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A tropical print Bettine dress

Like the best comic book superheroes, this dress has an almost unbelievable origin story.

As you know, I’ve been sick with multiple viral infections for months, and have been pretty down about it all. Well, I stepped out of the flat one day a few weeks ago and bam! right on the pavement outside the flat was a Tilly & the Buttons Bettine dress pattern, just lying there! I mean, seriously, what are the chances?

I could’ve just left it there for whomever dropped it to recover, but with rain forecast later in the day I didn’t want it to get ruined and besides, this was the Universe giving me A Sign, and I didn’t feel like I should overlook the only good luck I’d had in months! So I took it home and started fabric shopping immediately.

Magazine

Burda magazine June 2018

The July issue isn’t yet on UK newsstands (that I can find, anyway…) so I’m technically not behind on my June review, even though the calendar may say otherwise! So let’s take a peek inside and see what jumped out for me…

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An upcycled knitting bag and some newly-loomed socks

A few weekends ago I found myself in HEMA (a Dutch interiors, snacks, and household shop) picking up a few things and I spied a cushion cover for a fiver that I liked the look of. I’d been meaning to make myself a project bag for my sock loom and various supplies for a while now, and I saw the potential! I was also too excited to get a Before photo but it’s up online and now I see it’s only £2! Figures!

The cushion cover featured a loosely woven fabric on one side (which I used as the bag exterior) plus a plain canvas on the other (which became the bag lining) and a matching zip so it was excellent value considering the zipper alone would’ve cost me around £3.50!

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A velvet slipcover for our sofa

We have loved our sofa since the moment we bought it about 5 years ago, and the bones of it are in great condition, but the fabric the manufacturers used was not fit for every day wear and tear. It faded, took on stains, and the final straw was when the cushion fabric actually wore through (it didn’t rip, the fabric disintegrated).

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Two bamboo teeshirts

I had just about a meter leftover from the lovely Raystitch bamboo jerseys I used for the samples on my Craftsy class, and the fabric is too soft and wearable to leave marinading in my stash!

So I pulled out the Loose Fitting Top Block from my “Sew Your Own Activewear” book and managed to squeeze a teeshirt (minus a bit of hem length) out of each with hardly anything leftover!

So I pulled out the Loose Fitting Top Block from my “Sew Your Own Activewear” book and managed to squeeze a teeshirt (minus a bit of hem length) out of each with hardly anything leftover!

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A striped pattern-puzzle Atacac tee

I was browsing through my Instagram feed a few months ago when I saw a post by Ernie about some Swedish designers who made absolutely crazy-complicated 3D patterns and I was instantly hooked! I mean, cos you know me and pattern puzzles, right?? If I can’t work out how a pattern goes together by just looking at it, I’m immediately drawn to it!

Atacac are primarily RTW designers but they released a bunch of their RTW designs as downloadable “sharewear” patterns. They’re only in one size (size “3” on their size chart), but this happened to be my size anyway, and as it turns out, this particular tee is quite loose-fitting anyway.

Inspiration

Behind the scenes on my “Serging Activewear” shoot

Thanks so much for all your enthusiasm on the launch of my Serging Activewear Craftsy class guys!! I wanted to talk a little today about what went into the making of this class because I know you all love hearing about this sort of thing, but also I found it fascinating to see how much work goes on in preparation, too!

As I mentioned earlier this week, I actually started working on the class prep back all the way back in December! The leadup isn’t usually quite this long, but we started the new year with a very intense few weeks of devising the script with my fantastic category editor, Elaine, over Skype. Basically, we had to work out what I was going to talk about, in what order, and what sort of samples I’d need to sew up ahead of time in addition to the ones I’d actually sew on camera.

Inspiration

Activewear Masterclass – new date added!

Wow, so many of you have booked my Activewear Masterclass in July that we’ve gone and added a second date! So if you wanted to attend the first one but couldn’t on that weekend, you can now book for Sunday 30 September as well!

Like the July date, this is a one-day masterclass held at New Craft House here in London, and you’ll learn how to sew strong and stretchy seams on a regular sewing machine, adapt patterns to your specific sports, plus sew up a pair of leggings and a workout top, ALL IN ONE DAY! Plus you’ll receive a signed copy of my “Sew Your Own Activewear” book, too!

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A floral bias top

Happy Friday everyone! I like to buy souvenir fabric whenever I’m travelling, and when I was in Malaga last summer competing in the World Transplant Games I bought one meter of a lovely floral poly satin at a fabric shop we stumbled across in the centre of town.

I’m not usually a floral woman but this digital print really spoke to me for some reason, and now that the weather has warmed up it felt right to cut into it – and what better way to showcase the beautiful photo print than with a little bias top pattern I’d already tested? So I pulled out Burda 6501, which I’d made last summer in a viscose print and worn loads since.