Summer holiday clothes to sew

Press, 5 December 1979, Page 15

Summer holiday clothes to sew

Everyone needs a few casual clothes for the summer holidays and there is still plenty of time to sew a few for the whole family before the rush of Christmas. “T” shirts in particular, are cheaper to make than buy. There are a number Of versatile patterns available both in the Vogue and Butterick pattern books — in different sizes and styles, some with attractive motifs.

For stretch cotton knit fabrics, Emily’s at 122 Oxford Terrace probably has the best range. Poly cotton “T” shirt fabric retails at approximately $3.25 for a metre 120 cm to 150 cm wide, stretch cotton interlock at $2.99 a metre, stretch terry towelling (ideal for “T” shirts, tracksuits and sweatshirts) $7.49 for a metre 150 cm wide. All fabrics come in a wide range of colours from pas-

tel to bright shades. There is also a “T” shirt pattern available at Emily’s, for $2.40. Pattern 3001 includes styles to trace Out for the whole family including the “V” neck, turtle, polo and round neck designs, Mr Dennis Sunderland, the manager of Emily’s, says “T” shirts are one of the simplest things to make. One shirt takes only half an hour to sew using only f metre of fabric. If a home sewer does not have a sewing machine with a stretch stitch the shirt can be finished and neatened with the zig zag stitch. Contrasting or matching neck trims, sleeve and waist bands can also be joined to the “T” shirt in a similarly straighforward fashion. The staff at Emily’s are fully trained in the sewing Of knitted fabrics and are always ready to advise any home sewer who is having difficulties. Apart from cotton knit fabrics the shop stocks knit jersey in a wide assortment of colours, shapes and sizes and orders for this fabric are received from throughout New Zealand by customers who want to make up their own pullovers, cardigans, waistcoats and jerseys. Mr Sunderland says he likes to specialise in fabrics which are normally only available to the manufacturer, to enable the home sewer to have more of an opportunity to “make their own.” One popular line of fabric in this category is the hard wearing Mother Care

fabric which retails at $6.75 for a metre 140 cm wide and mail orders are accepted for this. The Lycra stretch swim suit material, plain and patterned at $7.99 a metre 150 cm wide, is also available at Emily’s but difficult to obtain anvwhere else. The top fashion fabrics stocked include “Racquel” a stretch floral and plain 150 cm wide fabric from $5.99; printed Challis 90cm wide at $4.99 suitable for shirt and dress patterns and polyester jersey/knit fabrics in various patterns, 150 cm wide at $1.99 a metre. Buttons, zips, cotton, lace trims, sew-on motifs and strapping for tracksuits are all included in the full range of sewing accessories available at Fmilv’s.