Just a little update!

Good evening folks,

Sorry its been a while, again, I am such a naughty blogger! I really must try to improve  the situation!

Its been a very busy month, we opened the new shop/studio on 1^st June and its been very well received. The Seamstress is going from strength to strength and I am so optimistic about the future; I get up every day with renewed vigour and cant wait to get to work, and its a lovely feeling.

I had worked from home on and off for years, but seeing the demand for couture dressmaking increase I simply couldn’t expect clients to shimmy past my dining room table for a fitting. The Seamstress is a light, modern unit, and I have changed the shop around so many times since we opened I am sure my partner Chris feels dizzy!

I am busy with dressmaking orders and alterations, the bulk of which are currently bridal. I know this will be seasonal and am looking forward to be able to complete more bespoke dressmaking  when the bridal alterations subside a little as the season progresses.

I have spent some time researching this week, as I have had quite a few gowns into the shop which have been a little problematic to say the least. These gowns have been ordered from abroad, and the biggest issue being the bride has ordered a size she feels may fit, but they are tending to ‘come up small’. The other issue is the quality is a little ‘poor’ in places, the finish isn’t brilliant, and the colour (when the bride chooses something other than white) can be rather different from the intended shade.

It is very hard to start a business from scratch and increase your orders, especially when the competition seems too good to be to true, price wise. I have been a dressmaker and craftsperson for many years, and previously doing this for ‘additional’ income was definitely easier to competitively price than when you have to make allowance for the business premise outgoings.

A few weeks ago I offered my lifetimes’ stash of vintage materials for sale. Seeing the direction of my business change so definitely I decided I no longer had  the space or the time to make textiles and very few of the garments I now make utilise the fabrics I had been lovingly storing for years. I was fortunate enough to be able to pass the collection on to a really lovely woman called Karen, whose blog I had read from time to time. see her lovely goodies here http://tilly-rose.co.uk/

Karen has recently embarked upon a new project herself, taking her business from entirely web and direct sales based to a fabulous new Vintage Craft workshop where she will assist fellow crafters and newbies with beautiful projects to treasure. I wish her well! I actually wish I lived closer, as even though I only met Karen once, if felt like I had known her for years!

Well, I better go, I promise I will be back again soon and I will upload some more recent photos of the shop, complete with new rail full of ready to buy gowns and rosey fitting room!

Take care and see you soon

Love Sue

Fathers Day

Good evening lovely people,
I am so sorry for the massive gap in blogging, I WILL fill you in - I have been mad busy with the new shop.... good news, but have hardly touched the lappage!
Enough for now, will be back tomorrow, just time to add a little verse I have just penned, sort of sums things up.

Its Fathers day today, that man we hold so dear

And i’m sending out my loving thoughts to dads no longer here

The dad who takes you fishing, or fiddling in the shed

The dad who tells you off then tucks you up in bed

The dad that watches world of sport and grumbles at your mother

The dad who hogs the remote control, there really is no other

The dad who works so hard to ensure you have the best

The dad who does overtime and is always last to rest

The dad who goes before his time and leaves a massive hole

The dad who you feel still around – he fills your heart and soul

So if your dad is still in the world, give him a big hug from me

Happy Fathers day to all the dads, I miss mine you see.

Love to you all
Sue xx

News of Norfolk

Good evening all,

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. After an early morning 'event' dress deliver, we packed and got ready for some 'time out'. We went to Norfolk on Friday to spend the weekend with some very good friends of Chris, and it was great.

On Friday we set off just before lunch after stopping at Mums for a quick cuppa, Chris driving at a plod pace for him, saving on the fuel!!!

Although we were staying in Fakenham, we found our way to the coast, driving through many pretty seaside villages, looking for more than a sand bank and distant view of the tide! I wanted to throw some roses into the sea, not that its symbolic, I was just being a mushy bird and wanted to do it to mark my Dads birthday. Nice thought, but most of the coast we visited in the first hour or two was adjacent to ‘The Wash’ and the tide was well and firmly ‘out’.

Our last port of call before heading inland was the very pretty ‘Cley Next The Sea’ where we headed out to a shingle beach and after climbing over the mountain of pebbles we found waves.  We ceremoniously watched our roses float away and bimbled back through the village, a mixture of cottages, tiny shops and guest houses, complete with windmill restaurant and B & B. Definitely one to put on the ‘must visit and stay sometime’ list.

After a pleasant evening with our friends, Saturday dawned bright, warm and calm. We took the steam train from Holt into the very lovely Sherringham, where we enjoyed the market, the crab and lobster festival and some time on the beach, even having a paddle in the chilly sea!

The town itself is busy and traditional, with a lot of the shops being small independent retailers, refreshingly the town wasn’t the same as every other high street. And of course I was drawn to every fabric/dress/wedding shop, as usual!  A large number of the shops had signs in their window, drumming up support for opposition to a planned supermarket development. It was obvious that any massive superstore would ruin this gorgeous place, and the town would end up like most of the other high streets in this country – closed and ‘to-let’, such a shame.

