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I’m making costumes for a Youth Theatre production, which is taking ages. Several of the girls would like to help but don’t have sewing machines at home. Which set me wondering…………… My Mum taught me the basics and I did dressmaking at school and I’ve always made or altered clothes for myself, especially when I was in my late teens and twenties. I made all my maternity clothes because the ones in the shops were grim. Problems with my hands mean that I haven’t made anything for myself for a few years but I do get the machine out to make costumes for the theatre group. How many of us on GR still make our own clothes? And if you used to but don’t any more why is that? Is it because shop-bought clothes are so cheap? How many of us have sewing machines? My son’s girlfriend makes and sells “alternative” clothes on ebay and at festivals. She also makes made to measure corsets. She had to learn all these skills from scratch because her school didn’t teach dressmaking. Is dressmaking going to become a lost art? Gwynne

Hi Gwynne, I used to make my own clothes, I did go to night school for tailoring. When my daughter was smaller I made all her clothes, we also went to a lot of Ladies evenings etc, so we used to go down to London for a weekend and I used to go in the expensive stores, make notes of what was fashionable, go home and copy them. My sewing machine is 51 years old, I have thought of getting a new one but dont think I would use it very much, I too have trouble with my hands and haven't the patience these days. I admire you making all those costumes, I also used to be involved in amateur productions and helped with costumes. June xx

I got my sewing machine after my Mum died to give me something to do. Had been useless when at school but messed about and taught myself I surprised everyone when my niece got married she was having a friend make the dresses and then her sister said to me will you make mine so I did it was lovely, nicer than the others even though I say it myself. Made one or two since then including my daughters but wouldn't go for a wedding dress. She is having another baby soon so if it is a girl I think I iwll have a go at little frilly dresses. I usually use it for curtains etc and then people do often say can you alter this. Think I surprised everyone when I started though no expert. Germaine x

Ever since I was scathingly advised by my Sewing Teacher that I handled a needle like a plow woman, I just do emergency rips and split seams! BC

Sadly I am rubbish. When mine were little and a button fell of a school shirt it was a standing joke. 'Oh, well might as well throw that in the bin!!!. I can remember my Mum with her sewing box by the ironing board and as she went along she did little repairs etc. and I can remember her darning socks with all her coloured wools lined up and her little wooden mushroom. I used to have a go but mine always looked awful whereas you could hardly see her repair.Can't knit either. My apron we had to make for cookery at school was a disaster, my friend had to help me. It's think people who can do dressmaking etc are sooo clever. But at 58 I think I've missed the boat. Mind you, my baking is brilliant (so they say) lol Linda

My daughter bought a sewing machine just a few months ago. As yet it is unused but it was making costumes by hand that prompted this purchase. We were taught basic needlework in school and had to make our own shoe bag, art overall and cookery apron with cap, to get us used to the sewing machines before we made garments of our own choice. I made baby clothes before my son was born, as I couldn't find what I wanted in the limited shops near us overseas but haven't made anything for years now. Perhaps I will now that there's a new machine in the house.

Hi Linda, I hate mending as well. I adopt my sister in law's approach. Everything that needs a button or a stitch or two in a seam, or a new zip is put in the mending basket. When the basket is full she tranfers the contents to the wheelie bin on the grounds that, if they haven't needed the clothes for the past six months, they're never going to need them. As she says, 'If I really want it I mend it straight away, and if he wants buttons sewn on he can do it himself.' Gwynne

I am hopeless at sewing on a machine! I remember when I was at school, I had to unpick the arm holes on a dress I was making three times as I kept sewing them in! I am quite good at embroidery though. I remember when I was at Grammar School in Liverpool. The teacher showed us how to smock. I made a baby dress (don't know how) and hand smocked the whole thing. I received an A. I remember having to get up in front of the class to demonstrate. Maybe the teacher didn't believe me? My daughter on the other hand, is quite the seamstress. Yesterday she went through a pile of clothes that I am giving to charity. She salvaged a top, and within an hour it had been transformed into something she would pay many dollars for. Going back through the family history, my Great Grandmother and most of her sisters were seamstresses for Lewis's in Liverpool about c 1900. I have also found on another branch of my tree my GGGG Grandfather was a Tailor. Thanks for reminding me, I need buttons sewn on my uniforms before I go back to school in September! Deb

I used to make a lot of clothes but only tend to do repairs these days. I found the price of patterns exorbitant and frequently find clothes already made at a price I couldn't purchase the fabric. By the time you add on fastenings like zips and buttons the cost really mounts. My daughter can't sew for toffee. I found a dress she was throwing out because the ribbon strab had worn away. About 10p worth of ribbon and 5 minutes of hand sewing were all it took to rectify. I used to knit a lot too but yarn has also become very pricey and I simply haven't the time any more but I'll probably manage some when grandchildren come along Beth :)

