Christchurch: A city on the move or stuck in the past?

This is a photo essay of New Zealand's second city (by size) Christchurch which experienced a devastating earthquake in 2011. I used to be a frequent visitor to the central city on a Saturday to wander around the streets and sometimes shop. Since the earthquake I have ventured into town infrequently and generally on a focused trip to a specific place or event, never for a wander around.

This past Saturday was sunny and I parked the car in the new Lichfield Street car park, close to the shop that used to be my second home Ballantynes and not only met my girlfriend for lunch but wandered around taking photos of the newly emerging city.

The city is definitely coming back to life, and I am torn by the new look city. It does create a strong emotional response: joy on the one hand that the city is rising again and sadness that maybe the rebuild was driven by speed, cost and concrete slab architecture. I wonder if the city missed an opportunity to achieve its full potential and develop a more cohesive look. Maybe I am too influenced by Napier (the Art Deco city) which I just love. Napier had the opportunity to rebuild after the 1931 Hawkes Bay earthquake and was redeveloped with a cohesive Art Deco style. Will Christchurch in 50 years time be venerated or past its prime? I do wonder if the Christchurch of the future will be as polarising as the 1950's Brutalist architecture, of which Christchurch had its own famous exponents. It would be a shame if we had got rid of some truly awful buildings to just create our own for future generations.

Pre quake Cathedral Square: BNZ centre and Government Life Building on the right - truly ugly

The Gateway Bridge

On the way into the city I drive around the airport past the new Gateway Bridge the entrance to the South and the Southern Alps.

The design draws on the vertical power of the Southern Alps and the braided rivers, unique to the Canterbury Plains

The bridge with its changing colour light show

Map of the city

Christchurch city centre is not large and all the places included in this post are within walking distance of each other, especially given the abundance of places to rest and refuel.

The city and key sights - including Head Over Heels - does even Google know I am a shoeaholic?

Cashel Street

City (Cashel) Mall and High Street in days of yore were the place to shop, then there was the Re:Start container mall which has now been replaced by real buildings.

View West from the Bridge of Remembrance

View East along Cashel Mall, including the Tourist loop tram, Ballantynes on the right.

A mainstay of the city centre Scorpio Books now in the BNZ centre

The BNZ centre

Cashel Mall from High Street

For comparison the imaginatively conceived Re:Start Container Mall which opened on 29 October 2011

"The Strip"

The iconic entertainment mecca for the young is slowly rejuvenating along Oxford Terrace.

Oxford Terrace and the new Strip

"The Strip" in yesteryear

The Strip from across the Avon River

South end of the Strip looking towards the Justice precinct

The Bridge of Remembrance

The war memorial dedicated to those who died in World War 1 but also remembering those who participated in both World Wars and subsequent conflicts in Asia in the 1950s to early 1970s.

The Bridge over the Avon River

The gate looking east

The gate looking west

Oi Manawa - Canterbury Earthquake National Memorial

Five months after the magnitude 7.1 earthquake, centred just along the road from us (40 kilometres, west of Christchurch), an even more damaging quake struck at 12.51pm on 22 February 2011. The shallow, 6.3 magnitude quake, in the Port Hills just 10 kilometres from the centre of Christchurch, caused the greatest ground acceleration ever recorded in New Zealand.  The quake sequence included more than 11,000 aftershocks.

The earthquake claimed the lives of 185 people and injured many more. About 25,000 houses suffered serious damage and more than half of all buildings in the central city had to be demolished. The memorial, opened to the public on 22 February 2017, on the sixth anniversary of the earthquake. It pays respect to those who lost their lives, those who were seriously injured and survivors. It also acknowledges the support received during the response and recovery that followed.

The memorial inscription

The memorial wall extends 111 metres along the curve of the Ōtākaro/Avon River

The names of the 185 who died are inscribed into marble panels stretching 40 metres along the memorial wall.  The arrangement of names and how they are written was guided by the bereaved families. All names are in English, as well as the person’s first language (Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Hebrew, Arabic, Serbian or Russian), if it was not English.

The Arts Centre of Christchurch

The Arts Centre is one of the most significant collections of historic buildings in New Zealand. It is over half way through its $290 million restoration. 

Originally an educational establishment home to what is now Canterbury University, it has some very famous alumni. Dame Ngaio Marsh (loved her mystery novels in my teens),  Nobel prize winning scientist Ernest, Lord Rutherford and Sir Āpirana Ngata, a prominent NZ politician and lawyer, who promoted and protected Māori culture and language.

Looking fabulous part of the newly restored Christchurch Arts Centre

Part of the old stonework retained in the entrance to the new toilet facilities

Under construction

Christ Church Cathedral

The increasingly decrepit eye sore that is Christ Church Cathedral now, once the beating heart of the central city.

The Chalice, designed by Neil Dawson, contains forty-two native plant leaf patterns

Colombo Street

Colombo Street north (taken from the walkway in the picture below)

The walkway over Colombo Street between Ballantynes and The Crossing

Colombo Street south

Building Art

Lots of art has popped up around Christchurch, some of it sponsored by Christchurch City Council, through the Enliven Places Programme. This programme supports regeneration across the city by encouraging the community to transform spaces and leave a lasting legacy.

It would be easy to write a post just about the art around Christchurch streets as many innovative pieces have come to life over the past seven years. As this post is already rather long I have limited myself to two examples.

On the wall of a building at Cathedral Junction

Press Lane artwork by Grace Duval

The stuck in the past

Obviously the biggest stuck in the past is the Christ Church Cathedral which is going to be restored (maybe if someone stumps up enough money). Here are some other buildings around the central city that have some way to go before resurrection.

