The Sewing Place

How did you learn?

Ploshkin

Re: How did you learn?
« Reply #15 on: August 13, 2020, 20:13:14 PM »
Mum taught us all to sew from the age of 4 or 5.  I had a child's Little Betty sewing machine (recently rediscovered) and we used to use a beast of a BSM hand crank without thread to stitch round patterns that mum drew on paper.  I also learnt to knit when I was 4 or 5.  I think I first knitted and sewed a garment for myself when i was about 11.
I also went to a very academic school but did needlework through to A level which included some tailoring and pattern making. 

I always made clothes,  soft toys and house stuff until I saw a booklet called Weekend Log Cabin Quilts and fell in love with log cabin.  I knew nothing about quilt rulers and rotary cutters and made a QAYG log cabin Ohio star wall hanging out of curtain fabric, measuring and cutting the strips with tape measure and scissors.  That was 30 years ago and I still have it.

Having retired just before one of the coldest winters in living memory my time spent indoors googling led to the discovery of a Pam and Nicky Lintott jelly roll BOM quilt - I was hooked and forever trapped on the dark side.  :ninja:

(The jelly roll BOM quilt top is still rolled up waiting to be sandwiched and quilted  :))
Life's too short for ironing.

RJR_38

Re: How did you learn?
« Reply #16 on: August 13, 2020, 20:34:10 PM »
I used to hand stitch as a child/teen -mostly cross stitch but some embroidery. About 4 years ago I decided I wanted to make a quilt so I did a whole EPP granny's garden quilt by hand  :| I then began doing some other piecing by hand and decided to try a sewing machine. My husband bought me one for Xmas and the rest is history! I have tried most things but have found that darkside and bag making are the things I enjoy the most. I have only tried clothes makikg once and did a day course on it. I made a dress successfully but didn't really enjoy it.

I have learnt everything from YouTube videos, forums like these and Facebook groups.

Flobear

Re: How did you learn?
« Reply #17 on: August 13, 2020, 20:41:41 PM »
I've been meaning to ask you @Ploshkin about your descent into the Dark Side.

My story is almost the same as Ploshkin's - being from the same family, that's not terribly surprising. I think it all came through the maternal genes -apparently our Maltese Great Grandmother was a lace-maker.

I have seen and admired Ploshkin's quilts but never had a strong desire to do it myself - Pretty but perhaps a little pointless, I thought. How many quilts does the world need? 

Well @Iminei is to blame, I only came to TSP to troubleshoot my overlocker!
« Last Edit: August 13, 2020, 20:43:23 PM by Flobear »
Proud new owner of Elvistoo !!

Bjay

Re: How did you learn?
« Reply #18 on: August 13, 2020, 21:22:07 PM »
I was taught by my mum. originally on a large Singer treadle machine which she would attach a crabk handle to. Then I learnt how to use the treadle.
It had 2 drawers and there was a box with loads of attachments which I am now beginning to appreciate what they were for.
I used to make all my clothes and for my 21st I opted to have a sewing machine rather than the gold watch/ jewelry.
I had a Bernina
As my career devloped and marriages came an went = well one wnt one's still here Sewing to a back seat but O used to do tapestry.
Then my daughter got married, she made 150m of bunting and i said what ever are you going to do with it? She bindled it all up and told me she would like a quilt
so
my journey to the Darkside began and i am  now hooked

That was 4 years ago. It was a struggle sewing together all the triangles and there were several attempts at a pattern, I lined it with fleece (wasn't sure about wadding or anything)
It is now in frequent use as a cuddle throw
Trying to find my way on the Dark side

Lowena

Re: How did you learn?
« Reply #19 on: August 13, 2020, 21:39:03 PM »
Gosh, am I the only one who's come from a non sewing family  and school ? No wonder I knew nothing when I started to teach myself  as an oldie :D
Triumph of hope over experience :D

BrendaP

Re: How did you learn?
« Reply #20 on: August 13, 2020, 21:57:50 PM »

I started my first quilt by hand when I was 19, having bought some packs of Laura Ashley ready cut hexagons.  I knew nothing other than that they should be sewn together using an overstitch.  I finished that quilt 32 years later (you can see it here), having done everything by hand other than sewing on the binding.

@Acorn
My first quilt took 34 years to complete - but it's not as pretty as yours.
http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.uk/quilts/34years.htm
Brenda.  My machines are: Corona, a 1953 Singer 201K-3, Caroline, a 1940 Singer 201K-3, Thirza, 1949 Singer 221K, Azilia, 1957 Singer 201K-MK2 and Vera, a Husqvarna 350 SewEasy about 20 years old. Also Bernina 1150 overlocker and Elna 444 Coverstitcher.
http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.

Acorn

Re: How did you learn?
« Reply #21 on: August 13, 2020, 22:21:44 PM »
@BrendaP You've just reminded me that I didn't even use the machine for the binding, because what I actually did was fold the backing fabric over and slip stitch it down onto the front!  This may be why I keep the Quilt Police locked up!

We're supposed to be having our bedroom decorated soon (delayed by the virus) with blue and white striped wallpaper, and when it is done the hexagon quilt will, for the first time ever, be used on the bed.   :)
I might look as though I'm talking to you, but inside my head I'm sewing.

