Kitted out

Today

More on my memory lane trip to Chichester. I found, to my delight, that Clothkits had a shop in the City Centre. I decided that I wanted to make one of their classic garments (which is still available) for Carmen.

So Cherie and I set off to find this place, which had such fond memories for me. I have to confess that I was disappointed. Now a small, mainly haberdashery and sewing machine shop, there was just a handful of kits, all very basic. There was fabric, mostly of the overpriced Liberty print category and not a bargain in sight.

In My Day

The home of Clothkits used to be in Lewes, where I also worked for a number of years. There was a shop in the high street and its window display indicated quite clearly that this was a clothes shop. There was a very wide range of charming clothes for children and adults. Most of them were available in kit form, although there were some knitted items and ranges of tights etc to co-ordinate with the kits as well. I used to look at the items with longing, but they did all seem rather expensive, given that you had to sew them as well. I have for many years been a fan of remnants, reluctant to pay full price for fabrics.

Every now and then there would be a Clothkits factory sale and I would trot down to the factory to see what they had. There would be bundles of notions: zips, buckles, buttons and tape and I would gleefully stock up. 


The real bargains would be the bundles of damaged kits. The kits would have maybe a flaw in the layout, a slight hole or similar, and there would be no instructions or notions. The bundles would contain three or fours kits and would cost £1. That's right £1. I would buy as many as I could carry and would either make up the kits anyway, using the bargain bin notions, or use the kits to make other things. 

Here are some pictures of the girls wearing Clothkits outfits, one a ready-made knitted dress, the other dresses I made for a friend's wedding.

Given the renewed enthusiasm for stitching, could Clothkits be missing a trick here? 

The designs, with their emphasis on border prints, may be a little old-fashioned nowadays, but many people who mistrust their ability to follow a pattern, might love it!

Anyway, I bought the quilted jacket at the exorbitant price of £35.00 and just hope that Carmen loves it.

Best Laid Plans

Today

I've just come home from a weekend in Chichester. It's a pleasant easy-going city with a very interesting cathedral.

"I haven't been here for forty years", I commented to my companion. "Not since I was at art college."

In My Day

Between 1967 and 1970 I was a theatre design student at the Worthing College of Art and Design. Part of our training was in the making of scale models.

In late 1969 we were given a project to design a set for "Everyman" using the main aisle of Chichester Cathedral as a backdrop.

To do this we travelled over to Chichester and set about taking measurements of the aisle, the pillars, the steps up to the choir and through to the reredos.

We sketched the carvings and ornamentations. Then back to college to turn the measurements into accurate plans using the whole panoply of technical instruments. 

Then we were expected to produce a balsa wood and card scale model and add our set, also in scale, in its right place on the model. I doubt whether I came up with a breathtaking new insight into "Everyman". However, always one to do things at the last minute, I set about making my model in an exhausting all-night sitting the day before the deadline. At last I was done! I glued the final piece into place and stood back to admire my work. A quick check with my original drawing revealed the horrid truth: I'd done the whole thing back to front. Was this the insight I was looking for?

It was much to late to do anything; the glue was well stuck and I had about an hour to get into college and present my work. I think I carried the model on the bus and can't now remember whether anyone at college noticed my error or, indeed, what mark I received for it. 

It was a very accurate and neat mirror image model though, and I still know how to make a scale plan. I haven't found that this hard-won skill has stood  me in much stead through my adult life.