Nancy commented recently on how I seem able to plunge straight in to sewing tasks. There is no trick to this, other than fifty years of practice.
However, if you were thinking of starting out, I do have a few tips. Buy a very basic sewing machine. I learned to sew on my mother's hand cranked machine which did not even do reverse. My current machine was bought in 1978 and can do reverse and even various types of zig-zag. The key point is that the machine is not intimidating.
Then, practise on fabric which does not matter. Good fabric can cost much more than a readymade garment and you have no guarantee that the end-product will be wearable. Charity shops are a good source of reusable fabric - duvet covers, sheets, even full skirted dresses. You can make all your learning mistakes on these.
Make something you can use and enjoy - something straightforward, needing no pattern. So, cushion covers are a good bet. The first garment I ever made for myself was a little gingham skirt. One seam, the top turned over to form a channel for elastic and there was a little skirt. I hand-sewed it at school in the top juniors and I remember my mother being quite shocked because I had made it without being asked to learn any new skills. But I did learn that you can make wearable clothes for yourself.
Buy only patterns you will want to use many times. In the 60s there was a magazine called "Petticoat" which offered a basic pattern for a shift dress. Each fortnight they showed you how to adapt the basic pattern to make a different style. These were the days when talented young people were opening boutiques to market their own design mini-skirts. Anything seemed possible. My friend bought the pattern and we spent many happy hours pinning and cutting and sewing, all on my mother's ancient machine. The point is that if you make the same pattern several times your confidence grows.
There's no harm in being ambitious. Quite early on my friend and I made ourselves trouser suits. My mother, our technical adviser, blenched when she saw the lovely wine-coloured corduroy that my friend planned to use. Over the whole weekend we tailored the jackets, setting in sleeves and making bound buttonholes. My friend knitted a white jumper to go with hers and looked stunning in it. I wore mine twice, once on a trip to the local theatre. I remember it being impossibly dressy, enhanced with marcasite buttons. We learned a huge amount from the project, though I imagine that neither of us ever made anything that complicated again.
So, what can this be?
We have recently upgraded the bedroom furniture at our cottage, including a bedding box to be used as a support for open suitcases. This is a pad to protect the top of the bedding box. It is made of Donegal tweed with a layer of fleece blanket as wadding. Comes into the category of useful rather than beautiful, perhaps.
However, if you were thinking of starting out, I do have a few tips. Buy a very basic sewing machine. I learned to sew on my mother's hand cranked machine which did not even do reverse. My current machine was bought in 1978 and can do reverse and even various types of zig-zag. The key point is that the machine is not intimidating.
Then, practise on fabric which does not matter. Good fabric can cost much more than a readymade garment and you have no guarantee that the end-product will be wearable. Charity shops are a good source of reusable fabric - duvet covers, sheets, even full skirted dresses. You can make all your learning mistakes on these.
Make something you can use and enjoy - something straightforward, needing no pattern. So, cushion covers are a good bet. The first garment I ever made for myself was a little gingham skirt. One seam, the top turned over to form a channel for elastic and there was a little skirt. I hand-sewed it at school in the top juniors and I remember my mother being quite shocked because I had made it without being asked to learn any new skills. But I did learn that you can make wearable clothes for yourself.
Buy only patterns you will want to use many times. In the 60s there was a magazine called "Petticoat" which offered a basic pattern for a shift dress. Each fortnight they showed you how to adapt the basic pattern to make a different style. These were the days when talented young people were opening boutiques to market their own design mini-skirts. Anything seemed possible. My friend bought the pattern and we spent many happy hours pinning and cutting and sewing, all on my mother's ancient machine. The point is that if you make the same pattern several times your confidence grows.
There's no harm in being ambitious. Quite early on my friend and I made ourselves trouser suits. My mother, our technical adviser, blenched when she saw the lovely wine-coloured corduroy that my friend planned to use. Over the whole weekend we tailored the jackets, setting in sleeves and making bound buttonholes. My friend knitted a white jumper to go with hers and looked stunning in it. I wore mine twice, once on a trip to the local theatre. I remember it being impossibly dressy, enhanced with marcasite buttons. We learned a huge amount from the project, though I imagine that neither of us ever made anything that complicated again.
So, what can this be?
We have recently upgraded the bedroom furniture at our cottage, including a bedding box to be used as a support for open suitcases. This is a pad to protect the top of the bedding box. It is made of Donegal tweed with a layer of fleece blanket as wadding. Comes into the category of useful rather than beautiful, perhaps.
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