Anyway, I shall get off my soap box, for now!  Norfolk was welcoming and pretty, coupled with the great company we had, it really did go too fast and I for one, cant wait for the next time we all get together again .

On the work front we had our phone and broadband installed today, so it means I can photograph and upload from work, which will help. I am just finishing off a list of orders  and can now concentrate on filling the shop with one-off dresses and vintage style wedding gowns. I have got to get myself a curvier mannequin, as my old bird is rather skinny! I have been watching them on ebay, but they all seem to be miles away, buyer collects!
I am currently reserving  models to suitably show off the new range, and fortunately my daughter and her friends are on-hand and keen! Us girls, we will always love a good 'dressing-up' session.

Well, better go for now, need to put another wash load in before bed and I am yawning away, as usual! Bye for now, see you soon

Love Sue x

Birthday thoughts for Dad

Today is my Dads 80^th birthday. Those of you who know me are aware that Dad died just over a month ago after bravely trying to fight the effects of a massive stroke, eventually letting mother nature take him to a quieter place.

We surely would have gone out and done something special for his big day, so I am sending out much love to family and friends who would have been with his today to toast him with ‘half a lager shandy’!

The sunny chair in the corner of the conservatory is peacefully silent most days. Dad isn’t there flicking through the paper, passing the time of day, or rattling dried peas in his personal pigeon shooting stash on the coffee table. Dads catapult hangs still on the back of the chair, and happy pigeons flutter on by.

Mums been up today to lay flowers, and tended to the still blooming funeral flowers from his bright but sad day only two weeks ago. I am sure Mum said a few birthday words to Dad in a whisper.

Mum misses him terribly, she is so strong but I know she has her ‘moments’. We all miss the old bugger. Him leaping out of the chair to twitch the nets when someone drove by.  His memorable words of ‘CAFE’S CLOSED’ when we came in and Mum disappeared to the kitchen to put the kettle on, Dad knowing she’d return with a small spread!

We are away this weekend, not far from the North Norfolk coast, so I shall go to the sea and throw in a nice pink rose from the climber around my front door and I shall remember the good times and send Dad some love and birthday thoughts to where ever he is now. And maybe have a bit of pigeon pie, that’d make him laugh.

Sweets and Shops

Good evening folks,

I hope this finds you well! I thought I ought to fill you in with my goings on... in between seriously sewing like crazy!

Having spent the last 30 years dressmaking, most of it on a part time basis for additional income, and now and then dipping the toe into 'craft shop land',  two weeks ago Chris and I went to view some new premises as it was becoming impossible to work from home any longer. I have been increasing my orders weekly, and dressmaking in a small studio at the back of our house is now proving difficult. 
The final realisation that there are people out there who will buy a quality, hand made, unique British garment has pushed me into making the move into commercial premises. We trawled the internet for somewhere suitable, not necessarily a shop due to massive rents, and came back to a company called ‘Evans’ who offer light industrial, workshops and office space in Nuneaton, about 3 miles from us. Well, they pride themselves on ‘easy-in’ process and we viewed one day, had the required checks and had the key the next day – brilliant.

The studio can be used for retail but is primarily a huge amount of light, clean, new workspace. Admittedly, I would have loved a tumbling down house with sash windows and a fusty carpet, but being realistic this is ideal for where I am at. I have a small stock of clothing, but as I have been mostly making to order for some time, I do have some serious work to do to fill my rails. I will post a few pics of the new gaff!
My intention is to have a small sample selection, but to primarily 'make to order' specialising in one-off, couture Bridal Gowns. I have done my home work, and feel the market is now flooded with cheap import frocks, which seem to be porr quality, and small to say the least. So bring on the English roses, I will make your bridal dreams come true!

On a cost saving front I am making is hitting Tate and Lyle and Bassets in the pocket. You see I have felt a bit ‘off’ for a while, and after a visit or two to docs and some blood tests, the lovely but skinny doc has told me off in no uncertain terms. I am a proper trough-er , I indulge my ample self in home made cakes and a copious amount of confectionary every day. Well....it turns out I am borderline diabetic with a blood sugar running at about 10.9..ooops. I HAVE to adopt a sugar free diet, or else the insulin might be beckoning, and I don’t want that! I  am scheduled for some more tests, so I hope to have reduced the numbers by then. I have been sugar free for a week almost and it so hard! So I will say goodnight for now, I am off to bed soon, to dream of sherbert dibdab.

Blue Skies

Good evening lovely people, I hope this finds you well.

Firstly can I say a very big thank you to everyone who has left posts and kind words, reading them brought great comfort, like having many arms around my family with hugs from near and far.

