Seam stress

Today I am wearing this dress for work.

Please excuse the headless/footless photo.

My hand looks all boney and evil, doesn't it?

I made it from my own design!!

I was really simple, just 4 pieces of fabric.

It is already lunchtime and it hasn't fallen apart yet. I brought a back up dress in my bag just in case.

I have another dress design in my head, and some £1 fabric I bought from college with which to make it. (This new crafty me is due to a college course I enrolled on called 'fashion wear' that's all about how to make your own clothes).

I quite like the idea of making clothes out the the scraps of older stuff that you don't wear anymore. This is probably the reserve of the more accomplished seamstress (I have been to the sum total of 4 classes so far), but maybe I'll try it soon. I have loads of bits of old t shirt fabric to play with.

On a related note, has anyone heard of the brown dress project? The artist made and wore the same brown dress everyday for a year in a response to our culture of consumption. And then after the year was over she embarked on another year long project, only wearing clothes she had made herself from fabric she already owned (including other items of clothing). She had to give up on home made shoes though since hers fell apart.

Friday afternoons

Friday afternoons should be moved from the end of the working week to the first bit of the weekend. Imagine, finishing work at 1pm on a Friday (let's make it 1 so as not to dent productivity too badly).

This afternoon I would have had a sleep.

Whatta write about?

So, the contributions deadline for issue 5 is drawing close and I haven't begun to think about writing an article. Sure, I have begun editing and compiling articles from super efficient and excellent contributors, but not really given my own writing any thought.

Any ideas people?

Don't tell my arms, my achey breaky arms...

I am an achey breaky person today. All over.

'Tis due to a caving excursion over the weekend involving a day of SRT training (single rope technique - that's climbing and descending ropes with gadgets to the non caver) and another day of using practised skills in cave called 'Lost John's'.

There were 5 pitches to abseil down, one of which required you to swing in through a 'window' onto a ledge. And 3 pitches to ascend on the way out (because it was a through trip rather than going back the way you went in). The first pitch of ascent was over 70 ft and was thoroughly knackering.

I feel, and look, like I've been in a fight. Bruiser.

I should have taken my camera.

Pay day feels so good

Ah, the fresh air of pay day, the long awaited allieviation of stress and penny pinching.

This has been a particularly bad month for money. So i am very happy to have the extra overtime money in my paycheque. It means...

Freedom to buy up select best items from my Etsy favourites list :o)
Abillity to afford a winter wetsuit (surfing tomorrow in east cosat waters - not good plan in 2mm suit, especically as I am currently sat indoors at work with 3 layers plus coat and scarf)
or,
The most amazing boots in town from Green Shoes that I have been saving for for about 3 months (they are not cheap at all).

Kind folks motivate lazy blogger

Thank you kind folks who emailed and commented saying the odd irregular post on one of the worlds forgotten blogs would be missed. You are super nice and I feel heartened to carry on polluting your eyes with more posts.

I love the old TP, and like an addict I just can't quit it.

So, I intend to tell you about my weekend's adventure at 'Truck'.

Small village fete style indie festivals are not usually my thing (in fact, indie is generally not my thing hence the pen name) but I was at a loose end this weekend. The date I had made with some fabric and my sewing machine fell through since my new overlocking foot hadn't arrived (I am currently engaged in a evening class on how to sew and am feeling very motivated to spend time cursing in the front bedroom with a bundle of thread and some impatience).

So, off to truck at 7:30 Saturday morn in a Micra jam packed to busting point. I called shotgun.

The sun shone, I got sunburnt, my nose is all read and my lips are too dry.
I drank beer, which was cheap, since you could carry it in. Good folks at Truck.

Saw some piss poor bands on the Saturday. Merged into one through beer and lack of sleep.

Saw some ok bands on the Sunday, namely The Mules (a bit like Gogol Bordello but with more funk than gypsy) Chris TT (political acoustic folky type stuff about hedgehogs that tugged at the heartstrings and nearly made me cry - I am a softy any day but after no sleep there is no hope for me) and Little Sisters, who were a local band and sang one song about Jesus which kind of put me off. I refuse to dance to praiseful worship godloving songs. But the rest of their set was good. They had a harp and two fiddles though which was super ace.

