It's All about Sewing....Sew Hot

Hi

I love reading articles like the one below, it's about sewing. I found it in an Aussie paper but it is what I have been saying all my sewing life and that's a few years or more. When you sew your own garments you have the edge on those who don't and even the 'boys' are getting into it.

What one of the guys says about making clothes is what I say about building with timber. Same principles, you make the pattern, cut out the pieces and construct the finished product. On one hand you are working with timber, on the other hand you are working with fabric.

Same steps, just learning to use the tools for each, the basics are the same. And.... isn't it funny, no one scoffs at a female who makes things with timber like they do when a male makes things with fabric.

Okay that's my little rant, enjoy the article

It's all about sewing and sew hot

Cheers

Carmel
Sew More For U



Sew hot right now


Sewing's for grannies, right? Not any
more, writes Natalie Craig.

'THANKS. I made it myself." In sewing circles,
nothing quite beats the look on people's faces when
you tell them that your hot new outfit is an original
"you".

People who sew their own clothes may be annoyingly smug, but
if there's one thing they're not, it's
daggy. Once the domain of grannies and homemakers, sewing
is experiencing a revival - similar to the one that
brought knitting to pubs and city trams - and
everyone from builders to academics wants in.

John, 35, is a builder from St Kilda, and one of the most
unlikely sewers imaginable.

He says he and a friend got into sewing because of a game of
one-upmanship. "A friend of mine throws rave parties
- one of those things where everyone's trying
to outdo one another," John says.

"I was tired of always asking female friends to make things
for me.

"When we went to the sewing course, I didn't think
the teacher had ever had any men … I just learnt the
basics; the rest of it I figured out for myself. It's
the same skills you need to build a house - you just
have to imagine a 3D shape."

After learning to thread a machine, sew a straight line, and
finish seams and hems, John says he dove straight in and
"constructed" a pair of red PVC flares, which he reinforced,
true to his housebuilding sensibilities, with six rows of
stitches. "They're very sturdy pants," he says,
deadpan.

But despite John's sewing prowess, he's still
uncomfortable about his construction site mates finding out
about his hobby.

"I don't think they'd care if they thought
I'd just dabbled in it. But going to a course …"

Richard, 29, a Sydney architect and a sewer for four years,
has no such anxiety.

"I let what I create do the talking," he says. "I'm
an architect, so it's an extension of that creative
urge." Frustrated by the cost of men's clothes,
Richard says he's now able to look at something
that's out of his price range and think: "I can make
that." He's now making T-shirts with screen-printed
designs - a final product that costs him only a few
dollars.

Of course, men and women take up the needle for different
reasons. Fiona, 29, of Fitzroy, is size 6 and barely tips
152 centimetres. "The main reason I started sewing was to
make things that fit me," she says, showing off the severe
alterations she made to the vintage jacket she's
wearing.

"But there's more to it than that. People buy too
many clothes, then throw them out without wearing them …
We're not connected to the process any more -
of what we wear, where we live, what we eat."

Canberra's Lisa Howdin, founder of sewing website
fitzpatterns.com, is also concerned by our relationship with
production. "You can't get a $20 shirt without
paying people 50 cents an hour.

You just can't do it," she says. "You know if you
work long hours, you just get sick to death of your computer
screen … Sewing is something real that you can touch and
feel."

Howdin 's website features simple patterns for things
such as boat-neck tops ("because it's just not indie
rock without a stripey top"), T-shirt-style mini-dresses
("covers big butts when worn over jeans") and bolero jackets
("great for wearing over strappy tops").

The patterns are either free or cost a few dollars to
download. They come in PDF format, so you can print them off
at home and paste them together, or take the file to a
commercial printer.

Named one of Cosmopolitan Australia's top 12
websites, fiztpatterns.com is helping sewing shed its
housewife mantle. And major textile retailers are beginning
to reflect this trend.

"Sewing has now moved from a necessity to a leisure-time
activity," says Brian Swersky, joint managing director of
Lincraft.

"We've introduced sewing classes in our Southland and
Knox stores. They're being received very well, and
to date are fully booked."

