It’s a bit tricky, but each of the posts have categories. 1. Find a category that looks interesting to you. They tend to be topics or people’s names. 2. Click on the category word(s), e.g ‘Growly’ or ‘Textile history’ and a list of all the relevant posts will be made. 3. Categories that are used… Continue reading How to find things in this blog
Author: Helen Tovey
Editor of Family Tree UK: enjoys family history - family stories, research collated, memories collected, documents discovered, old pictures puzzled over ...
Who were you Bill Pole?
THE CAST: Mouse (aka Elizabeth Mary Hallas; Bill Pole) The utility clothes, the curly hair. Smiling. Enjoying the outdoors… mucking about in a boat. Mouse in her early 20s I’ve always loved this photo of Mouse. She was born in 1921 and looks a very young woman here, her early 20s most likely – do… Continue reading Who were you Bill Pole?
Whittling walking sticks
THE CAST: Growly & Mouse (aka John Elliot Scott Hill & Elizabeth Mary Hallas-Hill) & Islay the labrador By the front door of Mouse and Growly's home in Storrington, Sussex, were numerous walking sticks. They were both in good health - or seemed to my child's eyes to be - but they just liked a… Continue reading Whittling walking sticks
Chopsticks
THE CAST: Growly (aka J. E. S. Hill); Peter Hallas Growly's chopsticks at the imperial war museum If you go to the online catalogue of the Imperial War Museums (they call themselves plural museums, hence the 's') you can search for details of Growly’s chopsticks: “chopsticks in bamboo tube” - https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30083310 (If you’ve not seen… Continue reading Chopsticks
Lucet braiding
Mahogany lucets: one for me, one for my brother. Lucet – or lucette? Bumbling through my battered old An Illustrated Companion to the Decorative Arts I came across the mention of this cord-making gadget, and knew it was another bit of historical textile technique I’d love to try, which looked good for pocket-sized projects on the go. Homemade… Continue reading Lucet braiding
Sewing in the Antarctic
For all the remarkable, if sometimes controversial, things about Captain Scott’s Antarctic venture, when we visited the Polar Institute in Cambridge, one of the little items on display that spoke to me most were the hussifs. Filled with the essential stitching repair kit the men needed to keep their equipment in good order, a hussif seems such… Continue reading Sewing in the Antarctic
Nearly finished 1940s sock
Almost-complete 1940s tennis sock from Odhams Complete Family Knitting In true 1940s vein I’ve had to make-do-and-mend with the colour scheme of these tennis socks – going for a jaunty yellow n’ white stripe, due to shortage of white yarn. I’ve also knitted them in alpaca – the right gauge and beautifully soft. But durable?… Continue reading Nearly finished 1940s sock
Textile-related Acts of Parliament (a few notes)
(This blog post was first published over a decade ago on 11 March 2014. In the meantime I have continued to collect a few more textile related acts.) Whichever way I try and say it, it just sounds plain geeky, but over the past few months (in 2014) I’ve been ‘collecting’ Acts of Parliament, but… Continue reading Textile-related Acts of Parliament (a few notes)
The art of sewing on buttons
Therese de Dillmont’s beautiful illustrations on the art of sewing on buttons. Try to chat to a non-seamstress about sewing and the chances are she’ll (or he’ll, or they’ll) wave her hands in the wailing “but I can’t even sew on a button” to demonstrate their complete unsuitability for this sort of conversation. At which… Continue reading The art of sewing on buttons
A home for our family history 