Upskilly & Stuff: October

This month, buttons and hoops!

I’ve been sewing on buttons for years, and I’ve finally started to do it properly. I always used to just pinion the button to the garment without mercy, but then a mercilessly pinioned button found itself unable to cope with the strain and popped off. I’m not going soft on buttons, I just object to sewing the same button on twice. I’ve got better things to do with my time.


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The Most Gorgeous Table of All Time

Behold, the glories of the Auckland War Memorial Museum’s work (i.e. sewing) table.

Work table (AM 1964.40-1)

This elegant piece of furniture is embellished with gilded lacquer and furnished with ivory implements (made back in the day when elephants were a lot more populous than at present).

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Why We Need Signal Flags In Everyday Life

We’ve all been there. The embarrassment of misinterpreting someone else’s unspoken communication; the awkwardness or downright unpleasantness of someone misunderstanding or just plain missing yours.

Unclothed woman behind question mark sign
But you don’t feel comfortable just coming out and flatly saying these things – or bellowing them across the room, as the case may be. I believe I may have discovered a solution, and very poetically, this benefit for the future has its roots in the past, back before texting and DMs and all the rest of it. Back, in fact, in the days of sailing ships.

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