About

Granny Sews

I am a retired professional, and have interests in sewing, knitting, cookery, nature, reading and art. I spend regular time at our allotment and enjoy making preserves from time to time, as well as picking and eating the wide variety of healthy organic fruit and veg we grow there. My husband does most of the hard work of digging and soil preparation, and I help with tidying, harvesting and food prep. It's a great way to get outdoors more often! 🍅🥒🥕🥔☀️⛅🌈 Our two sons live overseas, so we don't see them very often. Sewing things for them and their family members is a great way to connect 🔗 and show our love. There's nothing like knowing that granny (or another loved one) has spent time thinking about just you, your personal needs and preferences, and wants to make you a unique item to demonstrate how much you matter - we all need that in our lives!😍😻 I make a lot of my own clothes and I make things for others in my family as well, if I know they will welcome home-produced items. They're not everyone's preference, and I respect that view - we're all different, after all. My wonderful husband is one of my best customers, and he has now got quite a collection of wacky shirts made from Minerva's amazing fabrics, his new favourite being a tomato red version I made earlier this year, which reflects his love of heritage railways with it's brake pressure indicator design! I have even been taken to the train to see the said indicator, which looks like a dial or clock in the guards' van. He loves that shirt! He's worn it loads of times, and has proudly shown it off to all his friends at the railway! This is the beauty of sewing for your family and friends - everything you make is a one-off and can't be bought in any store! 💃👚👔🚂 I make summer and winter tops and dresses for myself, and in the past I have made bags, a sewing catch-all, and other non-clothing items. More recently, I have been sewing every new season for two of my littlest grandchildren, who keep on growing bigger and needing new things, which is keeping me very busy indeed! 🧵🎰 I would say I am an intermediate-to-experienced-level sewist, but one who still makes mistakes and has to unpick seams, from time to time, just like the rest of us; it goes with the territory. I, too, have regular "fights" with my automatic buttonhole feature, and I have to say it is the one part of any make which I dread! I have yet to figure out why some days it behaves wonderfully well and sews straight, even buttonholes, and on others I can't get any sense from it. I have watched the Minerva videos to see if I am missing a trick, but I do the exact same things and it jams! Then it will un-jam suddenly, for no explicable reason, and work fine! 🤔😭 I have a passion for finishing the insides of garments as well as the outsides, as they look lovely, and last much longer if care is taken with this aspect. I don't have an overlocker or any other more fancy machines. I just use my Singer "Confidence" sewing machine, which had enough features to cover all my needs, and was a birthday gift a few years ago from my husband and son. It had been worth entry penny, and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to update their machine with additional features to the basic models. In years gone by, I made my own wedding dress many years ago, and more recently I made a smart, tailored jacket to wear for a funeral. Over time, I've made a few casual jackets, many dresses, cardigans, blouses, shirts, t-shirts, skirts, trousers, house-wares and plenty of knitted and crocheted items as well as sewn ones. Since retiring though, I have focused much more on sewing than other hobbies, and would love to try making a tailored winter coat. I have a child's pattern and some reversible coating which I bought from Minerva, and have also bought the ladies' 1960s coat pattern from Sew Over It. 🧥👚👗💃👔 Lined up, and using from my stash, I have a couple of men's shirts to make for my husband over this next year, plus a pyjama top for one granddaughter, a reversible pinafore dress for the smallest one, a winter dress for myself for Christmas, a warm lined hoody for my eldest granddaughter, now at university (and missing her folks!), a pair of knitted wrist-warmers made in beautiful 100% Merino yarn - just started those - my latest "sofa project", some more little cotton jersey dresses for the little ones, a winter dress for my daughter-in-law and have just finished matching warm hooded sweater-knit jackets for the two youngest children, plus a set of jersey dresses for each of them - I don't have a lot of wasted time, but my family appreciate my efforts, which is lovely and brings it's own reward! 💕 I enjoy posting on Minerva to share my makes with the community, and have received some lovely comments from kind fellow-sewists about the things I have made!