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Making Money from Making: PricingDown the rabbit hole with Alice

Stitch of the month: Bullion stitchStitching simple leaf forms

March Almanac“Eat Me” Savoury Biscuits

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A Bustle & Sew Publication

Copyright © Bustle & Sew Limited 2014

The right of Helen Dickson to be identified as theauthor of this work has been asserted inaccordance with the Copyright, Designs andPatents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publicationmay be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system ortransmitted in any form, or by any means, withoutthe prior written permission of the author, nor beotherwise circulated in any form of binding orcover other than that in which it is published andwithout a similar condition being imposed on thesubsequent purchaser.

Every effort has been made to ensure that all theinformation in this book is accurate. However,due to differing conditions, tools and individualskills, the publisher cannot be responsible for anyinjuries, losses and other damages that may resultfrom the use of the information in this book.

First published 2014 by:Bustle & SewCoombe LeighChillingtonKingsbridgeDevon TQ7 2LEUK

www.bustleandsew.com

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This month it’s time to put the grey days of winter behind us and welcome the first sunshine ofspring. After all, March is the official start of spring and here in Devon there are snowdrops,primroses, daffodils and even some early periwinkles blooming in the hedgerows, the days aregrowing longer and everything seems brighter and more cheerful.

There are plenty of bright and cheerful projects in this month’s issue too … including the beautifulpinkness of Florence the Flamingo, Sweet Home Applique and Rosie Posie Stitchery as well as thesecond part of my series “Making Money from Making” full of hints and tips for those hoping tomake a profit from their creations.

Have a lovely March - and I hope there are plenty of signs of spring wherever you may be.

Helen xx

ContentsThe Month of March Page 4

Florence Flamingo Page 5

The work of Anne Anderson Page 8

Rosie Posie Stitchery Page 11

Down the Rabbit Hole with Alice Page 16

“Eat Me” Savoury Biscuits Page 20

Humphrey & Henrietta Page 21

Making Money from Making Page 24

Sweet Home Picture Page 29

Stitching Simple Leaf Forms Page 33

Three Easy Eco-Totes Page 37

Stitch of the Month: Bullion Stitch Page 42

English Roses Applique Page 43

Templates Page 47

Hello, and welcome to the March issue of the Bustle & Sew Magazine.

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March is the first month of Spring. He is Nature’s OldForester, going through the woods and dotting the trees withgreen, to mark out the spots where the forest leaves are to behung. The sun throws a golden glory over the eastern hills, asthe village clock from the ivy-covered tower tolls six, gildingthe hands and the figures that were scarcely visible two hourslater a few weeks ago. The streams now hurry along with arapid motion as if they … were eager to rush along the greenmeadowlands, to tell the flowers it is time to awaken.

Chambers Book of Days (1864).

March is often regarded as the firstmonth of spring, but astromonicallyit bridges the seasons, the first twenty

days belonging to winter. In many respects itis a month of preparation and anticipation. Forfarmers it is the sowing season and in theChristian church the month is dominated by theseason of Lent and the approach of Easter. InMarch the countryside really begins to changecolour from drab winter greys and browns tothe freshest of greens, whilst the earliest springflowers - primroses and crocuses, snowdropsand tiny purple violets appear in hedgerows andgardens.

For many birds and animals March is thebeginning of their breeding seasons, and thebehaviour of one particular animal at this timegives us the saying “mad as a March hare.”

The first of March is St David’s Day - thepatron saint of Wales. Little is known aboutthe saint’s life, though it is believed he was theson of a prince or chieftain of Cardigan (aregion of Wales) and that he founded severalWelsh monasteries in the 6th century AD.Customs associated with St David’s Dayinclude wearing one of the national symbols ofWales - either a leek in the hatband, or adaffodil in the buttonhole.

A hundred years earlier, the possibly Welsh-born patron saint of Ireland, St Patrick was

captured by pirates and sold into slaveryin Ireland. Six years later he escaped andmade his way to France where he becamea monk, and later a bishop, beforereturning to Ireland as a missionaryaround 432 AD. There are many legendssurroundng the saint - he is said to haveused the three leaves of the IrishShamrock to illustrate the doctrine of theTrinity and he is also said to havebanished snakes from Ireland.

St Patrick’s Day falls on March 17th andis marked worldwide by people of Irishdescent, especially in the USA whereparades with floats, marching bands andgreen(!) beer are an important part of thefestivities.

