Category: Lifeskills

What am I doing?  Do I really have so much time on my hands that I can write a blog? Well, why not?  After all, if you want something done well, ask a busy person! I have spent too long staring at the television, at a programme I either have little or no interest in watching, or have already seen so many times that I’m utterly bored with it. Lately, I have come to the conclusion that I really should spend my time more productively. So, along with my daughter Jo, we have decided to share our views on life, the lifeskills we have acquired, and lots of other interesting, amusing or crazy ideas that occur to us from time to time.

I have always enjoyed helping people to learn new lifeskills that I have already acquired so, here I am, ready to share such wisdom as I have accumulated over the years.

My grandmother (paternal) was a seamstress – a very good one.  My other grandmother (maternal) was extremely good at crochet and embroidery.  Luckily these abilities were passed down to me and I derive great comfort in spending time on these activities, amongst others!

I have been knitting and crocheting since I was about 5 (so that’s over half a century’s experience). I have also been sewing from about the same age, and I have acquired other skills like tatting, netting, macramé along the way. Most of these I have learned by reading, along with a certain amount of trial and error.

I started with patchwork, following in the style of my grandmother, who used the ‘grandmother’s flower garden’ hexagonal patches.  My father showed me how to make hexagonal patches out of old newspapers, to form the patches.

Necessity is the mother of invention

My father worked hard all his life but was, unfortunately, in a profession that did not pay well enough to cover all the expense of a mortgage and growing family. As a teenager, therefore, I adapted my sewing to making clothes for myself.  I couldn’t afford new fabrics – for a start the nearest fabric shops were a long bus ride away and that meant taking money away from what I could spend on fabric – so I went to jumble sales.  Luckily, a few local families had rather more money than they needed and used to donate some wonderful evening gowns and cocktail dresses.

Being the beginning of the mini skirt era, dresses with yards of skirt fabric were very quickly becoming less than fashionable but, used judiciously, I could make two or three dresses and a skirt or two out of one gown, or combine fabrics from two or more to make something even more special.  And nobody ever turned up anywhere wearing the same as me!

Later, when I had children of my own and we found ourselves in a very broke situation, I adapted my earlier habits and frequented the local charity shops. I bought sweaters which, on close inspection, I saw could be unpicked, and I made cardigans and jumpers for the children.  It is worth checking the seams to make sure they are not stitched and cut as these can’t easily be reused.

At that time I also taught myself how to make nourishing and tasty family meals on a shoestring.  My younger daughter claims that my stuffed pancakes will be her choice if she is ever on death row and has to choose her ‘last meal.’  It was a case of having no money and only a few bits and pieces in the fridge and store cupboard.  Out of desperation came a family favourite which I am still being asked to make on a regular basis.

I hope to be posting ideas and suggestions for things to do and how to enhance your lifeskills fairly frequently, along with my daughter, Jo, so watch this space…..