Hasn’t the weather been gorgeous here? Our Friday afternoon was spent in the countryside with my step brother, his family, my bloke and my Mum. You see since Dad became ill I have only just got to know my step brother, I mean really know him. We had seen each other in passing, over the years, at the usual events, or in passing at Mum and Dad’s house, but as he had lived abroad  for years  and was a long distance lorry driver, I didn’t actually know him that well at all. He also has a sister (my step sister) who had become distanced from my step Dads family more than 35 years ago (I had never met her, and didn’t really understand what had happened) but when her Dad (my step Dad) became ill she arrived at the hospital and for a short while he knew she was there, thank goodness. She is a lovely woman, and although I will never know why there was no contact between her and her Dad I hope she can find some comfort in the fact that he was a good Dad to me for all these years. So out of this tragedy comes a little glimmer of brighter skies, as I now spend more time with the step brother I didn’t really know, and I have the chance to get to know my step sister too. So, at the request of my step brother we went to where he and his family were spending the bank holiday weekend camping. We had a tour of the pretty site, walked by the lake, ate barbeque and chatted and chatted, taking in the glorious sunshine and learning a little more about my relatives and reminiscing. I learned so much more about my step brother and his family, they are really lovely people and I sure we will make a big effort to meet up much more, it was great.

I have been busy scouring the loft for a photo album of mine. The album contains many photos of things I have made over the years, including lots of dresses, event dresses and party wear. I could really do with it to show customers, as I have been getting increasing orders for dresses again. I have a few plans up my sleeve, business wise, so watch this space! I guess events make you re-evaluate your choices and opportunities, and I want my Dad to be proud of me, where ever he now is.
The warmer weather has meant we have been eating lots of salad so at least my cold-slow-expensive oven hasn’t been used much! We have been busy pottering though, Mum has been here too, planting out (keeping busy) and we have plenty ‘coming’ up. Chris had started digging the concrete slab up at the bottom of the garden, where we are to be building raised beds, but he has put his back out, so we are on hold at the moment. I did do some digging myself last week, but for about the last 10 weeks I have had a proper dodgy arm and can’t hold the spade for long (don’t we sound like a pair of old wrecks!?). Under my Mums instruction I did go to the doctors last week about my dodgy arm, and I am now awaiting the results of blood tests, doc thinks it may be something rheumatism related? I think it’s just heavy bingo wings, or pure cheddar in my biceps, so we’ll see!

Well, I will attempt to resume a regular blog.... ha ha, sorry, I am so easily distracted by reading them and not writing my own. I will leave you now with a favourite photo of mine – it’s of Dad and me, bless him, taken many years ago (1977) when I was 12 and we were flying a kite on the cliff tops in North Devon, happy memories.

Bye for now, love to you all, Sue xxx

Goodnight Dad

Good evening folks

Sorry for the lack of blog. Today has been a sad day, but with a massive sense of relief I write this blog.

 Dad lost his fight for life, and peacefully left us just before 12 last night. He had battled on for more than 2 weeks, bless him, and for those of us seeing him begin to suffer, it was pure torture.

He had had a brain stem stroke, and from what we can deduce, it was severe. After nurse and doctor consultations we were aware of his plight – total paralysis from almost his chin down, but with the sensations of pain, and inability to cough and even swallow at times. He was a strong and brave man, but simply couldn’t hold on and after a very long 16 day beside vigil he slipped away just after we returned home for an hour or two, possibly preferring for us not to be there...who knows.

Dad only opened his eyes a little during the last few days, although I am sure he knew we were all there. Many, many friends and family came, and cried and said goodbye. At one point there were 8 young people (grandchildren, nieces etc) all leaving the ward in tears, and I felt proud when I saw the nurses looking, almost surprised at the army of ‘young-uns (as Dad would say) that had come to hold his hand.

Dad was my step father for 38 years. We had some tough times (me the rebel) and so, so many good memories for us all to look back on and smile. Dad was a bugger for DIY, and admittedly sometimes he was a ‘bit of a bodger’. Being very security conscious he always added extra bolts, latches, padlocks and booby traps but his most fabulous tools of choice where possible seemed to be blue tack, selotape and bits of wire! I am sure he is up there looking forward to fiddling in his heavenly shed, making something out of guttering, duct tape and copper pipe! 

These few days have brought friends and family close, and it’s been lovely to see people although you break your heart every time they walk in. In the grand scheme of things, you see, people are really the only important thing in life. What you have and have not isn’t important, its who you love and have in your life, for it is so short really.

Words can’t express how grateful we are to those wonderful staff of Ward 41, Coventrys Walsgrave Hospital. I know they see it every day, but they were truly beautiful people who made his visit full of love and dignity.

Dad is now reunited with my brother Steve, who left us 2 years ago, another great bloke who went too soon, and I am sure they are somewhere more tranquil dismantling something side by side now. I am not sure about religion, but I do think the soul is somewhere. People have such presence in life, such personality, it can’t simply die, they are all out there somewhere.

My priority now is to be strong for my Mum. She is (and those of you who know her, will agree) one of life’s true selfless people. Mum is a wonderful, happy, lovable, funny, inspirational woman who I can honestly say everybody loves. She has always been mum to all of my friends too, and now is a granny to many, as all the grand-children’s friends call her Granny Brenda too! If I turn out to be half of the woman she is, I shall be very happy. Mum is hurting so bad, but smiling on, with bleary eyes and an obviously heavy heart. She’s relieved but quietly empty. She is one in a million.

Well, enough now, much love to everyone in this mad world, I sign off by saying it’s been a tough week, Rest In Peace Dad, you are in a better place now. I will look after Mum, til we all meet again one day.

Love Sue xxxx