Rosie Moore Textiles

No such word as Can’t

I said to myself, ‘’If you don’t do it now, when will you do it?” It was as simple as that, and I changed the direction of my life. I enrolled on a Fashion and Textiles course and handed in my notice. No more windowless grey cubicles and no more income! But I had faith and there’s no such word as ‘can’t’, right? Well, that’s what my father had told me, and I believed him.

I kept the faith and it all worked out, and since then I’ve spent 20 great years doing work I love. Most of the time anyway! This is how my Reinvention began and how I got to this place I’m at today. I will share stories and some of my experiences with you; I hope you enjoy reading about them.

I gave several talks and interviews around the time, and this is one of them.

Knit Pics

Oh dear, I’ve been very neglectful of writing this blog, but now I’m back with vim and vigour. My vintage hat collection has gone to a new home and I’m now concentrating on my textile art pieces and knitwear designs.

So look out for lots of new hat designs which I’ll be listing in my Etsy shop. I’ll also let you know about any fairs and markets I’ll be taking part in, so you can come and visit me, maybe buy a wee hat while you’re there. In the meantime, here are some knit pics.

These stripy creations were very popular last Winter. I have tremendous fun mixing up all the colours.

Baby hats sealed with a kiss.

I used to hear people say how making socks was addictive. It definitely is, and I’m always being asked to knit them to sell. So that’s something that’s in development, as They say. Whoever They are.

I dabble in a bit of felting and when I made this little guy, I knitted him his own woolly jumper.

When I have visitors to my studio, I invite them to have a hoke and a poke. Basically this is me in a room, so I hope they appreciate my willingness to be poked.

Lyrical Creations

Just before Christmas I did a wee stint working at The Lyric Theatre making costumes. Imagine my delight when I was also given the job of creating some of the many hats and headdresses that were to be made. The Lyric is a beautiful building in an even more beautiful setting, and the costume department has the best workspace of anywhere else I’ve worked. Each morning I would walk across one of the many bridges over the river Lagan, thinking as I always do, how lucky I am to live in this wonderful place that is Belfast. So here are some of those Lyrical Creations.

Father Ted’s Lovely Heads

‘Let’s start a Hat Club!’, says Sally after she became the proud owner of my hot-off-the-needles Spicy Stripy Beanie. ‘Like Father Ted and the Lovely Girls’, she says. So just like that we now have a hat club, so come and meet some of the Feck, A***, Drink, Girls and their Hats. And boys too of course!

And if you’ve never seen Father Ted, you’ll understandably think I’m bonkers.

Trisha in her pink tweed beanie, all set for walking the dogs

Catherine looking all ‘come hither’ in her navy Bug Beanie

‘The red matches my new DM’s!’ Sally the brainchild of FTLH

Amber looking stunning in yellow felt

Andrew’s hat matches his retro style perfectly

Ash was delighted with her unique Charlie Brown hat. So was her son Robin. Guess who has the hat now?

Stuart looking very mischievous. That’s his second pompom – the cat demolished the first one.

Breege not afraid to go bright red with a big bow

Tony (my dad) still wearing the beanie I knit him in 1974

Anna in her studio, looking all artisty in her new beret. She could have knit her own, but really, really wanted to be in our club!

Babs chose a fair isle beanie (a birthday present from Suzy) so she can keep her head warm and look stylish while she’s out and about, grooming all the doggies and making them beautiful.

Suzy has an Instagram page called Black Moth and this bug beanie was the closest thing I had. I think she’s happy with it.

Trilby or Fedora

I decided to write a blog to try and explain the difference between a Trilby and a Fedora. Well. When I went in search of an expert definition I found a complete minefield of opinion. And a lot of it quite aggressive. It reminded me of the time I joined the ‘save the apostrophe’ facebook page, thinking it would be interesting. If you enjoy reading heated arguments unfolding, that’s definitely the page for you. It was all so serious, and angry, that the novelty of ‘fight, fight, fight’ soon wore off for me.

Anyway back to the hats! I believe that hat-wearing ought to be fun and the Hat Police (like the Apostrophe Police) don’t seem to get this. If you like wearing a particular type of hat and it makes you feel good, then I think it’s serving its purpose. Is the rigidity in the name of it really that important?

Here are some pics of both types of hats for you to enjoy looking at. I’m a huge fan of both, and they’re my favourite type to wear. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on all of this.

