News Blog @ Wellington City Libraries

Maria very kindly answered some of our questions about her passion for creating Rococo Doll Costumes: 

Can you describe your work for us?

It is a combination of historical and modern fashion design. I design miniature patterns and fashion for a 55cm (22”) doll.

How did you first get into craftwork?

I had made an Edwardian corset for myself. I enjoyed designing from patterns taken from the period, and had learnt new skills along the way. I really wanted to do more of this kind of sewing, yet I found this very expensive. Around that time I found a book in the library about sewing for dolls, and like the idea of doing this on a smaller scale, which would also make it possible to carry on without worrying about the financial side so much.

Do you dedicate a lot of time to your craft?

It really depends on the project. My last project was definitely my largest to date. It was a French court gown, taken from the late 18th century. I wanted to create, not just the gown but all the various garments that a woman would have worn of that time. If I’m doing something new, I tend to throw myself in there and learn as a go. That project took 4 months to complete. Something more modern, like a 1960s dress would only take about a month to see it come together. How many projects do I do? It does depend on what else is going.

Do you have a special space you use to create your craft?

I swap between my computer and sewing machine on my desk. I currently live in a little bedsit, so space is a luxury.  I tend to have boxes of supplies and books on shelves and grab them when needed.

Any special/crazy tools?

I don’t know about special tools. Of course my sewing machine is my main piece of equipment. I do have a handmade miniature grommet setter and tools I picked up from a scrapbook-making store to make small holes in leather. I think what can be fun is finding materials to create a certain look. Like pulling apart a cane tablemat, only to use those reeds for the dolls corset or stays. Having to think outside the box is a great enjoyment.

What do you like most about what you do?

Making outfits that are completely in scale. I found someone online who sold zippers that are normally used in men’s suit jackets, which were fantastic for their small teeth and equally small slider. When I’m making historical clothing I enjoy the fact that I’ m also learning about the period, what influenced the clothing and how they made the clothing back then. I also enjoy that I’m not limited to a group of skills or techniques. I can introduce any craft or sewing technique. When I made the pockets for the French gown, I hadn’t done any embroidery, which made it a great opportunity to try something new.

What impact does your craft have on your life?

It has been hugely rewarding in building my skills in this craft. I have learnt that it is okay to make mistakes while sewing. To go head on in a project, not worrying how to do it. It has made me learn new skills, and try new things I wouldn’t normally have tried. I’ve also recently started going to some craft groups, which is really fun sharing your craft with likeminded people.

How and where do you get your inspiration from?

I really enjoy flicking through craft and fashion magazines. Also some of the books based on historical fashion have really inspired me. The next historical project I’d really love to work on, would have to be a Victorian gown, one with a large bustle or crinoline. I also get inspiration from other people who also enjoy this craft. There are many websites out there where people show off their own latest projects.

How often do you visit the library?

Depends. I actually head over to the library for many different reasons. While I’m working on the project, I do tend to get out books to either help me in some technique or to inspire me an idea to base the project.

What books or magazines from the library have you used?

My favourite would have to be Selvedge. I get a lot of inspiration from this magazine.

Books I tend to get out are to get an over all look in historical clothing, or a sewing technique.
Fashion: A History from the 18th to the 20th Century by Kyoto Costume Institute

Fashion in Detail series

Reader’s Digest Complete Guide to Sewing

Many pictorial fashion books, and textile books,

400 Years of Fashion by Natalie Rothstein

Nineteenth-Century Fashion in Detail by Lucy Johnston

Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution by Caroline Weber

Any particular recommendations for fellow crafts enthusiasts?

I think one of the first things I did, was to sign up to some forums on popular dolls. Mine’s a Japanese doll, known as Super Dollfie from Volks. So I tended to sway towards sites like these:

http://www.deviantart.com/

http://www.denofangels.com/forums/

http://www.burdastyle.com/

Other than that, well I just think, thinking more towards what you want to make, over what you can make.

Do you belong to any creative/crafts groups?

Yes I do. I recently signed up to a meetup.com group called Sewers, Dressmakers and all other Fabric Hoarders, and a group called, Crafty Foxes through Facebook. Again, a great way of sharing ideas.

Anything else?

Well at the moment I’m thinking about getting into screen-printing, and actually getting into making more, as I’ve had a huge break from it.

Thank you so much Maria for giving us such an interesting insight into your world of crafts.

Studying a language? Brushing up your French/German/Spanish/Italian for an overseas trip? Oxford Reference Online has bilingual dictionaries available for all of the above – and it’s free to use for library cardholders. (Also included are Irish, Welsh and Latin dictionaries.)

Languages don’t interest you? Oxford Reference Online also includes subject reference resources like science dictionaries, medical dictionaries, dictionaries of quotations, names and places, law, mythology, folklore, psychology – pretty much any kind of dictionary or companion guide you can imagine.