Morning Gwynne, LOL..... I love the wheelie bin approach. Linda

At the moment, I am involved in 'haute couture' for a certain celebrity who is touring the country! Yesterday, I finally managed to find some fluffy, pink feathers for her 'Pearly Queen' hat - in a garden centre! (?). A few months before I left school (at 18), a large department store in Central London was closing down, and my mother went to the sale. The following Saturday, we both went to check out the sewing machine she'd seen and ended up buying it. For it's day, it was a very good one and was half-price at £61, but of course it's now been superseded by more sophisticated, electronic ones. It weighed a ton (Guess who had to carry it?), and as the stop for our homeward bus was quite a walk from the shop, my mother hailed a taxi to get us home with the machine. When we got to Camberwell, I had the unenviable task of carrying the blessed thing up 64 stairs to our 4th-floor flat, and lifting it onto the table for use has always been a feat of strength. I blame that machine for my having such long arms! My mother never had much patience and soon tired of reading the instructions that came with the sewing machine, so it was left to me to learn how to use it. I was supposed then to teach her, but she never showed any inclination to use it, so I did. Once I'd left school and started work, I bought patterns galore and, as we had some excellent street markets where you could buy a wide variety of fabrics, buttons, etc, plus the West End shops for anything special or unusual. In the era of mini-skirts, you could make a long-sleeved dress for about £1 or so in today's money. My wardrobe grew and grew, and I thought nothing of giving clothes away, as it was so cheap to make new ones. During the 1970s, as things got more expensive, and I was helping to pay a mortgage and commuting for hours each weekday, I had less time to sew, but I did still make things, as I've always found it hard to find ready-made clothes long enough for me. As the years went by, I found I didn't care too much for the fashion trends that appeared, and my lifestyle changed. I spent most of the 1980s-90s in skirts and tops for work, or jumpsuits and jeans at home. Most of my sewing then was for fancy dress outfits for various school productions. My final creations were a whole set of costumes for a musical production of 'Narcissus', the Greek legend. I've still got them, and they're churned out if any of us needs something to wear for a fancy dress party. Over the past 7 years, my waist has ballooned to an incredible size, so finding clothes - or even patterns for clothes - that fit me has been a problem, so my sewing activities have been mainly confined to making curtains, cushion covers and evening outfits for Christmas parties, as I hate turning up at a 'do' and finding someone else wearing the same outfit. Fortunately, it's rarely happened, and I usually get other ladies asking me where I bought my outfit! I don't doubt that I will go back to making my own clothes again at some stage, once our studio/workroom is cleared of all the stuff that's stored in there, pending work being finished on other areas of the house, but I can't say I'll be togged-up in the latest fashions, as people my size look terrible in low-waisted skirts or trousers, skimpy tops and floaty fabrics. Maybe I should just stick to the tried and trusted jeans and T-shirts. CB >|< ... and now, back to sewing on the 'Pearly Queen's' buttons ...

i do , out of need- i alter all Alans shirts - he is a right arm amputee, so take all but 5 inches of the sleeve off and re-apply the cuff. Jess

Hi Beth, Interesting that you should mention the cost of patterns. While I was looking for fabric for costumes I had a look in some pattern books and they are a ridiculous price. I go to the sewing shows at the NEC and they have boxes and boxes of discontinued patterns which are very cheap. The price of thread, zips etc (notions - as they are so prettily called) is also soaring. CB, I had a sewing machine of my own for my 21st. It was huge and very heavy as well. It also cost more than the one I bought 5 years ago in Argos. The new one does button holes which my old one didn't. So some things do come down in price, even if the cost of fabric etc goes up. Gwynne

Gwynne, When my MiL died 9 years ago, I inherited her modern sewing machine, which is in a specially-designed wooden cabinet. I was really keen to use it, until I discovered it didn't do anything that my 1967 model did. My old one has a buttonholer, embroidery, quilting, gathering and all sorts of other attachments, and it still makes a better job of sewing than the much newer one, which didn't work when I

Gwynne, When my MiL died 9 years ago, I inherited her modern sewing machine, which is in a specially-designed wooden cabinet. I was really keen to use it, until I discovered it didn't do anything that my 1967 model did. My old one has a buttonholer, embroidery, quilting, gathering and all sorts of other attachments, and it still makes a better job of sewing than the much newer one, which didn't work when I got it and has been 'temperatmental' since it was repaired. I agree about the cost of 'notions' (Is that what Americans call them?) in haberdashery shops. I usually buy mine from market stalls or a little shop in Surrey that sells virtually everything 'bar the kitchen sink' in the way of sewing materials. Same goes for fabrics. Most of my 'Narcissus' costumes were made from curtain fabrics or lining materials from Kingston market or that shop. Even Aphrodite's pink chiffon togs came from there - about £2.50/metre! How I miss having that shop just up the road. CB >|<

Hi CB, I get most 'notions' from the market but the costs still mount up. Have you tried to buy tacking cotton lately? A get a lot of costume fabric from the Rag Market in Birmingham (overmakes and seconds). It isn't as good as it used to be, though. However, I can get 'special' fabrics for costumes there, still. I also get a lot from the 'Asian' area of Coventry. There is a road with 8 or 9 fabric shops and they have the most beautiful and exotic colours and fabrics, at very reasonable prices. I'm making my way through 40 metres of curtain lining (£2 per m) at the moment for the basic Egyptian costumes. Gwynne

Gwynne you have my sympathy....I too used to make all my own clothes and those of my two daughters....and all the costumes for all the School Plays... Now I stick to curtains, altering, and covers for Settee and cushions etc. Good Luck! Jacquie xxxx

Hi Joan, I think some technical colleges still do traditional dressmaking and tailoring - which would include alterations. My friend did tailoring at night school a few years ago. Gwynne

Hi Gwynne, I used to make hats when I was younger nothing too fancy just very basic 30's style in looks....never wore them even though they fitted... Love Susie xx