FREEDOM MACHINE!

Its hard to belive that women and cycling was once a contentious issue!....There were issues of modest dress,the worry by the american writer James McGurn that the 'Unfettered liberty of bicycling would intoxicate women to immoral acts' and if women could even physically manage the exercise......None of this put off those who were determined to seize the freedom it gave and to try and expand horizons....one of these women was Frances E Willard who was an influental womens social reformer....she wrote the book 'how i learned to ride the bicycle'...hoping to encourage more women to cycle.... she started at the age of 53! Frances wrote alot in her book about the correct dress....encouraging the use of bloomers and the ditching of corsets! As Francis says'It will be a delight to girls to learn that the fact of their sex is,in itself,not a bar to riding a wheel.'

RUNNING UP THAT HILL!

Here are some beautiful images of Dr.Ron Hill....a legend in marathon running......a former European and commonwealth champion he still runs every day even at the age of nearly 71.
The top image is of Dr Ron winning the Edinburgh 1970 commonwealth games and setting a new word record at the time all whilst wearing mesh vests and cut off shorts! His doctorate comes from a phd in textile chemistry which would have helped when he set up his clothing company making performance sports wear, he later sold the brand but he gained all his early glories wearing a vest that you can still buy in dalston market for 50p.

LACK OF BALLS

In 2010 South Africa will host the world cup..which is ironic as there is a shortage of footballs in Africa for schools villages and anyone who wants to play ball......the ingenious solutions to this problem have involved making balls out of rubbish and scraps of materials bound together and wrapped in plastic bags.
Although these home-made balls look beautiful and are an amazingly creative way of getting around a serious problem, there not much good to practice your skills on.....
This problem was highlighted by the charity www.dreamfieldprojects.org which ran an advert in the major papers in South Africa...putting this plastic bag inside the paper.... www.aliveandkicking.org.uk is another charity dealing with the problems of lack of sports equipment by sorting out the supply chain and setting up small factories in Africa making repairable hand stitched footballs with health messages printed on the sides...by setting up factories they provide work for people and insure that the sports equipment is not made by child labour.....which is an ongoing problem in India and Pakistan where a large proportion of the worlds footballs are made.

BOW IDEAS STORE

RUNNING WITH THE GOLDEN YEARS.

We had a marvelous morning challenging our perceptions of sportswear branding with the Golden Years Club at Bethnal Green Library today. 

After having a good giggle and discussion around our 'History of Sportswear' lecture, we put our mugs aside and got busy.

Edna stitched an initial on a vest for her grandson's girlfriend Sarah who works in a gym in Newcastle.  The other ladies had fun with our embroidery transfers and stitched stars and argile patterns on t-shirts, and someone stitched over the 'Un' from 'Really Un-Happy' which was splattered across the front of an otherwise quite jolly t-shirt. 

Well done everyone!

The Golden Years meet at Bethnal Green Library ever Tuesday morning at 10.30 and get up to all sorts of interesting things.

FORGET WASHING.

Tired of endlessly washing your track suit?

Scientists have invented a fabric which you never have to wash! It repels dirt and sweat with chemicals attatched to nano- particles.

Here are my copied diagrams of how self cleaning fabric is made.

1. Nano-particles are attatched to clothing fibres using microwaves.

2. Chemicals that repel water, oil, and kill bacteria, but can not be directly applied to the fabric are bound to the nano particles.

ADIDAS COMMERCIAL 2007.