My favourite website Sew Mama Sew has a sewing machine questionnaire on their site so that they can source lots of info on different types of sewing machines and find out what people want from one.

Here are my answers:

What brand and model do you have? A 1950;s (I think) Novum Deluxe Mark III, if anyone has any info on this brand I love to hear it as I can’t find anything on the internet about it.

How long have you had it? About a month

How much does that machine cost (approximately)? £5

What types of things do you sew (i.e. quilting, clothing, handbags, home dec projects, etc.)? Clothes mainly

How much do you sew? How much wear and tear does the machine get? I try to sew every day but rarely manage it with 3 children and a house to run.

Do you like/love/hate your machine? Are you ambivalent? Passionate? Does she have a name? I love it and no, it doesn’t have a name.

What features does your machine have that work well for you? I have an amazing array of feet to go on it, a ruffler, a pintuck foot, a bias binding maker which also sews the bias tape onto the garment, a narrow hem foot and a few others.

Is there anything that drives you nuts about your machine? Nope.

Do you have a great story to share about your machine (i.e., Found it under the Christmas tree? Dropped it on the kitchen floor? Sewed your fingernail to your zipper?, Got it from your Great Grandma?, etc.!)? We want to hear it! Bought it at a car boot fair and knocked him down from £10, I do love a good haggle.

Would you recommend the machine to others? Why? YES!!!! Amazingly fast and smooth, sews like a dream to a near industrial standard, plus it looks fabulous too.

What factors do you think are important to consider when looking for a new machine? I don’t know much about sewing machines, I just want one that can go through quite thick fabric and maybe even leather, is reliable, strong, simple and easy to use.

Do you have a dream machine? I think I have it already

I have been meaning to have a go at a pillocase dress for ages but never had any spare (or nice) pillocases, anyway, I have recently aquired quite a lot so I thought I’d take one with the least attractive pattern topractice on (didn’t want to waste a snazzy one), it turned out to be extremely easy to make, even the bias binding, and weirdly once made up as a dress the print actually looks really nice, who’d have thunk it?

I used the free pattern that came with Prima magazine and some of the HUGE piece of 60’s fabric I got from a charity shop for £1.50 to make this tunic, I LOVE it!

When we moved to our new house in September 2008 we didn’t have any sofas and spent 3 months sitting on giant bean bags and being strapped for cash meant we couldn’t buy any decent sofas either so what did we do? Made them ourselves.

Indy designed and hand built them both from scratch based on a traditional Indian day bed, they both have single mattresses so they can be used as guests beds (plus you get to sleep by the cosy warm fire whilst everyone upstairs shivers).

We have painted one gold but can’t decide if we like it or not so have left the other one until inspiration hits us…..

This design looks very similar to a ‘pillow case dress’ whereby a dress is made from a pillow case and a ribbon is run through a casing around the front and back necklines to make drawstring straps. This version is slightly more elaborate with a contrasting bodice, rick rack and fixed straps (which I made out of bias binding instead of buying another yard of fabric just to make to thins straps!!)

These were both Prima patterns I believe, I made them last summer from a designer linen I bought in Forest Gate for an absolute knock down price, I paid about £7 a yard for it and then saw it for sale in John Lewis for £20 a yard!!!

I do like a bargain

My son had to play the Town Crier in his school play about Robin Hood, he only had a 30 second slot out of an hour long play but I was determined to make him the best costume I could and this is what I came up with…..

I used the same vintage pattern to make a Halloween dress and a Christmas dress in novelty print fabric, I adore this style, it looks so sweet and innocent on toddlers.

Another great vintage pattern, a fabulous little shorts playsuit, this time I used the good old Ikea children’s fabric, I still need to put 2 big red buttons on this.

I made my presents for my Secret Santa this year (I always seem tio make things for other people and rarely for myself!), I made a hot water bottle cover, a little handbag and a crayon roll.