pins and needles

A day that got off to a bad start but ended happily...
This morning at 8am I broke my last size 9 needle. It's the slender size that's perfect for sewing Liberty's Tana Lawn cotton. I was stupidly using it to sewing the inverted box pleat of my new 'Anya Rose' Liberty Kingly cord baby dress. Even though it's super soft, three layers of baby cord was too much and it snapped off. Disaster was averted by a trip to Sew-In in Buxton.

Cake and coffee and my first order from the United States for a 'Tilly Toadstool' pinafore in Liberty's Wiltshire print cheered me up enormously.

There are few greater pleasures in life than sewing on buttons to the gentle rhythm of Test Match Special - especially when Australia's collapsing. I mused about the wonders of my 'no need to thread' needles which have an ingenious little gap through which you snap the thread. It saves endless hours poking ragged ends through tiny holes, giving up, looking for my scissors which are always on the other side of the sewing room. (You can get them at Tesco in Whaley Bridge).

The pinafore has a lovely full gathered skirt which requires lots and lots of pinning. This is a photo of my wrist-band pin cushion. This one broke but I bought a new one from the wonderful Manchester wholesaler, Taylors (who are sending me a supply of Berisfords of Congleton's lovely velvet ribbons for mu autumn/winter collection).

I also have a sweet little iced bun pin cushion that I bought from clever Kitty Eden who makes all sorts of handmade lovelinesses.

PS I'm always slightly wary of swallowing pins so I always have a pin cushion to hand to try and avoid holding them between my lips. We had a lovely golden retriever called Leah when I was a little girl. She swallowed one of Mum's pins. Luckily Mum knew to feed her buttered cotton wool balls which coated the pin long enough for the dog to get to the vets. (The only downside was that from then on Leah used to eat the cotton wool off the Christmas tree every year!)