(I think my personal favourite in terms of resources I never expected to encounter, but am chuffed exist, would have to be the Dictionary of Opera Characters, closely followed by the Oxford Companion to the American Musical. Log in and check them out)

As a side note, here’s a selection of other language learning resources you might be interested in:

1. At the library: Language kits – the library has these available to borrow in many different languages and they’re $3 to borrow for 4 weeks. We also hold foreign language novels for adults and picture books for children (here’s an example of the French language children’s ones – replace ‘French’ in the search box with your language of choice to search for these in another language), magazines, grammars, vocabularies, and of course dictionaries that you can borrow. Want something more visual? We have foreign language films with English subtitles you can borrow to brush up on your listening comprehension skills (these are $4 for 1 week). Try our languages subject guide for tips on searching for these on our online catalogue.
2. Also via the library, but this time online: downloadable language learning audiobooks. Try a search on Overdrive Audio in our eLibrary for languages – you’ll be surprised how many language learning audiobooks come up. Easily transferred to your mp3 player of choice.
3. PressDisplay – another database the library subscribes to that cardholders can access for free. PressDisplay gives you instant access to over 1700 newspapers from 92 countries in 48 languages. Want to read Le Monde in French while eating breakfast at home? Now you can – and it will appear on the screen laid out exactly like the print version.
4. BBC Languages – this should be your first stop online. Free audio and video courses, quizzes, and all kinds of excellent resources.
5. Yahoo News/Google News in different languages, e.g. here’s the German language Google News. Change the country code at the end, e.g. .nz for New Zealand, .de for Germany, .fr for France, to get the version you want. Similarly, reading Wikipedia articles in other languages can be a good test of your reading skills in that language as well, and if you know the subject matter of the article, you’re on familiar territory anyway – which can help! Here are all the different language Wikipedias.
6. Browser extensions for language learning. There are a great deal of these for Firefox – have a browse and find one you’d like to try. (You’ll need to scroll down the page for a fuller list of popular language learning add-ons).
7. iPhone apps. We found this article that lists 50 iPhone apps for learning languages, for all you lucky people who happen to have an iPhone. Flash cards!
8. In-person resources in Wellington… For a small fee (not specified on their website), you can get a public membership to Victoria University’s Language Learning Centre at their Kelburn campus. Other paid courses are run at the Goethe Institut – for German, and the Alliance Française for French. And we’re sure there are more – maybe try a search on FeelingGreat.co.nz?
9. Sometimes iffy, but often useful: Google Translate. Will give you a (very!) loose translation, and can be good if you need an idea of what a page in a language you don’t read is saying. Oh, and did you know there’s a Te Reo interface for the Google search engine.
10. Hm, and the World Cinema Showcase is coming up too!

So having become a new Aunty and being filled with benevolent Aunty type feelings I decided to create a something for the new family addition. Initially I thought mobile, as I’ve always been intrigued by those aerial seesaws and in theory the creation would be out of the grasp of the dog which can grab anything 2 metres away in the 360 degree radius. Then I thought something to grab and chew, by the niece, not the dog, might be better. The library shelves have a lot to offer on the soft toy line. I chose to look at the Softies. Apparently this isn’t a particular brand but a new wave of soft toy making that delights in original shapes using vintage fabric. Perfect, if like me, your bungles or ‘original’ stitching will look like an intentional quirk! The library holds a range of books with ‘Softies’ in the titles, I thought I’d start at the beginning: Softies : 22 friends for you to sew, knit and crochet.

Not being too proficient at crochet (I have crocheted a hat, but that only required one stitch!) I’ll be sewing mine from fabric.  Check back in to see how it all progesses, maybe 2 would be better, one for the niece and one for the dog =)

Zombie felties: how to raise 16 gruesome felt creatures from the undead
Simple softies : for the whole family
Softies only a mother could love ; lovable friends for you to sew, knit or crochet
More softies : 22 new friends for you to sew and crochet.

Sock creatures aren’t too much of a leap, the library had a bit of a whirlwind romance with them last year for Leadership week when patrons and staff members created some great versions of their own.

Page 62 of Burda 3/2010 has a similar idea titled ‘exotic creatures’ (Burda).

Also visit these sites for ideas:
The Penguin Softies site (this has a free pattern so if these popular books are all out take a look online =))
Flickr Softies pool for loads of pretty pictures of people’s creations. Great for some inspiration

Blogs:
Leadership Week
absolutely small
Softie making
The Needle Blog

Photography books are always a pleasure to order – they’re a treat to look at and if you enjoy reading them you’ll certainly agree. It’s exciting finding new artists, subjects that look cool, or are beautifully covered, to add to our collection.  I always hope customers discover and enjoy them as much as I do. This time I thought I’d share some that are definitely worth taking out, all about American photography.

