handmade bunting - a mornings work thanks to Ruth at Saves Nine

Ever wanted to make something for your family or home but never learned how?

Holly Willis took a crash course and discovered handmade heaven

The Cambridge Made-It-Market

Crafting has become incredibly popular and Cambridgeshire is home to an extensive network of makers creating and sharing the joys of everything homemade, from quilts and clothing to cakes and card-making. It is great to be able to meet local artisans and buy unique handmade items but how achievable is it for a beginner to make something themselves?

Sewing for beginners

Ruth Rees, founder of Saves Nine sewing workshops, near St Neots

I’ve always admired those who can make beautiful or useful things. There is something soothing about the idea of sewing a quilt from outgrown clothes, each scrap with different memories attached, or covering and binding a much-loved old book. I long to be the sort of resourceful person who can hem trousers, or whip up a neatly iced and decorated cake, but let’s be honest – I have a busy full-time job, can’t sew and my mum still panics if I get too close to a hot oven!

But then I went for a beginner’s sewing class with Ruth Rees, who founded and runs Saves Nine from her kitchen table in her home near St Neots. I was greeted with fresh coffee, chocolate biscuits and the promise that I’d leave two-and-a-half hours later with bunting, made from scratch, by me. I thought double-sided, fully-hemmed and colour co-ordinated bunting might be a little beyond my capabilities but I couldn’t have been more wrong.

'I often teach people who have never sewn before,' says Ruth. 'I remember one woman started my classes not knowing how to hold a needle and in a very short space of time she had hemmed a pair of trousers beautifully.'

Ruth started me off with a blunt needle and a piece of paper to let me get the feel of the sewing machine and using the foot peddle to control the speed. After that I quickly graduated to cotton cloth, learning to feed it under the needle in a straight line. Then it was time to start the bunting. I was led to a linen cupboard filled to the brim with a wide array of fabrics, in different colours and patterns – the sewing equivalent to a sweet shop. Ruth helped me sort the fabrics into ‘colour stories,' ie, groups of fabrics that I thought worked together. I then used a cardboard template to cut pairs of triangles for the bunting, which I then stitched together and attached to red tape. All the way through Ruth gave gentle advice and useful tips – showing me how ironing material first makes it easier to sew, snipping the corners of hems to make the points of the bunting triangles lay flat and explaining about seam allowances and needle sizes.

A morning at Ruth's kitchen table with the smell of coffee and the gentle whirr of the sewing machine was thoroughly enjoyable and it was deeply satisfying to see the finished work at the end of the workshop. If you've ever wanted to learn to sew, bunting is a perfect way to begin.

Bunting class, £30 for 2.5 hours,

Saves Nine, savesninesewing.co.uk

Local contacts

What to try and where to buy

There are many makers, workshops and events centered around the joys of handmade crafts and products in our area if you know where to look

UK Handmade (ukhandmade.co.uk)

Set up by Cambridgeshire artist/illustrator and mum, Karen Jinks, as a way for small designers and makers of handmade items to promote their work to the public. The not-for-profit site and magazine has attracted over 2,000 members. The site is a pleasure to browse for gift ideas, articles, artist profiles, lists of shops and online stores plus a calendar of events.

Red Barn Crafts (redbarncrafts.co.uk)

A Peterborough-based social enterprise running craft workshops. The founder, Lorena Hodgson, teaches crochet, wet-felting, patchwork and sewing but is also a dab hand at IT and can help crafters set up their websites and show them how to use social media to promote their work. She is also about to set up an arts and crafts club in the area.

‘If craft people want to work at home they need to have as many avenues to promote their work as possible,’ says Lorena. ‘Setting up a website or showing someone how to network on Twitter can make a really big difference.’

Made-It-Market (madeitmarket.co.uk)

Sarah Rowden, 28, set up Made It Market two years ago and organises events in Cambridge 4 times a year. The market is a melting pot of crafts and creativity, stalls laden with unique handmade jewellery, ceramics, glassware, clothing, cosmetics and papercraft. There are also workshops at the markets, run by Make Do And Mend (makedoandmend.com) which runs craft classes at all levels including dressmaking and upholstery in Chelmsford.

Workshops at the next Made-It-Market include bookbinding, knitting, patchwork and paper cutting to name a few.

31 March at Guildhall (first floor), Guildhall Street, Cambridge,CB2 3QJ. Book classes in advance via madeitmarket.co.uk

‘A lot of people in East Anglia are passionate about handmade products,’ says Sarah. ‘Not just as a hobbycraft but as a lifestyle choice, like buying organic food. It is a way for people to buy from local suppliers and producers, as well as investing in bespoke British design that doesn’t cost the earth.’

‘It’s a really nice community to be part of,’ continues Sarah. ‘There’s a real camaraderie at events because everyone appreciates the skill and time people put into the things they make, it becomes like a family.’

Cambridge Creative Network (http://cambridgecreativenetwork.co.uk)

Set up by Cambridge artists and mums Mandy Knapp and Karen Jinks to promote and support local artists. They are currently hosting an art exhibition promoting artists exhibiting for the first time, at Williams Art, Dales Brewery, Gwydir Street, Cambridge, CB1 2LJ, 01223 311 687