Back to Work...

So I'm about to get back in the game and teach a few sewing classes! I must admit that I'm a little bit nervous, having been out of the game for nearly six months, but I know that they'll be heaps of fun. If you or anyone you know might be interested in attending a class, please read on...

At The Village Haberdashery, North London:

The Renfrew Top class 

Saturday, 8th March, 10:00am - 1:30pm, £90

(image source: Sewaholic Patterns)

The Sewaholic Renfrew pattern has become a firm favourite with the online sewing community. And with good reason, it is basically the perfect women's basic tee! In this class you'll learn how to sew with knit fabrics whilst making your own semi-fitted v-neck, scoop-neck or cowl-neck t-shirt. The fabric and pattern are included in the course fee. The Village Haberdashery have some fabulous organic jerseys by Monaluna for you to choose from, check out their ranges Raaga knits and Woodland knits (pictured below). You'll leave class with a great new top and the confidence to tackle any knit pattern you've been coveting!

(image source: The Village Haberdashery)

Sew Your Own Knickers class: SOLD OUT! Sorry peops...

At Sew Over It, South London:

Introduction to Commercial Sewing Patterns class
Tuesday 1st April, 6.30pm - 8.30pm, £40

This session will designed to demystify and explain how to use commercial sewing patterns. This is a discussion and demonstration based class, not a practical 'doing' one. This class is perfect for someone who has already taken a beginners sewing class or generally feels ok using a sewing machine, and now wants to amp their skills to become a confident dress-maker.

Topics covered will include:

• What to do if your measurements span two or more sizes on the pattern 
• What to do if you are taller or shorter than the pattern has been designed for 
• What the differences between vintage and modern patterns are How to select appropriate fabric for your pattern 
• What all the symbols on the pattern mean and what to do about them 
• Plus lots more. 

Dolores's Christmas Dress

Here's some makery for you. I started this cute little dress for my little lady whilst I was still pregnant, a time that feels sooo far away now but was actually only just over 4 months ago, and picked it up again to complete and give to her for Christmas. This garment is for a baby of about 1 years old so there's still ages before it will see action. My main issue with it is that I want to wear it myself! 

Pattern:

I'm not sure if it's Burda magazine or me, but for ages now I haven't liked any of the women's patterns in it. However the above edition (9/2013) had some baby's wear patterns that I definitely felt belonged in my pattern-arsenal. I imagine I'll come back to some of these patterns again and again, tracing a bigger size each time. If you want to get hold of this dress pattern you can find it on the Burdastyle website here (along with the other baby patterns from the magazine edition). 

Fabric and Notions:

Like the majority of my makes these days, this dress is comprised of 100% stash stuff. The navy fabric is some poly/cotton bought in Shepards Bush market years ago that just won't seem to disappear despite having made several things from it now. The contrast polka dot fabric that I used for the yokes and pockets came from my last 'proper' job. The heart braid was bought from a tiny shop in the Gothic quarter in Barcelona that sold only braid (!). I really love how these randomly sourced elements look perfect together. 

Construction:

This was a relatively simple garment to whip together, although I overlocked all the raw edges inside to give it a clean finish. The only problem I encountered was my own laziness and reluctance to figure out the old school manual method of making button holes on my new (to me) sewing machine, so I cheated and stitched poppers down the back instead! To be honest, with seven sets of tiny poppers to stitch on, it probably would have taken the same amount of time to just sit down and work out how to use the machine, but at least popper stitching can be done on the sofa whilst enjoying a small vino. 

Conclusion:

Sewing baby/children's clothes is frikkin' awesome! Who knows if it'll fit (if you're making it as far in advance as this one) but when it takes as little time and fabric as this project, you're unlikely to mind so much if it doesn't work out. Plus there's not so many fit issues to consider so the likelihood of it not working out is reduced as well. So, who's up for the challenge of grading this pattern up to an adult-lady size?! I've still got some of that damn navy poly/cotton left...

1940s Tea Dress Pattern Giveaway!!!

**THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED, THANKS EVERYONE WHO ENTERED**

To celebrate their first sewalong for their new sewing pattern range, 'Sew Over It' is offering readers of this blog the opportunity to score themselves a 1940s Tea Dress sewing pattern (pictured above). This dress style is a gorgeous, updated version of a vintage look that I guarantee looks amazing in both printed and solid fabrics. In fact, this pattern is close to my heart as it is one of the classes that I have taught at 'Sew Over It's' bricks and mortar shop/sewing school in South London, plus I helped develop the instructions for this pattern. Check out Lisa's delightful peaches and cream silk version pictured below, plus you can see my black version of this pattern here.

How to Enter:

There are three copies of this pattern up for grabs. This giveaway/competition is open internationally and with no cost to yourselves. All you have to do is help 'Sew Over It' decide which of their in-the-flesh classes they should release as a sewing pattern next. So head over to the classes page of their website and decide which garment you'd most like to be made available as a pattern and leave a comment in the comment box of this post. Along with your answer, please leave a way for me to contact you if you are successful (i.e. if I can't find your email address within two clicks of my mouse, leave your email address in the body of the comment). Email addresses will not be used for anything other than contacting you if you win this giveaway.

Make sure you have commented by midnight GMT on Wednesday 12th February to enter. The following day I will use a random number generator to select three winners for the three copies of the 1940s Tea Dress sewing pattern and contact them to get their postal addresses to forward on to Sew Over It so they can send out the prize.

Good luck lovelies!