The Sewing Place

How did you learn?

Lowena

How did you learn?
« on: August 13, 2020, 14:12:03 PM »
Until 2012, when I was 65 I had never used a sewing machine. I went to an "academic" school and no one in my family sewed. As an adult my family and career took over my life.
I had always admired patchwork and quilting and it was an ambition of mine to try it. I knew no one who could teach me and as I haven't got a visual brain, t' interwebby thingy was no good.
I knew nothing about machines so I went to Franklins, told them how much I had to spend and what I wanted it for...bought a Brother and The Quilters Bible and taught myself.
I was immediately hooked and 8 yrs and a bigger Brother later it's a big part of my life.
Triumph of hope over experience :D

maliw

Re: How did you learn?
« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2020, 14:42:31 PM »
I was taught to sew by my mother at a young age on her treadle sewing machine. I graduated to her electric one (having major problems with the handcranks at school - they weren't fast enough). Mum and dad bought me a machine for my 21st birthday and all I made was clothes. P&Q was a massive failure after trying EPP/hexagons - sooooooo boring. When my job went t--s up in 2010 and mum was also ill and passed away I resorted to quilting to keep me sane and also there are only so many clothes that you can make/wear. I started with a black and white jelly roll and instructions off t'internet and the rest as they say,is history. My bank balance is somewhat (very) depleted but I'm much happier as I can sew without making too many clothes, I just have a blanket box full of quilts, those I haven't given away as presents. I have since completed a hexi quilt too so my patience has improved. :thumbsup:
At leisure on the leisure penninsula

Sandra

Re: How did you learn?
« Reply #2 on: August 13, 2020, 15:03:18 PM »
I had no idea you've only been at it for 8 years.  :)
That means that my daughter's been using a sewing machine for longer than you.  0_0 We bought her one about 10 years ago for her birthday.
She has very little interest in sewing though and there's no way she could do the work you do.

I remember making little hand stitched items in junior school, including a felt chicken when I must have been about 10 years old. I rediscovered the chicken a few years ago and it now sits on the shelf.
Actually, it's not that bad and now I'm wondering if I had lots more help making it than I remember.  :[

Next time I had needlework lessons was at senior school where the teacher thought I was pretty good at it. Perhaps I was if everyone else in class was especially bad at it.
I never used the electric sewing machines in class. I much preferred the old hand cranks. Teacher had a bee in her bonnet about me being scalped because I had long hair, so we had a bit of a falling-out over that stupid issue.
She also used to get her knickers in a twist over a schoolfriend of mine who had some slightly dangly earrings. She was worried about her tearing her ear off.  ><
Passed the exam with a CSE grade 1.There was no O-level course available in my school.

I didn't mind my sewing lessons. It was alright.
I had no intention of carrying on and working somehow with sewing...it just happened that way.

The quilting interest started properly about 10 years ago when I was pointed (via another forum I used to go on) to something called quilts for London. They were asking for pennants to be made to be given away to all of the athletes who were going to be participating in the 2012 Olympic games. In total they were asking for 14,700...and they managed it with some spare.
I loved  :loveit: it and ended up making 50-odd in total. They were small enough to try different methods. I remember trying applique and I made a log cabin, a couple of maple leaf blocks...it was great.

Sandra.
xxx

TartanPaint

Re: How did you learn?
« Reply #3 on: August 13, 2020, 16:07:34 PM »
@Lowena

My mum and gran were both experienced seamstresses and an older aunt of mine was too. I used to be fascinated as a kid watching them with their old Singers. If I'm being honest the machines terrified me. I'm sure you'll know the type I mean; what might be called vintage now. Sort of cream coloured with lots of exposed spinny bits and made of shiny metal or enamel. They were both used to industrial machines so everything was full speed. To me as a kid it looked and sounded like the end of the world when the machines were wound up to speed.

I learned a lot from watching them all. They could make and alter anything. Curtain, clothes, furnishing. It was amazing so, years later, as an adult having anger management issues and who was invited to get a couple of calming hobbies I chose sewing. I got a few books and youtube was becoming a thing at the time. Still not taken the plunge into clothes, though.

:)
"....I had a feeling you were up to mischief, now behave yourself...."

Lowena

Re: How did you learn?
« Reply #4 on: August 13, 2020, 16:18:57 PM »
How interesting, thank you @maliw @Sandra and @TartanPaint ,
Yes Sandra, never made anything before 2012 and it shows  :D I knew nothing about grain, how to measure and cut accurately and I'm still scared to change a foot or any setting on my machine  :|
No, Tartan Paint, I don't know as I've never seem a vintage machine as no one I've ever known until recently has sewn.I
I'm lucky that I live near @Stitches who was a professional seamstress and knows everything.If I need help she's a godsend  :sew:
Triumph of hope over experience :D

wrenkins

Re: How did you learn?
« Reply #5 on: August 13, 2020, 16:21:26 PM »
Oh my @TartanPaint calming hobbies. The worst swearing I ever heard was when all my work colleagues decided to take up cross stitch embroidery at breaktime; a very refined pastime you'd think!  :S David's 'Last Supper' got stamped on!  :laughing:
My mum made some clothes for me when I was little and of course I 'helped'. I got a toy sewing machine when I was very young but it wasn't much cop, too light, so my mum let me use her 15k, the one with the knee thingy.
At primary school we did needlework but I could already knit, sew, crochet... I did learn to embroider and hand sew properly. Things like biased binding and all that good stuff. My dad's family have 'hands for anything' and I seem to have been graced with that and also the interest. My mum has always knit and therefore so have I.
I'm quite good at woodwork and plastering too!  0_0 I'll have a rattle at anything really.
Harbouring resentment is like swallowing poison and waiting for the other person to die!

