A new project perhaps

While ill recently I found it very soothing to read this book, which has been on my shelves for some 15 years, waiting for good intentions to fly into a window of opportunity. It was first published in 1993 and oh my, hasn't sewing technology changed in the past quarter century! The internet, rotary cutters, and a myriad of small things. But the basic principles endure, and this book sets them out clearly and in detail.

It wasn't just escapist reading, or harking back to my teenage years when I devoured books/information on garment making. I made some complicated garments back then, in quantity and at speed, squeezing them out of remnants for myself, or "sewing for money" for my mother's friends and even for teachers at my school - in fact it all started with a hem needing to be taken up, for which I was paid $1.00. It was amazing to earn money by doing something I so enjoyed. (To think that decades later I would fall into a serious job that did the same - what a fortunate life!)

My mother had wanted to be a dressmaker but her father deemed that no, she was to do secretarial training. Fortunately she was a person of resource and could - and did - turn her skills to a variety of jobs - bus conductor and pharmacy assistant for a start, and then anything that came along in her new life in Canada. I often think of that autocratic father, and how that decision made her life so different. Perhaps she was a bit jealous of me being able to do what she hadn't, or perhaps she was eager to encourage me. Perhaps a bit of both.

Now, the project - my son's wedding shirt was tailored to fit him - long arms, slim body. The idea is to use it as a pattern for subsequent shirts, half a dozen casual classics that will last for years. But first I need to brush up on a few skills and get a few tips on fitting and finishes.

Next, making a prototype from some of the acres of fabric that's on hand. Then comes the joy of finding lovely fabric -  recently when I was buying a bit of sinamay (to resume a previous project, the dipped pots), I noted in passing that shirting comes 150cm wide and costs £18 a metre. Probably online is a good source, but I really like the idea of an expedition to a fabric store with my son. He's no slouch when it comes to sewing (and printing) teeshirts and sweatshirts, and took to my serger like a duck to water, but doesn't have much time for such frippery at the moment.

First project of 2020

My favourite tablecloth, the one with subtle grey checks, revealed itself in its true colours 

when I found some remnants of the fabric - the white had, over the years, become rather more grey!

I recently used the remnants (backed with recycled shirt fabric) to make placemats

but had, on discovering the sad fading of the favourite cloth, ordered some linen from Lithuania, which arrived before Christmas. Once the festivities were past, I pre-washed the linen, ironed it while damp, and set to work on making the tablecloth.

 If I'd ordered 10cm more, a false hem at the ends wouldn't have been necessary

 ... but it worked out in the end, mitred corners and all -

 Ahhh - done - and I'm not unhappy with the brown check -

Meanwhile a charity shop find was a curtain made of ticking, which will (one day!) make another tablecloth, with a jolly print around all the hems -