A Stitch in Time: Relearning to Sew

A while back, when I was still at uni (and I hate to think how many years ago that was now!), I had this bright idea of making my own clothes.

I like skirts with lots of fabric, skirts that swish and swirl, and I think at the time they weren’t in fashion so were difficult to find. But I wanted some, so I would make them, and dresses with such skirts.

Several attempts later, I had some ill-fitting, badly-sewn items which I wore about once apiece and then stuffed in a cupboard. It didn’t help that I struggled with sewing a straight seam with my (then) shiny new sewing machine. She (I named her Elsie) joined the clothes in the cupboard, and I regret that’s where she mostly stayed. I had occasional forays into sewing after that. Nothing major, no clothes from scratch, anyway.

I still want swishy skirts. All the ones I had then have long since departed this world and I fell into boring jeans out of sheer laziness. And because I couldn’t find any I liked in the charity shops I frequented. I put them from my mind and worried about other things.

I’ve started finding the skirts I like again, though. Apparently, M&S’s Per Una range has had some lovely ones, over the years, now to be found on eBay. I still want to make my own – I have a chest of fabrics to be used, after all, and those dresses to be remade – but these will do in the meantime.

But I think I ought to start simple. With the straight seams. And easy projects that don’t require too much fabric, or measuring.

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With that in mind, therefore, I’m restarting my sewing with some Christmas sewing. I originally got these fat quarters (from Hobbycraft, in my spree back in October) with an idea of making them into a festive skirt, but that started to seem like too much work, and it wouldn’t be long enough.

Therefore, a stocking for me (M already has one I made him years ago), and a tablecloth for our first Christmas on our own.

For the tablecloth, I retrieved Elsie from her box. I started by hand, but I got bored pretty quick. Not enough patience for that. Poor Elsie – she has all sorts of fancy stitches I thought I’d grow into with my sewing, and all I actually ever use is the basic running stitch. Maybe I will grow into the others, one day.

My seams aren’t completely straight, but they’re considerably straighter than I’ve ever managed before, so I can cope. It just needs hemming and backing onto something like felt, to give a little more protection to the table.

And it took less than an hour, even with Elsie on her slowest speed. Next up, a poinsettia stocking.