Hello, introduction etc

Hello... First blog post so let's do introductions. My name's Susie. I've been sewing for years and years and years, but until last year I mostly made cushions and bags and patchwork, and square things like that. Then last year, the hugely stressful and time-intensive job I was doing ended, and I thought I'd teach myself to sew clothes properly. Well, a few months on and I've restocked my wardrobe, anything that could possibly need a cosy has a cosy, and I haven't got enough time to wear or space to store all the things I want to sew. In fact I'm eyeing up next door's cat and thinking whether he'd be improved by a little quilted jerkin. And he really wouldn't. So I thought I'd see if other people might like my things, because if I can sell some then I can make more. And I don't want to sound naff, because there's enough naffness in life (isn't there?) but nothing would make me happier than to think of other people walking about wearing my clothes. That would be amazing. So I started an etsy shop and it's been quite a learning curve so far (and I've hardly got anything in it yet.) I'm learning more than I ever thought I'd need to know about taking photographs in a house so small we haven't got any blank walls, using Gimp, and engaging with sergers. If I ever get to a stage where I know what I'm doing with any of them I'm going to blog about it.


In the meantime, this is my studio: I say studio: I mean box room. You note I'm not showing you the floor? The picture is by Dave who I used to work with. Dave has some lovely pictures – look on his site. But don't go buying all the Sun ones, because I'm having one of those as soon as I've got a bit of spare money. And the plant is a Peace Lily. It's the only plant I've ever not killed. I haven't given it a name because I don't want to become too attached (well, I have. I call it Fred. But I don't call it that out loud, because that would be tempting fate.)


This is a shelf full of my books. It has so many books it's actually bending. I won't tell you what I think about Weekend Sewing because I'm trying to be upbeat. All I'll say is, do you remember when Les Dawson used to dress as a woman? I looked like that in the Kimono dress.


And this is my tree. It only looks like that for about 5 minutes but while it does it's spectacular and I rush about taking photos. I thought it was appropriate for Spring and new beginnings.

Thanks for reading. I'll be back tomorrow to tell you my adventures with my serger because I'm hoping my experience can serve as a warning to others: that might give me some comfort, at least.