Does anyone else make their own clothes

dolly_day_dream

Hi my name is Dolly and I am a fabricholic and bibliophile

Now we have established the addictions I am sorry to say that there is no cure. Since rummaging through my fathers rag bag (he was a mechanic and they used to buy a bag of rags to wipe their hands on) as a small child I have been hooked. Way back then I would rescue fabric and turn it into something else and have continued throughout my life.

From the age of 11 I would haunt jumble sales for my 2 great loves books and fabric.

I can remember my dad deciding that he needed to build me a bookcase after I attempted to create one using old bricks and planks of wood:D They were less understanding about the huge piles of fabric that were building up and they were relegated to the shed where they got infested by rats:eek:

Over 40 years later and I am grown up :rolleyes: my books are stored in bookcases/tables/floor all over the house. The fabric is stored in: the children's old toy chest, in those plastic bags in the cupboard on top of my wardrobe and in underbed storage bags under 2 beds (from Poundland with a clear section so that I can see what is in there). If I tell you that this is the cleared out reduced section of my fabric storing you will get the idea of the addiction. My patterns - which I have culled vigorously - are stored in a chest of drawers and my Burda magazines have a bookcase all to themselves.

Incidently I to have problems with collars and have been known to avoid patterns that include them:o However that is because I don't get to sew as much as I would want to anymore and I know that when I am sewing on a regular basis then I am able to produce better sewing IYSWIM

Mrs_Flittersnoop

Hi Dolly Daydream (my mum used to call me that!), and welcome to the Abandon All Hope thread :rotfl: . I have been battling my fabric addiction since the beginning of the year and in fact have only succumbed (so far) to a couple of metres of cashmere which I'm currently making a jacket from, and some horrible upholstery velvet which my sister wants me to make into a throw. However, spring is here and my fingers are itching to make up some new summer gear.....

Actually I tend to avoid tailored collars too if I can, although I have one to do on this jacket. They take hours to do and I seem to spend most of it unstitching and re-jigging, sigh.

Hooray! the housework is done and so I can sew tomorrow for a couple of hours, yay. However I suspect the jacket will be done in time for next Christmas, it's quite a complicated little number and I have all the thread tracing to do yet not to mention battle with the slippery lining.

Happy sewing, friends!
Mrs F x

Mrs_Flittersnoop

C1aire wrote: »

Well, all nicely bagged up. It doesn't look like there's so much of it now so have been having a browse on Abakhan's. Is it wrong to want kids just so you can order the cute fleece prints? :rolleyes:

Nah, ditch the kids, just buy the fleece, that's lots cheaper :rotfl: :rotfl: You could always use it to line a nice warm winter jacket.......

Mrs F x:p

C1aire

Mrs_Flittersnoop wrote: »

Nah, ditch the kids, just buy the fleece, that's lots cheaper :rotfl: :rotfl: You could always use it to line a nice warm winter jacket.......

Mrs F x:p

But what if it was hanging on the back of a chair in a meeting or similar with dinosaur print fleece showing in all its glory? I doubt I would live it down!

Am still hunting for a traditional teddy bear pattern. All the ones I can find just don't fit the image in my head.

Bellie_2

Hi everyone, so I have flicked through my book and I cant wait to get started. I cant get any fabric till monday though when I go into town to the cloth store in Edinburgh which I am told is quite good. I hate having to wait this long though. Want to do something now!!!

Rikki

Bellie wrote: »

Hi everyone, so I have flicked through my book and I cant wait to get started. I cant get any fabric till monday though when I go into town to the cloth store in Edinburgh which I am told is quite good. I hate having to wait this long though. Want to do something now!!!

Have you got an old sheet you can experiment with? Even if you just make it into a pillow case or drawstring bag.

Bellie_2

Thanks Rikki, I will go off and have a hunt around to see what sheets and stuff I have I can play with, Yay:j

Mrs_Flittersnoop

C1aire wrote: »

But what if it was hanging on the back of a chair in a meeting or similar with dinosaur print fleece showing in all its glory? I doubt I would live it down!

Am still hunting for a traditional teddy bear pattern. All the ones I can find just don't fit the image in my head.

Can't help with the teddy pattern, sorry. But you COULD make yourself some fleecy dinosaur pyjamas or a dressing gown if you really can't bear the thought of making all your work colleagues jealous? I actually meant a casual parka type jacket, I think a fleece lining for a work jacket would be a bit tricky to do You just have to think laterally if you're going to build your stash up into mammoth proportions like mine :rotfl:

Mrs F xx

Mrs_Flittersnoop

Bellie wrote: »

Thanks Rikki, I will go off and have a hunt around to see what sheets and stuff I have I can play with, Yay:j

Actually if you're going to make a garment, making a test copy out of an old sheet or similar is a really good idea - you can see where the garment fits (or not) and make adjustments to the pattern so that when you splurge in your fabric shop you will be able to make up your new duds knowing that they will fit. Just a thought....

Mrs F x

lindens

I won an item off ebay which was a bag of laura ashley scraps of fabric. I intend re-using them into various items to sell, and want to advertise that they are in fact laura ashley fabric.
But I dont actually know whether they are or not ( I am presuming they are but.... ) and it would be nice to know the name of the fabric. Is there an online library i can look them up? Or does anyone have any ideas on how to check.
many thanks clever people.