Does anyone else make their own clothes

TheDoolallyDilly

I used to make a lot of clothes, and do alterations. I also made lots of the curtains in our last house (and the people that bought the house said they really liked them, and could we leave them, which was a nice boost!). I also found it handy for fancy dress costumes for my boys when they were younger. I've also made clothes from those Prima patterns - but not since they started making you phone up to order them!

I'm pretty much self-taught, apart from the lessons we had at school when I was about 12 or 13. The parents of my best friend at that time owned a haberdashery and fabric shop, and I slowly got drawn into making things.

I haven't done it for a while now (apart from a DT project I had to do when I was a college!) but I still have my sewing machine, and over the summer I was thinking about making some skirts - when I was in my late-teens and twenties I used run up a skirt in an afternoon. I never got round to it, but I am planning a trip to John Lewis (our nearest is either Oxford Street or Bluewater) to browse patterns and fabrics.
We don't have anywhere nearer than that, unfortunately.

I was thinking of some lessons, as I definitely need to improve my (pretty much non-existant) skills - I have never made trousers (for me), for example, as I am a bit scared. I could ask my MIL, who is a tailoress, and is absolutely brilliant, for some tips.

I will be watching this thread with interest (and will hopefully be able to join in to say I've made something soon!).

TDD x

nuttywoman

abusybee wrote: »

They are not free in the magazines in the shops. The robbing sods :mad: get you to pay £2.50 for the mag then pay at least £1.75 for the phone call to order the pattern. in my last magazine there was an offer leaflet to subscribe to magazine for £18 for the year so that is only £1.50 an issue and you get the pattern and it is all delivered to your door so I couldnt miss the oportunity.:D

Yes Im in preston. you've got some fantastic cheap shops in chorley, my mum and I come occasionaly on a shopping trip.

Thanks about the tip for Prima mag, have you been into Buttonhole in Chorley? Its up Chapel St, and a lovely shop, you have to climb steps to go in.The women in there are fantastic and they sell lovely fabric, patterns etc.Also a market stall near the toilets is very good, sells allsorts of sewing stuff at good prices etc.

katieowl_2

TheDoolallyDilly wrote: »

I am planning a trip to John Lewis (our nearest is either Oxford Street or Bluewater) to browse patterns and fabrics.
We don't have anywhere nearer than that, unfortunately.

TDD x

Are you anywhere near to Green Street??? (East London) if Bluewater and Oxford Street are your nearest??? There is a (was) a fabric stall in the market, and all of the sari shops are there, they and sell fabrics by the metre. If you have a penchant for colours, floaty materials and the odd sequin/sparkle :rolleyes: they are much much cheaper for fabrics that JL :eek:

It's a great source of wonderful junk jewellry earrings too....and a delicious snack too

The stall in the market sold more 'ordinary' fabrics...

I'm in SE London - the fabric shops and habbies are have pretty much gone around here. I've discovered one in Tooting (My local source of Asian fabrics LOL - I LOVE THEM ) so I pop in there for patterns and habby - then head down the road for £1 a meter fabrics....


Regards

Kate

abusybee

nuttywoman wrote: »

Thanks about the tip for Prima mag, have you been into Buttonhole in Chorley? Its up Chapel St, and a lovely shop, you have to climb steps to go in.The women in there are fantastic and they sell lovely fabric, patterns etc.Also a market stall near the toilets is very good, sells allsorts of sewing stuff at good prices etc.

I will look out for the shop on chapel street next time im in chorley. I think I have bought a couple of bits from the stall you mentioned. I buy most of my stuff from Abakahn fabrics in preston. They have a fantastic selection and it is really reasonable and when they have a sale on they have loads of bargins. Have you ever been?

TheDoolallyDilly

katieowl wrote: »

Are you anywhere near to Green Street??? (East London) if Bluewater and Oxford Street are your nearest???

Thanks for that Kate. I live in Kent, so East London is not that near, really. We do have a weekly market, and there is one fabric stall there, but it is mostly curtain fabric, not clothes fabric, if you see what I mean. Apparently, home sewing is on the up, and Argos have started to sell sewing machines again, so maybe a fabric shop will open near me soon!

