The sewing thread

mrssnowy_2

katkin wrote: »

Some tote bag ideas:)

I've picked out a few fabrics from my stash that should be big enough as I'd like something roomy with strong straps and a lining.
]



Katkin, I have made this one a few times and it is excellent,good and sturdy. holds a lot but not too big. I made them out of Laura Ashley cotton furnishing fabric and they didn't need lining,but it has double fabric on the base.

mrss

[Deleted User]

clothkits!!! absolutely loved their clothes, my children were well and truly clothkit children and I made some skirts for myself. They were a 70s icon company. Those kits were fab, everything was included

I remember using my overlocker for the first time, blimey heck it scared the living daylights out of me, loud and very fast. Best for sewing t shirt fabrics are the right needles, right thread and a walking foot. I went onto craftsy when I started back to sewing and have to recommend their serging classes and also their t shirt classes. So much had changed from the old days when a machine was basically only forward and back with a buttonhole

That bag is wonderful mrs snowy

Fuddle the adult apron I got my grandaughter to make was very simple. Two fabrics r side together with the straps and neck strap sewn into the seams. Neck left open, turned and top stitched and a pocket popped on. Looked stunning in a christmas fabric

polly just get one child ottobre magazine, it will keep you in child patterns for many years

jackyann

Six yers ago,on a trip to Harrogate, as well as the Baths & Bettys, I found a strange fabric shop in the back streets, with fabric of all kinds stacked higgledy-piggledy.
I bought a cheap polyester knit, with a velvet nap and some metallic flowers lightly embossed - I thought I'd do a top for a casual sort of evening.
Fast forward, and I dug it out to make a cardigan - a McCalls very easy pattern (no longer available) in a slightly strange layout - you cut each back-and-front as one piece, join at the back, and cut the armholes out as circles. It works beautifully for knits - I have made it in a cheap patterned knit as a trial (but it always gets compliments) and in an undyed silk jersey that goes on holiday because it will take ill treatment.
So now I've done this cardi and am delighted with it. Oh, and I raided the remnants box for a bit of 'Hungry Caterpillar' fabric to make an apron for my little relative who seems to love cooking as much as the rest of her family!

summerlady_2

PollyWollyDoodle wrote: »

So very happy to have found this thread - most of my friends can't sew, in fact I have taught one of them to use a sewing machine. I learned as a child, mum used to make all our clothes using the hand-crank Frister & Rossman which belonged to her mother and on which her own baby clothes were made. I still have it, it was serviced a few years ago and it runs like a dream. I made a lot of my own clothes as a teenager, not bad when I look back at them. There was a company that made ready-cut out stuff (1970s) that you sewed up yourself and I remember a particularly fetching waistcoat, skirt and jacket in crimplene tweed!

As others have said, the cost of fabric relative to the cost of new clothes became such that it wasn't worth making your own stuff, and once I started working full time I just didn't have the time. Fast forward 30 years, I am now on a reduced budget and working part time and I'd like to rediscover some dressmaking skills. I'd particularly like to learn how to re-fashion second-hand clothes. I now have a Janome and I also have an overlocker, although I don't really understand how to use it properly. I would like to learn how to sew knit fabrics, as I wear a lot of T-shirts.

I have made curtains, absolutely hate it and I find large areas of fabric difficult to deal with as there is nowhere in my house that I can lay them out except the double bed! I've also made a lot of pencil cases, purses, little bags etc. I've got a really bad habit of buying stuff from charity shops with a view to remaking it, and it's time I tackled the fabric stash!

English paper piecing (we just called it patchwork) is something I grew up learning to do, time-consuming but a great thing for the evenings in winter. Quilting isn't for me – too fiddly, and I just don't see the point in buying brand-new fabric and then cutting into little bits! Apologies to those who love this, my sister is a quailter, but I find it a bit wasteful. I love reusing scraps of fabric to make things.

