Basic sewing...

While we've been living up in Yorkshire (not long until we move again now) I've been making good use of the local children's centres here. If you are a mum of under 3's then it is well worth you having a look at the services your local centre offers, as not only do they do plenty of activities and sessions for little ones, most also offer adult education courses.

In the past I've done child first aid, card making and a small business course. Over the last month I've just completed another course - this time a basic sewing course which though very much targeted at beginners was still interesting and once we get all our belongs out of storage I'll be sure to dust off my own sewing machine and put some more time in on it.

The course was just for a 2 hour session over 4 weeks and in that time we covered very briefly threading up machines, using basic patterns, cutting pieces, sewing seams and a little bit of hand embroidery.

Unfortunately course materials were limited - we only had 4 machine between 10 mums so often there was quite a wait to do any sewing. The fabrics provided were also just scraps and nothing really exciting - even so we all managed to make use of what was available to add our own personal touch and when a course is free you can't really complain.

First up we had a go at making a simple taggy - a tactile sensory toy blanket thing with ribbons sticking out around the edge. These were pretty simple and quick to make and we all managed to get one done within our 2 hour session.

For the next 2 sessions we made up a little purse thing which involved doing some simple hand embriodery on the front - this is what took most of the time and now I've finished mine I'm not entirely sure what to use it for... it didn't quite work out as nicely as I had hoped.

For our last session we optimistically tried to make up a little hand bag - however with the limited sewing machines we didn't all get to finish so I've still got a few things to do on my bag - hopefully I'll get round to it soon as it would make a cute little bag for a toddler.