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Hello one and all,
I'm Mandy and I joined the forum on Sunday morning, and instead of getting on with some work, spent most of the day reading through this wonderful site - it's a little gold mine
I work from home for a local shop, mainly making hand stitched curtains and Roman blinds (I refuse to do bag lined and machined hems). I'm pretty much self taught, initially from "The Complete Book of Curtains and Drapes" by Lady Caroline Wrey. But now, thanks to ebay, abebooks and Amazon I've quite a large collection of books. (Sorry if I've out bid some of you on ebay - I've now got all the M&D books, so you're safe from me now
)
I made my first pair of curtains in 1995. I'd done dressmaking since I was a kid and the most fabric I'd bought in one go was probably no more than 3m, so that first 10m of curtain fabric was very daunting. I think it took me a whole week to make 2 pairs of curtains and 2 straight pencil pleat valances, something which I would now expect to do in a day.
I rarely take on private work, simply because I hate the measuring up and fitting, and the never knowing if and when I'll get paid. I also try and avoid doing work for "friends" as my experience has been they think it's all right for me to do a weeks worth of work in exchange for a couple of bottles of wine. Working for the shop, I set my rates and get paid promptly. I used to do work for C&H Fabrics in Eastbourne, but they paid so very, very little and I had to make a weekly 30 mile trip to deliver and collect work. The current shop I work for, brings the work to me and collects. I try not to do more than about 25-30 hours in an average week, although sometimes, especially on the run up to Christmas and Easter, it can be 60-70 hours.
Anyways, I've rambled on long enough, but finally.... a very big thank you to you all for the questions and answers - think I've learnt more in the last few days than in the last 13 years!
Best wishes,
Mandy
I'm Mandy and I joined the forum on Sunday morning, and instead of getting on with some work, spent most of the day reading through this wonderful site - it's a little gold mine
I work from home for a local shop, mainly making hand stitched curtains and Roman blinds (I refuse to do bag lined and machined hems). I'm pretty much self taught, initially from "The Complete Book of Curtains and Drapes" by Lady Caroline Wrey. But now, thanks to ebay, abebooks and Amazon I've quite a large collection of books. (Sorry if I've out bid some of you on ebay - I've now got all the M&D books, so you're safe from me now
)I made my first pair of curtains in 1995. I'd done dressmaking since I was a kid and the most fabric I'd bought in one go was probably no more than 3m, so that first 10m of curtain fabric was very daunting. I think it took me a whole week to make 2 pairs of curtains and 2 straight pencil pleat valances, something which I would now expect to do in a day.
I rarely take on private work, simply because I hate the measuring up and fitting, and the never knowing if and when I'll get paid. I also try and avoid doing work for "friends" as my experience has been they think it's all right for me to do a weeks worth of work in exchange for a couple of bottles of wine. Working for the shop, I set my rates and get paid promptly. I used to do work for C&H Fabrics in Eastbourne, but they paid so very, very little and I had to make a weekly 30 mile trip to deliver and collect work. The current shop I work for, brings the work to me and collects. I try not to do more than about 25-30 hours in an average week, although sometimes, especially on the run up to Christmas and Easter, it can be 60-70 hours.
Anyways, I've rambled on long enough, but finally.... a very big thank you to you all for the questions and answers - think I've learnt more in the last few days than in the last 13 years!
Best wishes,
Mandy
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