Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

I did get the sleeves sewn in. I took time with pinning & stitching and am neatening seams with zig-zag as I go along to save faffing about with it later. From a money saving point of view, there are 2 motivators - 1) Not making a pig's breakfast of it & wasting the £25 I spent on the fabric......but.......also 2) If I make a good job of it, I will have added a brand new maxi-dress to my wardrobe for just £25. Both factors are motivating me & I am starting to feel a bit more confident with my dressmaking efforts.

Oh & a no-spend day today for both of us.
F x

joedenise

It's always best to neaten seams as you go @foxgloves.  I've been sewing for years but have only recently started sewing again.  Over the last month or so I've made a box pleated skirt (first time ever doing pleats!); a couple of tops - one sleeveless and one with cap sleeves and I've just cut out and started an A-line skirt.

I really lost my sewing mojo for quite a few years but I'm glad it's back and I can add some things to my wardrobe!

badmemory

I used to do a lot of sewing many years (60+) ago.  I used to buy material in my Friday lunch time & wear it Saturday night.  Finishing seams was not within the timetable.  It wasn't until I was pushing 30 before I actually bothered.  Material was much cheaper then so it tended to be wear it twice & bin it.  The folly of youth.  I used to remiove the zips as some things the zip was the most expensive part.

kayannie

When I was in my teens (60+ years ago!), I used to make almost all my own clothes. Does anyone remember the 'cut out and ready to sew' offers that appeared in magazines? As the name suggests, the material arrived by post & all I had to do was to get out the sewing machine & I had a new garment to wear!
 I made clothes for the children when they were young but haven't sewn anything for myself for many years. Foxgloves, you have inspired me to get sewing again!
KA x

joedenise

I remember the cut out and ready to sew offers.  I remember a blue dress with a large motif on the front (but can't for the life of me remember what it was).  My dad actually sewed it for me!

Jellytotts

I grew Turks turban squash last year, very prolific.  I need to try some different ones next year as my butternuts don’t do so well here but I do have a smashing looking pumpkin just beginning to turn orange.

Ive not made clothes for years but there was a fabric shop that sold some wide cotton in funky florals and stripes for £1 a yard and I had perfected a pair of 3/4 length baggy trousers with pockets from 1 1/2 yards so on pay day weekend I’d go pick a few fabrics and knock up a few pairs of trousers for the next weeks work wear - elastic was expensive so I used to have 3 or 4 bits that I could swap between trousers.  The whole office would take bets on what colour/print I’d come in wearing the next day….80’s offices were so much more fun with whacky trousers.

Suffolk_lass

My friend grew Turks Turban last year (and acorn, and crown prince, among others) and she is still using them up, along with vast quantities of courgettes.

I like to pick my squash before they get too big, with more, smaller fruits. It looks as though we won't have any butternuts this year (very disappointing) - we roast them in chunks instead of potatoes sometimes, or just for supper with onion, carrot and sausages!

My arms are jolly stiff this morning, after we collected 54 paving slabs yesterday. Free on FBMP, but therein lies a tale!

kayannie

I'm growing Turks Turban & butternut for the first time this year, only because I took over an overgrown (with weeds!) allotment earlier in the year. I needed to plant something to cover the ground, hence the squashes. So far, they are doing ok & small fruits are forming. I'm hoping they don't get eaten by slugs as my courgettes are being munched on regularly by the slimy creatures!
KA

foxgloves

Hi Readers,
Thanks for all your comments about sewing & squash plants, which I found interesting & will bear in mind for next year's growing. I used to sew back in 6th form, but only on & off since then as got fed-up with standard patterns never fitting properly. I'm enjoying it now though, but am taking a different indie pattern approach. My Mum used to make all our dresses when we were children. They were nice little dresses & well-made, but I was SO delighted when I was finally allowed a dress from C&A when I was about 10. I remember her buying a huge bolt of black & tan houndstooth fabric, cutting it out on the floor & making my Dad a proper big overcoat. She also made her own wedding dress (1960).
Right.....today's efforts.....& very little to report:
*Treated Mr F to breakfast at our village farm shop as compensation for him having to work yesterday. Was not tempted by their lovely shop - just bought bramley apples ready for this week's kitchen witchery, a few peaches for packed lunches & some more tomato food.
*Garden pickings: Courgettes & a tromboncino.
*Made tomorrow's packed lunch.
*Did some sewing - did the neck binding on my dress - about 2cm of uneveness on the inside, but it won't show. Basically, if anyone is standing behind me peering down the back of my dress (which suddenly put me in mind of assorted creeps in 1980s nightclubs!), they are waaaayyy too close. Also worked on the tier - sewed seams & did 2 rows of gathering stitches. Bobbin refilled for next session.
*Mr F's cooking night. He's making sufficient green bean macaroni cheese to feed us on Tuesday night as well.
*Did a YouGov survey.
Off we go into a new week, m'dears!
F x

PennysIntoPounds

Hurrah for mac cheese, I must get my act together to make one soon.
I often think that about outfits; if you're staring at the bit I'm worried about, you are a wrong 'un and it is definitely not my problem