Creating Christmas gifts a popular pastime

Press, 2 December 1987, Page 24

Creating Christmas gifts a popular pastime

Lots of folks will find homesewn garments made especially for them in their Christmas stockings this year. Making Christmas gifts for friends and relations seems more popular this season than ever before, say Jenny and Malcolm Smart, who own Simpson’s Sewing Centre. They have noticed how many more people are buying fabric to make presents. - “You have the pleasure of using your talents to please someone you are fond of, and the satisfaction of being able to say you’ve created a garment yourself as well as saving money,” Jenny Smart says..

The range of fabrics available for stretch sewing has come a long way in recent years and home seamstresses are quick to snap them up and transform them into fashionable garments, the Smarts say. As well as the popular pastels — mint, peach and

mauve — you can choose from multicolour stripes and pastel stripes. Bold • abstract patterns are also selling well. ..7 ■■••• Simpson’s sell fabric suitable for a variety of garments. They have a range of stretch cotton knits ideal for cool summer skirts and tops and cable patterns for tops and cardigans. Simpson’s Sewing Centre are Brother sewing machine specialists and if you are thinking of investing in a new model, Jenny and Malcolm Smart can advise you on the one best suited to your needs.

For $469 you can buy a basic model for stretch sewing. As the prices Increase, so do the additional

features on the machines. One model has an automatic one-step buttonhole. It has a place at the back of the foot where you Insert the button and the machine automatically sews the buttonhole of the correct size, marvellous for making a number of buttonholes of equal size. Overlockers are selling well, Malcolm Smart says. Many seamstresses prefer to combine the versatility of the overlocker with their older model sewing machine.

Priced from $999 to $1349, an overlocker is “the nicest Christmas present,” the Smarts says.

The new models which have three and four threads combined cope with every kind of knitted and woven fabric.

Using stretch fabrics, it Is possible to make tracksuits, swimwear, lingerie, sweatshirts — you are limited only by your imagination, they say. With their sewing machines go a free course of seven sewing lessons. These are of course available to anyone wanting to learn to sew stretch fabrics, at the current price of $71.50. “We pride ourselves on our service, and the classes are our way of showing people how to use their sewing machine," Malcolm Smart says. The classes are held during the day and evening. They cover making tee-shirts, sweatshirts, panties and bikinis, lingerie, tab fronts, and waistbands.