Ever watched Kirstie’s Homemade Home on TV and thought, that’s great, I’d love to do that, if only I could thread my sewing machine…writes Anne Horner
Yes, me too. But don’t despair. Angela Richardson of Wellington has the answer: she is going to be running Know Your Sewing Machine classes.
I interviewed Angela in her house in central Wellington, a home which is stuffed with fruits of her machine: soft toys, cushions, lacy bibs for babies as well as vintage finds such as Edwardian nightdresses and faded ballet shoes.
Angela says: “My machine has made all the stuff you see in this room, the teddy bears, the cushions.
“There are so many ladies who have a sewing machine and they don’t quite know where to start. I’m not aiming at the serious sewer who gets the machine out every week, I’m aiming at the person who got a sewing machine last Christmas and it’s still in the box, who feels slightly nervous and not sure what a machine can do and how to look after it. People don’t know about general maintenance.
“The basic machines nowadays are capable of so much if you know how to do it, so it’s really about making people get it out of the box and thinking ‘how does this work?’. ‘What needles go with this fabric, how do I change my needle?’”
Her two and a half hour course covers maintenance, general upkeep, right and wrong things to do and drawing with the machine, using it to create a leaf pattern.
Angela will run the classes for a maximum of two people in her own home a few minutes’ walk from Wellington High Street. The class costs £35 for 2.5 hours and includes refreshments. If she has a larger class she will hire a local hall.
For more information email Angela at angela.m.richardson@btinternet.com. See Angela’s work at the craft website etsy www.etsy.com/shop/theenglishromantic, read her blog theenglishromantic.blogspot.com or follow her on Twitter @englishromantic.