Sewing in public 2

It wasn’t a fluke, another order has come from this week’s fair so I have to revise last year’s decision not to do the summer fairs as my thinking was obviously wrong.

Sewing in public

Last Sunday I exhibited at the craft fair at the Pavilion here in Exmouth. I’ve done this a few times as it is a very economical way of advertising the sewing courses and workshops and I have had some degree of success in recruiting students this way.

Up to now I hadn’t ever sold anything and really didn’t expect to but last weekend was a bit of a surprise as I sold a bodice from the rack, took an order for a corset from a lady from Ireland and took measurements for a lady from the Midlands who subsequently ordered a bodice this week and I finished two bodices whilst I was there! What a productive day!

I am going to try it again this coming Sunday to see if it was a fluke!

Sewing summer school

I had a conversation with someone today whilst I was at the fabric shop (strange place to find me!) who was saying that her daughter was at Bristol University doing Fashion & Textiles but, and this is a BIG BUT, they don’t teach them anything about making clothes, what is that about? Her daughter had spent a year (maybe?) at Taunton (SCAT) and not made clothes there either. I am appalled, isn’t fashion about clothes? If they are training people to be designers then surely they need to know about fabrics and how to put a garment together, but it seems that the students have to go out and find out about it for themselves.

With that in mind I feel that a summer school for fashion students would be in order to work on some sewing skills for these students so would like to have some feedback on what students would like to study in a summer school and how many people would be interested in attending. Classes would be in the Exeter/Exmouth area and I have a B&B just around the corner from me if you plan to stay for a day or two if we do more than one day.

Please leave your comments or drop me an email if a sewing summer school is interesting to you.

Dressmaking - the pitfalls

The dressmaker is quite often perceived as someone who will mend, alter, repair, replace and sometimes, god forbid, even make a garment and do it for next to nothing and unfortunately many dressmakers themselves have fallen into the trap of trying to compete with the High Street in order to stay in work and are always busy but poorly paid.

I was passed a job last June from a dressmaker who didn’t have enough time to finish the six silk bridesmaids dresses she had taken on for a September wedding. At this point she had only made one and it had taken her three weeks to complete and she expected each of the others to take the same amount of time so was worried that she wouldn’t make them in time which is why she passed them onto me. When she told me how much she was charging the girl I was in shock, she must have bought over £400 worth of fabric on the strength of a £50 deposit, a whole roll of silk, a whole roll of lining and one of net all at retail prices, she said that she buys from them because ‘the people are so nice’, they can afford to be when they’re taking that much money off her.

She was also making wraps, bags, cravats, breast pocket handkerchiefs and a veil for the girl who wanted to pay no more than £1000 for all of it! When I asked why she was working for so long for so little money she said that if she charged more she wouldn’t get any customers as they could buy cheaper in Debenhams. I did point out that she was working for less than 50p an hour, but I see that she is still advertising in Devon Weddings magazine.

Cutting out issue

I have always done my cutting out on the floor mainly because of table space being a bit limited and it also meas that the fabric didn’t slip around as I could anchor it to the carpet but I have had trouble with my knee since Christmas and haven’t been able to kneel on it, probably caused by years of kneeling down cutting things out! This has presented me with a dilemma since the dining room table is a bit low and then I’ll end up with back trouble too! Horn do a hobby table which is gate leg, the right height for cutting out and if I could shoe horn one into my work room I would get one but until I have room for it I have come up with a very cheap solution.

While I was looking at the fabricland website I came across a ‘Superboard’ and for a total of just under £15 it has transformed my ironing board into a cutting table that I can slide away when I’m done. As my ironing board has a good height adjustment I can get it to the right height for cutting and with a couple yard sticks underneath the Superboard to stop it bending about too much I can save both my knee and my back.

Sixty minute makeover has now transmogrified into sixty month makeover due to a downturn in the housing market, hooray..!! Yip yip..!! So we won’t be moving just yet but I will still carry on de-cluttering as it will happen one day and we do have way too much junk.

House move

My SO has decides that he wants to move house before he retires, he’s 58 this year and is determined that it will happen in the next two years so we are in the process of sixty minute makeover on an irregular basis mostly consisting of painting some of the twenty three windows in our house (yes 23) and replacing the downstairs shower tray to bring the shower room up to “adequate for use”.

I have looked at some houses and it is going to be very difficult to find something with the space and the storage that will enable me to continue working from home as I am very much younger than him and won’t be retiring with him due to no pension. The best house that I saw that I was really keen on has now sold, it had a workshop with a mezzanine floor for storage and would have been perfect as far as I was concerned as it would have separated the business from the house but sadly it’s not to be.