Swersky says Lincraft is also introducing a range of
high-end fabrics to meet the demands of sewers looking to
recreate boutique clothes.

Lincraft went into receivership early last year, but Swersky
says the company's troubles were not a reflection on
the popularity of sewing.

"The DIY craft market is undergoing a huge growth," he says,
pointing to the trend in the United States, where sewing
and DIY crafts account for retail sales of more than $30
billion a year, according to the Craft and Hobby
Association.

Reflecting the US experience are websites such as
sewbetsyross.com. Founder Aimee Dolby (above), who's
based in Chicago, says women are turning to sewing as an
alternative to mainstream, "cookie-cutter" fashion.

"In a world where our fashion and retail habits are dictated
by the latest offerings of The Gap, it's refreshing
to know you can make a skirt yourself for half the cost of
a retail garment, and it's your own creation," says
Dolby.

Her website features downloadable patterns for
retro-inspired pieces such as pencil-line skirts,
high-waisted, wide-leg trousers, and pretty sundresses.

The patterns come with attractive, hand-drawn instruction
booklets - free from sewing jargon - as well
as a size chart and bookmark glossary. "I wanted to make
sewing more accessible," Dolby explains of her user-friendly
design.

"I think a lot of young women are sophisticated in the sense
that they have the means and intelligence to create
interesting, unique clothes, but they just don't know
where to begin."

Hollywood celebrities are starting to pick up on the trend,
with stars such as Elizabeth Hurley and Nicole Kidman
confessing to making their own clothes.

Gwen Stefani even broke her finger recently running up a
sample for her new fashion label, L.A.M.B. But you
don't need to go as far as Hollywood to find evidence
of the sewing revival.

The women at Dragana Edwards' sewing classes in
Caulfield include a doctor of genetics, a budding fashion
designer and a Latin dancer.

"I've anything from as young as 12 to as old as 77,"
says Dragana, who runs sewing and pattern-making courses
from her home.

"People are looking for a creative outlet … Sewing'
s less about saving money these days than about being an
individual."

Joy, 67, of Reservoir, has been attending Dragana's
classes for six years. She says she was forced to sew at
school, but hated it. "I sewed when I had young children,
but only to save money.

And then, about five years ago, I couldn't get things
to fit me properly and I didn't like the designs for
women my age - they're so daggy - so I
started to look around for sewing lessons. And I love it
now."

Carmel, a mother of one from Coburg, says she struggles to
find clothes that fit, and hates what's on offer at
mainstream shops. "Jeans are worse than going to the
doctors," she says.

"I sew for bigger women that are around my age … We might
be close to middle age, but we're still there,
we're still 'out there' and we still
want to look decent."

Dressed in a long, textured black tunic over stretch pants,
Carmel looks more like a fashion designer than a
stereotypical mum. Her nine-yearold daughter, Asha, is
equally trendy, thanks to her sewing.

"The tracksuit pants they've got at school have got
cuffs on them, and she hates them - everybody hates
them. So I make Asha's to be flared a bit! Now
everybody wants a pair."

Unlike when Joy and Carmel were at school, sewing or
textiles is no longer offered at most high schools, which is
part of the reason that Hollie and Katie, both 16, attend
Dragana's classes.

"I love it," says Hollie, of Malvern. "Our friends are
excited because we can make them stuff. And you learn heaps
and save money."

Katie, of Glen Iris, says she made a splash at the races in
a dress she'd made herself. "You know the kind that
scrunch around the top and then drop down?"

But what was the response when she told her teenage friends
- the highest arbiters of fashion - that she
made it herself?

"So cool."

DARN IT
MELBOURNE FABRIC STORES
¦ Remnant Warehouse, 10 Cato Street, Prahran. Phone: 9510
1121.
¦ Darn Cheap Fabrics, 1184 Glen Huntly Road, Glenhuntly.
Phone: 9563 6833.
¦ Artextil, 285 Lennox Street, Richmond. Phone: 9428
7199.
¦ Lincraft, Collins Street, city. Phone: 9650 1609.