made in england

What a coup! A pair of tweed Austin Reed plus fours found in a vintage shop recently had my eyes practically on stalks, let me tell you. Such quality, as you would expect, and it must have taken me, ooh let me think, all of two whole minutes to snap them up.

You know how crazy I am about wool, Liberty and linens, right? Well, because I'm feeling the respect towards the memory of Mr Reed (who started his quintessentially English company back in 1900, boasting Winston Churchill as a client during the 1940s), I cut into one of my favourite prints of all, poppy and honesty, which I used for this top.

Now I'm not suggesting for one minute that the great Winston C once wore my star buy. More like a dashing huntin' shootin' fishin' chappie reminiscent of those gents over at Downton Abbey, I'm guessing. I wish! Actually I've just been reading about the Downton producers and their massive fashion faux pas for the Christmas episode. Set in 1919/20, they put Lord Grantham and his mates in leather gaiters, when plus fours would have been far more accurate for the time. Tut tut ..

I love these gentleman's breeches, not just for the beautiful fabric and lovely buttons, nor for the couple of exquisite darns that a wonderful housekeeper (or wife) blended in so well. But rather than forcing the main man into them, I made purses and then something a wee bit different. And despite it being impossible to choose a favourite child or preferred pet, I have to confess I am chuffed to bits with this couple of extra large pouches which have just been put into the shop.

Large enough to house a few supplies for a small sewing or knitting project, I incorporated one of the deep back pockets onto the outside of each one. These pockets are going to be perfect for keeping a few handy small tools, such as sewing needles, stitch markers, row counter and the like. The type of accessories that so easily get mislaid. And of course, I shouldn't assume that everyone sews or knits, so there is ample room for a slim journal or two with some pencils and the outer pocket could be used for coins, or an erasure and a sharpener, perhaps.

Finally, the pouches have been prettied up with vintage lace, a different piece for each one, and then lined with strong floral linen, which you may remember from this recent dress project. Waste not, want not!

Oh by the way, I think I should explain my sporadic blog hopping of late. My computer won't allow me to comment on blogs with the embedded comments format and I think there may be a bug somewhere in the system. When the main man is around I nick his iPad, which works fine (apart from the irritating predictive text which drives me crazy) but when he goes away, I'm stumped! Does anyone else have this problem? Mind you, I guess you won't be able to tell me, given I have the embedded format too!!

What are you up to this weekend? I've arranged a play date for the children, although my son snorts at the term and insists it's 'hanging out'! A spot of baking, some good warming food and a brisk walk or two should do it. Ah, and there's the biggest swear word of them all to contend with .. Homework!!

Happy weekend, everyone.