Bjay

Re: How did you learn?
« Reply #22 on: August 14, 2020, 12:09:16 PM »
Going back in time I reaised when I was expecting no 1 child I made a pram quilt and a cot quilt ot of Laura Ashley packs.
Pram quilt is n ow used as dolly quilt for GC's toys


I guess my trip into the Darkside has gone on for a long time.- sort of dribbled into it rather than fell into it

Here is the bunting quilt - I kept some triangles back for a baby quilt but I don't think that is going to happen now
Trying to find my way on the Dark side

Sara-S

Re: How did you learn?
« Reply #23 on: August 14, 2020, 14:08:53 PM »
A million years ago, I took sewing in school. I learned 2 important things;
1) The basics of using a sewing machine
2) That I have absolutely no talent for making clothing.

More recently, I have taken some One-day classes at sewing stores, and a couple of longer courses through the retirees branch of my union.  There are some things (notably free-motion embroidery) that I have learned mostly from YouTube. 

After trying some basic quilting projects, I joined the local quilt guild, where I continue to learn.
You can't scare me. I taught high school for 32 years.

Sheilago

Re: How did you learn?
« Reply #24 on: August 14, 2020, 14:32:25 PM »

I'm quite good at woodwork and plastering too!  0_0 I'll have a rattle at anything really.

Me too @Ploshkin. I’ve built a fireplace, tiled a bathroom and wood panelled a wall ( when that was fashionable  :)) I went to an academic school and got a little sewing tuition, but I come from a family of ‘makers’.
 I really learned to sew on my mother’s old Singer that my grandfather had electrified! As a child I loved to make soft toys.
 As a student I made lots of my own clothes, including my first ever pair of jeans made from denim-look polyester....mmmmm!
I made my first quilt 30+ years ago,using a book I found in the public library, then made a log cabin cot quilt for my children using a pattern my mother found in Woman’s Weekly. I’ve been hooked ever since!
« Last Edit: August 14, 2020, 14:39:53 PM by Sheilago »

Kwaaked

Re: How did you learn?
« Reply #25 on: August 15, 2020, 06:38:22 AM »
@Lowena well, even coming from a family of them, I didn't really learn from them.

I learned to hand sew from my great grandmother and my grandmother let me use her industrial just enough not to be scared of one.  Mom taught me some, but didn't have the patience for it and I don't have the personality to sew slow nor sew on a schedule of what I am supposed to sew.  My first thing was a buttoned shirt with a collar.

I learned to sew in HS when I stole my mom's 201 and sewed on the sly to copy a Betsey Johnson dress I couldn't afford, a lot of books and a manager of the fabric department at the five and dime saving me the end cuts and discontinued patterns at a HUGE discount.  I did not like how my mom made clothing, and I figured there was another way.  There was.

As to quilting, I am not a quilter.  I don't like it, and I don't really like the looks of them.  That is not to say I can't appreciate the work and artistic beauty of them, because I can.  But what I have learned I learned from TreadleOn.

On the machines, my first machine I bought was a Kenmore that did everything.  My machines tend to go backwards in tech rather then forwards.  For a good number of years, the only machine I owned was a treadle, and I still prefer them to electric ones.  The only one at my house is a treadle, and I sew on them at work.


Syrinx

Re: How did you learn?
« Reply #26 on: August 15, 2020, 08:01:40 AM »
Self taught here. I have always made batiks so the fabric fun is there.

Again academic school but for two years there was a split between home ed and cooking and one part of that was making something. I decided to make some shorts. But I decided I'd make the fabric too. So I batiked a bunch and cut it all up and made patchwork fabric then turned that into shorts. I've still got them somewhere, the style and fit is a bit boxy but heyho.

I definitely got taught a little hand stitching aged 8 and have a framed piece of artwork on the wall of an embroidered flower garden. I despise hand stitching. It's slow and I'd rather machine embroider but I can do it with proper floss and time.

The patchwork shorts were simple squares. I made a few big square and 5 patch quilts, nothing fancy or anything - those all about the fabric type designs. Then my friends grandmother got ill and she was a mad keen clothing and quilting lady. Very individual style and we never did more than briefly discuss the current quilt. But she knew she was dying and invited me over to take some quilting books if I wanted them. Which I did. When she went into hospital I made her the thickest quilt I've ever made with quite a big simple patchwork design, simply ditch quilted and made a hot water bottle pocket for the back as she had been complaining of being cold.it was a surprise gift and she adored it. None of her family were into sewing and it made her cry. She had that quilt on her until she died. I regifted it to my own nana who had moved into supported living and was freshly wheelchair and bed bound. And when she died it came home.

The response from friends grandmother really hooked me into making quilts for people as gifts. And I've gone on to make lots more, getting more and more complicated, moving to design based over fabric based and working on my free motion skills. Mostly learning new things from books, YouTube for specific fmq/fme designs and classes where needed.

The clothing has been self taught, follow instructions, YouTube or a tailor friend I knew for a few years helping me out.

The spiral Swans is the first quilt I've ever made for myself (almost finished!) and it is very odd knowing I'll get to keep it!