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
