April Meeting- 16/4/2012. Green fashion- how to look stylish without costing the earth

Green fashion- Looking stylish without costing the earth! 

Please note that this session is on April 16th, not our usual second monday of the month, due to the easter Holidays

Ethical and green fashion is hot amongst celebrities right now. Livia Firth is championing the cause with her green carpet challenge,  and many designers are jumping on the band-wagon. Brilliant news! but not all of us can order a John ford outfit, so where does that leave us mere mortals?

 

Long before it was hot to wear ethical and sustainable fashion Veronica Crespi was at the forefront of the "Slow Fashion" movement.

Veronica is a style and fashion consultant, with a quintessential Italian flair who set up ReWardrobe in 2009.

Veronica has a background in Design and Styling and she understands colour, textiles and fashion trends

At Rewardrobe, Veronica offers all the services of a traditional Image Consultant: advice on colour, personal style, wardrobe organisation, suitable outfits for business or special occasions, personal shopping – as well as Style and Slow Fashion workshops for small groups. But she has also made Slow Fashion the focus of her work, advising clients on how to link sustainability with style.

Think green fashion means no style? Veronica will be sharing tips on how to look on trend, whilst upcycling and re-working what you already have in your wardrobe.

She'll be doing a mini style surgery, so if there's something in your wardrobe that doesn't work or you just don't wear, do bring it along.

Here's some of the wardrobe tips and tricks experienced stylist Veronica will be sharing with us-

Donate - There are plenty of organisations that collect clothes for a specific purpose. 

Sell - Most of us have a few items that have barely seen the light of day. Some impulse buys have either been worn once or twice, or not at all! These practically new items can be sold on, freeing up a little cash in our budget

Upcycle - You may have a few items that are not fitting at the moment, but whose fabric or print you still love, or have a sentimental attachment to. Rewardrobe has teamed up with some talented designers, that accept commissions to transform your pieces into new creations of customised design. Alternatively, if you are happy to donate your unwanted pieces to them, they'll be happy to incorporate them into their own designs, thus prolonging the lifespan of the material and continuing our mission of sustainable fashion with style!

She's even got a supplier for eco hangers!

This month it's free for members to attend and there's our usual £4 fee for visitors,  do remember to grab a drink from the bar on the way in.

RSVP here!

Event Registration Online for April meeting- Green fashion- how to look stylish without costing the earth powered by Eventbrite

A fabulous virtual tour of the WSPU exhibition of 1909

Our March meeting was a fabulous Virtual tour of the WSPU exhibition of 1909.

Nigel Shephard, a local composer and film maker has been researching the suffragettes for over 5 years, and has a film on the topic ready to go into production. Nigel joined forces with Naomi Paxton, an Actress and PHD student researching the Actress Franchise league. Together they presented rare photos, and insights into this amazing event.

I personally knew little of the suffragette exhibition, and was taken aback by how "modern" the women's faces seemed. It was like looking back in time to see contemporary women in "costume" almost. For the first part of the talk, we enjoyed a slide show that showed floor plans of the exhibition, witty anecdotes from attendees of the exhibition, and saw many wonderful images. Throughout the slide show, both speakers talked us through the images, their relevance and gave us some glimpses into a little seen part of the suffragette history.

There were bands in attendance at the exhibition, milliners selling extraordinary work and all number of tradeswomen selling their wares at the exhibition. My favourite image was the suffragette giving self defence demos, whose partner had fallen ill, and used a policeman as a stand in!

This little video, in no way gives the full experience of the night, but if you couldn't attend then it's a wee taster!



The Women's Institute's history is wrapped up with that of the suffragette movement, and Nigel is reaching out to the WI for help. Getting a movie made in the uk is expensive, and with the arts council cuts recently, it's becoming increasingly hard for independent film makers.
There are over 250,000 members of the WI in the uk, and if each of us gave a pound towards the making of this film, Nigel would be able to get it off the ground.
Stokey WI has donated a pound for each of our members, and we're looking to spread the word! Nigel and Naomi are available to give this presentation to other WI groups, so do get in touch if you'd like them to speak at your meeting?

Textile Graffiti for International Women's day 2012

Wowee...

The afternoon of March 7th our planned action day was incredibly blustery, and i personally got blown off a pavement and soaked! I was anxious that the event would be a wash out, but karma was on our side, and the evening dried up and was mild enough that we could get cracking with our Textile Graffiti.

Every year since the Stoke Newington WI was formed, there has been some kind of action around Albion parade to celebrate International women's day. It began with giant knitting and the "Yarn-bombing" of one of the trees in Albion Parade. Last year's Pom Pom's even made it into the guardian, having been spotted by the journalist Suzanne Moore as she passed by on a bus!

This year had a more "fabric" themed action, so we renamed it "Textile Graffiti" Our February meeting was spent making over 35 fabric and upcycled plastic rings. And we also made 20 Suffragette Rosettes.

On March 7th, armed with a couple of ladders, and lots of enthusiasm, we strung up one of the trees on albion parade with our suffragette coloured rings.

Not only was there tree decorating, but we marked the occasion with some Suffragette songs too!

Thanks to all the lovely ladies that came along on the night, and thanks also to the ladies at february's meeting for put together all the fabulous wreaths and rosettes.