My part in the enforced house move is de-cluttering and I’ve started by car booting and will be doing it again this week but coming home via the re-cycling centre this week! I have also sold some of my fabric stash which those of you that have them will know how difficult it is to part with, but I’m being strong about it! I will shortly be starting on the china and old table linen that we have and am thinking of doing a flea market as well as the car boot.

New corset from old fabric

This is a piece of fabric that I’ve had in my stash for more than 20 years. It was originally meant for a suit to replace one that I had made which I then gave to my sister but never got made up again for me (cobbler’s children!). So having rediscovered it I had to make something straight away before it sank away into the depths of the stash again. The fabric was by Kanebo which I’m not sure is still going, but I’ve only got 3 metres left so it will be a limited edition if you want one.

The Real Brides show at Westpoint was good, not a huge volume of visitors on the Saturday but the weather was absolutely foul so that might have had something to do with that. Busier on the Sunday and a few interested brides and a booking to do the corset making on the 1st June, so I now have 3 ladies booked to do that so far.

And I’ve just heard that I am able to go and sit and stitch creatively at Creatives Stitches, Exeter again this year in September so I will be a very busy girl with the next Real Brides show on the following weekend!

Prom/dressmaking workshop

The prom workshop that was offered at Countess Wear Village Hall for last Sunday only had two ladies sign up which meant that the workshop was cancelled which was a shame. It’s funny because a similar thing happened last year with the Troubleshooting workshop that we did where the take up on that was quite low but not as low as two. It seems that the “dedicated to one little garment workshops” are more appealing than a general “what shall I make workshop?” Bodices are quite easy to make when you know how and being seen as sexy and fun to wear and Corsets which are trickier to make are seen as a bit risque or naughty, but obviously it’s something that I think everyone should have at least one of in their wardrobe and quite a number of ladies (10 workshops’ worth) and their partners have agreed with me over the last year or so!

My next workshop at the Village Hall is a boned bodice on 18th May but if anyone wants to make a corset they could also book in for this date too. A corset kit with black or white coutil lining would need to be ordered beforehand if making a corset.

So my next thought is what other workshop can I offer in the Autumn term, suggestions on a postcard please (or in a comment if you like)!

The new issue of Black Meringue magazine has just come out and I did like the first issue and this is more of the same, so now I’m going to get picky, there is a green & pink corset picture showing the back of the corset where the stylist clearly doesn’t know how to lace a corset properly as there is a gap in the middle where the laces should be tied. There’s also a shocker on a page in the low thirties which makes me wonder where the corset making skills were learned. I certainly wouldn’t have put a picture of it in a national magazine to have it compared to some of the other lovely things that are there.

Now I’m off to finish my black and white corset that will be one of the things that I’ll be showing at the Real Brides Show at Westpoint, Exeter this coming weekend. Show opens at 12 midday on Saturday and 10am on Sunday.

Courses & Workshops

Having had plenty of takers for the bodice workshop in January, the day went really well. A couple of ladies had done either a workshop or a class with me before so they weren’t all new faces and some I had met at the Craft 4 Crafters show in January.

I had eleven at the corset workshop last Sunday which also went well, four ladies were returnees for that one. I had hoped to encourage them just to complete one half of the corset after initially fitting it at the workshop and inserting the busk so that they would be able to complete the other half at home but some did forge ahead on both sides so no one actually finished a side, but they all seemed pretty happy with what they had achieved so far. Now I have to work on some notes for them so they have something to refer to when they come to doing some more.

We are half way through our Friday afternoon dressmaking course and the group are quite rowdy I’m pleased to say so it makes for an entertaining afternoon all round. Some of the ladies would like the course to run again when this one finishes so if you like sewing, tea, biscuits, books and a laugh on a Friday afternoon come and join us. The cost of a new eight week course may be under revision due to increased utility charges but I’ve yet to find out about that.

The Tuesday evening class has just started this week and we were a bit worried that we wouldn’t have enough students for the course to run, but we are there by the skin of our teeth. They were a bit quiet on Tuesday but given a couple of weeks I’m sure that they will be as rowdy as Friday’s group.

Corset maker from Spain

This week I had a visitor from Spain who flew in from Alicante to Exeter on Monday evening, had two nights bed and breakfast just around the corner from us and spent the day on Tuesday and Wednesday morning with me and made her own corset before hopping back onto the plane and flying back on Wednesday afternoon. Caterina says she will be hitting the town in her corset on Saturday, hopefully she’ll be sending a photo and when she has made a few more, taking orders.

I gave her a copy of Black Meringue to read on the plane. This is a new wedding magazine but it is alternative and has lots of corsets and coloured wedding gowns and is really good if you aren’t a fan of the ’sea of ivory dresses’ in most wedding magazines. I told her that she would have to be careful who was looking over her shoulder when reading it as I didn’t want to be regarded by her fellow passengers as a middle aged woman with a sewing machine leading people astray! Although some of my Friday afternoon students seem to think I’m doing that already.