the hemming bird
My passion for sewing started at an early age when making matching outfits for
mother and daughter was the done thing! The sewing machine we used was
temperamental but despite this I was hooked! On visits to my grandparents I
would also watch my granny hand sewing little bags with zips or altering her
clothes. The possibilities of this new hobby seemed endless. You could also save
a fortune and I was so pleased with my creations… What I loved about sewing and
still do, is being able to make something that is exactly what I want and it is
well-finished enough so it looks as though I have bought it. It certainly
doesn’t have to be expensive either, in fact the thriftier the better! Over the
years I have been on various courses and workshops to learn more about sewing
(and in particular more recently about soft furnishings) and I even got myself a
job for a year in the Fabric Department at Liberty in London which was really
rather special! I eventually became a teacher myself (English as a Foreign
Language) which I loved; I now know how I would want to be taught and how not to
teach! For the past six years or so I have been making soft furnishings in the
room at the bottom of the garden, firstly for family, then friends and then
others, all with the ultimate aim of setting up sewing workshops. And so my
dream job is now a reality: all my experience has come together so I can teach
people my passion for fabrics, colour, sewing and soft furnishings. The
satisfaction I get and can give my students is immense; now I am giving people
the skills and the confidence to make beautiful cushions for their home or for
their friends; teaching them how to calculate and cut for beautifully
hand-finished curtains and blinds… and all in the fabric they love! These sewing
workshops are the making-time for you and your home – so what will you come and
learn?