Lowena

Re: How did you learn?
« Reply #6 on: August 13, 2020, 16:22:03 PM »
My friends and family ( except one dil ) look down on anything  " homemade " so I'm really pleased to be part of TSP.
Triumph of hope over experience :D

TartanPaint

Re: How did you learn?
« Reply #7 on: August 13, 2020, 16:51:47 PM »
How interesting, thank you @maliw @Sandra and @TartanPaint ,
Yes Sandra, never made anything before 2012 and it shows  :D I knew nothing about grain, how to measure and cut accurately and I'm still scared to change a foot or any setting on my machine  :|
No, Tartan Paint, I don't know as I've never seem a vintage machine as no one I've ever known until recently has sewn.I
I'm lucky that I live near @Stitches who was a professional seamstress and knows everything.If I need help she's a godsend  :sew:

@Lowena

They were a kind of cream-white colour, shiny and enamelled. When they were going at full-tilt (like always) they sounded something like a cross between a sewing machine, approaching express train and those old machine guns they used to have on WW1 bi-planes. Fascinating mechanisms and, as some pointless trivia, machine gun actions were inspired by and developed from sewing machines.

:)
"....I had a feeling you were up to mischief, now behave yourself...."

Celia

Re: How did you learn?
« Reply #8 on: August 13, 2020, 17:20:28 PM »
My friends and family ( except one dil ) look down on anything  " homemade " so I'm really pleased to be part of TSP.


I have actually come across people who say Oh it’s only home made when they are shown or worse still given something made by someone they know but will happily pay for something made by someone they don’t know. Go figure.

Mr Twingo

Re: How did you learn?
« Reply #9 on: August 13, 2020, 17:21:11 PM »
Well, I learnt the basics in primary school in the the 1970. It was just hand sewing, and really only running stitch (Infants) and back stitch (Juniors). I have just this second recalled making a sequin covered orange felt fish in the infants! (Where did that memory spring from!?) In the Juniors we made a toy monkey, which I still have.

I thoroughly enjoyed it, and as I moved into teenage years became adept at fixing those things that were needed a quick repair or simple alteration.

In secondary school, my sister learned clothes making, though I only remember her making a skirt. She was bought a sewing machine, which I think was a Toyota. Bizarrely, I never liked sewing machines and confess to being terrified of that Toyota. It was SO loud. Even the handcrank that lived in a corner of the living room (which I now have, albeit tucked under the stairs) scared me. It seemed so complicated, and nobody could make it sew neatly, nobody knew how to thread it…

Anyway, about 7 or 8 years ago we were invited to a Sikh wedding, where we needed to wear a head covering. I decided I would have a go at making them myself, and bought a cheap second hand machine on eBay. And I was hooked. Bought myself an Elna (same internals as the Janome Sewist 525), and learned how to use it from YouTube and the now defunct sewingforum.com.

As things have worked out, I've returned to hand sewing, this time working with leather; my sewing machines are used mainly for repairs and alterations.

BrendaP

Re: How did you learn?
« Reply #10 on: August 13, 2020, 17:28:41 PM »
My mum definitely wasn't a sewist, nor did she do any other creative stuff; those genes genes definitely come from my dad's side.  It was Grandma who taught me to crochet and her sister was an excellent and productive knitter.  There was always a supply of left over wool to use.  Their elder sister, who died in the 1920s, had been a professional dressmaker and even in the 1950s there were still bits and bobs left from her; I still have a packet of Aunt Nel's sewing needles somewhere.  Mum did have a friend who did a lot of sewing so occasionally I received scraps of fabric.  My dolls used to get new clothes whereas my sister's dolls got fed, bathed and tucked up in bed!

My introduction to a sewing machine was a black Jones handcrank  :vintage: which my dad bought along with yards and yards and yards of linen canvas which he engineered into a large ridge tent which enabled many family holidays.  I spent many  hours helping him sew felled seams and watching him fashion really sturdy wooden poles with each one and each ferrule clearly numbered.

Like @Lowena I too went to an acedemic school and we could only take one creative subject at O-Level.  I chose art, but in the years before options choices we did needlework which included making a hymn book cover and the obligatory cookery apron and cap (all rectangles) before we went on to better things.  Then we learned to do hand smocking and the choice was a skirt (vile choice!) a baby dress/romper  (no baby in the family) or a night dress so nightie it was.  Then a shirt/blouse which had to have set in sleeves, collar and cuffs.  We had to take in suitable "tasteful" fabric and apparently black and white stripes was tasteful unlike a small floral print which one girl used. :[ 

I actually made myself a school summer dress which sort of complied with the regulations - sky blue with optional white belt, piping or other trim.  The piping was 2" wide, the trim was white smocking and the narrow white belt was very necessary because without it it looked like a maternity dress!  :o :o :o  It actually caught the headmistress's eye and I think she was quite impressed that I'd been that creative though she didn't say as much.   :\

There were a number of hand machines at school to be used, I can't remember any electric ones.  The thing I really didn't like about the sewing lessons was having to queue up to show the teacher what you had done every step of the way.  I knew if it was right and just wanted to get on with the next step.

