Simply Sewing issue 30

+ REE TTERN

LEARN NEW SKILLS:

F TOY PA

BAG-MAKING

SOFT

Ma ke

us!

FRESH IDEAS WITH FABRIC ISSUE THIRTY NEW! THE SELENA SKIRT w e s k c i u Q

scarf!

free pattern liberty shopper

must-sew

holiday staple IN SIZES 6-20

+ MAXI DRESS

DESK ACCESSORIES KID'S PLAY BED

6 NEW LOOKS TO SEW TODAY!

PRINTED IN THE UK ¥ £6.99

Flattering shapes and statement prints

ISSUE 30

summer style

HOW TO: Tie-dye fabric Make a pinboard Use bias binding Sew with chiffon Hem a skirt

FAT QUARTER FRENZY Raid your fabric ▼

INSPIRATION

FAT QUARTER QUICK MAKES Q 25 projects to make from short lengths of fabric

Juliet Bawden & Amanda Russell

EVENTS

STUFF

TROPICAL PAL

W

hat better way to give your home a summery vibe than with a cute and squishy pink flamingo plushie? Designed by Angel Lea Designs in Australia, little Rosie is 26cm (101in) when she’s sitting down and can be sewn in soft cotton or fleece for a super-cuddly version. PDF approx £6.90, www.angelleadesigns.com

Photographer: Fanni Williams; Model: Vissolela Lucas; Hair and make up: Lynn for Natalie Guest

IDEAS

stash and stitch up beautiful items for the home and more ACCESSORIES WEBSITES with two new books

by Juliet Bawden and Amanda Russell. ‘Fat Quarter: Quick Makes’ and ‘Fat Quarter: Home’ have 25 projects apiece for using up remnants.

The makes are aimed at beginners and up, so you’ll be building new sewing skills along the way, too. £12.99 each, www. thegmcgroup.com

ELEGANT ETTA

We’re always thrilled to see what delights Tilly and the Buttons has in store for us, and her gorgeous new pencil dress pattern is a stunner! The Etta pattern comes in two versions, one with a cap sleeve, collar and shallow V at the back, and the other with a three-quarter sleeve, high back neck and a faux waist pocket detail. From big, bold, bright prints to cutesy pastels, Etta will look fabulous in them all! £12.50, shop.tillyandthebuttons.com Subscribe at www.simplysewingmag.com

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Pinboard Pin up

Give your jacket, bag or sewing machine case some attitude with a sewing-themed pin badge.

LOVELY LILY

We’re smitten with this delicate cocoon-shaped dress and blouse pattern from CocoWawa Crafts, featuring a sailor collar and raglan sleeves. This pattern works for any season as you can make it in lightweight wovens as well as warmer fabrics such as denim and baby needlecord. PDF pattern £9.50, www.cocowawacrafts.com

Loved up

With wedding season upon us, we’re looking for ways to add handmade touches to a big day (see our wedding feature on page 60 for ideas). Whether you’re looking to make bon bon favours, extravagant bows or supersized pom poms, Groves’ Bridal craft range should be your first port of call. Email groves@ stockistenquiries.co.uk for stockists.

BEST PAL Celebrate our complete devotion to our little workhorses with this fabulous lilac Singer badge. £7, www.looklane.com OMBRE CUTIE Where would we be without thread? Pay homage with this skein of floss in pink or aqua. Approx £8, www.redgate stitchery.etsy.com

out & about

SKILLS, SHOWS & EVENTS 26 MAY-1 OCTOBER The World of Anna Sui. Fashion and Textile Museum, London. This display features over 100 looks from the American fashion designer’s archive, from surfers and hippies to mods and punks. www.ftmlondon.org

POWER TOOL Whether you’re ripping to upcycle or sew again, this pin has a message worth shouting out.

Approx £8, www. colettepatterns.com

3 JUNE Sewmance, Brighton. Bring a project along, meet like-minded sewing enthusiasts and craft the day away at this community event. www.sewmance.co.uk

WHO’S THE BOSS? You are! This pin has a magnet back, so is both a needle minder and a style statement. £9.70, www.redgate stitchery.etsy.com

18 JUNE Grandfest, London. Talented older makers share their skills at this charity festival. grandfest.royalvoluntaryservice.org.uk

24 JUNE

Frothy pom poms are at the top of our wedding to-do list!

