Sew Simple Shrug

I made myself one of these from Sew Hip issue 5. My friend Jodie was very taken with it, and asked me to get her some nice fabric at the Stitches & Craft Show, for her own version - which we finally both found the time to make today!

She hasn't sewn since she was fourteen, and corralled into a home ec classroom with a bunch of machines from the age of dinosaurs. Did anyone have a good experience with those metallic behemoths? All I remember mine doing was constantly eating its own bobbin, making snarls I simply could not unravel, that often meant my project had to be cut up, in order to pry the fabric from the machine's maw.
Like me, Jodie says she has spent years thinking she hates sewing and sewing machines, because of those early experiences.

But I promised this was a REALLY easy project, and the results would be fabulous (especially with these fabrics, yum!). So I soothed my friend's nervousness, demonstrated how lovely my sleek, modern machine is, and watched carefully as she sewed her first machine project since the twenty years ago apron.

I feel so cheerful about the result; look at that big smile! She did it! And it looks fab. I'm so proud of her.

Jodie is now the second friend I have introduced to the joys of sewing useful things with the aid of a machine. My first 'student' made her daughter a bag with my help, and got her own sewing machine for her last birthday. I'm really looking forward to seeing what she makes.

I am Sew Hip

I discovered this magazine at the local newsagents' a few months ago, and have become seriously enamoured. It's a mere $10, from the UK, and is called Sew Hip.

Every issue has multiple patterns, for adult and children's clothing, toys, homewares and crafty bits and bobs. There are interviews with professional crafters, fabric and stationery designers. There's so much I cannot get over how cheap the magazine is - but then, I forget sometimes that Australia doesn't have the population to support some of the amazing artisan-focussed things I remember from my time living in London.

It's funky and youthful without having the hipster 'edginess' which can make my teeth ache. Every week now I rush to the one place I know that carries it to check for the next issue, but I'm currently dropping hints about what Santa may wish to bring me for Christmas (in the form of a subscription?). I may have to write him a letter, methinks!