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Florence FlamingoFlorence has flown in from a much warmer and more exotic place than chilly

Devon in March! She’s settled in and is busy making friends with all the otherBustle & Sew softies!

Some wiring means Florence is suitable for those with a little existingexperience of softie-making.

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My next pattern for you is my owninterpretation of a lovely vintageillustration by Anne Anderson taken from

“The Rosie Posie Book” originally published in 1917.

Anne was born in Scotland in 1874, the eldestdaughter of Scottish Lowlanders, James and GraceAnderson. Her father's work had already taken theAndersons to South America before Anne's birth andsoon after, the family returned to Argentina whereAnne would live until her teenage years. She latermarried the illustrator Alan Wright, an Englishman,and made her home in Berkshire. They collaboratedon many projects - he was best at drawing animals -and in the end their work became virtuallyindistinguishable.

The Rosie Posie Book was both written andillustrated by Anne Anderson. It contains 12 full pagecolour plates together with a number of black andwhite illustrating the text on the other pages. Thereare eleven short poems, each with its own colourillustration, that follow the little girl of the book andher sister in the activities that they undertakethroughout the day. So there is a verse and illustrationfor Morning, Dressing, Going to School, Lessons and

so on. The illustrations are beautiful - I think they aresome of her best with her art nouveau stylised figuresand scenes. This was one of a series of books byNelson that were illustrated by Anne Anderson andall have the same type of cover. The other titlesinclude The Rosie Posie Book, The Maisie DaisieBook, The Gillyflower Garden Book and The LittleBusy Bee Book.

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Rosie Posie StitcheryMy own interpretation of a lovely vintage illustration by the early 20th century

illustrator, Anne Anderson.

Uses French knots, chain stitch, bullion stitch, satin stitch, back stitch andstraight stitch.

Shown mounted in 7” hoop.

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Alice was beginning to get very tired ofsitting by her sister on the bank, and ofhaving nothing to do: once or twice she

had peeped into the book her sister was reading,but it had no pictures or conversations in it, 'andwhat is the use of a book,' thought Alice 'withoutpictures or conversations?' So she wasconsidering in her own mind (as well as shecould, for the hot day made her feel very sleepyand stupid), whether the pleasure of making adaisy-chain would be worth the trouble ofgetting up and picking the daisies, whensuddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ranclose by her.

There was nothing so VERY remarkable in that;nor did Alice think it so VERY much out of theway to hear the Rabbit say to itself, 'Oh dear!Oh dear! I shall be late!' (when she thought itover afterwards, it occurred to her that she oughtto have wondered at this, but at the time it allseemed quite natural); but when the Rabbitactually TOOK A WATCH OUT OF ITSWAISTCOAT-POCKET, and looked at it, andthen hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for itflashed across her mind that she had neverbefore seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burningwith curiosity, she ran across the field after it,and fortunately was just in time to see it popdown a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.

In another moment down went Alice after it,never once considering how in the world shewas to get out again. The rabbit-hole wentstraight on like a tunnel for some way, and thendipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alicehad not a moment to think about stopping

herself before she found herself falling down avery deep well.

Either the well was very deep, or she fell veryslowly, for she had plenty of time as she wentdown to look about her and to wonder what wasgoing to happen next. First, she tried to lookdown and make out what she was coming to,but it was too dark to see anything; then shelooked at the sides of the well, and noticed thatthey were filled with cupboards and book-shelves; here and there she saw maps andpictures hung upon pegs. She took down a jarfrom one of the shelves as she passed; it waslabelled 'ORANGE MARMALADE', but to hergreat disappointment it was empty: she did notlike to drop the jar for fear of killing somebody,so managed to put it into one of the cupboardsas she fell past it.

'Well!' thought Alice to herself, 'after such a fallas this, I shall think nothing of tumbling downstairs! How brave they'll all think me at home!Why, I wouldn't say anything about it, even ifI fell off the top of the house!' (Which was verylikely true.)

Down, down, down. Would the fall NEVERcome to an end! 'I wonder how many miles I'vefallen by this time?' she said aloud. 'I must begetting somewhere near the centre of the earth.Let me see: that would be four thousand milesdown, I think-' (for, you see, Alice had learntseveral things of this sort in her lessons in theschoolroom, and though this was not a VERYgood opportunity for showing off herknowledge, as there was no one to listen to her,still it was good practice to say it over) '-yes,

Down the Rabbit HoleAn extract from “Alice in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll

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Vintage illustrations by Margaret Tarrant

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Humphrey & HenriettaHumphrey is a great easy make - perfect for craft sales or for beginners to

practise their skills.