Sew Up North, Leeds. Enjoy a coffee and chat, a shopping trip around Leeds, a charity raffle and a fabric and pattern swap. www. facebook.com/SewUpNorth

MY GANG Wear a colourful pin that lets everyone know you’re in the crafty club. £7, www.sewcrafty online.co.uk

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modern hallway

make an entrance

Create a show-stopping entrance with hallway accessories sewn in chic monochrome prints.

Designer: JESSICA ENTWISTLE Styling: LISA JONES Photography: PHILIP SOWELS

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POUFFE

As soon as we get in the door, it's shoes off, and comfy slippers on! Our pouffe provides the perfect perching spot for taking phone calls, writing lastminute shopping lists and changing shoes. It's made with a squishy-yet-firm foam inner and has piped edges to add colour and give a professional finish.

PEN POTS

If, like us, your stash is bulging at the seams (pun intended!) with offcuts, pick out your favourites, rescue a few tins from the recycling box and sew up a set of pen pot covers for a quick and thrifty make.

COVER STAR

the SElENA SKIRT Get your twirl on with The Selena Skirt, a mid-length style in UK sizes 6-20 with a fattering full silhouette, pleated waist, optional bow belt and high-low hem.

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Swalog wth

SEW OVER IT

Sew a Florence maxi dress in our two-part sewalong with Sew Over It. In part one, we’re taking measurements, constructing a bodice and placket, and adding a collar.

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Swalog wth

SEW OVER IT

PART ONE

Take accurate measurements Create a placket Construct a bodice Make a collar

PART ONE

MY SEWING WORLD

by Portia Lawrie

Makery’s Portia Lawrie discovers the true meaning of slow fashion: taking a mindful approach to sewing and creating garments that will last.

W

hen it comes to sewing, I most definitely have what you could call a split personality.

On one hand, I can be meticulous, accurate and precise (we’ll call this Type A, for Accurate). On the other hand, I will take all manner of shortcuts, break the “rules” and be slapdash (we’ll call this one Type B, for Bodgy!). One stems from my pursuit of “perfection”, while the other stems from my impatience to get to the end goal of a finished garment – and, lately, I’ve embraced both.

FINDING A BALANCE When I am in the latter Type B mode, I tend to go at things without a plan. l invariably bodge up badly, rushing my sewing and setting myself deadlines that stress me out, so the project will likely just end up in the scraps bin. But it’s also the place where a lot of my creativity resides. Freestyling it can be fun. Like playing. And, sometimes, I will have a total lightbulb moment and it will mark a big leap forward in my understanding of things.

What it doesn’t generally do, though, is yield me wearable pieces with longevity.

Those pieces tend to come when I take my time, plan and am meticulous and precise. When I engage that Type Give slow sewing a try A side of my sewing personality, I tend and take your time to be pretty proud of the results and over making my simple wrap dress to wear the garment more. And, project on page 56. having recently had a very ruthless cull of my wardrobe, what I need right now are wearable pieces!

A NEW APPROACH More broadly, I’ve been trying to slow things down in my life and remove unnecessary stressors. Modern life is full of them, a seemingly endless run of deadlines, targets and expectations. There are some targets we

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For more o f my sewing tips and projects vis it www.mak ery.uk I’ve been working on replenishing my wardrobe with the basics, focussing on quality rather than quantity.

“Wearable pieces with longevity tend to come when I take my time.”

A dding th my latest e finishing touches oh-so-wea rable mak to e.

s, “Sewing was mindfulnes long before there was a hashtag for it!” have to meet: work deadlines, bill payments, picking the kids up on time! And then there are deadlines that we set for ourselves: to sew a new garment every two days, clean the entire house, post on Instagram several times a day, or write a blog post every day. Nothing will go wrong if we don’t hit these!

When we see so many images on social media of sewists churning out makes at an astonishing rate, it’s easy to think that we all should be. Sewing then becomes about quantity, rather than quality and longevity. Some people sew quickly. Some people sew slowly. Most of us are somewhere in the middle. In the end, it’s not just about how quickly you can do things, but how well you do them.

Sewing is a joy. It asks you to lavish care, time and attention on what you are doing in that moment. Sewing is mindfulness, long before there was a hashtag for it!

