Profile: Peta Peace

“My love affair with sewing probably started when I was young. My mum was always at the sewing machine making us clothes, making stray thread and pins as much a part of our household as we were,” recalls Peta. She believes that at some point she must have asked to give sewing a try and her mum took the time to teach her how to use the sewing machine. “I’m not sure that I was all that good at it, but I did enjoy it and from then on I’d use, or borrow, mum’s machine whenever I wanted to make something.”

In those early days, her makes were mostly skirts and simple tops and sewing was a fairly irregular activity. Peta says her decision to concentrate on sewing was made when she and her husband were building their first house. “With a limited budget and a mortgage to pay, I worked out it was cheaper to make my own soft furnishings than buy them, so I would borrow the sewing machine and make things for my house. From there I was