Starburst : color photography in America 1970-1980 / Kevin Moore ; with essays by James Crump and Leo Rubinfien. Starburst explores how the use of colour became a viable photographic practise, having previously been considered of little value and even controversial. It looks at the groundbreaking work of William Eggleston (the inspiration behind Karen Walker’s latest collection) and other ‘colour pioneers’ such as William Christenberry, Stephen Shore and Helen Levitt.

The last photographic heroes : American photographers of the sixties and seventies / Gilles Mora. This book covers the modern, fresh photographic style that emerged from America during this time – similar to the ’street style’ photography popular at the moment. It surveys the work of photographers Nan Goldin, Larry Clark and Lee Friedlander, amongst others, and places them in the wider social context of this tumultuous period.

Destroy this memory / Richard Misrach. Prolific artist Richard Misrach takes a completely different approach to photographing the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. He’s known for photographing people in landscapes, but in these works the only human touch are the messages scrawled on destroyed building and debris. Huge full page pictures that initially appear to be humorous, convey the absolute devastation of this disaster. No information is offered – like titles, dates, locations, only the messages – allowing you to make up your own mind about the images. Interesting and sad – I recommend!

If you’ve read the Millennium trilogy (whilst consuming large quantities of coffee and cheese and pickle sandwiches) and want to read something similar next, here are some authors to try:

Karin Alvtegen
Ake Edwardson
Kjell Eriksson
Karin Fossum
Matti Joensuu
Mari Jungstedt
Camilla Lackberg
Asa Larsson
Jo Nesbo
Hakan Nesser
Anders Roslund
Yrsa Sigurdardottir
Johan Theorin

Read all these and you’ll be an expert on Scandinavian murder mysteries (for example, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden are all represented here).

More “who writes like” suggestions can be found on the library’s fiction page here.

You may be interested to hear that OED Online, aka the Oxford English Dictionary’s website, has had a complete overhaul – the site relaunched in December, and Kim Hill interviewed the Dictionary’s Deputy Editor on National Radio’s Saturday program back in early December. The library subscribes to OED Online so that all cardholders can access it for free either in the library or from home - so log in and have a look around. You can access it here.

Here’s what the Dictionary’s Chief Editor, John Simpson, had to say about the changes:

We’ve tried to tilt the site more towards the English language than towards the dictionary as an end in itself. Search results move from simple lists to visualizations/timelines. [...] There’s also an ‘Aspects of English’ section, a series of descriptive articles on language, past and present. We’ll be adding to this series at regular intervals, but for now how about Robert McCrum on P. G. Wodehouse’s use of English (with links into the OED and elsewhere), Eleanor Maier on the rise of the ‘gate’ suffix, or a brief overview of the English of the Anglo-Saxons by the OED’s Chief Etymologist, Philip Durkin.

Perhaps the most important new feature involves the Historical Thesaurus to the OED, published in book form in 2009. The entire text is now integrated with the OED Online, so that you can follow semantic links throughout the dictionary. Go to the OED’s entry for utopia, for example, and follow the Thesaurus links to the entries for heaven (Old English), Cockaigne (c1305), El Dorado (1596), nonesuch (a1618), Fiddler’s Green (1825), never-never land (1900), the Big Rock Candy Mountain

Looking around online, there seems to be a lot of excitement about the relaunch – Bits, the New York Times’s technology podcast recently interviewed Dr. Simpson as well. 

Related links:

• My Favourite Word - a site where people can contribute their favourite English word. Look some of these up in OED Online! Recent contributions include ’sinople’ and ‘incandescent’.
• Mum’s the word, says the world - via the BBC, from 2004. Mother is the most beautiful word in the English language, according to a survey of non-English speakers.

Just found a nice phrase as well – etymology of the English language described as “the wheel-ruts of modern English”

I went to my first Richter City roller derby bout last year and it was amazing! So you can imagine my excitment when I spied a roller derby zine to add to our collection.

Rollerama by Helen Nash, Poison Arrow and Sky Rockit is a zine from the UK roller derby scene but it has a global focus with articles about roller derby leagues in the US, Australia and Middle East. It also has a good mix of serious and fun articles, for example a piece on the growing number of skaters dropping their derby names (Helen Wheels, Dee Dee Capitator, Acid Reign) in favour of skating under their real names; roller derby etiquette and how watching The Breakfast Club can improve your game. For sure there is a lot packed into this zine for skater girls but also heaps to interest those of us who are most happy cheering from the sideline.

Issue one of Rollerama is out on the shelves now. Does anyone know of any other cool roller derby zines? Is there a Wellington roller derby zine? ‘cos if there is we would love to get our greedy hands on it!