So, I’ve been making an effort to slow everything down. To immerse myself in the process and allow a project to run its natural course. To zone in on the details and the finishes, and forget about the clock. That’s true slow fashion. If you need me, I’ll be chillin’ with my sewing machine, listening to some tunes.

You go on ahead – I’ll catch you up later!

Watch Portia on Sewing Quarter on Freeview channel 78 and online at www.sewingquarter.com

e sewing I take pleasure in th e outcome. process, as well as th

I’ll get so much wear out of this comfy sweatshirt, made using Grainline Studio’s popular Linden pattern.

Slower sew ing of time for means plenty refreshmen ts!

Keeping me inspired...

My new bullet journal is perfect for planning pr ojects.

Subscribe at www.simplysewingmag.com

I’m getting hoked o planning and tracking, and have recently started bullet jornaling (#bujo). So I’ve been spending lots of time perusing Pinterest and Instagram fo inspiratio as well as trying ot different spreads and buying lots of yummy statioery (my secret pleasure!). My summer sewng is well under way.

Simple shapes wth interesting fabrics and textures are always my go-t combinatio. See moe o my blog at www.makery.co.uk

A GOOD READ For designer Cassandra Macindoe (left and right), her dress was an important form of self-expression.

Photos: Jillian Kay www.epoxystudios.com

Photos: Lauren Di Matteo www.laurendimatteo.com

TRUE ROMANCE

Make your special day distinctively you by creating the wedding dress of your dreams.

Skilled sewists who’ve done exactly that share their tips, tricks and inspirations.

Written by Judy Darley.

T

here are few garments loaded with more significance than a wedding dress. Whether you’ve fantasised about clouds of tulle since childhood or simply want to look your best when everyone you know and love is, quite frankly, gawping at you, a gown that makes you feel magnificent is an important part of that special day. A DIY dress is a cost-effective option, and, more crucially, ensures you’ll have something to wear that’s entirely, individually you. Whether that be a simple, vintage-look sheath, a pink power ballad of a dress, or a personalised option like Angelina Jolie’s, embroidered with her children’s drawings, the sky really is the limit with a handmade gown.

Making arguably the most important garment of your life can be daunting, so start by taking a look at other sewists who have taken the plunge and made their special dress to soak up some inspiration and tips.

BRING YOUR OWN IDEAS Colette Patterns founder Sarai Mitnick relished the chance to “make and wear something truly special.”

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For pattern designer Cassandra Macindoe (www.thestitcherystudio.com), making her own wedding dress “was the most natural thing to do. Expressing my creative side through what I wear makes me feel like me. So making my own wedding dress was a very meaningful form of self-expression.”

Sarai Mitnick of Colette Patterns (www. colettepatterns.com) married co-founder and director of operations Kenn Wilson in 2007, and urges us to try making our own dress.

“There are so few opportunities in life to make and wear something truly special like your wedding dress,” she says. “You can splurge on fabrics and trims you’d otherwise never get to wear. For some people, the idea is stressful, but for me it was just everything I love about sewing taken to a higher degree.”

Sarai’s dress was made in a gold Italian 4-ply silk charmeuse, which required some special care and attention, as well as other luxurious materials. “I also used a gold organza trim beaded with seed pearls, which I appliquéd by hand to the hem and neckline, and I created a scalloped hem to match the edge of the trim as well, which took quite a bit of hand sewing.

The dress was also fully lined in silk.”

Bespoke dress designer Anna Bosworth launched This Modern Love (www.this modernlovebridal.com) in 2013 after falling in love with the romance of weddings. “I started my dressmaking business in 2009 making pretty, vintage-style tea dresses and selling them at London markets like Portobello Road and Camden Lock,” she says. “When a friend asked me to make her bridesmaid dresses based on those designs, This Modern Love

A GOOD READ

Photos: www.thisismodernlovebridal.com

Anna Bosworth (inset) loves sewing with soft, delicate colour palettes and luxurious lace, chiffon, tulle and silk.

“It’s worth visiting a bridal salon or two before starting work on your dress.” was born. I’d made my own wedding dress so it made sense to move to bespoke bridal wear rather than creating everyday fashion.”

