Making bashers

We use a vacuum board a lot in tailoring. If you don't have one of these you really need a basher. A basher is just a big block of wood with which you bash the cloth after you press it, and it sucks the hot air away. I'd been wanting one for a while and there was loads of wood out the back so I asked Joe to help me make one (make one for me.)

Get a block of wood

And get someone with a saw to cut it up for you

There was a really funny moment when I was standing straight in front of where he was cutting. He cut a piece off and it flew through the air at top speed around knee-cap height. Luckily I had just moved a couple of steps to the right a minute earlier. That would have hurt.

And then you have two bashers. The one on the right has a nice groove on the top for holding but they both work just the same. It developed a massive crack down the flat length of it a couple of days later but still does the job and has revolutionized home sewing.

Question of sport special

It was half term last week so I went on the serious job hunt. Only joking I stayed at home and made myself a waistcoat and trouser combo. Result.

They are both way more casual than previous efforts and the waistcoat is closer to a perfect fit. Its also got a cloth back so I can use it for doing man work in the garden like Kevin McCloud in man made home.

All together the material cost me £4. I found this amazing warehouse in hackney that has tons of cloth for £2 a metre. It's a bit dodgy from the outside but is absolutely massive and has anything you could really want if you can find it. What I find charming about the place is the fact that the guys working there give you absolutely no help. Its refreshing. There's too many shop assistants licking up to the customer these days. They do cut you a nice bit more than what you ask for, which is great also. It's at the corner of Mare St and Well St around the back of the Iceland. Probably not a good idea to go after dark.

Chef pants

Trouser making is the area I seem to want to work in most. That's what I keep telling myself these days anyway.  I like trousers, I wear them everyday, unless I wear shorts which are like trousers. Lots of people I know wear trousers. I'd like to work making things that I would like to make for myself and others and I really don't wear jackets or waistcoats very often.

I finished my first pair (the red ones don't count) sometime in January. I used the same houndstooth that I used for my wedding waistcoat which is a really nice cloth and I think there might just be enough left over to make a jacket. That will be nice to look back on - my first proper fitting waistcoat, trousers and jacket all in the same cloth.

We make everything in college from a block, rather than drafting a pattern to fit ourselves but of all the luck the trousers fit me nicely. Take that anorexia! There's not a single other person in the class that they will fit so if my classmates are generous and not bothered keeping them I could be in line for receiving a lot of pairs of trousers at the end of the year.

As I  said the cloth is really nice, light as a feather, and shimmery but they do kind of take me back to the eighties

or maybe more so to my chef days

Great stuff! Combining my two favourite jobs: cooking and tailoring.

I really don't know what I could wear with these though except for the waistcoat combo. Watch out Roger Sterling. Major regret on the choice of buttons and buttonholes though, should have gone for gray, hopefully I can fix it without making too much of a mess.

Who wears short trousers? part 2

He wears short trousers, They weren't a total waste of time after all.

Northern reflections

I have a proper Northern lad housemate who does make me laugh with his thoughts on life.

Sitting out the back trying to get a barbeque going but the charcoal wont light

“You could put it down a volcano and it probably wouldn’t light. Fuckin’ shit charcoal. Tell you if I see that J. Sainsbury I’ll fuckin’ kill ‘im, the amount of money I send his way and he’s buying art galleries and all. Don’t mind the art galleries, get the charcoal right first.”

Watching the diving at the Olympics with a cup of tea

“It’s mad how they take like 1.6 seconds to do that (all the flips), I take that long to have a (takes a sip) sip of tea”

Trying to fit a teaspoon into a Schawrz spice jar

“Is that (clink clink) too much to bloody ask?”

On football

“In Middlesbrough if they lose, domestic violence goes up. The wife gets it, the dog gets it, there’s no food on the table, fuck all. If they win: everything’s ok. In Newcastle it’s even worse.”

On airline websites

All I see is oh cheap flights for you, cheap flights for Joe, but its nothing but expensive flights for Joe. Unless you want to take 30 stops to India.

Talking about people taking anything you leave unattended in the front garden

“I had a ton bag of leaves taken on me the other day. Did you see it? I left a ton bag (adding emphasis) with about this much leaves in it out the front and they had it away. Cunts would rob anything. I know what they do, they dry it out, roll it up with some other shit and wait for some white boy looking for skunk, name it someit else like ‘super dooper fucking skunk’ and sell it”

On Cobra

“that Cobra, you know what they say about that don't you? What they put in it, thyladihide or something.”

Oh right, what’s that do?

“Well I don’t know but if you’re a woman it gives you a right bastid lookin kid, dun it. Comes out lookin like that (makes t-rex arms)”

New housemate at the front of the house is leaving her curtains open during the day, anyone walking by can see straight in

“You should tell her not to leave her laptop in the room with her curtains open. Cunts round here have never seen a laptop like that before, they’re still using the Amstrad”

About passing our stinkbag housemate walking down the street

“I seen that geezer walking down the street, Jesus that guy has some issues. The smell just follows him around. Serious fucking stink off him. I don’t know why he bothers; he should just live on the streets. Seriously why would you bother with water and toilets and all when you just smell that bad anyway? Seriously, save yourself the 50 quid and just live on the streets.”