So, plans for this year are to get to grips with the overlocker, make some new cushion covers, reupholster a small sofa (loose covers only) and generally spend more time sewing. I really enjoy it. My friend has a little boy aged six months, I would love to make him some things – does anyone have recommendations for patterns for children? i

I could have written this post almost word for word. I have done some embroidery recently but hardly ever use my machines for dressmaking any more so I just enrolled in a dressmaking course. It will make me do something.

parsniphead

kittie wrote: »

clothkits!!! absolutely loved their clothes, my children were well and truly clothkit children and I made some skirts for myself. They were a 70s icon company. Those kits were fab, everything was included

I remember using my overlocker for the first time, blimey heck it scared the living daylights out of me, loud and very fast. Best for sewing t shirt fabrics are the right needles, right thread and a walking foot. I went onto craftsy when I started back to sewing and have to recommend their serging classes and also their t shirt classes. So much had changed from the old days when a machine was basically only forward and back with a buttonhole

That bag is wonderful mrs snowy

Fuddle the adult apron I got my grandaughter to make was very simple. Two fabrics r side together with the straps and neck strap sewn into the seams. Neck left open, turned and top stitched and a pocket popped on. Looked stunning in a christmas fabric

polly just get one child ottobre magazine, it will keep you in child patterns for many years

My over locker is broken. I'm saving to get it fixed. I can't go back. Once you have an overlocker, zig zag is not enough.;)

jackyann

Regarding the cost of fabric, I think that you can get bargains if you look out for them. I am completely astonished at how variable costs are.
Our local market has just got a fabric stall again - they come once a month, have a website, and you can contact them to ask 'please bring a pink jersey knit when you're in Trumpton next Tuesday' so you can have a look at it and decide whether to buy or not. A very sensible compromise I think.
A lovely rust-coloured cord was £8 a metre. I now have a nice pair of trousers for less than £20, so I would say decent value.

Bumblebear

I must confess I've bought two sewing magazines recently, both for the freebies mostly, but also inspiration (one was quilting, one was dressmaking). I was astonished at the price of some of the fabrics they advertise, it is a bit disheartening to think that sometimes you could buy two of a garment on the High Street for the price of the fabric for one... but on the upside I do enjoy having a one-off The quilting fabrics can be even more extortionate, but that's where fat quarters come in My paper piecing quilt I'm working on is a mix of a few 'good size, but not big enough for something substantial' pieces from my small stash, and 'that is a beautiful fabric, but I cannot justify buying more than half a meter of it' so it gets to shine amongst the 'cheap and plain to bulk it up' fabric. Kinda like bulking out a shepherds pie with dried lentils...


I'm planning my first foray into jersey knits in February - I have a lovely pattern to use, and I have seen some great fabrics that aren't too pricey, but I'm on the lookout for a few meters of cheap jersey knit in any old colour/pattern to make a rough draft with first. My best find so far is £2.99 per meter delivered on eBay, I think that might be as good as it gets!

Bumblebear

Lovely bag by the way, mrsssnowy!

[Deleted User]

my Nora apron came today, very quickly and beautifully packaged, on quality paper via ebay. They have a website and hundreds of downloadable patterns. Fancy an apron?
http://vintagevisage.co.uk/product_592_Vintage-1940s-Wartime-Apron-made-from-Scraps-Sewin

quality fabrics, good price
https://www.croftmill.co.uk/

high quality fabrics, higher price
http://www.stonefabrics.co.uk/

Loads of good online sellers and several super ones on ebay too

This one has a lot of supporters. The photos look drab but the dresses etc are nice to sew and look rustic-expensive-because they look rustic
https://merchantandmills.com/store/patterns/the-factory/
I made one and have several patterns in my stash

Anyone plus size like me
http://curvysewingcollective.com/resources/plus-size-patterns/
many of the american and elsewhere patterns can be found in the uk

and I have the cashmerette harrison shirt waiting to be made. The patterns are available in the uk, I like the adjustable double princess seams and no gaps
https://shop.cashmerette.com/

Not in the mood yet, got knitting to finish and will take a while as the wool is fine

I am a member of sew direct and get patterns for half price
https://sewdirect.com/acatalog/Vogue_Catalogue.html

jackyann

Kittie- I too am going to make the Harrison shirt - fingers crossed!

I find jersey fabric so variable - I have sometimes made something in a 'cheap knit' as a trial, then found making it in a decent knit very different. Am slowly getting my head around it all.