Yes, I do know it is March already but this is my first post for this year so Happy New Year dear readers!
Life has been busy, but not too frantic, since the end of last year when I last wrote a blog post. I’ve had a bit of a break from sewing, despite there being quite a lot of things to finish.
One of my aims was to de-junk, sort and organise all my sewing gear, fabric and doodads. Guess what? I got it all done! It didn’t happen ? But that’s OK. I’ll get it done eventually!
Anyway I better get to writing about the sashes. If you really want to know what else I’ve been doing to fill in my time you can read about it on my other blog A Quiet Life but I assure you it is just your usual everyday stuff. Nothing scintillating at all!
When my dear Mum was young she joined The Girls’ Life Brigade which later became Girls’ Brigade, GB for short. It actually began in 1893 in Ireland, before Girl Guides which started in 1908. Girl Guides is larger and more well known but GB is still going strong.
Mum believed passionately in the aims of GB for girls and young women and moved up through the ranks. When she married and moved to Wellington she joined the 18th Wellington Company eventually becoming Captain of the company, a position she held for many years. My sister and I both attended the company and I spent time as Captain myself. Roll on a few years and we had a daughter, Smurfette.
We didn’t automatically send her to GB but in the end, for personal reasons, that’s where we enrolled her. Frosty and Locket followed along as they became old enough. These days Smurfette is Co-Leader of a company in Wellington.
So now you have the back story ?
Over the years the uniform has changed as these things do. My Mum had a sash for all her badges. Then they went out of fashion, or just weren’t part of the uniform anymore which really annoyed me as I always thought it would be cool to display the badges on it.
Now they have reintroduced them and last year Smurfette asked if it would be possible for me to make some for the girls in her company. A young lass had joined who had a sash and we were able to borrow it so I could make a pattern.
They’re quite basic and easy to make and I enjoyed making them as they didn’t require too much brain power. ? Sometimes it’s nice not to have to figure out a complicated make, for me anyway.
Sides stitched down.
Folded in half, the end stitched and the corner clipped ready for it to be turned, which will give a triangular end to the sash.
Pressed and the wide end stitched in the ditch to keep it flat.
The label so I won’t muck up which way the velcro goes on each end. There were 21 sashes so I did not want to unpick them all if I got it wrong!
The velcro stitched to the ends. Then they got a good press before I handed them over to Smurfette.
Here are the girls wearing them at the end of the year. Smurfette is the one whose face you can see! The girls were all pretty excited to get their sashes and put their badges on them.
I was given a lovely thank you card from them all which I greatly appreciated ?
I will be blogging this year and will try to be regular. I say try as I have made the decision to do a bit of study. Well, formal study as opposed to informal. I’m always researching and learning via books and the internet however there is one area I have always felt I would like more knowledge in. It’s the area of art. E.g. drawing, painting, colour, shading . . . all that kind of thing. I didn’t study it at school apart from the art we did in primary school, age 5 – 12. I’m great at stick figures and that’s about it!
Hello! I too was a Girls Brigader. It was when we wore navy v neck pinafores with a light blue skivvy under them, very chic!
Hello, MrsC! Lovely to hear form you. Well, well, well! Who would have thought. That's awesome to know. Our uniform was the navy v neck pinafore with a white shirt, and the beret! Which became a forage cap when you were older! The pinafores were often rather short . . . and we have the photos to prove it!