We were lucky enough to have 2 ladies visit from other North London WI groups. Amy from N1WI who kindly took all of these lovely pics, and Yvette from the very new Stroud Green WI group

Here's the Textile Graffiti Gang!

The liberty book of home Sewing- a review

The Liberty book of home sewing is a visual treat from the front cover to the back page.

Peppered throughout the book are pages of the iconic Liberty print cottons, which in themselves are a visual treat for fans of the delicious fabric

This book is aimed not just at new stitchers, but at the more advanced stitcher too. There is a project in this book for everyone, wether it's their simple but elegant cushion cover, the eco shopper bag or the gorgeous quilt.

 

The instructions for each project are very well drawn, beautiful clear diagrams. There is comprehensive text description alongside the diagrams too, making it nice and clear how to make up the projects.

At the beginning of the book is a nice section on  how to get started, again illustrated with gorgeous diagrams, and there's a useful kit list too. Most of the techniques you'll need to get a professional finish are covered well in this section. a good example is notching and clipping seams before turning through, and I think they've done a great job in this section.

Apart from being a great sewing handbook, this really is an aspirational book. The images of things you could make are just so beautifully shot. There are so many fabulous photos here that I can't see how anyone won't be inspired to get their sewing machine out and have a go! I'm a big fan of the corsage, and this is my favourite image from the book.

My only niggle about this book, would be that as with most  new sewing books, there aren't full sized patterns included. The book supplies diagrams, which you are required to scale up to a full sized pattern. I'm an impatient stitcher, and scaling up patterns is to me a bit like maths- Torture!  I believe the reason for this is that to print and publish books with full sized paper patterns is very expensive, and would make the book ridiculously costly.

I was given a copy of this book to review, however the opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Claire-Louise Hardie- Secretary SNWI

March is international Women's month- Here's how we can get involved

It's March, and it's international women's month. What does that mean for us 21st century women? We've got the vote, most of us are free to pursue the careers we choose, and marry whom we like. 

I recently met with Victoria, a representative from the charity Women for Refugee Women. It's a very small charity based out of Tindlemanor which is a fabulous and unique "women only" building that houses many female organisations. I was struck by how little I knew about the life of refugee women in the UK. I had always assumed that our welfare state would take care of them. After chatting with Victoria I was filled with how my life couldn't stay the same if I was "transplanted" from the UK to another county with no finances, no local language skills, and no access to family or support. All the things I take for granted as an educated middle class woman, would be meaningless. Without speaking the local language, I could no longer work in the industry in which I have extensive education and training. Essentially I'd become a different version of the woman I am here in London.

Here's a little about the charity, and how we as local WI members can help out

Women for Refugee Women challenges the injustices experienced by women who seek asylum in the UK. They work to empower women who have sought sanctuary here to speak out about their own experiences to the media, to policy-makers and at public events. They are particularly concerned about women fleeing gender-related persecution, such as rape, forced marriage, honour crimes, threats of female genital mutilation, and trafficking for forced prostitution. Many women who have fled such experiences are turned down for asylum on arriving here. If women are refused asylum they face destitution and detention in the UK, and deportation back to places where they feel they would be in danger.  They aim to give a voice to women who are all too often unheard and unseen.

Women for Refugee Women support the group Women Asylum Seekers Together (WAST) London. The WAST London meetings provide a safe welcoming space where these women can share their experiences, and find strength and solidarity in one another. Weekly English classes, advice sessions and lunch are provided to the group at Tindlemanor in Old Street. WAST London also meet on a Saturday each month.

They are currently looking for creative women who are happy to volunteer to share their arts and crafts experience with the group. If you are interested in meeting members of the inspiring WAST London over some sewing and knitting this spring just let us on the Stokey WI Committe know by  e mailing on stokenewingtonwi@gmail.com

Here's a couple of other things you can do during international Women's month-

3 March: Million Women rise march

8 March: On the Bridge march, Women for Women International

9-11 March: Women of the World Festival (WOW)

March meeting- A virtual tour of The WSPU exhibition of 1909

A virtual tour of the WSPU Exhibition of 1909

Nigel Shephard is an independent filmmaker and composer, based in Stoke Newington. He has been researching the Suffragettes for five years for a film Banners and Broad Arrows which is ready to go into production. He is started a campaign to raise funds for his film, and is hoping that every WI Member in the UK will donate £1 towards getting this british film on screen

Naomi Paxton is an actress and PhD student researching the Actresses Franchise League. 

Naomi and Nigel would like to take you on a virtual tour of the WSPU Exhibition at the Princes Skating Rink, Knightsbridge in 1909.

The exhibition was a showcase for the Suffrage cause and, using rare photographs and contemporary material they will give you a glimpse into the variety, colour, sights and sounds of this hugely popular and successful event. Featuring fortune tellers, brass bands, theatre performances, installations, some extraordinary models and the first ice-cream soda fountain in England - as well as stalls from societies across the United Kingdom-  the exhibition was a chance for Suffrage supporters to gather and celebrate as well as for curious visitors to explore and enjoy.

There will be a small fee of £3 for members to attend and £4 for visitors, remember to grab a drink from the bar on the way in.

Online Ticketing for March meeting- A virtual tour of the WSPU Exhibition of 1909 powered by Eventbrite