Author: Ruth Singer

Origin countdown 7 days. I feel like I’m on a speeding train hurtling towards Origin without any stops. The last week has whizzed by with barely time to notice the scenery. I did maked a couple of scheduled stops in London last week including a very successful meeting with a publisher, which I hope to…

Origin countdown 13 days. Here’s my little scarflette that I mentioned. I’ve only had time to make a few of these for the show, yet this one has sneaked in my bag and come home to hang out with the rest of my wardrobe to see how it likes being my own. I think it…

Origin countdown 16 days. Yesterday: pleat, pleat, pleat a bit more, ruffle, ruffle, ruffle a lot more.Today: Brief intermission for training (on how to fill in forms) and then pleat, pleat, pleat a bit more, ruffle, ruffle, ruffle a lot more. (the stack of scarves waiting to be pleated and pretending to be a Paul…

Origin countdown 19 days. It’s been a scarf day today. I’ve got a nice stack of 10 ready to pleat. My sewing machine in threatening to go on strike at the mere thought. Why do they always need a service when I am too busy to part with them? I should learn from this and…

Origin countdown 24 days

Origin countdown 25 days I love to finish things. To tie off the last thread, snip off the last frayed edges, to press and to fold and to put away in a stock box, or better still, to put on, or hang up.I finally completed my first large framed panel ready for Origin. This piece…

Origin countdown 26 days I spoke to soon. Or at least I blogged too soon. The chair plan has been postponed because poor Lisa has injured her wrist, making upholstering impossible. However, all is not lost. I am using one of the fabrics on another chair which I can cover myself. In actual fact, this…

This isn’t the £5 Regency number, but is the c1900 upholstered chair for display, also from the depths of Dust World. Clearly it needs a little work before it comes to hang out with Maud and my finery at Origin. The plan is that it will be a joint effort of will, skill and frustration…

I have spent the best part of two days in a kind of Dust World, selecting and purchasing the finest, and dustiest of tatty antiques. I’ve been looking for a nice, old upholstered chair for weeks. I’ve been looking for old picture frames for months. I’ve been wanting an antique mannequin for years. In one…

Eveything I am making at the moment seems to involve lots of small bits. This box contains 132 folded and pinned two-inch squares of silk. The piece below involves about 50 circles, cut and folded and stitched individually onto the vintage shot-rayon fabric. I was making this listening to a radio programme about Neil Diamond…