Does anyone else make their own clothes

[Deleted User]

Brilliant Maryb!!!

She is of an age when she might like to investigate designer wear from this magazine. All the patterns are traceable and are really fantastic

http://www.ottobredesign.com/

click on English, click on the one you want to see, click on all designs

thriftlady_2

Thanks kittie for your comments about customs duty and the links. I must say I am sold on the lovely prints you can get from the US especially the retro style stuff.

I've just bought some patterns from this US company which I will sew eventually (I'm very good at starting projects and not finishing them). I think the tunic-style patterns are really unusual and elegant.

maryb

Thanks Kittie that does look good, I'll show her.
Looking at the baby patterns made me feel quite broody again - I used to love sewing for them when they were small

I want a grandbaby!! However as DD 1 is only 18 it looks as if I will have to wait

Bach_Off

Hi All,

I'm being very cheeky and are unsure if this is the right place to put this, but I am just wondering if someone here might be able to help me?

I have three young girlies, one just started school and 2nd just about to, and I am becoming increasingly concerned at the number of 'costume projects' coming my way, plus the fact the school supplies material for summer dresses (there are no ready made shop ones to be bought) and pretty soon this is going to be x 3! :eek:

I'd love to be able to sew, but I can't and right now I just don't have the time (or energy!) to learn and enquiries locally with the school mums has failed to reveal anyone able to available to take anything on. (I think they're a closely guarded secret myself and that I don't have the right password...)

Is there anyone on here (local to Leighton Buzzard or Milton Keynes), posting (or lurking!) who might be interested? They could PM me?

Or could anyone recommend where I might find such a person?

maryb

Sorry I can't help but have a look in your library (or on Amazon) for Fancy Dress for Girls and Boys by Jean Greenhowe. That has been my mainstay for a lot of costumes and doesn't need much sewing skill.

Jane Asher has also published a book on costumes with even less sewing required. I used her Tudor costume ideas for Tudor Day. Gold spray paint on pasta shapes stuck on criss-crosed strips on butter muslin made a really effective underskirt for Queen Elizabeth's dress and paper doilies made the lace at neck and wrists. Sorry can't remember the exact title but if you search on Amazon it will probably be obvious.

Try the local church Mother's Union or the Women's Institute to find someone who might be prepared to do some simple dressmaking. Our primary school also supplied material for those who wanted to make dresses (John Lewis supplied ready made as well but they were £35 a dress!!) The home made dresses always sold well in the second hand uniform sale. If your parents' associaton organises a sale and there is one this term you may find you can pick up dresses there - but if it's anything like our sales you wll need sharper elbows than the Harrod's sale, not least because John Lewis's never has enough stock.

You would think they could work out that there are going to be x number of little girls starting in September less a few with older sisters passing stuff down and to order enough, but no. And the factory shuts down for the whole of August just to add insult to injury.

Hope this gives you some ideas

champys

thriftlady wrote: »

I've just bought some patterns from this US company which I will sew eventually (I'm very good at starting projects and not finishing them). I think the tunic-style patterns are really unusual and elegant.

Thanks for that website thriftlady! Some interesting and creative stuff there - fancy making old jeans into jackets! I will definitely go back there but will stick to my current project first :-) There never seems to be enough time for sewing, why does work always get in the way?

essexgal

Hi Maryb -

the pjs sound lovely - afraid to say I haven't got as far as even cutting out for my 12yo DDs pj bottoms - hopefully can do it this weekend. If all goes okay I might have to invest in some gingham myself......

Off to pootle round Kittie and thriftlady's links....

curleygirlie - good luck, I hope you find someone to help.

essexgal

ANNEGEDDES

hi all:hello:

ima complete novice but has anyone got any ideas where ican start, i want to make some big cushions for the garden decking on the bottom with pvc material and on the top with normal, maybe fill with bean bag beans????


any ideas how i woyuld go about it, i have lent a sewing machine and can just about 'go' in a staright line, do you think this is too adventurous?

Bach_Off

Hi Maryb,

Thanks for your advice - I will definitely look up the books you suggest and contacting the WI is a very good idea - there is a very active organisation locally.

Re: School sales - yes I have had my beady eye out for the secondhand dresses, but they are like gold dust! (Plus my elbows are a little weedy...).

Purple_Sparkles

Hi Annegeddes,

I would suggest making and inner bag and an outer cover so that you can wash the cover without having to find a home for the beans. You could use some old sheets, curtains etc as the inner bag.

Basically you will need 2 squares of fabric for each bag, zig zag the edges to help prevent fraying then sew 3 sides with right sides together. Turn up about 2" on the free edge and press to keep in place, then sitch the hem in place with straight stitch. For the fastening, easiest would be velcro for the inner bag, the outer cover could just have ties attached using ribbon. Sewing PVC can be quite tricky I have special feet on my machines for when I sew it, it can stick as you sew it, you could try laying some tissue paper on top of the pvc and sew through that to help prevent sticking, just tear it off when you've finished. Also spray your needle with a bit of furniture polish to help prevent sticking too. I hope that helps and isn't too confusing.