A good thread choice can make all the difference. Sometimes it’s only there to hold everything together. But when you’ve got free rein, is it worth making that necessity into a feature? Christmas projects often send me into confusion. I love the fun side, all the over-the-top sparkly stuff. That said, simpler Scandinavian-style designs are just […]
Seasonal, vintage and supermarket…Tins will never go out of fashion. If you’re reading this, the chances are you’re fashionable, and need to be organised. So where do you keep all your fashion design equipment and tools? Needles, pins, different-sized threads, bobbins, dressmaking scissors, small scissors, rotary cutter, rules and curves, ruler, tape and tape measures, […]
When you want to add a lovely bit of appliqué to your project, do you turn the edges or iron on that fusible web and call it a day? My mantelpiece was looking a little tired last Christmas, so I figured it was time to treat my family to new stockings. After a spare-room-covering rummage […]
There are a vast array of ways to fasten clothes & bags. Fastenings range from simple press studs to hand sewn, bound buttonholes. When I was first teaching myself to sew, I had a sewing machine that did straight stitching and nothing else. It was great. But it meant I avoided buttonholes! I made a lovely […]
If you’re making products in fabrics (be it a dress, a makeup bag, or a simple pouch) – if the product is designed to fit a certain object or serve a certain purpose, it’s important to get into the habit of creating a mock up, more traditionally known as a Toile. Toiles are created from a cheap material […]
With words of warnings from my husband and teens ringing in my ears, I bought a rotary cutter last year. They all cringed and warned me not to – I am clumsy, sometimes don’t concentrate wholly on what I’m doing, and the fear was having to rush me to Casualty needing stitches to stop fingers […]
You’ve bought some fabric, you’ve got your pattern pieces ready but you ask yourself what ‘straight grain’ means. Your pattern pieces have it all over them, with a big long arrow. When you buy your fabric, it is usually unrolled from what is often called a bolt of fabric. There are 2 edges that are […]
I have recently returned from a fab holiday in Florida, a wonderful place with wonderful memories. But something puzzled me – there is very little visible recycling and the thing that struck me most was how many plastic carrier bags we acquired each time we went to the supermarket. The person on the till packs […]
My Grandma used to say to me “measure twice, cut once” and of course I would smile at her, nod, and carry on hastily with my cutting out and sewing. Everyone makes mistakes sewing, no matter how long you’ve been at it. Only last week I sewed a bag together, muttering to myself that it seemed […]
One thing that students of all ages often find difficult is cutting fabric. So here is a short post on how to improve your fabric cutting abilities, because if you cut something out accurately, then it will be a LOT easier to put together accurately. Buy the best quality scissors you can afford. William Gee […]
We seem to have had a lot of courses running lately, where we have had to deal with sewing tricky fabrics. It pays to know how to deal with the fabrics you choose so that you still get a fantastic end result, so I thought I’d share some of the pitfalls and solutions we’ve been […]
So it’s winter. Like really winter. Cold, rain, wind, all that jazz. Chances are your daily uniform consists of jumpers, jumpers and more jumpers. I’m going to go out on a limb and say you are probably getting pretty tired of your current collection of jumpers. But what about that old one buried away that […]
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