The Sewing Place
The Emporia => Patchwork & Quilting ... Welcome to the Darkside => Topic started by: Lowena 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.
-
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:
-
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
-
@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.
:)
-
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:
-
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.
-
My friends and family ( except one dil ) look down on anything " homemade " so I'm really pleased to be part of TSP.
-
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.
:)
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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 (https://thesewingplace.org.uk/index.php/topic,2859.msg40752.html#msg40752)), 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 (https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Quick-Quilts-Weekend-Rosemary-Wilkinson/dp/1853685909/) 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!!
-
There was no sewing nor cooking at my school. Only art for both sexes.
-
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 .
-
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:
-
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 :))
-
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.
-
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!
-
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
-
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
-
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 (https://thesewingplace.org.uk/index.php/topic,2859.msg40752.html#msg40752)), 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 (http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.uk/quilts/34years.htm)
-
@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. :)
-
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
(https://i.postimg.cc/cLFTXw28/WP-20170510-11-47-16-Pro.jpg)
-
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.
-
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!
-
@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.
-
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!