Thank you, Ivybags! We had a sea of sunshiney yellow bags with blue flowers on – very appropriate for summer, and some of Masterclock’s “panda-pleasers” – the bamboo fabric went a long, long way, especially when enlarged to the standard morssize by some beige lining.
When we were tidying up on Sunday we found a couple of bags we’d forgotten about, pegged to the tentpole at the back of our stand as a display, but the others have all been rehomed.
I found another photo that belongs to Friday – this little chap waited very patiently on Dad’s lap while his Mum made them a bag.
Bagging Boconnoc, part 2
Saturday started in a couple of surprising ways. For one thing, the sun was almost shining when we woke up, not the heavy rain as forecast. The other thing was that we got off to a flying start, bagging-wise!
It usually takes at least an hour and a half for people to arrive, find us, have a look round at everything and decide to come back and take up our offer to make themselves a bag. So we have a quiet time to wind bobbins, overhaul temperamental elderly sewing machines, make a few bags ourselves, get another cup of coffee…. You get the picture.
So the second group of people strolling into the tent say “Yes please, we’ll have a go!” Golly!! I’ll stop winding then, while you pick kits. There were 5 people and we only had three machines, but two of the party were happy to watch or go and look at models in the next tent, so we settled down with a trio of bold needlewomen.
The friend standing and watching was wearing an interesting outfit – I wish I’d thought to take her photo. It featured lace trimmed knee breeches with fishnet stockings or tights and a fitted waistcoat and jacket. She showed me a photo of her latest creation – a floorlength frock with tiers of organza (or was it chiffon) in palest pink, shading to deep pink at floor level – amazing!! She described her next project – a fitted piratical coat with big, BIG cuffs and lapels and lace – WOW! No sewing lessons needed here 😀
This lady in the poppy dress came back early on Saturday morning to make a bag for her husband as he liked the bag she made for herself on Friday.
I was very pleased “himself” was helping the gentleman at the end of the table. He had a lot of technical questions, but luckily, he was asking the right person…. 😉
The sun came out and it got quite hot but there were extra flaps open in the tent’s side walls to get a breeze through. A fairground organ was playing just outside the tent (fortunately, at the other end of the tent or we’d have been hoarse by the end…)
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I had a hot dog sold through a window of Boconnoc House (looked like a dining room) and a whipped ice cream from a van for lunch.
While M/C was away having a break I was approached by a man from the Geevor Tin Mine stall a few fields away. Would we be kind enough to look at the sewing machine they had just got out of his partner’s Granny’s loft? My engineer was not present, but I said we’d (HE’d 😉 ) take a look. He came back with the sewing machine lying comfortably on a plastic sledge – what a brainwave! M/C was still away, but I managed to get the box open and took a look.
A Frister and Rossmann looking all present and correct, but not threaded up correctly. I fixed that and had a go at sewing. Everything worked, but the two loops of thread missed each other. Fortunately, at that point, M/C came back and diagnosed “bent needle” syndrome.
A new needle was provided and Bob’s your uncle, as they say! 😀
The lady owner came back and had a quick tutorial on old sewing machines
and presented me with a gorgeous blue beaded butterfly she’d just made as a thank you. I came off well – M/C did the hard work and I got the present!! 😀
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Here is our final customer of the day – a lady whose partner was whittling “gypsy flowers” in a gazebo opposite our craft tent. She’s wearing one of the flowers in her hair – nice, eh! She popped over to us as we were tidying up on Sunday and presented us with one too. 😀
Total bags made on Saturday = 25, thanks to our flying start.
We ended the day with a pleasant stroll round most of the rally area – we even got down to the lake where a large fire pump had been working earlier. It cost over £600 when new in 1891 or 1893, so a very expensive item, but quality counts, it had been in use supplying water even when the “Big House” where it was installed was taken over by the NHS, and worked up until the mid 1950’s.
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