If you want clothes at a fraction of the price you pay in the shops, then learn dressmaking. At first you may well think that you cannot do it, but like everything, practice makes perfect.

If you start off by making simple things like cushion covers and curtians, then progress onto a little bit harder things.

The main thing you need to be able to do is to sew in a straight line, get an old curtain or sheet and practice on these until you can sew in a straight line.

The best kind of sewing machine to buy is the ones that do everything eg: buttonholes, buttons, hemming stitch and overlocking.

If you have one of these kind, they are really good as you don't have to make buttonholes by hand or sew the buttons on.

If you want to make a straight skirt that fits you perfectly, then take one of your favourite skirts, and take the waistband off and unpick all the hems and seams, then press all the pieces flat and you've got a pattern for a perfect fitting skirt.

As you make things, you will find that you can make harder things next time round. A lot of people think they can't use a sewing machine, but once you've learned to thread it up the right way, and can sew in a straight line, then it is easy.

When you first start out, and you buy a pattern, they say pin your seams together, then tack them before sewing on the machine, but when you get better you'll find you can just sew them straight away on the machine.

I was lucky, when I left school I became a machinist and now I can make almost anything from a simple cushion cover through to a coat or even a pair of jeans.

The greater kick is when I make my daugher a nice tendy top, and she loves it, and tells me that all her mates were asking about it, then feels so good.