Highpoint?
Some chap asked me to take a photo of him with a beardy man I assumed to be his friend. Thinking it might be a good idea to have our pic taken we asked said bloke to return the favour. Positioned ourselves in front of a nice leafy background in the vicinity of beardy bloke (careful not to stand too close in case he would be in the picture).

Photo taking man said, "well, stand a bit closer!" in an inpatient tone, so, confused, we quickly did as we were told. Result, us standing next to some beardy bloke we can only assume has fame associated with him since strangers expect us to want him in our photos. Cue sheepish grins on our part as we scarpered from the scene.

You're thinking 'that's the highpoint?!?'. Well, it was funny at the time.

I will find the picture and post it at some point to see if anyone can identify him.

Slipping

I remember when I used to write, a lot. Then 'the net nanny' got in the way and prevented me publishing my nonsense, not to mind the whole real world publishing deal-i-o that takes up a helluva lotta time even now.

Having said that I miss the old blog, the old writing just for the sake of it. I miss thinking about stuff the way I used to, making time for introspection, thinking about what's going on in the world outside of my head.

So I am going to take it up again.
Except I might take it up again anonymously.
This blog has been great. I've met some wonderful people and it's been a big catalyst for loads of new and exciting things in my life.

The anonymity of the 'early years' is something I miss though.

Maybe I will start a fresh new blog, maybe I'll get over myself and realise no one care what the hell I write be it anonymous or not. Maybe I'll just rekindle my relationship with TP warts and all?

I guess time will tell.

Sharholder power - ethics forced onto the agenda at Tesco

Hell yeah! A small shareholder at Tesco (also a primary from War on Want) has amassed enough support among fellow shareholders that they have forced Tesco to address problems within their supply chain of low wages, poor working conditions and job insecurity.
From the Guardian

Only 1/4 of 'money savers' would boycott child labour

In a poll on the site 'Money Saving Expert' only around a 1/4 of money savers said they would boycott a cheap clothing retailer if it was shown they used child labour to manufacture their products

I'd rather not have it than knowingly ignore the truth of where it came from.

Taken from the Labour Behind the Label website, info on high street stores and how they fair:

We wrote to all the major high street retailers and all members of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI). On the basis of the information gathered for this report, we put the companies into five groups, based on how well they were able to respond to the questions we asked.
1.Non-responders
These companies make no information available to consumers on their websites, and did not respond to our enquiries in any meaningful way. We are concerned that this lack of transparency indicates a lack of engagement. Includes: Bhs*, Diesel, House
of Fraser, Kookai, Mothercare, Marshalls, Monsoon Accessorize, Moss Bros, Peacocks/Bon Marche*, River Island, Ted Baker.
2.Dragging their feet
Responses from this group indicate scant effort to tackle workers' rights issues. They have not participated in collaborative efforts to develop best practice, in particular the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), and it shows from their responses. Includes: Arcadia (Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, Miss Selfridge, etc), French Connection, Jigsaw/Kew, Laura Ashley, Matalan, Mosaic Group (Oasis, Karen
Millen, etc), Primark, Principles.
3.Resting on their laurels
While these companies have previously taken some steps to address working conditions, including joining the ETI, their responses and case histories suggest that they are more interested in ticking the right boxes to stave off criticism than they are in achieving actual results for their workers. By and large they don't seem to accept the seriousness of problems regarding wages and freedom of association. Includes: Asda, Debenhams, Sainsbury's, Madison Hosiery, Pentland.
4.Could do better
These companies gave us mixed responses, which indicated some consideration and decent steps in some areas, but didn't deal substantively with others or were too vague to be sure about. Includes: John Lewis, H&M, Levi Strauss & Co, M&S, New Look, Tesco, TK Maxx, Zara.
5.Pulling ahead
From their responses and case studies, these companies are further along than others. While they still have a long way to go, they seem to be engaging more seriously with the issues we raised. Includes: Gap, Next.

For a guide to ethical clothing check out Labour Behind the Label

Subtext: issue 3 out now!

Apologies for the recent radio scilence.

Good news though, Subtext issue 3 is now on sale!
And on time! With double proof read text and (fingers crossed) all but titchy mistakes eliminated.
Plus, we've got badges too!