Retro wife sews!

So I reckon that one of the many life skills that any self-respecting retro wife requires is, of course, sewing. And until this, the 33rd year of my life, I have been badly letting down my all-sewing-all-dancing fore-mothers who could re-upholster a sofa or produce a ball dress before you or I could find a needle and some thread.

A couple of years ago I became the proud owner of my late grandmother-in-law’s beautiful old Singer sewing machine. I was delighted as I brought it home, imagining the curtains, the cushion covers and the bunting that I was about to be mass-producing. I had a Cath Kidston size ambition but without any skills to match it.

Now, two years later,  I  am delighted to say that I am not only the proud owner of a beautiful old Singer sewing machine, but also the proud user of it too.

And before all the non-sewers amongst you gasp with amazement at my new found talent I just want to report that it is actually pretty easy to produce some simple but lovely things with it, and without it costing the earth too.

My mum-in-law gave me a quick 30 minute demo a few months ago and after a bit of practicing I decided to have a go at making a little bag for a friend’s two year old.  I bought some beautiful Alexander Henry fabric from eBay and some cheap as chips remnants from Ikea and off I went.  Admittedly, it probably isn’t going to win me ‘seamstress of the year’ but the recipient of the bag reportedly loves it and uses it to keep her PJs in. Sweet. The bag probably cost me about £2.50 in total to make.

I have also made several cushion covers (which really are easy).  I am so far away from having the ability to add zips and button holes, so instead I use a simple ‘envelope’ style, which I taught myself from an online demo. (I searched ‘envelope cushion cover ‘ to find some demos and instructions).  Recently I have progressed to making a variation on the envelope back by adding vintage buttons (also an eBay find), and some ribbon from my lovely, local haberdasher in Bath’s Guildhall Market.

To progress my new found hobby a bit further I have been consulting my lovely friend Jo’s copy of The Hamlyn Book of Soft Furnishings. It is really simple to follow and is greatly helping with the curtains that I am making at the moment (as has my fabulously talented mam!). The book also has a some guidance on how to make a fabric sling for a deck chair and as I have just acquired two lovely old habitat deck chairs from freecycle, I shall be adding deck chair slings to my repertoire soon too.

Now admittedly I don’t think Cath Kidston will be on the telephone to place a large order with me just yet, but I have had a few orders for some friends (a pair of nursery curtains and three metres of bunting currently under construction).  And I’m sure they’re not just being kind – c’mon any little-one’s nursery isn’t the place that parents-to-be want a rubbish pair of curtains is it?

The said curtains will be a gift from me to a little one who I am very much looking forward to meeting,  so I haven’t scrimped and used remnant fabric for these (I wanted the babe’s parents to choose the fabric too). I used the fabulous http://www.kidscurtaincompany.co.uk/ who do gorgeous, great quality fabric and get it to you within a couple of days of ordering. They also sell all the extras, like blackout lining and curtain tape. If you don’t want to make the curtains yourself, then they will do that for you.  Just for the hell of it, I worked out what my labours would save me and was delighted to discover that my new found skill has saved me over £120. Amazing!

My trusty Singer, and my new found skill is also saving me a bit of cash on birthday presents for all the lovely little folk in my life too.  I find fabric in charity shops, car boot sales and the remnant bin and transform it into lovely little gifts. And although that sounds a really cheap skate thing to do, I have actually found REALLY good quality fabric (including lots of beautiful vintage Laura Ashley).

This month I made an apron for another friend’s two year old. Again, I found great fabric in a remnant store (this time it was Eric Carle’s hungry caterpillar design). I fashioned a make-shift pattern using newspaper and drawing and cutting around an apron that my eldest boy has. I used white tape, again purchased at my local haberdasher. This birthday pressie cost me about £3, and has apparently been well received by its gorgeous recipient.

While sitting and sewing with my mam this weekend I was struck with how pleased I am that I am learning to sew and how sad it seems that not many people do it anymore.  I found myself yearning to live in the days when sewing and knitting things to wear was the norm, and often the cheapest way to kit yourself out.  While we sewed,  Mam told me about a friend she had at radiography college (in the 60s) who pulled out one of my mam’s jumpers and re-knitted it for her. The jumper had been a present to her from my Nana and hadn’t been in a style that she liked, so instead of discarding it, or buying a new one (which she probably couldn’t have afforded to do), her friend re-invented it for her.  In return mam made her friend a suit (as you do!) which had challenged her dress making skills somewhat!

This story made me laugh, thinking about my teenage mam trying to make someone a suit (which she had never done before and couldn’t quite believe she had said yes to!) but it also made me feel a bit sad about the world in which we now inhabit.  Where clothes are cheap, and fashion seems somehow ‘throwaway’. The new clothes that I coveted in Gap only a couple of months ago were slashed to half price this weekend. And why? To make way for the next lot, which will have been made cheaply, miles away on the other side of the planet. How depressing.

My new, more frugal existence has made me go back to the values that Mike and I were both taught as children and the mantra:  do I want it? do I need it? can I afford it? Last summer, if I had wanted some deck chairs, I would have popped out to a supermarket and bought some. As Retro Wife, I question my consuming ways more.

Do I want some deck chairs? Absolutely!

Do I need them? Probably not!

Can I afford them? I doubt it!

The change in me feels positive and perhaps even dramatic, but as I sit, next summer, on my free deck chairs found on freecycle, adorned with Laura Ashley (car booted) fabric, I shall feel slightly better about the world in which I live and the small, but positive contribution I am trying to make to it.