Here’s a few pics of our fabulous creativity at the Mixer on Sunday evening.
Loads of really different takes on the same theme, two hearts and a Christmas tree. We had a great time.
99p skirt
My latest mend and make is a skirt from a dress. I spotted the dress in a charity shop and loved the fabric, but the top of the dress was a bit big and the length as it sat as a dress too short. However it was only 99p – “surely I can make that into a skirt” I thought.
So I took it to Vanessa in her shop on Ware High Street where she has open workshops on Fridays https://www.vintagebyvanessa.co.uk/the-vintage-craft-room/ and asked for advice as the best way to make into a skirt. I can sew, mend and follow simple patterns, but Vanessa and Shirley have lots of invaluable dressmaking and design experience. I took my ‘old pair of curtains’ skirt (see Top 10 makes) there to finish as I just needed that reassurance that I was doing it right. It turned out great and this seemed a much simpler task.
I had thought I would need to make some sort of waistband or put in some interfacing. But Vanessa just suggested stitching ribbon on the inside and making a neat top. She also helped me fit the skirt – the darts needed taking in a little.
This is how the skirt has turned out
I’m pretty pleased with it. Simple summer beach skirt.
But I must confess it cost £8.49 as Vanessa charges £5/hr to use her workshop and have advice. Still I really enjoyed the process, learned some new skills and I like supporting a local business invested in the community too.
We can mend and make
I think we can all mend and make. I’m starting with what I know – sewing.
I am working on setting up a few sessions before Christmas 2018 locally in Ware. These will involve bringing along clothes or soft toys we want to mend or projects we want to sew, an idea or something we’ve started and never seem to get the time to work on. I’ll bring my sewing machine and sewing bits. For those who want to create but haven’t got something to bring along I’ll have a couple of fun, easy projects we can get done in a couple of hours.
Contact me for more details or watch out for more details on this site.
info@mendandmake.co.uk
Top 10 makes
When I was at school I sewed in my free time at home. I fixed friends’ school bags (& mine) with denim inserts, re-purposed last year’s fashionable full skirts into shorts and made my own jade taffeta ball dress for the 5th form ball because it really was a lot cheaper – this was 1990!
This creativity felt like it waned in my 20’s (study – though I was creating new molecules – a PhD in organic chemistry) and 30’s (kids – another type of creativity I guess!) but when I sat down to ponder this I came up with a list of mending and making I have done over the years. Here’s my top 10 makes in roughly chronological order…
- The Beanbag in 2nd year sewing class – 1986/7
- Shorts from last years on trend full skirts from Topshop ~1989
- The green taffeta ball dress – 1990
- Hanging laundry bag (to take with me when I went to au-pair in Switzerland) – 1992
- The skirt cushion (skirt got too small, but I loved the fabric) ~ 1995
- Second beanbag cover (the first cover was very 80’s) ~1999
- Made a huge curtain for our first bedroom (fabric bought at Tonbridge market) ~2004
- Made mini curtains for the garden shed ~2007
- Summer shorts from cotton trousers – 2018
- My just completed skirt (made from the hall curtains that came with the house – I’m especially pleased with the pockets) – 2017-2018
