Despite my daily suturing experiences, I’ve always wanted to learn how to sew.  So when I spotted a sewing short course run by RMIT,  I jumped at the opportunity and I am currently spending 3 hours per week attending lessons.  I’ve never used a sewing machine in my life, so the first lesson was rather daunting.

During our first lesson, we learnt how to take our body measurements, use the sewing machines and sew straight lines. The university industrial sewing machines are awesome- they are robust and they self-cut stitches! 

The teacher instructed us to buy quilting fabric to make our very first skirt. So off I went to Spotlight and bought something on sale.  I chose the ‘vintage’ pattern with ladies and gentlemen dancing, chuckling to myself because the skirt would be too hilarious to wear. To my surprise, every one of my sewing buddies admired the fabric and sought to find out where it came from. 

Even though the making time on the pattern we used to make our skirts all said ‘2 hours’, we spent at least 3 lessons ( equivalent to almost 9 hours) learning to make it from scratch. I guess that’s the difference between a novice and a seamstress.

In the end, all my hard work paid off and  my pencil skirt was not as much of a disaster as I had imagined.  It fits perfectly around my derriere and everyone on it seems to be having fun.

Coming soon… skirt number 2!