Shirring elastic, skinny thin elastic that to me seemed either a waste of time or a fiddly job. Well, correction it is in fact super easy to use and with quick results. Many moons ago I bought the below dress, broken elastic and shapeless I thought that the fabric alone was worth buying the dress for. I love the cotton, the colour ways and the sleeves. All that was really wrong with it was the shirring elastic had gone, which given the dress is from the 1970s it would mean the elastic was probably 30 years old - after 30 years of washing and wearing its fair to say that it had gone past its pr ..read more

Often when recycling I need to use small pieces of lace or fabric to patch the of which I don’t have the colour. In fact in most cases I try and buy second lace in pale or white so that I can dye to exactly the length I need so as to waste resources. In the past I have used the washing machine to dye fabric and for smaller or more delicate items I hand dye using a plastic bucket. In fact, the same plastic bucket whatever the colour, just simply wash any residue after use. In fact, it was whilst hand dyeing that I realised how much dye was being left over. Initially I would hand dye and then p ..read more

Home schooling - Little did I know that when I would I offered my lap top to be used for home schooling that I would not see it again… well, at least for 2 months but I now have it back! I was hopeful that the ‘little one’ would get my old machine and i would have a sparkling new one but no sid child is tapping away of his new shiny beautiful laptop… So now I have no excuses and hence any I am back on here an able to write. Although with everything that is going on, I don’t actually have very much concentration (or patience). Its fair to say that I am not a teacher and at no point in my future ..read more

A ..read more