The first dress I ever made

My Mum taught me to sew when I was nine years old, I can still clearly remember the machine set up on the kitchen table. The dress on the left is the first one I made with her, it was handed down to my three younger sisters when I outgrew it, and it could still be worn today 40 years later. I made the dress on the right a couple of years ago with vintage fabric I found at an op shop.

I still like tiny floral prints, I wish I could magically size up my childhood dress and wear it now! I think I was subconsciously, maybe even consciously, drawn to the fabric in the op shop because the pattern is similar to the fabric of my childhood dress.

I sewed through primary and high school, but I can’t remember what I made, other than being upset when I ruined some pretty fabric I’d been eyeing off in Mum’s stash for months. I was maybe 11 years old, and I tried to make a dress that had a fancy bodice with multiple darts. I didn’t know what the lines on the pattern were, so cut them out! My Mum ran over when she saw what I was doing saying “Oh noooooo!”, and that’s how I learned how to sew darts. There wasn’t enough fabric left to redo the bodice, so I never finished that dress. Again, it was a tiny floral print!

I made my year 12 formal dress, most of my first work wardrobe, and many clothes in the decades since.

Sewing used to be a cheap way to build a wardrobe, I am the eldest of five and Mum sewed a lot of our clothes when we were young. Now fabric is expensive, unless you buy it on sale, as remnants, or at op shops, like I do now.

The fabric I have digitally printed in Melbourne with my Leaves design is expensive too. Anything printed in Australia is, yet to purchase overseas doesn’t sit well with me or my customers who often ask if my fabric is printed locally.

The problem is, this means the cost of material for my textile products is very high. Coupling this with labour intensive production means I don’t even cover my time and pay myself minimum wage, let alone make a profit, so they aren’t worthwhile products for me to continue making.

I have a very small stock of textile products left now, and once they’re sold either via my ONLINE SHOP or at the last few markets of the year, I won’t be making more.

Sewing is a gift my Mum gave me, and since she died in 2018, it’s a way I continue to feel close to her.

It gave me purpose when I started my market stall in May 2023. However, the whole reason I started it was to raise funds to buy art supplies, which have since been gathering dust.

I achieved my goal of designing my own fabric and am very proud of that. However, despite having a lovely collection of gumnuts ready, I have absolutely no urge to photograph them and create a new design.

My passion for sewing has waned, and to be honest after all the long hours doing it, and replacing two broken sewing machines in a year, I’ve come to resent it.

I want to enjoy it again and feel my Mum’s soft guidance as I make things slowly and intentionally, not repetitively like a fast fashion factory worker.

I got teary pulling my little dress out of storage, the fact my Mum kept it safely all those years meant it was precious to her too.

Do you have a skill or passion now because someone generously shared it with you? What can you teach someone now they might treasure far into the future? Let’s share stories in the comments.

Kathy x

This blog post is 100% written by me, a living, breathing human being. Absolutely no AI was used. These are all my own words and images, imperfect as they may be.