Sneak peek at a Tess adventure

I went on an expedition to Dallas with Theresa yesterday, to have a few fittings for Tess garments and to accomplish a few other secret things (which will be featured on the Tess blog soon). Before I got to know Theresa I knew so little about the processes involved in bringing a collection from sketch to point of sale, and it has been fascinating to get all these glimpses behind the scenes.


Gorgeous colours and mystery boxes!




Lunch at Jen's Place - iced tea, sandwiches and chilli. I'm spoiling the ladylike appearance of my Tess dress somewhat.

This is where Jen's Place is located. I wish it were my address - how much fun would it be to write this on official forms?




In Marilynn's studio. Marilynn is Tess's pattern-maker, and the proud owner of a very nervous female cat called Killer. Killer usually hides under a blanket when we visit, but she was surprisingly social yesterday. Until she disappeared under the table.

Good advice

From the 1949 Singer Sewing Machine Manual (which also apparently fancied itself as a handbook for life in general):

"Prepare yourself mentally for sewing. Think about what you are going to do. Never approach sewing with a sigh or lackadaisically. Good results are difficult when indifference predominates. Never try to sew with a sink full of dirty dishes or beds unmade. Then there are urgent housekeeping chores. Do these first so your mind is free to enjoy your sewing.

When you sew, make yourself as attractive as possible. Put on a clean dress. Have your hair in order, powder and lipstick put on. If you are constantly fearful that a visitor will drop in or your husband will come home and you will not look neatly put together, you will not enjoy your sewing as you should."

This is actually pretty good advice when it comes to working from home, too - don't you think? Just replace 'sewing' with 'writing.' Or the verb of your choice.

Zombie thumbs and ball pits

It has been difficult to blog lately, and not just because of my Zombie Thumb (which, incidentally, is an excellent band name). We have travelled so much this year that I have struggled to settle down into a routine with the new book - and now that I am finally managing it, it leaves little time for blogging! You see, I know it's important to write every day. I know this. But some perverse part of me forgets this occasionally, and then I drift, writing notes and plans but not writing IN the story itself. The only way to get to know a story is to be inside it - whether you (ultimately) keep the words you write or not. I'm happily ensconced there now, like a toddler in a ball pit, and I may not surface for a while.

In other news, though, Tess's launch is coming closer! I am so excited. Theresa has worked so hard to create this company and these dresses, and they look so beautiful.




Theresa hard at work.

The home page of the Tess website is live now, displaying a photograph from their spring editorial.

Isn't it pretty? The hats, sunglasses and handbag are mine, so I feel like I have contributed, even though I haven't really.

I'll keep you posted.

Right, back to the book I go!

Article in the New Zealand Listener

The incomparable Guy Somerset wrote the article based on an interview a month or so ago - he was really wonderful to talk to. Thank you, Guy!





Click to embiggen.

(Also, if you want a thumb update, it is even more zombified and repulsive-looking, but I can bend it now and press the space bar without too much trouble. So there is progress).

Happy Easter, everyone!

New Zealand visit (3)

I was planning to post yesterday, but then I slammed my right thumb in the car door. Now I have a zombie thumb, all black and green and suppurating and disgusting, but it has stopped throbbing long enough for me to type, at least for a few minutes. It's amazing how often you use your thumbs, really - I had never noticed before.

We have been away from New Zealand for nearly a week now, and all that's left of our trip is a collection of photographs.

Ouch, thumb! Work is going to be painstakingly slow today, unless I can give Mink a crash course in typing. And English.


Fish and chips! Oh how I have missed you.


My friend Caroline and I unwittingly both bought each other souvenir oven mitts.


A tribute to the September earthquake hanging in Jo Seagar's cafe, Oxford.


Me, my mum and my sister, out to dinner.




Christina, Hannah and I out to breakfast at Drexels - just like old times! Except that we used to breakfast at the Hereford Street Drexels, which was destroyed in the February quake.











Dinner with friends on our last night in New Zealand - post-aftershock, which is why everyone looks a bit wobbly! (That and my bad flash photography).

New Zealand visit (2)

It was funny seeing my book in New Zealand shops - it makes it seem a lot more real, somehow, when it appears in familiar places. I used to work at the Paper Plus bookstore in Barrington Mall and I thought about going to see my book there, but chickened out. We went into the one in Merivale Mall, instead (just down the road from where I used to live), and Mum hijacked one of their 'Recommended' shelf-talkers to put under my book, much to my embarrassment. The book was on a high shelf, and so she struggled to reach it - but refused to give up, despite my entreaties! It got to the point where a sales assistant wandered over to investigate what we were going. I was melting into a little embarrassed puddle, but Mum told him I was the author and I ended up signing the copies they had. So, if you're in Christchurch and want a signed copy, Paper Plus at Merivale might still have some! Mums, eh?


Uncomfortable pose with book. "Mum, is someone coming? Take it quickly."

Mum treated me to a haircut, as well, as I was looking rather shaggy. Our hairdresser Michelle's salon, Kudos in Merivale Mall, was destroyed in the earthquake. She has set up shop a few doors down and is sharing the premises with another salon. If you happen to live in Christchurch and need a haircut, Michelle is just marvellous - and with all the stresses of the past few months, I know she would appreciate the support.




It was good to catch up with one of my best friends, Christina, at our old meeting-place (Coffee Culture), but strange to see the mall so torn and damaged by the quake. We used to live pretty much across the road from it. I didn't go to look at our old house, though - somehow I just couldn't bring myself to. The facades on Papanui Road have fallen, as you can see, making the buildings look like open dolls-houses, and it is too dangerous for the businesses to retrieve their stock. It is quite surreal to see stacks of shoeboxes teetering inside like that. (And a giant toadstool. No idea what that was for). People have attached notes and tributes to the security fences all over the city.





Surreal and sad, but uplifting, too, when you see the resilience and spirit of Christchurch's people displayed so openly.


Seeing Christina.

Hannah's house-bunny, Thumper.

Visiting Hannah.

New Zealand visit (1)

It was a pretty short notice, relatively unplanned trip to New Zealand last week - LOML found out he was needed there for work, and I seized the opportunity to visit friends and family. A week isn't very long, though, and we weren't able to see everyone that we wanted to ... although we did have time to experience the 5.3 aftershock on Saturday evening. Nice.



Celebratory reunion coffee with Mum!

We stayed for the first night with LOML's parents, and then Mum picked me up in the morning to take me out to Oxford. It was lovely to see her and her husband, and to see my sister later in the week. Oxford (about an hour's drive from Christchurch - at least, the way I drive it, which is slowly) is a very peaceful place, with beautiful mountain views.


The view from Mum's house.

My room. So sunny! What is it about beds in parents' houses? They are always more comfortable than normal beds.

Lucy at her look-out post.

Cuddling with Lucy on the couch.

Mum's cat, Sandy, more spherical by the day.


Taking Lucy for a walk.




Oxford sights.





Murals on Oxford's main street.

Napping! Also a good representation of how jet-lag makes you feel.