I was one of the lucky ones. My mother was a seamstress, and taught me how to sew from a very early age. That's my mum at the right, in a dress that she made in 20 minutes for a formal ball. There's not a single stitch in it - the whole night she was held together by pins!
My mum was a great seamstress. I'm nowhere near her in terms of talent, but being able to sew did keep me in clothes through high school and university. I must say, when I started earning money, I thought it was a great treat to buy "new" clothes, and gave away the sewing for quite a few years. But I came back to it recently, for many reasons.
A key one was the golden wedding anniversary of my aunt (my Mum's sister). I wanted to get her and her husband something special, and decided to sew Cathie a special outfit for the night. She certainly couldn't afford to go out and buy something fancy. So I bought some very beautiful and expensive material and made her this outfit. Both her and Acy were tickled pink at the result. She says it's the first new outfit she's had in over 20 years.
So, that rekindled my interest in sewing again. I must say I am surprised that there aren't more people sewing out there! It's a wonderfully rewarding hobby, and it can bring great joy not just to you, but to friends and family who will benefit from your sewing.
And you can outfit yourself, your family, and even your home. Actually, some of the easiest things to sew are bedspreads, tablecloths and curtains. And you can do it for a lot less money than it costs to buy them pre-made.
I know a lot of people who decided to give sewing a try, bought a sewing machine, some fabric, and a dress pattern - then went to pieces when they saw the pattern instructions. So many symbols and lines!! Where do you cut? How do you get all those symbols transferred to your material? Unless you have an adult education school handy with sewing classes, what do you do?
Well, that's why I created this site. I've tried to bring together some interesting articles, books, and I've even written a sewing course, all about sewing basics.
I hope you enjoy this site and our resources!
