Does anyone else make their own clothes

Icey77

A few of you thread regulars may recall me asking for pattern matching help a few (ok more than a few!) months ago.

Well, I can proudly tell you the blind is actually looking like a blind now, albeit on the living room floor. The extra width panels are sewn on and the pattern ACTUALLY MATCHES!!! The lining is sewn on too and now I'm working sewing on the lath channels - I've managed one fine but other is not quite right and I will have to undo part of it and re-do :mad:

I've really enjoyed it but am feeling daunted by all that is possible and wondering how to do stuff which is why I am dying to find a class - Please, pretty please Mooloo run a class!!!

Icey x

Savvy_sewing

I will bear that in mind! Just waiting to see what happens about a few issues here at home first. Mind you i am usually in Oxford at the weekend. So I will have to think things through. But if I can help meantime I will do my best too.
Congrats on pattern matching. Thats a great start. Sewing it together and not slipping is mastery with some fabrics!
DGD is charging around without a nappy, i better go.

HomeSweetHome_4

i just bought a few lovely kits from www.stitchclub.co.uk

They also do adult beginners sewing classes in London, but that's too far away for me - so I bought their beginners kit and also a gorgeous vintage Apron and Doorstop kit. It's got all teh fabric , patterns and instructions in it and seems to be cheaper than buying all the bit and bobs seperately. can't wait to get started !

VfM4meplse

Olliebeak wrote: »

I only ever did hand-sewing at school - was never considered good enough to be allowed to get my fingers anywhere near a sewing machine - to my teacher! I've since gone on to make Holy Communion dresses, bridesmaid's dresses, evening dresses, maternity dresses, children's outfits, properly lined coats and many more.

Incredible!!!

There's obviously a wealth of talent amongst posters to this thread, I now feel inspired to breathe a new lease of life into my wardrobe.

thifty

Thanks for reviving this thread I hadn't noticed it before. We have just moved to a bigger house and I now have room to have my machine out all the time. I have altered a pair of curtains the previous owner left and made 2 draught excluders out of the remanants. Oh and I made my DD a bag to go on her dolls push chair. I had forgotten how great it was to actually make something and was very pleased that my machine still worked!
I am off to hunt the charity shops for fabric now! Oh and for plus size clothes for material- had never thought of that before thanks

Caterina

For any of you who hasn't got a lot of confidence in using a sewing machine I strongly recommend taking up MORSBAGGING, see https://www.morsbags.com

I have started doing lots of morsbags recently and can see the improvement in sewing and precision skills and at the same time I can contribute to a plastic-bag-free community

moneysavingideas

I'd be looking at my local library for some books of how to sew and even better than that is the old pattern books which you may be able to find at the library or even at your local fabric store or warehouse.

Savvy_sewing

I have been looking into the various aspects of teaching since it came up here. I am wondering if it would be better to teach individuals in thier own homes or get people to come to mine. Set up the dining room, as a measure, until I find out if it is worth sourcing a community room or something. I do know that there is a possiblilty of doing it at the village project here. But I cannot afford to invest funds in booking a place if I dont get the right response.
With much thought I have decided that I could put off going to Oxford and teach on a Saturday morning. Leaving me still free to go to Oxford Saturday afternoons.

There have been a couple of people asking me about the cravat patterns, and I have offered to send them copies, but there has been no return reply so I presume that they have all sourced another pattern.
May have been from another thread not sure.

Today I plan to make some bibs for my new grandson. My daughter is here to babysit my other grandchild so I can actually make time to sit at the machine. etc.

I am looking forward to tootling about with fabrics etc and making what I fancy with whats lurking in all my boxes and bags.
But first the housework needs to be done.!

Bunny200

I'm experimenting with dressmaking at the moment. There are so many fantastic blogs out there with loads of great ideas and advice and I'm just starting out, I'm recording all my attempts http://hereswhatididtoday.blogspot.com/ but some really great blogs that I read are
http://ikatbag.blogspot.com/
http://www.dana-made-it.com/
http://flossieteacakes.blogspot.com/
http://www.sewweekly.com/ (this lady is sewing a vintage dress each week)
http://www.rufflesandstuff.com/ (set up some basic tutorials but they are very basic)


there are loads of others, a lot of them focus on kids clothes as they are a bit easier but many have tutorials for womens clothes. Most of them are US but there are a few good UK blogs. Check out the blogrolls on these blogs and then you'll end up like me with loads of blogs in your reader!

flea72

Mooloo wrote: »

I have been looking into the various aspects of teaching since it came up here. I am wondering if it would be better to teach individuals in thier own homes or get people to come to mine. Set up the dining room, as a measure, until I find out if it is worth sourcing a community room or something. I do know that there is a possiblilty of doing it at the village project here. But I cannot afford to invest funds in booking a place if I dont get the right response.
With much thought I have decided that I could put off going to Oxford and teach on a Saturday morning. Leaving me still free to go to Oxford Saturday afternoons.

There have been a couple of people asking me about the cravat patterns, and I have offered to send them copies, but there has been no return reply so I presume that they have all sourced another pattern.
May have been from another thread not sure.

Today I plan to make some bibs for my new grandson. My daughter is here to babysit my other grandchild so I can actually make time to sit at the machine. etc.

I am looking forward to tootling about with fabrics etc and making what I fancy with whats lurking in all my boxes and bags.
But first the housework needs to be done.!

tbh, it would prob be easiest to hire a venue, as that way you wouldnt have to worry about public liability, as it should be covered under the rental

are you looking at teaching hand or machine sewing, or both? - i always think it best for people to bring their own machine to classes, as that way they can get the feel for it, and if they want to try others, then most people are willing for people to have a quick play on their machine at the end of the lesson

most sewing classes, charge about £20-30 for a half day lesson, and classes tend to be kept small - so even if you only had 4 people book, if you charged them £25 ea, that would be £100, and where i live, small meeting halls, charge about £30 for a half day booking, so there is still profit to be made

F