13th “thing” achieved: 27. Learn dressmaking/alterations

Since ditching Home Economics at the earliest opportunity, I forgot about sewing until my late 20’s when I suddenly discovered a talent for making fancy dress costumes.

My technique consists of “have a guess and hope it’s OK” but I wanted to learn some fundamental skills. In particular, how to follow a pattern, and how to alter clothes so that they fit me properly.

I undertook a search online and found Alex who teaches all sorts of sewing skills, and arranged a series of classes. She charged us £40 for two hours for up to 4 people. Due to other commitments, we were only able to get a group of 3 together – me, Natalie and Jo.

We decided we wanted to learn the following:

• Making clothes from a pattern
• Altering trousers (hems – mostly for Nat and Jo)
• Altering dresses (particularly nipping in at the waist and keeping room up top)

Alterations are a big deal for me. Every part of me is a different size so if I fit my top, clothes hang off me round the middle; if I fit my waist, the cloth bulges and stretches horribly around my bum, and so on. I bought a dress once which I paid to have altered and it was amazing. But I can’t afford to shell out £40 extra every time I get a new outfit! Alternatively, I can shop in Pepperberry which caters to curvy ladies, but they are fairly expensive and it does limit my choice somewhat.

We arranged to hold four sessions at Nat’s house, as she has a nice big table and lots of space. The first week we covered taking up trousers and repairing hems invisibly. No more WonderWeb for me!  We learned about different types of material, thread, machines, needles, pins and much more – Alex was a fount of information!

The second week I learned the proper way to repair a skirt that I ripped (I walked about with a super high split up my skirt all day due to an extra large step on the train). Nat began work on a dress pattern, whilst Jo started to make some shorts for her children from an old dress.

The third week I learned that the reason some of my dresses appear too big is because they are too long in the back, causing the material to bunch up. The dress I worked on had to lose about an inch in the shoulder, I shifted it all up a bit and sewed the sleeve back in. When finished, the dress fitted perfectly!

The final week I learned the bit I really wanted to know – how to make dresses more shapely around my curves. I’d picked up 2 good quality dresses from a charity shop for £4.50 each (per una and Coast) that fit my largest measurement but were loose everywhere else. Alex showed me how to pin, mark and create darts to make the clothes fit.

I managed to sort one, whilst the other now needs some material taking out of the back (like the previous week’s project). It’s a bit more tricky as there’s no room at the shoulder so I’ll have to take it down into the waistband, fiddly with an invisible zip. That one’s still a work in progress, but the other looks great and I’ve already had people comment on how nice it is!

Overall, I think I’ve made a really good start on the sewing. To truly grasp the nuances of the art would take many years but I feel I have enough skill to do what I set out to do – alter my own clothes to fit and repair those annoying little niggles.

All 3 of us have agreed that we have learned some useful skills and want to have more lessons. However we have other commitments (I have a lot on in the next 3 months!) so this may be something I come back to after my birthday.

I’ve got a pattern that I’m working on, I’ll be having a go on my own and then if/when I get stuck I’ll be calling Alex for some more lessons!

Alex teaches at Surrey Adult Learning, or you can book private lessons here.

It’s something I think we can all benefit from and Alex is the perfect teacher to get you on the right track!