I have just bought some really nice pure linen at a good price to experiment with. It is a beige colour. I would like to make a single duvet cover and pillow cases in linen but I am not that enamoured with the colour. The lady in the shop suggested I might be able to dye it.

Has anyone any experience of dying linen?

Any idea how the beige colour would affect the final dyed colour?

The linen I have found on line seems to be very expensive although there are some lovely colours available!

I am test making a mens tunic shirt with long sleeves and a button placket (a toile in quite open and fine calico). The pattern is by “wardrobe by me” men’s tunic shirt, view A.

So you do the placket on the open sleeve and then you sew the edges together to make the tubular sleeve. They then say, “press the seam allowance towards the back and topstitch the seam”.

Well at the top end it is quite wide and difficult but possible. But as you get closer to the cuff it gets more and more difficult. Going round the circumference of the sleeve is fine - as in doing a cuff but going down the length and the material I have sewn has to go round through 90 degrees to slide it out of the way of the foot onto the machine. It is also getting tighter as you go down!

I did manage with a lot of fiddling on the first one but it was quite wavey - not professional looking at all. On the second one I caught some of the material from the other side which was all bunched up and had to unpick some of it and the start again from the cuff end. Ok on a toile but not good on a real garment.

Looking at the video tutorial they provide, they miss out the top stitching all together!

Is there a clever way to do this or is it just a matter of practice? I did wonder if there was a special type of seam like a French seam that would make it easier but I still think you have to get the tube over the machine to sew!

I am wondering more now about getting an Overlocker. I am intending to make more T-Shirts, hoodies etc using materials with varying degrees of stretch as well as shirts and trousers.

So far, using my mother's vintage Pfaff 1471 I have been using a lot of the over-edge stitches (psudo overlock) to finish the edges on non stretch materials as well as for stretch applications. Which is OK but I am wondering if an overlocker would be quicker and easier for these applications (as long as I can get my head around the threading).

I have been thinking about my requirements and I think a machine with a warranty is important rather than second hand, but I do not want to spend a great deal on this until I know what I am doing with it and can see the benefits of spending more in the future.

Initially I looked at the Necchi one from ALDI at £149.99. However, although this seems to have good reviews and is more money and I think better quality than ALDI's previous incarnations, I am a bit nervous of this machine. It does do 2 thread stitching though.

I am now thinking about a Brother 2104D which is 3 or 4 thread only but perhaps a bit more reliable - it seems to get very good reviews. And is £219 and comes with blind hem, piping and gathering feet. Do I need 2 thread stitching and these feet in a starter machine do you think?

If I get on with it and find it useful, I would be happy to spend a bit more in the future on a better machine if I felt the extra features would be useful but at the moment I think I probably just need something to get me started.

Does anyone have any thoughts?

I am clearing our my mothers stash of materials and this struck me as a lovely piece although I cannot see what I would do with it.

36” wide by 38” long. I do not know what you would call it.

£6 inc UK delivery.

Any interest?

Hi, I’m Andy and although originally from Surrey, I currently live in South Tyneside in the North East of England. Moved up here to work for Flymo a long while ago now.

A while ago a friend gave me her old quite basic Jones (I think, is that a make?) sewing machine which I could never make to work properly, didn’t have any instructions for and I probably wasn’t threading it right. So that went out.

My mother was a reasonable sewer and I remember had a yellow Bernina Record when we were young. In the 80’s I think, she got this Pfaff creative 1471 and when she died I took it on temporarily only, as Dad wanted it to go to someone that could make good use of it (!).

I have been using it to mainly to do repairs on jeans but with the sewing bee on the television I have been inspired to do a bit more. I recently made a laundry bag out of some strong canvas material from a pattern in a readers digest book about sewing (from mum) and I now know what a french seem is.

I thought I would try making some clothes, so as a start, I have just finished a pair of T-shirts from some double knit material as I read somewhere that was the easiest for beginners. Got the pattern from Patty Doo in Germany for what seems to be a simple Raglan sleeve design. I ordered 1m of each of red and grey and have done a ying and yang thing with the arms and the bodies.

I’m pretty pleased with how they have turned out although I had problems with the cutting out. On one I cut two fronts and didn’t have enough material to cut another  back so I had to add a piece in around the neck at the back. On the other, having cut out the arms in the grey, when I later came to cut the bodies of the second shirt in grey, I didn’t have enough material in the right places to get both sides in one so I have ended up with a back in two pieces. But some good learning there! But I am pleased with the results.

I am planning to make a hoodie in sweatshirt material soon as then I can get the fit, colours and the design that I want and not just what is available. Win win.

The machine is great with many overlock type stitches amongst others but I initially didn’t know where the stretch stitches were that I apparently needed for sewing jersey. Getting there now. Not sure how often mum serviced it but it would be 20 years since it was used last before me, so I found someone locally who came to look at it, sprayed inside with some lubricant and told me to change the needles. Will see how it goes but I might need to pull it apart to see if I can replace one of the buttons that does not work at the moment. I’m told there are not the parts for old electronic machines nowadays.

I am pleased with my T-shirts, they feel a better material than you buy in the shops and I’m quite excited to do more. And I am pleased to find somewhere like this to hopefully help me along. Hope to be able to contribute too, perhaps in time!

Andy