The sewing thread

csarina, my grandmother was a t ailoress also and heaven help you should anyone should refer to her as a dressmaker. she specialised in military dress uniforms. my great grandfather was far ahead of his time and was determined that his 3 daughters should be able to support themselves if necessary. Quite remarkable for a Victorian gentleman. Nan was apprenticed to a tailor, one sister to a milliner and I can't remember about the third.
All my clothes were handmade or knitted (except the horrible liberty bodices) and I've spoken somewhere before about the wonderful coat and skirt she made me from my father's cricketing f lannels while he was away fighting for king and country. His reaction when he found out was not recorded.

My mother was an excellent dressmaker too. She made the most delightful smocked dresses for me when I was little. So I grew up amid the sounds of whirring treadle machines and spending hours standing on a chair while the grownups fussed around measuring hems, with a mouthful of pins.

Me? Well, in the first year at grammar school we were started off by having to make our own science overall. Beginning with making the pattern.
I had actually given up science long before the overall was finished which was just as well as it was the most peculiar shape, quite apart from being far too small.
However, I must have absorbed something by osmosis because once I was married to a husband who didn't think that I needed any money for myself, I found that with an ancient hand operated singer and working on the floor, I could turn out quite passable clothes myself. Well, it was either that or do the shopping in my wedding dress.


I was not bad. I even produced a much admired matching lined coat and skirt. I never really enjoyed it though.

I have recently invested in a second hand machine, not for making clothes but for householdy stuff like lining curtains and mending. I fancy patchwork as well.

A little while ago, when I had a bit of money, I bought myself a hellishly expensive embroidery machine. I took one look at the instruction manual and put the machine straight back in the box. It is all computerised and I am to computer technology as King Herod was to child minding (not my phrase, I read it somewhere).

However, I am hoping to move this year and will have more time to shed blood, tears and sweat over the wretched machine.

Watch this space.
x

I used to sew a lot as a child, and did needlework for O level! I carried on sewing, and as I worked as a nanny, frequently made dresses and sunhats, pinafores and very simple trousers for the children ( lol makes me sound like Maria in sound of music! but I never used anyones curtains! )
I also made dresses, skirts and trousers for myself.


I did make curtains, and table cloths and all sorts of things.


I nannied overseas, and used to borrow my bosses sewing machine. when I left to return home and get married - she gave me the money to buy myself a good sewing machine!


but once I had my own children, I never seemed to have the time and got out of the habit. Although I did and still do make fleece blankets for all the babies I know! and have made random costumes.


I've started doing a little bit more, but I need to get my machine serviced as its 18 yrs old and was last serviced probably about 10 yrs ago! and apart from sewing straight lines, I've sort of forgotten how! ( and I'm a bit scared of doing anything fitted )


DD needs a simple waistcoat for a drama piece, and I have one that is about the right shape & size, so I am planning on cutting out 2 backs, 2 left fronts, 2 right fronts and sewing each back/left&right front together, and then sewing them together and turning them inside out and hand sewing up the gap! that way I don't have to hem/bind the edges and it doesn't need buttons, just a bit of ribbon! does that sound as if it will work?wish me luck!

Fuddle hearts would be lovely. You can buy pens that fade like the linky below but I've never gotten on with one yet - I use a pencil and draw either around something or freehand, and then stitch over it. I can rub out anything left visible, although as I work on it, it usually fades away anyway! You can send your quilt top away to be quilted, but I've never fancied that, as like doing it myself.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hemline-H295-Wipe-Fabric-Marker/dp/B003KBN4ZY/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1481310111&sr=8-4&keywords=fabric+marker

edited to add: loocyloo that would work fine - if the sides are straight you could shorten the work by cutting the sides and backs all in one piece, sew the two together leaving the shoulders open and turn it through that? Then you'd just need to sew the shoulders up?