Former Municipal Chambers, Oxford Terrace

Pre earthquake: former Municipal Chambers, designed by Samuel Hurst Seager, built in 1887

Telephone box outside the former Municipal Chambers looking south towards Oxford Terrace

Worcester Boulevard just west of Cathedral Square

High Street at the east end of Cashel Mall

Cambridge Terrace, diagonally across the river from the Earthquake Memorial

Hagley Park and the Avon River

Cherry blossom time

The Avon River in Spring

The waning daffodils

Style Arc Maris Ballet Top

This top was made quite a few months ago.  Long enough ago for it to travel to the UK in April. For some reason it didn't get photographed on its big overseas adventure. Taking pictures with me in the top and of the pattern alterations has proven elusive but I did it eventually. I really wanted to blog about this version of the Style Arc Maris top because of the alterations I made otherwise I would just have used the photograph of it on a hanger for the end of year round up!

The finished garment

A super top style that is likely to appear many more times on this blog in various incarnations, especially now that I can make it with set in sleeves.

Sorry looking even more lopsided than normal

Bit of static cling around the bottom

And here it is stuck on a coat hanger for the travel wardrobe photograph

It is fascinating looking a pictures of clothes you have made to see how well your fabric choices work.  The contrast fabric has a lot of pink in it that, in real life, matches well with the main pink merino, yet in the hanger picture all you notice is the turquoise.

The fabric

Liberty Kingly Cord in design Vesuvian colourway B 

The Fabric Store premium merino knit (180gsm) in colourway Ballet Pink

The pattern

From the StyleArc website "This top has an interesting front hem panel that continues to the back giving a fabulous silhouette.  Use your own creative flare, mixing fabrics or colours for your own individual look. We made our sample in Linen but would also work in a knit as well."

The pattern alterations

This is a well loved pattern that I have made a few times in its original form.  This time however I wanted to use up a bit of Liberty fabric left over from my Megan Nielsen Flint trousers in combination with a merino jersey for a long sleeved top. On other kimono sleeved tops I have created a pattern piece to lengthen the existing short sleeve, for the Maris top I wanted to have set-in sleeves.

This is an easy pattern alteration to make with three basics: your measurement from shoulder point to shoulder point across the back plus seam allowance; a favourite armhole template; and the armhole's corresponding sleeve.

If you don't have this information already it can be taken from a favourite top pattern that fits you well:
(1) Measure across the pattern piece from centre back to the shoulder point - take note of seam allowances and adjust the measurement as necessary eg if your favourite top has a centre back seam remove the corresponding seam allowance from your final number.
(2) Trace each armhole shape (front and back) from the pattern onto a piece of card
(3) Trace the sleeve pattern piece so that you can use it for your altered Maris top

Back pattern piece alteration
Using the shoulder width measurement mark where the shoulder seam should be on the Maris top. Then using your back armhole template position it at the shoulder mark and swing out to the side seam and mark the armhole shape on the pattern.

Back pattern piece: Left new overlaid original; Right with armhole template

Front pattern piece alteration
The front and back shoulder seams need to match, so overlay the back pattern piece on the front yoke pattern piece matching the shoulder seam at the neck edge. Mark on the front yoke pattern piece the shoulder point from the back pattern piece.

The front armhole is made up of the yoke and front pattern pieces, so these two pieces need to be overlapped at the seam allowance before you can create the new armhole. Once overlapped using your front armhole template position it at the shoulder mark and swing out to the side seam and mark the armhole shape on the pattern.

On the front pattern piece you can see that the side seam, at the armhole, is slightly narrower than the original pattern piece.  This alteration was made after I had sewn this top because I have a bit too much fabric sitting at the armhole in this version. Now the pattern piece has been refined it should prevent this problem in future tops.

Front pattern pieces: Top adjusted yoke pattern; Bottom contrast front pattern

Front pattern piece positioned over the scrap of the Liberty fabric

The front bottom band for the Maris top is not altered and the original pattern piece can be used.

The sewing

Once the pattern was altered this was an easy knit garment to sew on the overlocker. The hems were sewn on the sewing machine using a straight stitch and a ballpoint needle.

I cut a 1" strip to bind the neckline. It was sewn around the neck edge with the overlocker after only the right shoulder seam had been sewn. Overlock the left shoulder seam and binding. Then fold the binding over and stitch in the ditch, using a straight stitch, from the right side on the main body close to the binding. Trim the binding on the inside of the garment close to the stitching line. This gives a nice narrow ¼ inch binding.

The stitching in the ditch around the edge of the neck binding can just be seen at centre front

The trickiest part is mitring the corner of the front bottom band. I follow the Gwen Spencer method which she demonstrates in this YouTube video, with Marcy Tilton, and always have success.

My one variation to Gwen's method is that I don't trim away the excess, as I think pressing the seam open with the extra folded into a diamond shape gives a better weight to the mitred corner and helps it sit well. Here are my steps to a perfectly mitred corner which hopefully make sense in conjunction with Gwen's video.

Step 1 - turn up your hem. If I want a double fold hem then it is double folded at this stage.
Step 2 - draw your stitching line from clip to clip through the point and sew.
Step 3 - put the sewn mitre on the point presser and press the seam open. Place one finger at the point of the corner on the inside and another on the outside and turn (you can use a point turner for this bit instead of the finger on the inside). The inside will look like the "no trimming" picture.
Step 4 - press the finished mitred corner.

Et voila the perfect mitred corner