A little bit about me, My love of sewing and all things crafty started when I was young. I had a lovely Auntie- Auntie Joan and she was so talented and I could not wait for the summer holidays to go to Whitby, where she lived,and to stay with my cousins, for the school holidays.
Auntie Joan would have a mound of fabric to sew teddies or doll clothes from paper and paints, always something different.
My mum too, was quite crafty, knitting was her go to craft, all by hand – until – she bought a knitting machine !
Oh how we loved the sound of that as we tried to watch tv after school.
But I remember trying out different crafts with my mum too, from crochet to basket weaving and everything in between.
I did want to go to Polytechnic to study fashion design and when I was given a place, I was more than excited. Then my parents stepped in and decided I needed to go straight to work to earn myself a wage.
They actually did a good job as they knew someone who worked in a tailors and they needed a window dresser. I had never heard of a job as a window dresser before, but as I learned more about the role, it soon became a really exciting move forward.
My job role was to select outfits to show in the windows, but I had to press each item and as it was a tailors, there was a precise way of doing this, which included using a tailors ham, pressing cloth, a donkey ( which was like a small ironing board, useful for the shoulders on a garment ) A sleeve board. All of this was very strange to me, I don’t think I could even use an iron at this point. Then you had to fit it to a ‘form’ or tailors dummy, pin it, pad it and if it was not perfect, in fit or style, you would have to start all over again. It was a tough job !
I did learn the craft but was totally excited when a new ladies fashion brand took over our ‘Ladies’ department. It was called ‘Peter Robinson’ which later on became ‘TOP SHOP’. We now had real fashion on full sized mannequins..oh what joy !
That’s where it all started, it was a great time, working in fashion, I did fashion shows, guest celebrities, such a good time.
As all things do, this era came to an end 15yrs later and eventually I moved into a home furnishing company and took an interest in interior design.
I ended up in IKEA in Gateshead, UK, designing room sets and merchandising departments. I have put a link down below for a copy of the new book ‘Fifty Shades of IKEA’ which you can buy from Amazon, which is a great source of inspiration.
I worked there for a few years, when I decided to go freelance. Cut long story short, I have traveled Globally and enjoyed every minute. But again it is time for change and I really wanted to concentrate on my love of making things.
So now I work on my etsy store and sewing my own clothes, and YouTube is a new project for me.
I already follow a few channels on YouTube and Instagram… ‘TomKat Stitchery’, ‘Sew over it’, ‘Inside the hem’ and many more and really enjoy the sewing community.
So I hope to become more involved. I have already completed a couple of challenges, which you will know about if you follow me on instagram. I will be talking more about them in my future posts.
I will be posting on my YouTube channel three times a week, Sun, Tues and Thursday, hopefully with lots of good and interesting content.
Please let me know in the comments below if you would like me to post any IKEA related Interior design solutions or ideas, or places I have travelled.
I could maybe do one of my vlogs per week, dedicated to that ?
Also if you would please subscribe to my channel as I really need your support, it’s free and if you click the notifications button, you won’t miss any updates. if you have liked the video, please give it a thumbs up. Thank You.
If you do leave a comment, please be kind. I will read them all.
I will leave all links below for the things I have spoken of
My links :
https://www.instagram.com/juliasinspiration.uk/
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/JuliaInspiration
Shout outs to:
https://www.instagram.com/tomkatstitcherycarmel/
https://www.instagram.com/sewoveritlondon/?hl=en
https://www.instagram.com/insidethehem/?
Affiliate link
JULIAS INSPIRATION 