My house is full of things from my Grandma, but perhaps the most precious, and certainly the heaviest, is her hand-turn Singer sewing machine. The last two projects I used it for were sewing a stripy cushion (see our first ever post) and making a Torvill and Dean fancy dress costume (no pictures available. Ever.)

Image Mel Bomba, Flickr

Among my friends working knowledge of these majestic machines is sketchy – did you know for example that the spikey bit that holds the fabric in place is called ‘The Teeth of The Feed Dog’? You do now. Good huh? So I loved seeing this great new cafe-cum-sewing club, just opened in Paris, making a bit of stitchin’ and bitchin’ available to all. It’s called Sweat Shop – mais oui.