A tip of the hat!

Wow, another great WI evening at the Tea Rooms on Church Street! Thank you so much to Claire Strickland who talked us through her education and career thus far and her pivotal decision to become a bespoke milliner. she told us some great stories, showed us some really inspirational work and gave us many hot tips about craft materials, techniques and suppliers.

Claire says:'Milliner. Hatter. Bonnet beautician. Fedora Fancier,I go by many names. Mostly, though, people call me Claire Strickland, and ask me to make bespoke hats and headpieces for them. My hats and headpieces have starred in theatres, films, operas and pantomimes, at public events and corporate promotions. I’ve even created personal, private commissions.My speciality hat? I love any kind of challenge, but my eyes get especially bright when clients say things like ‘sculptural’, ‘outlandish’ and ‘historical’ to me.

A stitch in time...

It was great to see you all last Monday at the tea rooms, and what a fantastic evening it was! A massive thank you to Claire-Louise, aka 'The Thrifty Stitcher'who hosted a wonderful evening of dress making and sewing tips!

It was a really informative and interesting evening. She was a fountain of knowledge with plenty of information on how to cut fabric to fit your figure and shape perfectly and where to start with vintage patterns. There was a helpful handout giving loads of websites and shops where you could source different materials and equipment which could help you on your way. Loads of really interesting stuff too- I didn’t know your sewing machine needle needs replacing, on average, after 8 hours of sewing. Mine will definitely need replacing after 8 years then!

Claire- Louise also does private and group lessons see www.thethriftystitcher.co.uk which I will be sure to check out. It would be great for a birthday or a special occasion with a group of friends.

Thanks again Claire-Louise and I will definitely be getting my hands on one of those vintage inspired Collete patterns.

Mission Accomplished!

Thank you to all the WI members who joined us on Monday at Albion Parade to do some Guerilla Gardening! The place looked pretty much transformed by the time we left. It was great to see everyone donning their aprons and wellies and getting stuck in.

First we cleared all the litter and then planted many plants and seeds, from roses, daffodils and pansies to heathers and ivy. The main flower bed in the middle is now peppered with pansies and other pretty little flowers. If you drive past or get off the 73 bus at Albion crescent wander in and have a look at all our hard work..!

Thank you to Cynthia for providing a weelie bin of water. It was extremely hard work pushing that down Clissold crescent at 9pm and I’m sure that the plants wouldn’t have survived without it.

A massive thank you to Errol and Oya from N16 Flowers on Church street for donating lots of beautiful flowers and plants – it really made a difference- and is very much appreciated!

Our tree has blossomed!

The tree we decorated in celebration of International Women's Day is awash with the most glorious pink blossom, and nestling between the blossom are our celebratory pom poms! It looks so positive and beautiful!

Fitness fun for Stokey Ladies

The sun is shining, the trees are almost in bloom, ladies, that can only mean one thing: The dreaded bikini season is almost upon us!! Thank goodness for the WI! Last Monday we all enjoyed a session with the lovely Holly Davidson. Holly is a personal trainer who has worked professionally as a PT for the past 8 years working with clients to tone up and lose weight.

The session was a balance between fitness and diet advice. She started off by showing us a game that anyone could play at home or in the park to tone up those ‘problem areas’. All you need is a bit of space, and a pack of cards. If you pull out a diamond that would mean squats, clubs mean arm dips, hearts means lunges and spades means press ups. So if you pull out a 4 of hearts you would do 4 lunges on each leg, 5 of clubs, 5 arm dips on the back of a chair or bench etc. The queens, jacks and kings would be either running on the spot for 30 seconds, sits ups or jumping jacks. You could pretty much make up your own versions and mix and match. Simple,
yet effective.

Holly then gave us some dietary advice on what to eat and what not…! It was really informative. Holly gave us tips on what to cut out, and what to replace it with. Was actually shocked to find out all the foods that I assumed were ‘healthy’ and how much sugar they all contained. She gave us a really good tip; look on the back of packets, the ingredients are listed in order of content, and if sugar is in the top 5, then there will be loads of it in there. Natural sugars found in fruit are alright as the body can process it easier.

Anyway, enough about science… she also gave us some treats! Chocolate nonetheless! It was a dark chocolate called Plamil, which was dairy free and gluten free- but despite first impressions, was really nice. The second one, which was even tastier, was called ‘Ombar’ which was raw chocolate and tasted like Green and Blacks.

Another alternative healthy snack was called Yokon root (which in fact I am nibbling now!) and it is like dried fruit- which you can get from a website called ‘Tree Harvest’.

If anyone is over London Fields way, there is also a shop called ‘The Happy Kitchen’ which sells delicious, healthy cakes and biscuits and also lots of the things I have mentioned.

Holly’s wesite is: www.hollyactive.com – she’s lovely and I recommend her to anyone who
needs a little help to get healthy and fit. Dust off your trainers and go for it!

Vintage glamour for Stokey ladies

Last night we all went to Stroll on Church Street for a talk on vintage clothing. The owner Hoana gave us a really insightful and interesting talk on clothes from the thirties to the recent ‘vintage’ of late 80’s early 90’s. It was so great to see so many remarkable and unique pieces.  She started off with showing us a stunning 1930’s dress beautifully embellished with a detailed pattern and highlighted the workmanship and skill that goes into making such a garment.
The forties examples (I admit my favourite!) were two beautiful American tea dresses made from silk and rayon.  The patterns were exquisite and I was dying to try them on… the glamour and romance of the 1940’s could really be experienced through looking at these wonderful clothes and could just imagine being swept away by a handsome GI by the promise of some chocolate and some stockings!

The fifties dresses were again beautiful and classic. One of them being a ‘wiggle’ dress made from pure silk, which was cut so that it would flatter any figure. The sixties very classically 60’s with a short dress from BIba- which I know Kate our president had her eye on at the end of the night.

The seventies was an ‘Ossie Clark’ which was worth around £300- so well worth digging out your loft and seeing what you’ve got hiding up there.
All in all it was a brilliant evening. I definitely feel that I’ve learnt a lot about sourcing vintage clothes and what garments are worth money and ones that are not. I am quite passionate about vintage and believe that you are buying not only something to wear but something special and unique.

Many thanks Hoana and will be definitely seeing you soon!

Happy International Women's Day!

International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. In some places like China, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria, International Women's Day is a national holiday (boo for us ladies in Stokey today!)
The day honours the work of the Suffragettes, celebrates women's success, and reminds of some of the global inequities that still to be redressed.

So in celebration, a crack team of Stoke Newington WI ladies in mittens and hats gathered on Albion parade last night to adorn the trees with homemade pom poms and a knitted banner. Lucy and Jacqui our most nimble and courageous members, managed to scale to the top branches all in aid of a good cause.

It was the perfect crisp sunny morning for the residents and local passerby's to wake up and marvel at the wonderful colourful sight that greeted them - I noticed a fair few smiles and photos being taken.

Thank you to everyone who made it happen - it certainly got heads turning and tongues wagging!

Kate
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