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Sometimes inheritance means money or property, but recently I 'inherited' something much more unusual than that. Namely an industrial sewing machine, and box upon box upon box of raw sewing material from many years ago....

My late Grandfather immigrated from India in the 1950s, brought a house and set up his garment making business in London. He had a large factory in which many of my aunts and uncles worked in at some time or another, making leisure wear for many top high street brands, right up until the 1980s I think.

After my Grandfather retired and the factory was closed my Grandmother saved loads of raw materials and squirrelled it away in the many cavernous cupboards at home. I grew up seeing a large industrial sewing machine at each of my Indian Auntie's homes, which were the last few survivors from the factory, not really considering where they came from, and long before I ever considered learning to sew.

My Grandfather wasn't one to go on about himself and I've grown up not realising how little I really knew about him. I will be 30 this year, and I am only now learning and perhaps appreciating what it means to be Indian, and what my Dada's life was about. During the inevitable clear out I was invited to come over and take any fabric that I might want, and to have the very last sewing machine from the factory that was still in the family. I was so very happy that I was finally going to have one of the factory machines! - I thought my chances of that were long gone a few years ago when many of them were given away. But I also found much more than 'just a bit of fabric' - I found some really amazing and wondrous treasures and I thought they were too good to keep to myself......

This really is just the tip of the iceberg. For some reason there were boxes and boxes of this army green binding, still in its original, fabulous packaging...with hundreds of green buttons to go with it! There was trimming galore, many of this still with a 'Made in England' or 'Foreign' stamp, hinting of their age....I've also saved several old 1970s saris...I really like the classic old Indian fashions, I always have, but obviously most people who wear them regularly probably feel they are outdated... Indian vintage was like an epiphany to me. It's like ultra retro! There were also many a shoe box with little trinkets and mystery objects which were so magical to feel like I was discovering them. I'll be sharing more of these treasures over the next few week (I'm not sure how long its going to take, there really is so much!)

So, keep your eyes peeled for treasures, both the weird and the wonderful. 
Until next time, TTFN.