Friday 11 January 2013

Learning to Sew

If you've followed this blog for any length of time, you'll know that I am teaching my 10-year-old granddaughter to sew.  She's a really enthusiastic student (I hope that enthusiasm translates to school subjects too!) but we've had problems fitting "lessons" into a schedule - especially with Christmas being so busy.  Still, all that's over for another year!



Keira can sew in a reasonably straight line using my machine and has made a few things already - she is justifiably quite proud of her makes.  We're moving onto bags (at her request) and this is where Abakhan comes in.  They have a huge range of fabrics, so...


I've ordered this gorgeous retro turquoise fabric which was kind of my starting point.  Then I noticed this cute butterfly fabric picked up some of the same colours:


and the lilac gingham might tie it all together. Pretty much everything is reduced at the moment, too!


A metre each of all this all comes in - even with interfacing - at under £15.  I expect we'll each get a lined tote bag from it, and even accounting for internal and external pockets, there will be fabric left over for other projects (purses, key rings, phone pouches, maybe?).  It's all a little bit girlier than my usual style, but I suspect it's exactly the right level of girliness for Keira!

I must admit, the fabrics all feel very summery and I think that working on something like this when the days are short and cold gives you that feeling of looking forward to a lovely summer (even if the reality can be a bit of a wet let-down here in the UK!).

This is part of Abakhan's monthly £15 challenge, and Abakhan are kindly supplying this fabric.  I can't wait - fortunately their delivery times are pretty quick.

5 comments:

MadBirdDesignsUK said...

Great that you are teaching your Granddaughter. Can't wait to see the bags! Joan

Wendy said...

Thanks Joan - you wouldn't believe how much she loves using the sewing machine! I can't wait for the fabrics to arrive - hope they're all in stock!

Mrs A. said...

That's a really nice idea and fun for both of you to share time together using the sewing machine. Hugs Mrs a.

Ally said...

You have a very lucky grandaughter! I desperately want to learn to sew with my sewing machine (I have a very basic cheap machine) but don't know where to start :(

Wendy said...

Allison, I would really recommend finding a local class, which will give you all the basic knowledge and a whole lot of confidence. Once you've got the basics, you may find you can teach yourself from books, blogs, websites and youtube. Good luck x