About me

I’m Lisa Machin, I’m in my 50s and I live in Shropshire (it’s near Wales). My mother was the most skilled dressmaker I ever knew, and I learned to sew at her knee. The first garment I ever made for myself was a camel wool skirt with an embroidered waistband. I was 8 or 9 years old.

These days I still sew for myself, and for my three grown-up daughters. I have plans to sew for my tall thin husband too, but that is a work in progress. I make quilts, on and off, and the last couple of years I’ve begun to learn to digitize embroidery designs. You can find them over at Flowerdog Designs.

I’m lucky enough to have a dedicated sewing room at home, in the heart of England, where I can enjoy the garden outside my window. When I’m not sewing, I’m running the family business (a boatyard on the canal) with my husband.

About Poor Mother

I started writing Poor Mother as a way of organising my own notebooks; filled with over 20 year’s worth of sewing notes, recipes, budgeting tips and household info I needed a way of finding the info I wanted, and also of sharing it with my daughters as they grew up and spread their wings away from the family home.
So you will find some kitchen tips and recipes here, but mostly I use Poor Mother to document my sewing life.

 

 

 

PS I sometimes include affiliate links; they help maintain Poor Mother