GAIN SOME SKILLS Not sure you’ve got enough experience to achieve the dress of your dreams? This could be the perfect opportunity to rev up your skills. For former Great British Sewing Bee contestant Jenniffer Taylor (www.jenniffer taylor.co.uk), her wedding dress was the first garment she had ever sewn. “I just couldn’t find the shape and style I’d imagined,” she explains. “I didn’t want to compromise, and couldn’t afford to pay someone to make it from scratch.” Fortunately for Jenniffer, she had a family connection who could help with the trickier elements – textile artist Ineke Berlyn. “Ineke had made her daughter and daughter-in-law’s wedding dresses, so I asked if she could guide me through the process.”

First, Jenniffer needed to master the basics.

“Learning to use a sewing machine was the main one. But I really enjoyed adjusting a basic pattern to create my wedding dress.

That was exciting, especially when I had to cut into the silk!” She also got to grips with a technique called paper laminating, using paper, organza and a soldering iron (find out more about the techinique in our interview Subscribe at www.simplysewingmag.com

with Jenniffer on page 72). It proves pretty much anything is achievable.

Even Cassandra acquired some extra skills while making her wedding dress. “I was working with pre-loved embellishments for the shoulder pieces and had to be inventive,” she says. “This included learning some new handsewing stitches. Because the bodice was so fitted, I needed to add boning to create corset-like support on the inside.”

To get to grips with corsets, pay a visit to www.corsetacademy.net. Founded by Tatiana Kozorovitsky in 2006, Corset Academy has more than 80,000 subscribers, with numbers growing every day. When it comes to sewing corsets, there are some things to keep in mind, Tatiana warns. “The aim of corsetry is to subtly reshape the body – to make a small bust look bigger, a waist narrower and give the hips a curvy shape,” she says. “Beginners often make the mistake of trying to fit a pattern to the body, but you need to act conversely.”

UTTERLY INDIVIDUAL Making her wedding dress had a huge impact on Jenniffer’s sewing confidence.

“It was such an accomplishment – I felt amazing,” she enthuses. “I continued that feeling by making my own everyday clothes.

With each project, I gained more confidence, which is why I’m so passionate about it.”

Your wedding offers the chance to create

something that is uniquely you. “Do what makes you happy and be yourself,” says Cassandra. “On my wedding day I felt like the best version of myself. My dress wasn’t traditional, but I love to be unexpected.”

Anna’s top tips for wedding dress success are simple. “Try to incorporate a trusted style into your wedding dress that you know will flatter your shape,” she says. “And splash out on the best quality materials you can afford, especially when it comes to lace. I buy many of my laces from www.bridalfabrics.co.uk.”

The appeal of this niche market is inarguable. “I’m really drawn to the bridal aesthetic – soft, delicate, feminine colour palettes and luxurious laces, chiffon, tulle and

SEEKING INSPIRATION? Hungry for wedding dress ideas? There are plenty of resources to whet your appetite.

Our sister site Hitched.co.uk and sister magazines Perfect Wedding and You & Your Wedding are overflowing with images of gorgeous gowns. Or, for wedding dresses with a difference, pop over to www.rocknrollbride.com.

If you’re ready to start sewing your own, try the Bridal Couture Book by Susan Khalje, available from www.susankhalje.com, and take your pick from Butterick and McCall’s selection of spectacular patterns at www.sewdirect.com.

Incorporate couture techniques in your gown with Corset Academy’s free online corset workshop, which shows you how to make a beautiful transparent corset in just three hours. Find the tutorial and pattern download at www.simplysewingmag.com.

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sleepy heads

Cosy up with a book before bedtime in a comfy reading corner with this tie-dyed pillow bed by R&B Designs.

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puppy love

This playful pair of pooches can’t wait to go for walkies with their new owner! Sew a paw-fect pup with Jo Carter’s how-to.

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S The Zara Dress Beach cover-up Shopper bag Travel games Strappy dress Butterfy plushie iPad stand Sewalong part 2 And more...

+FREE!

drEss pattern worth £8.99 SIZES

6-20

PATTERN

(US 4-18/EUR 34-48)

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N 08

Sew yourself a stretchy maxi dress (so comfy!) with stylish tulip hem, in sizes 6-20.

THE ZARA DRESS lk.com www.cottonandcha SKILL LEVEL

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