Making My Own Clothes (and Making Up Quotes).
In this first episode of what could be a new series, John-Paul Flintoff introduces his book “Through the Eye of a Needle” – a memoir about discovering meaning through making his own clothes.
Listen to the episode:
Read the transcript, with links:
Hello. This is An Adequate Podcast with me, John-Paul Flintoff, and this is the first episode in a new series called Through the Eye of a Needle. And let me explain a little bit about that.
“Through the Eye of a Needle” is the title of one of my books, and that book was published before there was an audiobook. So I have the rights to do an audiobook, and I thought it might be quite fun to do it chapter by chapter as a podcast.
What do I mean “I have the rights”? Some of my other books, more recent ones, the publisher owns the rights to the audiobook. There is an audiobook, so I can’t necessarily – unless I think of a different way to do it – I can’t necessarily read them on a podcast without upsetting someone. Unless I do a slightly amateurish reading, rather like this is turning out, perhaps you might think.
Anyway, so this book, Through the Eye of a Needle, was actually my second book, and I’m going to start this first episode about the book by just describing the book a little bit.
Describing the Book
It’s got a very handwritten title on the cover. I did the handwriting. It’s got a picture of a man – me – sitting at an old-fashioned treadle-powered sewing machine. Not electric. And there’s a kind of one of those things that tailors use to hang jackets on, standing next to him. So there he – me – I am at the wooden treadle-powered sewing machine, looking out at the reader of the book.
Title of the book is Through the Eye of a Needle, and the subtitle says: “The true story of a man who went searching for meaning and ended up making his Y-fronts.”
And then it’s got my name at the bottom of the book. And then I’ll tell you a secret. There’s a quote at the bottom, and the quote says: “A world-changing book. An adventure in politics, religion and haberdashery.” And the quote is from someone called Alex Somerset, and that’s me. I made it up. Oh God, what have I done telling you in this podcast? But I did. I made it up because I wanted a quote that said exactly that. So it went on the front of the book.
The back of the book – what have we got? Quotes that aren’t made up by some other people. But let me just read you the blurb on the back.
It says: “John-Paul Flintoff” – that’s me – “was the archetypal mindless consumer, until one day he set out to find a purpose in life and decided to make his own clothes. Through the Eye of a Needle is a brilliant account of his journey. It’s an illuminating, enchanting and often extremely funny testament, arguing that the way we look at clothing influences the way we look at the environment, the economy and life itself.”
The book was published, by the way, not by me. I had a lot to do with the design, but the book was published by Permanent Publications, although there was an earlier edition which was handmade by me. I hand-bound 20 copies, hand-stitched, and covered them in book covers that were made out of my own shirts (link to a picture of one), which seemed relevant.
Anyway, there are also some quotes on the back of the book. One of them says: “I don’t really understand what you’re doing, but I wish you every success.” And that’s from Vivienne Westwood, the well-known late fashion designer.
Another one says: “Does this mean that you’ve been knitting and crocheting awesome things for your daughter? Cool.” That’s Betsy Greer, author of Knitting for Good. (Link to the book on Amazon, not an affiliate link.) Betsy’s book was very inspiring to me. I strongly recommend it.
There’s a quote from India Knight, a British journalist and author. She says: “I think it is chic to have donned your own clothes.”
And the last quote says: “It seems, and I’m grinding my jaws as I type this, that his time has come.” And that quote is attributed to Harriet Green, the author’s wife, quoted in The Observer.
So there we are. It cost at the time £7.95 for a paperback book.
About the Author
There’s a whole page inside about the author – me. It feels really cringy to read that. But I guess if you get a sense of the book, I should just read it. I’ll just try not to choke with embarrassment. Anyway, it’s not that embarrassing.
It says, okay, the bit about the author on the opening page, just inside the cover, says:
John-Paul Flintoff is a feature writer for Britain’s best-selling upmarket newspaper, The Sunday Times. He has also written for the Financial Times, The Guardian, the New Statesman, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar and, well, lots of other publications. As well as writing, he has worked as bin man, executive PA, scuba diver, poet, taxi driver, tailor, gardener, ice cream salesman, filmmaker, assistant undertaker, bit-part player in pantomime, waiter, illustrator, high-wire window cleaner, photographer, very amateur boxer, karaoke singer and rat catcher. His writing has attracted compliments from the documentary maker Michael Moore, the stage and film director Richard Eyre, and the late Nobel winner Harold Pinter: “Very good, very funny. In fact, it made me laugh.” Flintoff’s memoir, Comp: A Survivor’s Tale, attracted huge media attention on its publication and praise from an assortment of admirable and intelligent people, including Francis Wheen, Christina Odone and Vanessa Feltz.