The Construction of a Hat

This type of hat really is all about the construction, since it is made from fabric pieces sewn together. It is not mouldable the way a felt hat would be made using a hat block, and to get a good shape is sometimes a feat of engineering.

Thankfully I enjoy a challenge and recorded the construction process of a hat which was a recent commission for a wedding.

The first bit – making up the crown and brim parts separately

The bit where you need an eagle eye – the top stitching

The satisfying bit – where you have a crisp edge and nice firm brim

The very tricky bit – top stitching the crown without the needle slipping

The ‘I can’t wait to see it all together’ bit – attaching the brim to the crown

The neatening bit – covering up the raw edges

The fun bit – adding some vintage braid for embellishment

The finishing bit – made by me

The happy with the result bit. Now what’s next?

What’s in a name . . .

So where did the name Cut Out Doll come from? No mystery really; I love dolls and always have done ever since I can remember. I can even remember all their names.

But my favourite of all time was ‘Sindy the doll you love to dress’. I begged for years and years to get her (well in child years it was probably one year), and eventually after being fobbed off with ‘fakes’ I was presented with the real thing. After that I got clothes for her, a sister for her and a boyfriend for her. I also collected cardboard cut out dolls, and waited with great excitement every week for my Bunty to arrive at the local newsagent.

Then one day I didn’t want to play with them anymore. I don’t play with them now (in case you’re wondering), but I do have a fascination for them. Must be the child in me. Here are come pics to take you back and make you smile – if you’re as old a child as me!

Hats and Chats

Welcome to my new website! I love that everything is now in the one place, and it’s all so clear and organised. It’s been weeks of taking pics and photoshoots. The one on the beach was great fun. Are you able to tell where it is?

My Etsy shop is now well stocked and I’ll be adding to it over the next while, so keep visiting to see what’s new.

Thank you to Karen for being such a fantastic model and to Martin for understanding what I wanted my website to be. Your patience is outstanding.

Now I’ve to get some coffee brewed in the studio, as I’ve hats to make and chats to have!

Happy browsing . . .

The Belfast Opera

Apologies for the long absence, though you probably didn’t even miss me!

Well, the opera I was talking about in the last blog is actually happening and I’m more than a bit excited to be involved in the very first stages of it. Normally in workshops I’m teaching people how to do or make things which involves quite a lot of me talking, as well as a great deal of running around getting all bothered and sweaty. But with these workshops I’m doing very little talking and get to sit most of the time, which is a much more sedate position for a person of my years.

My role is to encourage people to tell their stories, which comes quite naturally, as usually when I meet someone for the first time I’ve a tendency to ‘interview’ them. I’ve only ever known one person who does the same thing, and when I met her and found myself being ‘interviewed’ by her it was a startling experience. Noami Garvin Morse won’t mind me giving her a wee mention. Anyway, my own natural healthy interest in the lives of other people has at last found its calling, and I’m thoroughly enjoying myself. So keep on with the quizzing Naomi, your day will come.

Here’s my wee bake talking about it . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KxDTkWpkiQ

The Singing Stitcher

Happy New Year! Well, looking back on last year and all I was involved in, this was definitely one of my best bits.

In August I got to help create and be in an opera, singing and performing and everything. I was meant to just be making costumes, but me and Laura the designer somehow became involved in order to ‘make up the numbers’. I got well into it, as I’ve been known to write the odd ditty and sing the odd tune. So it was hop off (the stage) and hop on (the sewing machine) most of the time for me. I was a warbling bouncy ball.

We decided to give it the title of Linenopolis since it was about the Belfast linen mills, a subject very close to my heart. We even had our dress rehearsal in Conway Mill at the Saturday market, and our performance went down a treat. That night the actual show was held in the Duncairn Arts Centre, and I was a bag of nerves in case I forgot anything. Luckily none of us did and it was great, or so I’m told.

The project was organised by Belfast Buildings Trust and NI Opera, and the participants and performers were all members of community groups. The venture was so successful they’re now talking about making it into a proper opera and staging it at The Mill. Very exciting!

We had real opera singers working with us, namely the lovely Lucia, Richard, Laura – and Donal who was the pianist. I asked Richard afterwards if I would now be able to call myself an International Opera Singer. ‘You can’ he said all serious like, and that made my wee face light up.