Material World

Today

I'm in the middle of a sewing bonanza at the moment. I have three cupboards bulging with fabrics, all of them begging to be made into clothes, cushion covers and handbags.

I have everything from suiting lengths (real bargains, especially as I now never wear suits), cute organza remnants ornamented with hearts or little puppies to a truly fabulous silk and gold thread sari length that cost a fabulous amount.

That's right, you've got it, I'm a fabric junkie; I can't walk past a remnants bin with any kind of self control. I popped into C&H fabrics in Brighton the other day with the intention of buying a few essential haberdashery items and returned with a length of quilted silver and black fabric (will it make place mats for F2/9?) and some very jolly stretch fabric foil printed with red spiders' webs. This last I'm attempting to use to cover some bolsters for Lizzie, but the stuff keeps fighting back.

In My Day

As someone whose school reports for sewing at best said "fair", I wonder how I developed my passion for sewing. Perhaps the change came when I saw how to make items one might actually want. At primary school and the first terms at Grammar school we mainly made embroidered gingham aprons. They always were deeply unstylish, embroidery on a garment that was likely to be splattered with grease and flour seemed quite unnecessary and maybe, in my deeper mental recesses, I objected to my introduction to sewing being to make a garment that reinforced woman's role as a servant. (The boys didn't do any such thing; in fact they didn't even learn to sew.)

When I was about seventeen I became involved with designing and making costumes for the school play - my piece de resistance being costumes for AMSND. Fashions at that time were mainly little shift dresses that took about three yards of fabric. I soon worked out how to make these for myself. I began to savour the delights of rummaging through fabrics at Alders in Croydon or, delight of delights, John Lewis in Oxford Street. I once made a coat dress out of turquoise sailcloth with orange lining and a fake kipper tie made out of orange, another time a shirt dress out of pure Wild West check. I sewed Beatrice's wedding and bridesmaids dresses and made clothes for my mother.

When the girls were little and I worked in Lewes I used to pop into the warehouse owned by Clothkits and buy bales of slightly flawed kits for £1. These made heaps of clothes and bags for all the children in the family.

The trouble is, my incentive to actually do any sewing has somewhat fallen off in recent years but my love affair with fabric hasn't. I've now several great-nieces who will be needing pretty clothes, tho'. Hmmm, must see what there is in the sales.....