Okay, so that’s the bit about the author.
Inside the Book
Inside – I’m really not going to read this bit too much – but inside, there’s a page of quotes about my previous book, Comp: A Survivor’s Tale. Then there’s a title page: Through the Eye of a Needle by John-Paul Flintoff, and it has the logo of the lovely publisher, Permanent Publications.
And then there’s a kind of page that I modelled on sort of 18th-century British novels, where the book is full of a kind of mix of promotional material to describe what’s inside it. (Click here to see that page.) It’s a one-page description of what’s inside the book that you’re about to read, and it’s got a headline. It says:
Through the Eye of a Needle
One man’s attempt to survive economic meltdown, tackle climate change and enter the Kingdom of Heaven by making his own clothes
By John-Paul Flintoff
INCLUDING: Why his wife won’t always allow him to wear his homemade clothes in public
AND his journey as a lifelong unbeliever through various Christian churches in a search for the right fit for his soul, and encounters with Buddhists.
PLUS a similar journey across the political spectrum, leading him to disillusionment and finally to a determination to do whatever needs doing himself, of which clothes-making is only one example. The others include tackling terrorism, economic revival through barter, and managing pest control
FEATURING Film stars Richard Gere and Daryl Hannah, politicians and campaigners, criminals and priests, the Victorian essayist John Ruskin, injured New York-based sweatshop operatives, British TV celebrity petrolhead Jeremy Clarkson and the anti-road protester who stuck a pie in his face, members of the ancient Guild of Spinners, Dyers and Weavers, the Quaker philanthropist Elizabeth Fry, call centre workers in Bangalore, the author’s wife’s 98-year-old great-aunt Peggy Parker, a naked yoga teacher, Prince Charles’s own Savile Row tailor, a personal shopper, the German Army of the First World War, Mahatma Gandhi, the Buddha, Jesus Christ and Vivienne Westwood.
Next we come to the contents page. But I’m not going to read the contents, because we’re just going to get to the contents. But I can tell you that there are 45 chapters in two parts, and each of the chapters has a kind of promise, again, of what’s coming up, but I’ll explain that when we get there.
So just for now, I’m going to stop now, because this is quite a lot already.
The Prologue
I’m going to read the prologue, and then tomorrow I’ll read chapter one.
Opposite the prologue, there’s a line drawing by me, of me at the sewing machine, and there’s a haiku which I wrote, and it says:
How many angels
Admiring my handiwork
Dance on this pin’s end!
(Note: it’s not a question, it’s got an exclamation mark at the end.)
PROLOGUE
I’m sitting on the Northern Line, on the City branch, in the middle of rush hour, on a carriage crowded with people dressed in smart clothes with expensive accessories. I used to be just like these people, and wore the same kind of clothes. Not any more.
These days, I tend to wear homemade. Today, every item of clothing on me has either been made from scratch or significantly modified or repaired. Not that I would expect you to notice. Indeed, I try to make the clothes look just as good as the ones I used to buy. If I didn’t, my wife might not let me out of the house in them.
But there’s no point making clothes yourself and keeping it secret – not if you want the whole world to start doing the same. Not if you believe, as I do, that homemade, locally sourced clothes are as important to the survival of our species as homegrown, locally sourced food, and similarly good for your wallet at a time when the economy is in collapse. Not if you believe that the act of making clothes is its own reward, an outlet for creativity and empowerment that used to be enjoyed by every person on the planet.
I didn’t come to these conclusions myself, or overnight. I can’t even begin to count the number of people who influenced me, including some you would hardly believe, such as Jeremy Clarkson. But the one who’s at the forefront of my mind as I sit on this train is Gandhi.
He predicted that if Indians learned to grow their own plants and spun and wove the fibres into clothes themselves, and used that to make their own clothes, they would destroy the British cotton industry and ultimately overthrow the British Empire. And he was right.
“Be the change you want to see in the world,” Gandhi said, and he did it too – not only wearing homespun clothes, but actually taking his spinning wheel to political meetings.
Me, I don’t have a spinning wheel yet, but I do have a crochet hook. It’s hidden in the pocket of my jacket. In the other pocket, I’ve got some yarn.
I look around me casually at the passengers who pretend, as ever, not to be looking at each other. I know they are looking really – surreptitiously glancing at everything out of the ordinary.
Do I dare to take out the crochet hook and the yarn and be the change?
***
So that’s the end of this first episode of an ADEQUATE Podcast about Through the Eye of a Needle. Thank you for listening. Your attention is precious. If you’ve enjoyed this in any way, please tune in for episode two.
If you’re interested in finding out more about who the heck I am, probably the best thing to do is to look at my website, which is flintoff.org.
Thank you. Bye.
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