HOUSE OF STANLEY

My Dad, Stan, came from a family of tailors in Jamaica and his services were often called on in the RAF during World War 2 to alter uniforms etc.  When I visited the house where my Dad was born and grew up, I was fascinated by 4 grooves in the wooden veranda floor.  Dad explained that they were caused by the tredle sewing machines that his parents used, but that Gran's was deeper than Grandad's as she used to rock children to sleep across her lap while she was sewing - multi-tasking at it's best!

Sadly, there are no photographs of Grandad Edwin, but the photograph above is of Grandma Suzette taken in Jamaica during the 1940's.  She brought up 6 children alone, Ashley, Alvern, Stan, Beryl, Ivy and Mavis following the death of Grandad at a very early age.

Dad taught me to sew but my skills are still very basic and, all too often, projects are discarded and I return to my knitting.  I recall him visiting my secondary school to see the sewing teacher - she had cut out a gingham school dress for me but had done it so badly that none of the checks matched up!  In his quiet but firm voice, Dad showed her how to do it and she asked him to cut out 4 more while he was there!  He was even invited into the Staff Room for a cup of tea!

My House of Stanley page on Facebook is obviously named after Dad but features hand knitted garments from 1940 patterns for men.  Garments for boys will hopefully be added in time.

One of my customers, Ben, found a wonderful knitting pattern for me which I knitted up for him and he has kindly allowed me to use his photograph wearing the finished garment.  I found two perfect buttons in Dad's stash that I have inherited.  I have no idea how old they are but was really pleased that the colour matched so well.  The wool was a lovely soft Merino blend from http://www.deramores.com/.

In one of my major shredding sessions for my day job as a legal PA, I accidentally shredded the pattern that Ben sent me but did manage to knit another from my handwritten notes and the picture of that jumper, in the same colour as Ben's, can be seen on www.facebook.com/HouseofStanley.