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Thread: Another lonely category

  1. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by kookietiger View Post
    I'm afraid my "dressmaking" skills only go so far as to wonderweb a hem or sew buttons so I have much admiration for all you seemstresses :)
    My Gran used to sew everything, she made her own curtains & matching furniture covers & was always immaculately dressed (in dresses, not curtains :D)
    What is the most complicated thing you've made??
    Oh I've had a few of those.
    My mate wanted me to make a christening gown for her son from her taffata wedding dress, no mean feat as I had no pattern and they lived in Lythams St Anns and I lived in Hertfordshire at the time. Measurements were done over the phone and the design was to, She wanted the full gown with lace odd for a boy but Her mother in Law was a stict catholic and wanted it all very formal, so I made a basic over long t shirt shape gathered in the sleeves and added some gold embriodery and I'm proud to say it met her MIL's approval. I have also been lumbered with costumes to make when daughter was a school all with just rough measurements and also no patterns and then having to take out and add bits where they had got them completly wrong

  2. #22
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    I was a dressmaker too. I made my first dress at Junior School (1965) and wore it in the school fashion show. My husband bought me a Compal Opus, an all-singing-dancing affair, and I only used the buttonholer and straight stitching. It would play up when I'd do my holiday sewing and I'd have to borrow my sister's.
    It was easy to make my own clothes as a size10/12 as it was guaranteed to look the same as on the tin. Now 54, overweight with huge buzzoomz, nothing I make fits. I bought my sister's machine from her (she's a quilter) and now I have three sewing machines under my stairs.

    Have you noticed that you can buy few machines that include embroidery...now it's either / or. Hmmmm that's a money spinner

  3. #23
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    I used to make my own clothes, too, when I was young and slim. I remember in 1st year of High School we had to make our own PE 'skirts'. Mid thigh length with tons of pleats and a waistband! Never been the same again.

  4. #24
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    I went to the same lessons as you other ladies, though I am a trifle younger at 51. I remember our needlework O' Level (GCSE I believe now). We had to make HALF a pair of shorts as part of the exam. Just the lefthand side. What a waste of fabric and supplies.

    I asked afterwards why half were not making the left and half the right and then someone could have stitched them all into full pairs and donated them to Oxfam at the very least!

    We also had a choice of outfits to make for our exam, but made and completed like coursework is today. I remember I made a hideous nightgown and housecoat.

    I cringe now when I think what I looked like in it, thank heavens it was for bed. I could have scarred myself mentally for life if I had worn that out in the real world.

    Do we all remember Hotpants? I remember making myself a pair of vivid bright red satin ones with a bib. I thought I was the dogs in it. I found a pic the other day. Lord what a sight! My Mother should have tied me up and NOT let me out in that.

    I quit sewing when they discovered a problem with my neck as the Consultant told me I was putting my neck under too much strain leaning forwards constantly to sew, but prior to that I made all my bedroom furnishings including the lampshades and wastebins and all my Daughter's clothes. I bet she was grateful when I was stopped from making any more. After all I might have made her the equivalent of hot pants.

    Looby

  5. #25
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    I'm learning to sew clothes - already sewed a skirt, pants, dress and children's shirt

  6. #26
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    Well done Maryna and welcome to the forum
    I used to make my own clothes as being very petite I could never buy grown up clothes that fitted
    but patterns ,fabric etc is so expensive now
    it’s works out cheaper to buy and alter clothes to fit
    You don't have to be as mad as a box of frogs to be here but it helps:mysmilie_13:

  7. #27
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    Welcome to the forum Maryna.
    Reading back through the posts brings back memories
    Secondary school needlework. First thing we made was a gym bag, then a cookery apron, followed by tennis skirt (Flat front which wrapped over and a multitude of pleats all the way around the back) All of these items we were expected to use at school. Actually this was quite smart because we were making items which did get a lot of use. I still have all of them and use the apron from time to time; the shoe bag is used as a clothes - peg bag and the tennis skirt is somewhere in a cupboard.
    As LJ has mentioned it is not economical any more to make your own clothes, even trying to find places which sell fabric isnt that easy any more. I prefer to see and feel fabric so Internet shopping isnt really helpful.

  8. #28
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    Well done from me too Maryna and welcome to the forum.

    I too used to make most of my clothes but haven't for years now.

    That was the same as me Lioness gym bag first with 4 pockets - one for t shirt, one for shorts, one for plimsoles and the other for hockey boots. It was on a coat hanger with your name embroidered in red. Then the cookery apron. The next thing was a blouse with a button up front where we learnt to do buttonholes by hand. lol
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    I love flowers

  9. #29
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    Welcome Maryna, I too used to make my own clothes. Did a lot of outwork for a shop that included repair work or alterations. My daughter years ago wanted her wedding dress to be designed on the Jane Austen period. Took a little while as where we would use a zip my daughter had tiny buttons that I covered with the main dress material. That took me ages to do, then make the buttonholes all by hand. Couldn’t do that today as it’s too painful holding a needle for long. I let my daughter have my old sewing machine, then thought I will get a replacement but to be honest I think it has been out of its bag about three times since purchasing and that was over two years ago.
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    Tricia

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  10. #30
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    Well done chuck, and a very big welcome to the forum from the mess in my Barnsley craft room. ;)

    At one time I reckon I stitched for England, knitted too, as it was much cheaper than buying ready made. The only thing I didn't make were blazers and the school tie. The trouble is these days that kids are usually in deep doo doo if they don't have the regulation gear. It doesn't matter if it looks exactly the same, it has to be exactly the same, right down to the labels.

    Haven't had my sewing machine out of its bag for over a year, which considering it cost me £270+ is ridiculous. Now I know that isn't expensive by some standards, but it worked out at 1.5 weeks pension. My dear old New Home that ended up too heavy for me to lift onto the table, cost nearly 3 weeks pay at nearly fifty squid. It should have been £55, but I bought it from Littlewoods catalogue, so got my 10% commission.

    Loved it to bits though, just wish I could say the same for the Singer. Nothing exactly wrong with the thing, it just does too much. The New Home came with 20 cams to create decorative stitches, but once the novelty wore off, I hardly ever used them. Tiz the same with the Singer, 180 stitches, including 6 buttonhole, yet I will never use them even if I stitched each and every day, which I wouldn't. Why 6 buttonhole stitches?

    Roz
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    Always look on the bright side, if you can't find it then polish up the dull side.

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