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Ah... Clothkits... I have a great affection for the brand having spent most of the 70's dressed head to toe in their garments (delivered by post in kit form and then assembled & sewn by my mum). Unfortunately the company went into a prolonged period of hibernation (about 17 years) but has been recently revived and is back with a vengence with some contemporary reworkings of original items and plenty of new designs by innovative designers such as Jane Foster, People Will Always Need Plates and Rob Ryan.
Fortunately for me Clothkits' revival has provided me with the opportunity of attempting my first proper, on my own, non supervised sewing project... albeit with stabilisers on (all the cutting lines are printed directly on to the fabric in a simple format which omits the need for paper patterns, and even the thread and buttons are provided... I was desperately hoping that this approach would be fool proof!).
And thankfully it was relatively straight forward.
So here is the finished article; a Jane Foster designed dress for my 2 year old daughter who was thrilled with the 'birdy' design.
And my verdict... as my first attempt at a wearable garment I'm happy to say it's a good start... I learnt a lot in the process but there's still plenty of room for improvement!
Well now that the inaugural Clothkits cushion has been mentioned I thought it would be worth showing it here. That day at the Barbican was a creative turning point for me and I came away from the Do Something Different Weekend giddy with excitement... and a very lovely little cushion designed by the design duo People Will Always Need Plates.
Well, Cathy said it all.
I confess. My name is Curtis and I'm a novice needle worker.
The last time I did any kind of 'structured sewing' was at the age of seven. Back then I also toyed with fuzzy felt, glitter ,safety scissors and the idea of being a super hero. I didn’t think, for a second, I would ever be revisiting any of those crafty concepts again.
Never say never! I’m now a forty year old man with a new sewing machine and not ashamed to say it.
Cathy persuaded me to buy a ticket to the Clothkits ‘sew in’ at the Barbican Centre. I went to the centre with Ingrid and we met up with Cathy once there. It was brilliant! We made a cushion, yeah, that’s all it took. I tell you, it was tantric and now I can’t stop sewing. It’s like some strange bodkin has been used to stitch my right foot to the sewing pedal.
So join us on our sewing extravaganza. There’s gonna be tears, laughter, soft furnishing, failures and even more successes, I hope.
