Who inspired you to sew?

I always attribute my love of crafts and sewing to my maternal grandmother – she wasn’t a quilter, but was great at crocheting and sewing. She was a hard-working, busy lady, waking up at the crack of dawn and not sitting down till the evening when all the day’s work was done. And even then, she would not do nothing… her hands were always busy crocheting away. She made numerous doillies, lace trimmings for pillow cases and sheets, and colourful cushion covers and blankets.

She also had a 1920s’ Singer sewing machine, which I was fascinated by when I was little. The machine was housed within a beautiful wooden cabinet. Whenever we visited our grandparents, who lived in a flat in Madrid, Spain, one of the first things I would do (after giving them a big cuddle), would be to run down the hall to take a look at the sewing machine. It was at the end of (what seemed at the time like) a long corridor under a wall-mounted Grandfather Clock which chimed every quarter hour!

I would kneel down on the floor and open the cabinet door to peer inside. The machine itself, when not in use, would lie upside-down inside the cabinet. On the inside of the cabinet door there was a little compartment to keep bobbins, threads and other sewing paraphernalia, and whenever I think about it, like now, I can still remember how the cabinet used to smell.

To this day I’ve only seen the machine upright a handful of times. It’s quite a neat design how the top of the cabinet folds out to form a sewing table, and then the machine itself can be lifted from its casing through a flap in the top of the cabinet. Nearly one hundred years on, the machine – with its old needle, wheel and pedal – still work.

Sadly my grandmother passed away about 30 years ago… The sewing machine has since been passed down to my mum and it will eventually come to me one day.

Every time I visit my parents, I take a look at the machine. It still smells the same way I remembered from when I was a little girl. And all the bits and pieces that go with it are still there. It’s a little part of my grandmother, and a little piece of history.

Who inspired you to sew? I’d love to know. Drop me a line and share your story with me!

Till next time.

Mel x

My inspiration – my grandmother; this is a corner of my sewing room, with a photo of my grandmother, and one of the doillies and blankets she made.