And now … introducing his sister Henrietta - based on Humphrey’s template -with quite a few tweaks! - and appliqued onto two 16” cushion covers.

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Making Moneyfrom Making

It’s wonderful when you discover that it’sactually possible to earn some money bydoing something you love - like sewing!Over the next few issues I’m offering yousome hints and tips on successfully sellingthe items you love to make …

As you probably know, I'm morethan happy for you, as anindividual stitcher and

craftsperson, to use my patterns to makeitems for sale, as long as you credit Bustle& Sew with the design. After all, I don'tmake items for sale myself, and so it'slovely to think that others are using mypatterns to bring pleasure to others.

So, as the bazaar, fete and fair seasonapproaches, and crafters begin to thinkabout product lines for the summer, ifyou're considering starting selling yourmakes, or even if you already do so, Ithought you might enjoy my tips for acreating or perhaps growing your ownsuccessful hobby-based enterprise. Thismonth we’re looking at possibly the mostdifficult issue of all - costs and pricing.

Pricing your creations correctly isabsolutely vital. If you're making to sell asa business proposition you can't afford to

set your prices too low and not make aprofit, but at the same time you don't wantto set your prices too high and effectivelyprice yourself out of the market. Somecrafters sell their products very cheaply -this may be because they're simply makinga little money from their hobby - or theydon't have any idea how to go about pricingtheir work. Don't be tempted to reduceyour prices to compete with these crafters,remember that you want to pay yourself afair wage for all your hard work.

Making for business purposes is verydifferent to making as a hobby. Yourcreations may well have been admired byfamily and friends, and perhaps you'vemade a few for sale - and been verypleasantly surprised by the feedback you'vereceived. But if you're serious aboutmaking money from making then it'simportant that you begin to think like abusinessperson and work out three

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Wonder if she’s making money from making?

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Sweet Home PictureThese two little bluebirds have found the perfect home to bring up their family this spring,

a cute little birdhouse perched among the cherry blossoms.

Would make a perfect gift if you know someone who’s just found their perfect nest - ormake for your own home instead?

Shown mounted on an A3 board. (approx 12” x 16”)

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It is a very good idea to devote a samplerentirely to leaf forms as it will thenalways be near at hand for reference; sodo not look upon any sampler work as awaste of time. Take a simple leaf formfirst and see how many methods can beused to make the same shape interesting.In the example overleaf there arefourteen different methods of workingthe same leaf form and well-known,simple stitches are used for each one.

Read the description carefully beforebeginning work on your sampler. Thestitches used are as follows:

1. Stem stitch.

2. Stem stitch.

3. Chain Stitch.

4. Chain Stitch for outline and mid-vein.French knots added in a lighter shadeof green.

5. Satin stitch, beginning at the lowerright hand side of the leaf. Slantthe stitches nicely so that the tip ofthe leaf is dainty and well formed.Continue down the left hand side ofthe leaf. The needle point must comeup almost on the centre vein allthrough the working of the leaf. Withanother shade of green, work the leafstalk and centre vein in stem stitch.Keep the stitches small, and see thatthe direction is pleasing.

6. Buttonhole stitch is used here, andagain the direction of each stitchmust be considered with care (Thismethod would not be suitable for alarge leaf, as it would not bepractical unless the surface wasdivided up.) Add the leaf stalk andmid-vein in another shade of green,using back stitch.

7. Buttonhole stitch is used again here

In March we begin to look for the earliest signs of trees coming into leaf - those tinygreen buds that will soon swell and open into leaves of the brightest possible green. SoI thought this month would be a nice time to enjoy a chapter from a vintage book “The

Embroidery Book” by Winifred M Clarke. The words are hers ….

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Three Easy Eco-totesDoing your bit for the environment is fun with these three cute tote bags.

Simple to make, but definitely not ordinary with the addition of your choice of three easydesigns to applique to the front of your bag.

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Freestyle Machine Applique TutorialAll the designs for these tote bags use the freestyle machine applique technique. Ifyou’re at all unsure how to go about this or need to brush up your technique, then

please do take a look at my free online tutorial:

Download from the link below

http://bustleandsew.com/freepatterns/CircusLionMachineAppliqueTutorial.pdf

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English Roses AppliqueWho doesn’t love big blowsy English garden roses? I know I do and this

applique will remind you of them all year round.

Shown mounted on a 16” canvas block.

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