In my late teens I acquired a blue handcrank Singer which constantly had tension problems (it was probably a 285!) but I made quite a few clothes for myself with it including my wedding dress.  When DD1 was a toddler I got my first electric machine, a Frister & Rossman with a variety of cams to drop in the top to produce the fancy stitches and I made quite a lot of dresses for the girls.  I had just one book to refer to for advice; McCalls Sewing in Colour.

I did once start a pattern cutting evening class which closed after just three weeks because there weren't enough takers.  I learned enough to understand how patterns are constructed and to understand about alterations.  When it closed I  transferred to a soft furnishing class and there I learned to line curtains, make smocked cushions, do deep buttoning and upholster a stool and eventually got as far as recovering a three piece suite as we couldn't afford a new one.

After that I got into the lacemaking and didn't do much sewing for quite a few years.  It was the second series of GBSB which got me interested again, both in sewing clothes and in P@Q.
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 #11 on: August 13, 2020, 17:31:40 PM »
I did needlework at school up to the 3rd year (in old money...).  I learnt some good skills at school and was allowed to use the old hand cranked machine because I was scared of the electric ones, although they did try to encourage me to use them.  To this day I only ever use my electric machines with bare feet so that I can control the pedal better.   My Mum and both Grandmas were keen on sewing and knitting, so I got a lot of encouragement at home too.

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.

In the meantime, I made my first machined quilt about 6 years later, from the instructions in a book (this one I think, although it must have been a previous edition).  I didn't quilt it (and despite what they say it has remained perfectly usable without.  I made several more, also without quilting them, although I occasionally did a small amount of stitching to stabilise them.   These were made from squares, generally trip around the world type patterns, sometimes diagonally, and always sewn together in strips.  I still have three of them and they are in regular use.  One day I will quilt two of them, but the third (currently on our bed) is absolutely massive, so I think it will have to stay as it is.

I did start quite a few in more complicated designs, and should dig them out, although I suspect I will either not have enough fabric to finish them, or won't be able to work out what I was doing!

It's only in the last 5 or so years that I have made quilts properly from blocks and actually quilted them.  Life is much more exciting!!
I might look as though I'm talking to you, but inside my head I'm sewing.

Lowena

Re: How did you learn?
« Reply #12 on: August 13, 2020, 18:53:05 PM »
There was no sewing nor cooking at my school. Only art for both sexes.
Triumph of hope over experience :D

Stitches

Re: How did you learn?
« Reply #13 on: August 13, 2020, 18:57:54 PM »
I started sewing when I was 5 my mum was a seamstress and was always sewing, I was allowed to tack dolls clothes but when my feet touched the peddle on her old treadle machine I was away.At school I opted to do dressmaking instead of typing & shorthand. Did my city and guilds in 1997 . Started doing quilting in 2019 as there are only so many clothes you can wear.stopped sewing professional last year as OH is not well .

SingingSinger

Re: How did you learn?
« Reply #14 on: August 13, 2020, 19:38:22 PM »
I'm only just taking my first, faltering steps on the Darkside but I have been sewing since I was a child. I learned from my Mum who was a machinist in a clothing factory before she married. She had a blue Jones electric machine when I was very little and I have distinct memories of repeatedly clicking a pair of chrome buttons on the front (probably dropping the feed dogs). I have hopes of finding a vintage Jones machine like that one day!  :vintage:

I was sewing fairly competently with a machine by the time we were tasked with making a dress in 4th year Juniors (age 11). We were asked to bring in the pattern we wanted to make for the teacher to give the nod to. Mine was apparently too complicated and I was told to go back and pick a simple shift dress (I'm still cross about that, can you tell?  :P)

I went to a girls' grammar school, pretty academic but there was some needlework in years 1 and 2 (the obligatory gingham apron, etc) but not much to inspire. Like @maliw, I got my own sewing machine from Mum and Dad for my 21st birthday along with dressmaking and pinking shears which I still use today. I've done mainly dressmaking over the years, including my own wedding dress, and things for the children and the house. I also knit and crochet (also learnt from my dear Mum  <3).

I went to the  Knitting & Stitching Show in Harrogate last year and was fascinated by the quilts on display. Also, when I sat down to eat my lunch I got chatting to a lovely quilter who encouraged me to have a go. It's taken a little while to get around to it but here I am, and very grateful for the kind advice and encouragement on TSP.  :hug:

Mostly a dressmaker with a few other crafts thrown in. Teetering on the Darkside. Owner of vintage machines Singer 201K and Elna Lotus SP (and a Brother Innovis 350SE and Pfaff Ambition 620)