TDD x

flea72

TheDoolallyDilly wrote: »

Thanks for that Kate. I live in Kent, so East London is not that near, really. We do have a weekly market, and there is one fabric stall there, but it is mostly curtain fabric, not clothes fabric, if you see what I mean. Apparently, home sewing is on the up, and Argos have started to sell sewing machines again, so maybe a fabric shop will open near me soon!

TDD x

honestly, John Lewis at Bluewater has a really dire selection of fabric, so its prob not worth the trip.

Dont know where in Kent you are, but if you are prepared to drive to Bluewater, then it might be better going through the tunnel and heading for Romford, or Basildon, as they have some fabric stores/market stalls, or even Ikea, as i use alot of ikea fabric for clothing (rather than soft furnishing)

have you tried looking in Yellow Pages for towns within driving distance of yourself. Being a bit of a fabriholic, i quite often arrange a day out for the family around a shop i can visit (they havent cottoned on yet lol), or if going on holiday, i check out what shops are in the area, and conveniently arrange 'detours'. Or ask around on forums for their best local shop, and see if its worth a trip.

https://www.fabricland.co.uk - have stores all around the southcoast and south M25, and have quite a good varied selection of fabrics.

Personally, i think nothing of travelling 100 miles to look around a fabric store, actually rephrase that, 1000s miles, as im planning a trip to the US just so i can visit all the shops my US sewing friends rave about lol

Flea

beachbeth

Im not very experienced in sewing but have a sewing machine out of necessity. Because Im only 5 foot tall (and so are my 2 daughters) we tend to have to turn everything up. It can take me ages and I do wonder if Im going the right way about it sometimes.

However, my problem is that my sewing machine no longer threads the needle. It has a little lever that does this and it now misses the hole of the needle. Can anyone tell me why?

flea72

beachbeth wrote: »

Im not very experienced in sewing but have a sewing machine out of necessity. Because Im only 5 foot tall (and so are my 2 daughters) we tend to have to turn everything up. It can take me ages and I do wonder if Im going the right way about it sometimes.

However, my problem is that my sewing machine no longer threads the needle. It has a little lever that does this and it now misses the hole of the needle. Can anyone tell me why?

for speed, i no longer both doing a proper job on shortening trousers, i just use steam-a-seam - its really meant for attaching appliques, but i find it has better holding power than bondaweb.

also i find the 'mending' type of jobs so mundane, that i would rather make a pair of trousers from scratch, that i know will be the right length from the start, rather than having to shorten. cant think of anything worse, than spending out money on buying something, and then having to put the time in to alter it. That saying, if you shop at Debenhams and have a Gold Card, you get free alterations, so sometimes i specifically shop there, just for the perk!

if the lever is missing the hole for threading, either the lever has been bent out of align, or the needle has. I dont know about your machine, but on mine i can move the needle across by turning a dial on the front, more often than not i havent set it back to the middle position, and i tend to find this is when i cant get mine to thread either. i know its obvious to check its in the right place, but sometimes you forget the obvious

Flea

beachbeth

flea72 wrote: »

cant think of anything worse, than spending out money on buying something, and then having to put the time in to alter it.

It really annoys me that I have to do this. Plus there is the slight chance that I may ruin the garment! But being only five foot and having a very curvy figure I just can't be choosey about what clothes I buy. Im lucky if anything fits. The clothes manufacturers seem to assume that if you're petite then you haven't got much of a figure. There are so many different shapes of women and yet they seem to make clothes to fit one standard figure! I would give anything to be taller and shaped more like a stick - not from vanity but because I would be able to pick and choose my clothes!)

Thanks for the advice. When I next get my sewing machine out I will have a proper look and see if it won't thread the needle because something is bent or the needle is in the wrong position.

katieowl_2

Beachbeth another suggestion re your needle....make sure that it is firmly all the way home in the hole/slot that it sits in. If it has slipped down a tiny bit, the automatic threader might not be ending up in the right place, and also if it's only happened since you changed the needle last, try another brand of needle incase the eye is in a slightly different place. Both of these have happened to me!

When I got my machine a couple of years ago I thought the automatic threader was a waste of time, but now I CANT SEE to thread it damn thing without it....the joys of ageing LOL!