Things no-one told me about sewing...

• you will need to iron a lot.  I mean a lot
• a nice chunky knitting needle is the bee's knees for pushing out corners
• you will wish you had been born with a quick-unpick as a spare limb
• re-threading the overlocker could lead to the need for therapy
• the bobbin will run out of cotton right in the middle of a main seam - usually the front neckline
• no matter how many buttons you own, you will neeeeed more
• did I mention the ironing?

Summer shorts and boardies time

Well it's soon gonna be *that* time of year... you know the one... where the big orange orb in the sky is in full bloom for hours and hours a day, the water is warm, and the jandals get a good airing.  Time for the chilly bin to be dusted off and the BBQ to be fired up.  It's SHORTS TIME!

I love summer, not just for wearing shorts and t shirts and sandals and suncream, but also for being able to make shorts and skirts for MooAndFlo. So today I whipped up the first few pairs, and here's a sneaky peeky...

10 step programme

My name is Flo and I'm a fabri-holic.

I like to think I can stop at one print, but once I've started it just seems to start a domino effect and before I know it my trolley has 15 bolts in it, some of it the hard stuff like quilters' cotton.  And I tell myself, okay, well I'll just get one metre of each, that's not so bad... then I see the 50% off sign and soon I am sneaking 2- and 3- metre cuts into my unmarked brown shopping bag and hoping no-one will notice. 

So I'm asking you, as my friends, please don't offer me offcuts.  Don't ply me with remnants or fat quarters.  Keep your bolt ends locked in a cuboard out of reach.

Please help me to help myself.

My name is Flo and I'm a fabri-holic.

Cyborg Sewing and Robot Ragtrade

It's safe to say, despite my modest achievements, I'm not the best seamstress in the world.  The tailors on Saville Row, the masters of cloth like Vera Wang and Louis Vitton have one over on me there.  But one thing's for sure, my old eyes and wrinkled hands are not half bad at lining up fabrics accurately, can spot a slight pucker here or a missed stitch there, and can hem a frock capably in no time.  But it seems (seams?) that soon I will have even more competition, this time in the shape of a one-armed blind robot tailor!  Oh my battered pride!

The Leapfrog Project is trying to build an automated sewing 'robot' that will be able to create made-to-measure clothes at a fraction of the cost of conventional bespoke tailors.  They clearly think there's money in it, as they've invested 23 million Euros in the project and even companies like Hugo Boss are involved.  You can watch the robot in action here:
Robot Tailor created by the Leapfrog project

But there is hope... the robot tailor's achievements are so far fairly modest.  It can align and join two pieces of fabric with a seam, but can't yet insert sleeves or attach a cuff or collar, let alone add on a jaunty pocket...   And I very much doubt that even when it's finished and operational, it can compete with the handmade love, care and customer service we are lucky to enjoy here in little old New Zealand from our wonderful crafting community... so maybe my wee MooAndFlo empire is safe for a wee while yet.