There are a few movies you will want to see in this month’s DVD selection. First is the sci-fi thriller Inception with Leonardo DiCaprio. This movie is like a Russian doll of intertwined stories, with the gorgeous Marion Cotillard as a bonus. Next is the third installment of the Twilight saga: Eclipse. This is probably the best of the three movies already released with a love triangle between vampire, werewolf and damsel in distress reaching new heights. Two more DVDsyou’ll want to put your hands on: The girl who played with fire and the first season of Castle. And if you want more, check out for other DVDs available for borrowing in this month’s DVD Recent Picks.

Yes, we know it’s Summer – but there are so many new knitting books on our shelves we had to round them up for you! Start a new project – and with plenty of time to finish before Winter! There are some wonderful sock projects here, plus scarves and other items – you can even knit all the animals on Noah’s ark! Have a browse and let us know if these books give you ideas for projects – we’d love to hear about them!

Sock yarn one-skein wonders / edited by Judith Durant.
“In this guide, veteran knitter Durant has chosen not simply inventive sock patterns but also more than five dozen inspired patterns for other items that can be created from a single skein of sock yarn.” (Syndetics summary)

Noah’s knits / [Fiona Goble].
The story of Noah’s ark is interspersed with instructions for knitting models of the animals on board. (Syndetics Summary)

Knitting scarves from around the world / Kari Cornell, editor ; [photographs by Sue Flanders and Janine Kosel].
Collects 23 scarf patterns from countries with rich knitting traditions, like Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Scotland, and Estonia. Patterns for elaborate lace shawls, double-knit colorwork scarves, and a sampling of cabled scarves are included, along with a brief history of scarves and scarf knitting by Donna Druchunas–Cover p. [4].(Syndetics Summary)

Socktopus : 17 pairs of socks worth showing off / Alice Yu.
Sock knitters now have something to really get their needles into with this inspirational book packed with invaluable tips and 17 fabulous projects. … Full of clear, helpful instructions on a range of advanced techniques, knitters will be intrigued and enlightened by this handy book. … From toe shaping, heel shaping and on to sizing the sock to fit a foot precisely, all the information you will need is here. ..Alice s clear, concise instructions will ensure that confidence builds quickly. The inner sock-designer diva will be unleashed! (Amazon UK)

The knitter’s book of socks : the yarn lover’s ultimate guide to creating socks that fit well, feel great, and last a lifetime / Clara Parkes.
“… Parkes educates knitters on the ins and outs of fiber and makes minutiae interesting. … There’s also a beautifully curated selection of sock patterns, including new designs by some of the biggest names in the field. Though the instructions are clear, the majority of the patterns are best suited for those with sock-knitting experience. An essential addition. (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC,…

Knit, swirl! : uniquely flattering one piece, one seam swirl jackets / Sandra McIver ; [foreword by Cat Bordhi ; photography by Zoe Lonergan].
Swirls are elegant by nature. They require only simple knitting skills and minimal finishing. They come in four silhouettes and three flexible sizes. Swirls are fun to style and may be worn in a variety of ways – some even upside down. This book is destined for display on the knitter’s coffee table. Large format, full color photographs generously illustrate every aspect of each design. Clear step-by-step pattern instructions and Sandra’s detailed schematics make knitting a Swirl a simple pleasure. Elegant design, flattering fit, flexible sizing, versatile styling Basic knitting skills, minimal finishing, one piece one seam Eighteen patterns in four dramatic silhouettes (Amazon UK)

City of veils / Zoe Ferraris.
Holidays are a great opportunity for reading. In my Christmas/New Year reading there were quite a few mysteries – a favourite genre of mine – but I was particularly captured by this recently-published title.
Katya Hijazi is a rarity in Saudi Arabia, a professional single woman, working as a forensic technician in the medical examiner’s office in the port city of Jeddah. When the body of a young, mutilated, semi-naked woman is brought in for an autopsy, Katya is drawn into investigating her death. Coincidentally, she meets up again with Nayir Sharqi, a Bedouin guide, whom she first worked with and got to know while investigating an ealier case. Nayir is now investigating the disappearance of an American contract worker, and as they help each other out in their separate investigations, it becomes apparent that his and Katya’s cases are linked.  Along with their crime-solving , Katya and Nayir are at the same time carefully navigating their way through an awkward, budding romantic relationship – difficult in a country where men and women are separated by so many religious and cultural  practices.

What’s compelling about this book is not just the depth and complexity of the characters, but the physical and cultural setting of the novel. The descriptions of the landscape - the intensity of the light, the suffocating summer heat and the threatening beauty of the desert – are palpable. The  characters are beautifully drawn, and Katya and Nayir in particular are engaging.  But this novel disturbs in places – the constant undercurrent of fevered sexuality in a repressed society, the description of the everyday happening of a public whipping, the claustrophobia and the powerlessness of the women’s lives, even those who are lucky enough to have progressive fathers and husbands.

If you enjoy this novel, look out also the first title in the series, “The night of the Mi’raj”, which is equally compelling.