wear the clothes we sew for ourselves

I realise now that I was quite an efficient dressmaker in my teens and twenties. My mum showed me how to work her Singer - same model as yours, janea. I remember a princess line blue dress with about eight gores which I managed somehow to put together without help, when I was 16. Thought I was the bees knees. The bridesmaids' dresses which mum and I made for sister's wedding were another triumph - ripple satin and fully lined. Not much nowadays. I got out of the habit when the boys were small. Maybe I'd have found it easier if I'd had daughters!

My triumph was a pair of elasticated-waist maternity trousers that I made when I was expecting DS.

They were made of brown corduroy (what was I thinking) and it was only when I’d finished them and put them on that I realised I’d forgotten about the pile and the backs of the legs were pale and the fronts of the legs dark

I had my Mum’s old Singer and the motor control was a thing that jutted out of the machine which you controlled with pressure from your right knee.

As soon as DS could crawl, he put paid to my sewing activities by coming over and yanking fiercely on the knee control, with predictable results

I used to love making my own clothes. Branching out from needlework classes at school I made practically everything. Dresses, skirts, pyjamas, trousers. All the curtains when my parents moved house. There were fabric shops everywhere though in those days I used to buy a lot from Petticoat Lane market. Fast forward a decade or so and I made my DD’s summer dresses and school trousers. Not nowadays. Hardly any fabric shops thought I suppose it can be bought on line. So many clothes are dirt cheap now though some of the material feels like sandpaper. Suppose there’s no time to get the sewing machine out anyway, too much time spent on the Internet!

I could wish I had this problem. But I am simply the world's worst crafting person. It took me seven years (first form to sixth) to finish the school apron....

How lovely to have this talent.

I have to put a `stop` sign in my sewing room. I love sewing and can get carried away. I have a stash of top quality indie cottons, linens, silks and Japanese fabrics, the stash would be higher than my height