The Ultimate Incentive natters on. Part 9

starnac

It is a skill worth having even if its just to repair items of clothing. We are such a throwaway society now.

I made my own wedding dress and my bridesmaid's dresses. I made DD's christening dress too but didn't feel confident to make DS's outfit. A decision I now regret. I'd love DD to come to me in 20 years time asking me to make her wedding dress

Tete_en_l'Air

Star has hit it on the head - it's all about having the confidence to try. Sewing machines are scary things at first but you can soon conquer them Although I do always have a shiver of fear before cutting into a piece of fabric for the first time - especially if it's irreplaceable eg, if I have one sixties curtain to make a skirt from and there isn't much to spare!

And re. sewing your own curtains - I've only ever sewn the tape stuff along the top, but I'd assume it's easy enough as it's all straight lines! I'd struggle more for the space than anything else with curtains.

starnac

Tete it's the old adage - measure twice, cut once. Once you've pinned your pattern onto your fabric, check your pattern, re read the instructions, check your pattern again, then cut.

Curtains are a faff as they are so big. But again if you measure right (and there is a knack to measuring curtains) then you should have no problem. Just make sure your sewing table isn't against the wall so the fabric can fall off the other side once sewn

If you all bring your sewing machines to the next threadie meet up I will teach you basic dressmaking!

poddle911

starnac wrote: »

If you all bring your sewing machines to the next threadie meet up I will teach you basic dressmaking!

That would be a challenge!

I'm just catching up on the Sewing Bee - hoping it will inspire me to get to grips with the sewing machine I got for Christmas. (In 2011 )

Really sorry to hear your news, Beccie - your poor mum glad you're around for moral support.

We just found out my brother and his wife are splitting up. It's a big shock - they've been together for over 15 years, but married less than two. My parents are understandably devastated, it's definitely hit my mum hard

starnac

Oh no poddle. Such bad news about your brother and his wife. Seems strange when they've been together so long.

Pilchard

Hi everyone

Just been catching up - again! I'm never on the ball and up to date :rotfl:

I've been looking at your day zero challenges and it looks like a great idea so I'm going to do that I think. I am going away on Friday for a week to a farm near Durham so am planning on catching up with competitions, surveys and computer stuff whilst chilling out in the evening....after a long day of dog walking and hopefully feeding lambs!! I shall sort my list out then. I am also planning on starting some knitting while I'm there - I knitted one thing when I was at school but am no good at craft stuff so this will be a challenge. There may be knitting needles flying all around the North East!!

I have also got more stuff to put on eBay for the next fee free weekend but am going to change which Post Office I use. Our local one can't make up it's mind and diddled me out of 41p per package for a few items I sent. I sold some DVDs and hubby took some in and was charged £1.10 each for postage. I took a couple to a different post office and was charged 69p each and then when I took one to the same post office he went to I was charged 69p again. He took one yesterday for me and was charged £1.10 (maybe they don't like the look of him :mad:).

Beccie, big hugs to you and your family. It's good that she has you for support but with your impending trip you must feel so torn. Take care x

Tete_en_l'Air

Will look out for airborne knitting needles Pilchard- eep! Lucky you feeding the lambies- that's on my Day Zero list but not sure it'll happen

Not heard that old adage Star! No wonder nothing ever fits!

Sorry to hear your news Poddle, what a shock

Should get off here and get some more sleep really, had a super early night and woke up an hour ago, totally starving

starnac

My parents used to take us to The Big Sheep near Devon I think every year for us to feed the lambs. I keep meaning to take DD so she'll get the experience. We were lucky enough that my stepdad used to work on a farm so would take us up during the lambing season to see the lambs being born. That was lovely although quite a harsh lesson in the circle of life when a lamb didn't make it :eek:

I wonder where dinah and NIM are? Hope they've had a good Easter.

Kepp

Again, thank you everyone for your lovely words. An estate agent came to value the house yesterday. Amazingly (maybe I shouldn't have such a downer on estate agents!) he was lovely and made my Mum feel so much better about the whole thing as she is finding selling the house quite terrifying, but he really helped with that. We are hopefully going to view another house this afternoon, just waiting for them to get back to us, so things are moving quickly. Had a chat with my boss this morning, who told me no worries for any time off I need to deal with things, I can just disappear. Just need my Dad to come clean now about the amount of debt he is in as obviously that will affect the mortgage.

Poddle - big hugs. Totally with you on the shock factor. How's everyone holding up?

Star - I love the idea that we could all meet up and you show us how to sew

Pilchard - I'm with you on the Post Office :mad: If they say more than you think I found its worth politely suggesting that they try harder to fit it through the boxes, have had some success I do think though that the Royal Mail prices are really beginning to verge on the ridiculous and its going to put buyers off. I am going to continue to list for the next week or so and then stop because of going away. I am only going to continue with listing magazines till then though as there is no doubt as to what they post for. Luckily I am having a lot of success with my 150+ knitting magazines :eek: When I come back I am going to look at using MyHermes instead, which you can link with your eBay account.

Loving all the feeding lambs talk I looked after a baby goat in Africa who I named Phillip. I had him from a few days old and he followed me everwhere. Wow, did I love that goat

ETA: Cross-posted with Cinny! That's been what I've been doing, I'm trying to deal with agents and money stuff etc plus plenty of hugs and talking. My brother is dealing with DIY for selling the house and cooking dinners.

Cinny91

So sorry for your Mum, Beccie I suppose all you can really do is be there for her, maybe pop around for tea with her some nights and just fight her corner when she needs someone to stand up for her if it takes a while for her to get her head around everything. Sorry to hear about your Brother too, Poddle. Hope it's not a nasty split.

I think I've been to a farm to see the lambs when I was little, but I can't properly remember It's bad enough me hearing farmers on the radio about the poor ones who got trapped in the snow. no bueno

They put some cute pictures of Grace on FB with a face full of ice cream, so hopefully they're just too busy having family fun to care about us lot *plays worlds smallest violin just for us*

Loved that sewing program! My problem is I don't have the attention span to follow patterns properly. I'm a whambam kind of crafter