SpencerOgg

Fabric Addiction

August 2017

Hi, I’m Diane, and I am an addict.

I am a born sewer – not sure if I like the word sewist – perhaps sewaholic is better.

I’ll stitch anything together if you leave it around long enough.

I live in Manchester UK with my husband, teenage son and a small white dog. (the dog is the easiest one)

After working in textiles all my life I have decided to take the leap and go it alone, making bag and accessory sewing patterns full time. I’ve had a shop on Etsy for years selling finished bags and covers at

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/spencerogg

and trialled selling a few patterns, which were really well received, so well in fact, that last year, I opened a stand alone PDF sewing pattern shop –

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/SpencerOggPatterns

where I sell my own patterns and the hardware you need to construct them.

We don’t have a huge house, and I have been spreading my sewing paraphernalia all over the bedrooms, and any nooks or crannies I can find, it’s even creeping downstairs now. I currently work from our dressing room, so you can imagine the squeeze. (Close your eyes now if you don’t want to be horrified).

This is how bad it is..SHIZ..I know

And that isn’t all – I store the biggest stash of fabric you have ever seen in huge plastic boxes in the attic, in the garage, even at my friend’s house. It’s a nightmare when I want to find a certain print I know I bought last year for a brilliant project or other!

So finally Mr O has agreed that we can convert the attic space to a studio workspace of my own. I’m not sure whether it was to please me or just that he couldn’t stand looking at my mess any longer.

The builders start in 2 weeks time, and I am beside myself with excitement. I want a cupboard or shelf for every single little thing. Well, if they are going to build it, I might as well have everything exactly right.

I don’t think the builders quite believe me yet about quite how much fabric and trim one girl can collect over a lifetime.

My stash is enormous – and I mean absolutely freakin’ ridiculous. Mr O doesn’t even know how much I have, as I hide most of it before he sees it, (often in the kitchen cupboards as I know he won’t look in there!)

I accept that I am an addict, I cannot walk past a fabric shop or haberdashery (what an old fashioned word….we need a new one, perhaps a bibble-shop) without spending a week’s wage on glorious stuff I have yet to find a purpose for. I’ve even ordered special feet from Germany and metalwork from China without knowing quite what I am going to do with them – I just know they are gonna improve my life and I can’t live without them.

I Mean… what the hell is that thing anyway !!

This week we are on a family holiday in Spain, and I am so consumed, I am lying on a sunbed unable to think about anything else but shelf specifications and ‘Wonder Walls’ (Have I told you about that yet. I don’t think I have, we’ll get round to it)

I have trawled the local Spanish shops and ‘feraterias’ for pretty cupboard nobs and plastic storage containers – all in white – to enhance my new playground.

I am having everything in white – walls, woodwork, tables, rails, it’s a good job the dog is white, not that he will be allowed in, but I am spending an inordinate amount of time fixating on whether I should have white storage boxes or bright orange or lime to break up the white. I’ve already purchased all sorts of options, at least half of which will go to waste (or at least a kitchen cupboard – the ones Mr O never looks in)