59 weeks later….
Monday, August 31st, 2015
On July 20th 2014 Sassy Sewing made our first post (see the re-post below). At the end of it was a musing on what will this blog look like in a year’s time. Well, the answer is something I never thought would happen. 59 weeks later Sassy Sewing has grown from a blog, to a plan to run workshops to a proper bricks-and-mortar shop and a team of friends and it’s fast approaching its own first anniversary.
We’ve met hundreds of new mates, some wonderful personalities, a whole load of suppliers, big and small and at least two dozen assorted animals accompanying their owners into the shop. We’ve had almost 500 people attend our workshops and created a whole legion of ‘born-again’ sewists (still can’t use the word sewer without thinking about drains). We’ve watched our little website go up and down on Google (mostly up) and at one point Sassy Sewing was the top of the list if you searched for ‘sewing workshops UK’. I can’t tell you how proud that made me feel.
But most importantly we (and that growing band of sewists) have made hundreds, maybe even thousands of garments, bags, quilts, pinafores, curtains, upholstery, baby clothes and wall protectors for their classic cars. And it seems that every single one of us (and you) have enjoyed pretty much every single one.
So, thank you for reading, thank you for coming along to the workshops and thank you for sharing your sewing tales and lovely comments on Sassy Sewing. It’s been one hell of a year. Wonder if I dare ask it again? Oh, why not…I wonder where we’ll be in 12 months time?
July 2014:
September 28 2013. 1.25pm. We’re due at a friend’s wedding in 91 minutes. The church is about an hour away from here and I’m still about half an hour from finishing my outfit. Maybe leaving just a week from start to finish was a little ambitious. Maybe I should have stayed up an extra hour last night?
But somehow, in amongst the panic, this is fun. Perhaps this is a new extreme sport. Freestyle sewing against the clock. Like triathlon, but with needles. One day it’ll be sponsored by Red Bull. Swearing never helps and passing the blame certainly doesn’t but right now, every other person, dog, cat or bluebottle passing through our dining room is partly responsible…obviously.
And then, somehow, everything comes together. …the machine finally gives in and ‘allows’ me to make that last button hole ( I’m very grateful thank you!) Then that’s it – the last stitch passes through the last hole and my creation (sounds like Frankenstein) is ready. Two hours later (ahem) we screech to a halt at the church, like a scene from Four Weddings and take our place, just in time. And nine hours after that, of sitting, standing, mingling, dancing, staggering and maybe even the odd drunken headbang (who doesn’t love a bit of Guns and Roses?) my new outfit ends the night intact, unscathed and ready for more of the same. And no one has worn anything like it. No one has seen anything like it. And it fits. And it’s mine. And I could wear some of it to work on Monday (providing the guacamole stains come out, of course).
And that, I suppose is why we all do this. To bypass the stores, skip past the rails of ill-fitting, over-priced, here-today outfits and make something that says… ‘Hello world, this is me’ in a not-quite-camp-but-still-slightly-diva-ish kind of way.
All of which is a long-winded way of saying ‘Hello and welcome to Sassy Sewing’ A blog for those of us continually surprised at our ability to make something we like that doesn’t unravel around our ankles at the first gust of wind.
This is a place for those of us still learning. Still discovering new techniques and wondering what that whizz-bang-widget is for and why-the-hell-should-we-buy-one. Thank you for joining in. I wonder where we’ll be this time next year?
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