waft into my daughter's infant school leavers' concert on Thursday.

Screen and Screen Again at Ink Spot Press

On the second day of printmaker Jane Sampson's Thursday morning course at Ink Spot Press I experienced the absolute magic of printing an image onto a piece of paper. The six session course at Brighton's open-access printmaking workshop takes us through screenprinting step-by-step. Last week we looked at some of the inspiring work of printers and artists who'd previously passed through Ink Spot including Jane's own beautiful artwork; learnt how to prepare a screen with photo emulsion; made up a sample stencil; and exposed an image onto a screen.
 

Outside and inside Ink Spot Press HQ

A simple paper-cut tree seemed a good starting point for my first print, with the idea of exploring mark making and printing texture on top of the leaves. I roughly drew and cut out a stencil from stiff black paper then laid a piece of acetate on top and experimented drawing cross hatches, swirls, dots, patterns and making grainy marks. 

The two pieces – black cut out stencil and scribbled-on acetate were then laid side by side onto a prepared screen and put in the screenprint exposure unit. It was a thrill to press the start button and wait for my images to appear on the screen.

A big moment as my first screen emerges from the exposure unit!

This week Jane showed us how to set up, secure and register the screen in preparation for printing onto paper. It's a much more exacting process than I remembered from my previous improvised attempts at printing onto fabric more than 20 years ago! I began using the tree stencil shape part of the screen, and will try printing with the textured/patterned leaf part next week.

Screenprinting is physically demanding but also hugely rewarding – my dormant biceps were put to work in attempting to apply the correct pressure to the squeegee to evenly distribute ink across the screen. I could've happily carried on mixing colours and printing trees all day. 

Seeing my simple first image reproduced in different tones on variously coloured backgrounds was so exciting and the euphoria hasn't faded yet. I can't wait for next week's class...

A Kind of Blue

Until the 16th century woad was the only source of blue dye available to cloth dyers in Europe. The woad plant has antiseptic properties, was used by ancient Britons to heal wounds and is said to have been painted on warriors before going into battle. The monks who illuminated Lindisfarne Gospels applied it as a blue ink and throughout the ages woad has been used as a shape-shifter (no less!) in shamanic rituals. Now a new Anglo-French project Woad – Out of The Blue looks at the importance of the plant in the economic development of Amiens (France) and Southern England since the 12th century and explores its cultural and social heritage.

The Blue Route a breathtakingly beautiful installation by Finnish sculptor Kaarina Kaikkonen, is the first exhibition in this series and takes place at Brighton's Fabrica art gallery. 

The Blue Route comprises hundreds of second-hand shirts hanging from ropes tied to the upstairs balconies of this former Regency church. The shirts were donated by residents of Brighton & Hove and the piece resonates with the memories of these worn garments. It's a composition in tones of blue with one singular yellow shirt at the centre. Standing behind the installation I saw dozens of pale balloons and one solitary yellow balloon lifting into the air. In front of the work with my back to the wall I saw the sun setting over a deep blue sea.

The Blue Route is a co-commission with Brighton Festival and will be on show until 27th May 2013. If you're in Brighton you'd be balmy not to visit.

Arctic Egg Roll at Devil's Dyke

Devil's Dyke valley is the longest, deepest and widest dry valley in the land, which makes it the perfect spot for National Trust's annual Easter Egg Rolling contest. 

The high hills of the Dyke give splendid panoramic views of the South Downs and twinkling seaside city of Brighton beyond – on a fine day this event draws several hundred people. This year however had to be the coldest egg rolling I've ever been to and only the hardiest families turned out. We huddled together attempting to shelter from a bitter wind on the top of the Dyke while waiting for the ceremony to begin. It was more of an endurance test than anything else (especially for the children present) and the three tier contest was eventually cut short as it was just too chilly to sit still any longer. When the adults' turn came to hurl our decorated eggs into the valley the entire crowd rushed down after them in relief, not waiting for the final 8-13 year old's contest! Alas, my child didn't get a chance to roll her lovely decorated egg (above) after all, though I think she too was consoled by the thought that it was all over.

With numb faces and frozen fingers we stumbled back up the hill and crammed into the pub at the top to defrost by an open fire and drink cups of sweet tea. Once thoroughly warmed we caught the 77 bus back down to Brighton and pledged to return to picnic in the great outdoors on a milder day.

 

Nothing finer than Brighton Charleston

Twelve days ago I stubbed the middle toe on my left foot while rushing to get my daughter's bath ready before bedtime. It was a pathetic injury but hurt so much that I couldn't put any pressure on it at all, had to cycle my child to school instead of walking for the next few days, and could only hobble around the house. I applied Arnica religiously and watched as the bruised swollen toe became a bruised swollen foot before fading a little and hurting less. By the eleventh day I was confident I could put both feet through the paces of a Charleston dance class...

The morning of Graeme and Amanda's Solo Charleston Workshop I gently squeezed my feet into the only shoes I have without a grippy sole (a flat smooth sole is recommended for Charleston) and excitedly set off for Brighton.  Meeting Wukulele Harriet on the train as arranged, we arrived in Brighton early enough to fuel ourselves with excellent coffee at Small Batch Seven Dials, then headed for the dance venue upstairs at Good Companions pub. It was a packed and mixed class – male and female dancers, first timers (like me) and regulars.

The dance was broken down into manageable stages and we marvelled at how effortlessly Graeme demonstrated each sequence to us. We also admired his fabulous swing pants and co-respondent shoes! The enthusiasm in the room was infectious and an hour and a half flew by. The great thing about the Charleston is it's a dance you can improvise to, and make your own – when in doubt I remembered to smile and made with the jazz hands. Watch the short films below to see the results of our morning workshop.

I left the class elated and buzzing with joy and didn't notice my throbbing foot until I got to Western Road (en route to buy bobbins). I limped on regardless and just couldn't stop grinning for the rest of the day. Luckily lots of people smiled back!
 

 

Visit Lindy Hoppers if you'd like to Charleston dance in Brighton too.

Investigating Booth Museum

Brighton's Booth Museum of Natural History is a curious place. Founded by Victorian shooting enthusiast and taxidermist Edward Booth, it houses his vast collection of stuffed birds, butterflies, fossils and bones.

On entering the building we were met by a growling grizzly bear wielding a staff inside a tall glass cabinet – this set the tone nicely. Throughout, the museum is dimly lit and has a musty chemical smell (pervasive but not exactly unpleasant) it all adds to the idiosyncratic atmosphere of the place. My daughter was suitably appalled at the sight of so many preserved dead creatures on display!

We were there for Brighton Science Festival's Investigate the Iguanodon event held in the centre of the museum in a space decorated with cases filled with hundreds of mounted butterflies and moths. Geologist and Booth Museum manager John Cooper presented the illustrated talk which was aimed at children aged 8 and over (though there were as many eager adults present as enthusiastic children). It was simply fascinating and wonderful to see a room full of young dinosaur experts so engaged in the subject. Cooper paid tribute to Mary Anning, teenage fossil collector, dealer, paleontologist and the woman who found the world's first complete fossilised plesiosaur. We learnt that Iguanodon's teeth were found by Mary Ann Mantell (wife of fossil hunter Gideon Mantell) in Tilgate Forest, Cuckfield, Sussex in 1822.

Mary Anning and autograph letter concerning the discovery of plesiosaurus

My daughter loved the talk and really enjoyed exploring the museum's interactive displays though I couldn't persuade her to come and have another look at Booth's most prized exhibits.