Those of you who’ve picked up the current Threads magazine may have noticed a little something in the byline of my article, and it’s something I’m so! excited! about! but haven’t been able to mention online at all before now…
Yes – I’m writing an activewear sewing book! How cool is that?? Right around the same time last year that Threads came calling asking me to write an article, a publisher dropped me an email asking if I’d ever thought about writing a book. Frankly, I wasn’t expecting it to go anywhere as I know how these things work, so I didn’t get my hopes up. But after a few months of calls, emails, outlines, approvals by the American office, then several rounds of contract negotiations – HOLY CRAP I’VE SIGNED A BOOK DEAL! 😳
Let me tell you it was SO hard to keep my excitement off of social media! I went down to F&W’s UK office for an all-day meeting last November, and during a break I happened to pose with this amazing sewing pattern wall art in their office:
At the time, I couldn’t say where it was taken, but it ended up being one of my top liked photos on Instagram for the whole of 2016! So now you know the story, too. We’d already agreed what the rough content of the book would be before contracts were signed, but in that meeting I got to meet the amazingly lovely F&W team, flesh out exactly what would be on every single page of the book, and (apparently) wow them with all the crazy organisational and timesaving templates and tricks I’ve acquired over the years. I had no idea I was that much more organised than everyone else – that’s just how I work!! 😂
I can’t tell you much about the contents of the book at the moment, but what I can say is that it’ll contain a section of activewear techniques and fabric selection info (way more than I’ve had space to share in any of my previous articles!), plus basic blocks and 13(!!) new designs.
THIRTEEN, PEOPLE. I am a crazy busy woman.
And I just want to say again how freaking lucky I feel to have F&W as my partner for my first book. The ladies there have given me complete creative control and I know you are going to love what I’ve got to share. I’m still in the writing process now, and every time I finish the instructions for a new design, all I want to do is sew up a million versions for myself! But as my deadlines are tight, I’ve got to carry on with the next design, and save my selfish sewing for after the deadlines – my athlete models’ samples must take precedence!
So I hope this explains a bit why my posts have been a bit more sparse than usual, or why I’ve not had another pattern release since the Knot-Maste Yoga Top, or why the second Print Club fabric kit is taking forever to come out – it’s just because I’m working full time on creating the best damned activewear sewing book the world has ever seen (ok, so it’s not got much competition, but still!). And come “early 2018”, I really hope you guys will agree!
