When I was a kid, my mum encouraged me to sew. We would sit down with her sewing kit, and I remember fondly sewing my first few messy stitches. We started by making a shell needle holder, a hedgehog pin cushion and some little finger puppets, all of which I still have and use (apart from the finger puppets)! I even took up textiles at school before my GSCE's, where I learnt how to use a sewing machine for the first time, as well as getting into crocheting.

And then, for some reason, I stopped. I'm not 100% sure why, I don't know whether my heart was in it as much as I thought, or the fact that I had so many other interests in my teenage years that I would start a sewing project and never have the time to finish it. Either way, I stored my needle and threads into my sewing box and tucked it into a corner of my room to be forgotten about.

When I went travelling, a lot of my stuff went into storage as my room was being redecorated while I was away, and that little sewing box got buried under a lot of other boxes. Then, lockdown came around, and with all that extra time on our hands, we started to tackle all my things in storage and finally was reunited with my old sewing kit!

As I started to go through my old kit and update it, I found even though I was excited to start sewing again, I was also really nervous. After not having a needle in my hand for so long, I wondered how easy it would be to pick up again. I wanted to be able to mend my own clothes, as well as make them eventually too, but I had no idea where to start. 

In the end, we started with something small - a sausage dog armrest for my laptop. And the end result wasn't too bad at all! I found it took me a while to get back into it, especially using the sewing machine, but as I gained confidence I gained speed, and found myself whizzing through it all! 

I felt so proud that I had managed to make something besides a finger puppet, something that had a use! Since then, I've been looking up all sorts of patterns of things I want to try next, and I'll be using offcuts of material to minimise waste. Keep your eyes peeled as I'm sure I'll be sharing my creations when I finish them.

I'm honestly really chuffed that I took the leap to start sewing again - it's been something I've wanted to do for so long to get my creative juices flowing. So if you're not sure about taking the leap of getting into sewing, or renewing your skills, I say go for it! Start small, don't overwhelm yourself with big projects. Thinking about it is one thing, but actually getting down to make those first few stitches is so much more fulfilling.