Sewing Tips, Tutorials, Projects and Events

Velvet has had a serious comeback in recent years and is the perfect fabric for your autumn winter wardrobe. It is soft and warm against the skin making it perfect for everyday wear, but also packs some serious punch in the glamour stakes - hello knock out evening dress!

In this article we'll give you our top tips for sewing with velvet, share our sexy new velvet fabrics and give you some serious inspo and and ideas for projects using this delicious fabric.

If you've ever wondered about an embroidery machine - how do you use one? How expensive are they? What would I make? Which is the best embroidery machine for me? Then this video is for you. Together with Caroline from Husqvarna Viking we give you a quick overview to show you how much fun you could be having with an embroidery machine. We also cover all of these points in detail in the written article below.

It was my birthday on Monday and as a rare treat I spent the whole day shopping with Mom excitedly perusing the new autumn winter trends. I walked amongst the rails of my favourite high street stores mentally picking out patterns and fabrics I could use to recreate the looks my way. Sewing is such fun isn't it?!

Here's a round up of the key trends I spotted and the patterns and fabrics you can use to bring your handmade wardrobe bang up to date.

Like it or not the seasons will be changing so here's our first instalment of Autumn Winter 2018 fabrics. This is just a snippet of the full range, but it's enough to get the creative juices flowing. Settle down, grab a cuppa and be prepared to swoon.

This August Bank Holiday weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Sewing Weekender for the third year in a row. Organised by the lovely ladies at the Foldline and Charlotte of the 'English Girl at Home' blog it is a real treat. Find out what we did, who was there and why I love this piece of sewing heaven so much.

One trend that could not have passed me by this year is the paperbag waist - on shorts, trousers and skirts everywhere. I love the nod to the 90s (my hey day) and it seemed like a very wearable trend. Whilst pondering all things paperbag I simultaneously spotted the need for more shorts for my winter sun holiday in October. Then I remembered a new Simplicity pattern release I shared on Instagram stories a while back, which would have this trend all wrapped up.

The range of sewing machine presser feet on the market today can be quite bewildering! However, understanding the capabilities can be incredibly eye opening for everyone from beginners to experienced sewists.

I've known people who have struggled with a particular sewing task for 40 years then discovered a presser foot that takes all the stress out of that particular technique. Less frown lines, surely that's a good thing?

Not only do presser feet solve sewing struggles, but they can also help you to really make a project your own by adding unique and imaginative details like never before. This may create smile lines, but we can live with those, right?!

We are passionate about helping people to make these discoveries so wrote this handy ultimate guide to sewing machine feet. As you can imagine this is a rather substantial article so we've also included a handy quick reference table to help you to jump around the article and find the bits you are interested in.

I don't know about you, but this incredible summer has made me realise I need more summer dresses in my life! I wanted something cool, loose fitting and pretty to wear so decided to sew this simple slip dress.

Personally I love a V neck and find them very flattering. They seem to accentuate the bust whilst also revealing the collar bone for a nice slimming effect. I'd never sewn one in jersey until I made my tropical maxi dress and was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to draft and sew a knit V neck.

I decided to sew this tropical maxi dress after a battle with my last make that resulted in an unfinished project. I will go back to it when I can face it again, but in the meantime I needed a palette cleanser! This was just the ticket and perfect for the gorgeous weather we are experiencing in the UK right now.