Sunday, February 8, 2009

My Story

MY STORY

I started sewing at an early age ;) I won all the prizes in my age group from Stranded one right up until I was 15 and left School…


My ambition was to be a tailor, and I never changed. I always thought that sounded more impressive.I started my apprenticeship in “Kay’s of Duke Street” a very upbeat shop in Barrow-in-Furness, England.


Noblemen, Lords and Ladies were all we catered for. Every thing was sewn by hand in pure silk thread, Joe the main man sat cross-legged on a large table, the apprentices sat on chairs in front of him, “myself and another girl” there were never more than two apprentices at one time..


We were only given the linings to do and if anyone needed any basting, every thing we did had to go under inspection before being passed, we practiced button holes every day…


Each two or three months we were given something different to do, as long as we passed our last test. I got more work then the other apprentice, I seemed to be Joe’s favorite… . In my 5 years apprenticeship, Joe taught me every thing there was to know about tailoring.I found out afterwards that normally you only got to learn one thing either Vests, Trousers, or if you were very good you were taught Gentleman’s Jackets...


I was always in the height of fashion, all my friends pleaded with me to sew for them, my reply was always No! I do not have time, and then I came up with a brilliant idea to stop them from pestering me :) I said if you can get me 6 months work I will stop going to work and start sewing at home full time then you can have all you want, “with a giggle”


Three weeks later Sheila my friend brought me a list, I didn’t know what it was for? until “Sheila said; This is your six months work, you said if I could get you six months work you would stop going to work and start sewing for me.” I could not believe my ears, I thought about it for a while and discussed it with my Mother who was all in favor for me do the sewing in the spare front room. The next day I put in my weeks notice…


I started my sewing business the very next week, I was so busy I had to take on an apprentice as the ladies that I tried out just could not do sewing to my standards. Ladies had to wait up to two years for their sewing to be completed. It was crazy!!!

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