It seemed like such a wonderful thing to be able to make up clothes that actually fit in gorgeous fabrics, and so I thought I would teach myself to sew. Plus I thought it was about time I had a hobby other than watching Hollyoaks and shopping. I have always had a creative streak, perhaps from my mother, so I thought I might as well try to put my money where my mouth is. Obviously however it was not going to be a speedy process...
There is something about my obsessive Virgoan personality which meant I was never going to just jump right in there and start cutting up old t-shirts. Oh no. I need order and method. I already had a sewing machine which I bought the last time I was on the precipice of actually learning to sew, but before I actually jumped right in. So the next step was to find the highest authority in the land on sewing techniques. Something traditional. During an afternoon spent perusing Amazon, I quickly came across what surely must be the bible of how to create fashion... Vogue Sewing... and it is. I ordered it quicksmart and started reading as soon as it arrived. It is awesome. It was first published in 1970, and it shows - though updated there are some brilliant references to what one should and should not wear if you are 'carrying a few extra pounds'. I ordered a couple of other general sewing reference books a little later - I found on occasion that the diagrams in VogueSewing can be a bit tricky to figure out (well, for a novice). The great thing about VogueSewing however is that it reads really well in conjunction with their patterns, which was a real plus when it came to making up my first garment. Though I still managed to get things the wrong way around... More on that later.
There is also an abundance of free information and know-how available on the interweb and it wasn't long before I had found the BurdaStyle website which has loads of awesome stuff on it, and caters for total beginners... There are some really talented people out there!
So after much reading and faffing and procrastinating, I went to John Lewis and had a flick through their 'Very Easy Vogue' section and tried to pick a pattern that looked easy but was slightly more advanced than a sack with armholes...
There is something about my obsessive Virgoan personality which meant I was never going to just jump right in there and start cutting up old t-shirts. Oh no. I need order and method. I already had a sewing machine which I bought the last time I was on the precipice of actually learning to sew, but before I actually jumped right in. So the next step was to find the highest authority in the land on sewing techniques. Something traditional. During an afternoon spent perusing Amazon, I quickly came across what surely must be the bible of how to create fashion... Vogue Sewing... and it is. I ordered it quicksmart and started reading as soon as it arrived. It is awesome. It was first published in 1970, and it shows - though updated there are some brilliant references to what one should and should not wear if you are 'carrying a few extra pounds'. I ordered a couple of other general sewing reference books a little later - I found on occasion that the diagrams in VogueSewing can be a bit tricky to figure out (well, for a novice). The great thing about VogueSewing however is that it reads really well in conjunction with their patterns, which was a real plus when it came to making up my first garment. Though I still managed to get things the wrong way around... More on that later.
There is also an abundance of free information and know-how available on the interweb and it wasn't long before I had found the BurdaStyle website which has loads of awesome stuff on it, and caters for total beginners... There are some really talented people out there!
So after much reading and faffing and procrastinating, I went to John Lewis and had a flick through their 'Very Easy Vogue' section and tried to pick a pattern that looked easy but was slightly more advanced than a sack with armholes...
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