Sewing, the craft, fabrics, patterns, problems

I sew in fits and starts and haven't done much since the mask making and scrubs bags eased off. My latest project was cookery aprons for the DGC, aged 5 and 2. I was looking through some old photos and found one where I am wearing a dress I made before I left primary school. My next aim to construct a toile for a simple tunic dress with pockets. I'm nearly there, just have to get the sleeves right. I am also a fanon Clothkits and made lots of their things for the DC and myself. I especially remember my green skirt either a herbaceous border around the hem.

I remember Clothkits in the 1980s. I made the lovely padded jacket with animals on and a patch pocket and the little stuffed animals that came with it, for my daughter. I wish I had kept it. I used to make many of my daughter's dresses until she was about 6.

Ooh, I remember Clothkits - we lived in Brighton at the time (early 70s) and I made quite a few of their kits for our daughters. The company were bought out, and closed for a while, then relaunched in 2008. I think a GD might still have one of the kit dolls!

Lovely thread ?

Love sewing. My mum had an old Singer sewing machine that, as a child, i would make various things. Then through my teens into being a mum, i would still sew ( my children's clothes, clothes for me)

Then i started making curtains for friends, i have made loads and loads of curtains, crafts clothes, cushions ohh the list is endless.

Then fast forward to the pandemic and the restrictions plus the past my illness was progressing to the point that walking was extremely difficult, and so the machine then became a close 'friend'. Because i found walking difficult, i stayed at home ( taking into account thats all we could do) and me being me could NOT sit sit sit watching TV alllllll day long, so i made bags ( drawstring make up bags ) and LOTS of other sewing crafts for my GC, its was like a production line ( my kitchen resembled a sweatshop hahaha )

I give all the bags away to people, because a) its given me something to do that i love and b) other people benefit.

My son sends me videos of my GC opening their packages that i post over to them with heaps of exciting sewing gifts in.

I do have some synthetics, mainly the silky variety used for curtains and these are the off-cuts from shortening etc. These days I steer clear of polyester based fabrics to avoid more pollution.

We have a local hospice shop that specialises in homeward etc. It has a large selection of cotton end of roll curtain fabrics at greatly reduced prices. I made some new Roman blinds and still have a bit left over. I’m planning to buy some more to make a set of table mats for gifts.

I’ve been seriously sewing since I was 18 although I learned the basics earlier. It’s gone in fits and starts but these days I do repairs, make dog coats for one dd and help another with curtains and blinds. I recently made a 20s style dress for dd3 from an original pattern. It was quite a revelation.

ATM, I’m sorting through all my saved fabrics, bits and pieces, deciding what to keep and what to pass on. I have enough clothes to last a very long time so I’m planning on doing more hand embroidery and patchwork activities.

Over the years I’ve dabbled in a huge variety of crafts and I’m sure this will continue. It’s such fun learning new crafts and trying new ideas. I’ll have to look at Crafty.

Sewing is a lifeline for me, body shape has changed and now my aim is to have a wardrobe purely hand made. I did have a dressform, padded out carefully to my measurements and height, took me a week to do. I have watched my weight since lockdown began and have now been able to remove all that padding. I have a lady valet

re fabrics, I don`t use any polyester, not wanting to add to ocean pollution in the future. I have a massive stash of fabrics, all natural like cotton, linen, viscose, some with added elastane for stretch. I no longer feel guilty at having such a stash, inflation is rising rapidly, it is money well spent

Patterns have changed too, I tend to like indie designers now and pdfs, which I can store on memory sticks. I dislike using A4 to make the actual pattern but patterns can be printed in eg 2 sizes so that tapering is much easier. I also have a humungous pattern selection, many printed from the likes of stylearc. I have started to catalogue patterns in a business card folder. Quick drawing and some details. Later I will sort into catergories such as skirts

I turned a bedroom into a dedicated sewing room, extended an old heavy desk by adding a shelf to the back top and cut the feet of a few cm, to make it more comfortable. I have several machines and hang cones etc on the walls. Such a change to the old days, when I would use a dining table

I won`t be sewing yet, I need to restore my home as the painter is coming soon and everywhere is being used for storage. My mind, however, is being geared up, ready for spring