Friday 29 June 2018

Freedom shoes (Liberty Espadrilles)

Earlier on this year I noticed that my local haby Creaseys was selling espadrille soles, what a lovely idea!  They very kindly ordered them in in my size, have rather large feet.....and I started looking for inspiration. 

I have box of fabric strips, mainly Liberty Tawn Lawn which I had used for decoupage, 
that were perfect. The backing was just a pair of old jeans. 
You draw round the pattern provided with the soles and then get creative.

I simply stitched the stripes down with a line of back stitch in embroidery silk, 
so that the fraid edge of the fabric was a feature.

It was only after I had finished the tops that I realised the denim had some stretch....
not what you want for the top of a shoe!  So I backed them with a woven interfacing. 

Creaseys by now were also selling the espadrille thread, a nice strong (red)  cotton, 
perfect for doing the traditional blanket stitch to hold the top to the bottom. 
The only problem I had was as you fold the fabric under to do the blanket stitch, it meant I was sewing through two layers of denim and interfacing plus the rope sole, so I ended up having to use a pair of pliers to pull the needle through!
Must say I am very please with how they turned out, I decided not to do the backs as when I used to wear espadrilles a lot and you always stood on the backs, so why bother with them in the first place?

And today they have had their first outing in the sun!

Saturday 2 June 2018

That gold cross!


 I do always like a challenging question!

Well we all know that the Guernsey Flag is a mix of
 the Cross of St George and the Cross of William the Conqueror - Duke of Normandy.  
 But last week a gentleman who was a keen history buff
 said he had never seen Williams cross before,  stopping to think about it neither had I. 
 Later in town I bumped into the Head of Museums here, and so I asked him.

Turns out in 1066 William persuaded Pope Alexander 2 to send him a papal banner, 
to show him backing of Williams invasion plans.
 

 As you can see it is definitely the gold cross from the center of our flag.
 It also features a fair few time in the Bayeux Tapestry, though you do seem to have to know what you are looking for, its not obvious.
So we now know, and I bet you anything I am never asked that question again!!!!!