Cloth Magazine Sewing & Launch Party

Cloth Magazine recently celebrated their 4th birthday and new home at Immediate Media with a stitch-themed launch party.

Of course you can't have a crafty event without a 'practical touch' so I was invited along with some other sewing fans to give demos at their Live Sewing Station.

Hang on...was that a blue floral sewing machine I was sitting next to? Absolutely! The Cloth mag team customised six machines especially for the event. I opted for this gorgeous decoupage one, painted with a lick of acrylic paint.

The set included this beautiful bejewelled peacock number...

One that reminded me of London Underground moquette designs..

And this uber cool Ziggi Stardust sewing machine.

There was a stash of goodies for me and the other sewers to use. We had three hours to get creative.

One of my co-crafters found an over-sized dress in the fabric scrap basket...

and turned it into a skirt and matching fabric necklace.

While another fellow seamstress took a pattern from Cloth magazine...

And whipped up this fantastic clutch.

Sewing is tiring business and thankfully we had a spread of yummy afternoon tea style goodies to keep our energy levels up.

In fact, while on my way to get a slice of cake I bumped into Sarah Corbett aka the super woman behind the Craftivists.

And also Tilly from The Great British Sewing Bee - I even got to touch her Matilda blouse! It was just as stunning in real life as it looked on the show!

Elsewhere there an embroidery circle....and check out those daffodils! They were the biggest bunch I've ever seen.

There were so many left over that some came home with me, which I decided to keep next to my own sewing machine.

And here's what I accomplished during the event; a three- piece outfit customised with ruffled fabric and some maroon lace.

The highlight of the do was hearing editor Cathy McKinnon talk passionately about her journey so far with the magazine. She launched it four years ago as a quarterly indie publication that has now grown into an established monthly,  supported by a major publisher. 

As someone who has worked in the consumer craft magazine market and tried and failed to set up my own, I'm really impressed by her story and am so happy for her and the team.

And yes, I agree there are a lot of craft magazines in the UK  but Cloth is one of the good ones! 

It has a fresh, clean look with relevant content, a strong fashion element (not just using extracts from book, but shooting and styling their own photoshoots), comes with free patterns and has features to read. It retails for £4.99 and is well worth a peek through next time you want to make something.

My So Called ...Sewing...Life

1993: Secondary School

This wallhanging is the first thing I ever made at school. I was 12. We only had one term of Textiles, the other two were spent in Woodwork or Cooking. We were tasked with testing out different techniques;  it was my first taste of silk painting, printing, tie-dye and patchwork. Rather than keep my pieces as samplers I decided to create a giant wall hanging which required using a sewing machine.

My mum was a home seamstress, she had an old classic singer sewing machine on which she would make clothing for the British high street. But it was her most precious belonging and none of us were allowed to touch it, let alone use it.
So I sewed my hanging at school. I have very clear memories of the first time I used a sewing machine...it wasn't on fabric, but was on paper. We took a 'driving test' punching holes along a hand-drawn road to ensure we could manuovere corners.

 1998: College: A'Level Fashion

I hated school. I was a bit too alternative, so when I was 16 I moved to a sixth form college. I found the only one in London that did A'Level Fashion. Finally I felt like I belonged. I had real friends and I could ditch my school uniform for homemade clothes. 

With my first pay packet from my first weekend job I bought a sewing machine and used it to make my own dresses. 

The first one was inspired by Klimt, it was gold and ethereal looking probably because all 17-year-olds are obessed with his painting The Kiss.

Then I progressed into making my own fabric (tie-dye of course!) before making my own patterns from fabric bought from Roll & Rems - the haberdashery I still swear by.

2001: University Customising

I couldn't take my sewing machine to university so instead I customised things inbetween Geography lectures. This is when I turned 'crafty.' Instead of just sewing, I discovered the joys of beading, embroidery and embellishment. To make some extra money on the side of my student loan I started taking commissions selling bespoke handbags and accessories.

2003: Post-graduate: Fabric fanantic

After university I couldn't get a job and I didn't want to be a Geographer anyway so I did a post-graduate diploma in magazine journalism. The chance to be a student again meant I could continue dressing as creatively as I liked and because I was living at home with my sewing machine I started making my own clothes again. This is when my obsession began for buying gorgeous fabrics (this flamingo print cotton was bought in Ikea).

2006: Working: Clothes for other people!

By now I was fully immersed in the world of being a writer and crafter but didn't have as much time to make clothes. Instead I took up the challenge of making my first garment for someone else and learnt that childrenswear is sooooooo much easier than making adultswear!
I made my niece some ladybird dungarees and later a bear for her sister and blanket for her brother.

    2013: Now: Historical dressmaking project

Fast forward 20 years (scary how the 1st photo in this post was taken in 1993) and I'm still sewing, learning and continuing to make clothes.

This week the BBC launches it's new programme The Great British Sewing Bee which is causing a huge buzz in the craft/sewing community. It's predecessor The Great British Bake Off has turned the nation into homebaking obsessives and I'm pretty sure that the Sewing Bee will inspire more people to sew.

There are already many more sewing courses, classes and workshops going on (in London at least), but while other people are getting to grips with machines, I've gone down a different path - the art of historical dressmaking.

Last year I embarked on a new creative adventure, becoming a Fashion Recreator. Over the last 12 months I've been studying dressmaking from the 17th, 18th & 19th centuries and am currently making an exact replica of a dress that existed in 1818.

In replicating it I have to use the exact techniques.....in other words the entire dress in stitched by hand as there were no sewing machines then.

I'm now in my last month of finishing the piece which will  be exhibited at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich in July (for one day!) and the story of how I made it will be recorded in a book.

Until I put this blog post together I actually didn't realise I had been sewing for 20 years. It blows my mind. 

I'm honestly not the best of sewers, in fact I think I'm pretty rubbish because I'm not a perfectionist. My seams don't always match up, my fits aren't aways perfect and some times I skip 'proper' steps; but one thing I can say with pride is that I really, really enjoy sewing and I hope I never have to stop doing it.