Sewing Gage

When I was at the Sewing Bee Live exhibition, one of the patterns that I got my hands on was for this shopping bag; Now, this isn't something that I wouldn't normally make, but my mum's 70th birthday was coming up, so I thought it would make a nice personal present for her. She loves owls, so I found this canvas material at Minerva Crafts  which was perfect. The cream cotton material I used for the inside was from the haberdashery department at John Lewis The pattern was fairly easy to follow, I did have difficulty with the inside pocket, but I kind of went off on my own and did my own thing with it and it all came together in the end, and mum was happy with her present.

I loved watching this show when it was on, so I was excited to see that they had an event at the ExCel centre in London. The event boasted 200 plus dressmaking and sewing suppliers, 250 plus workshops and demonstrations (I never made it to any), and a live theatre featuring the presenters Patrick Grant and Esme Young. I managed to pick up a few free sewing pattern, I was persuaded into subscribing to Love Sewing magazine Oh, and I picked up a new machine, and industrial one for £299 from Eastman . I had never heard of them, but speaking to a friend later, and looking into the company, I seemed to have got myself a bargain; A couple of weeks later I received delivery of the machine, and my sewing area in the lounge is slowly expanding, soon to take over the whole room. I love this machine, its so sturdy and quiet. It only performs a straight stitch, but that stitch is perfect!