ABOUT ME

I am Angela and I love to sew. I started sewing as a child and by the time I was a teenager I was wearing the very latest fashions to go out in. All me-made. I am passionate about reducing the amount of textiles sent to landfill, and encourage you to repurpose fabrics and clothes I started this blog in order to have a way in which to pass on my gained knowledge, and my professional knowledge to you, Sewing is empowering, you can save money by making items, make money by selling then, You can pass your knowledge on to others. What is there not to love? Interestingly I am a direct descendant of the Flemish weavers who came over to England in the 1300's. I find that fascinating especially as most of my family from as far back as I can trace are somehow involved in the manufacturing of fabric . . I have a degree in tailoring with a special interest in WW2 fashion.

Friday 9 August 2019

How to Sew Palazzo trousers


What a fantastic holiday outfit this is. Palazzo trousers are so comfortable and flattering you will want to make several pairs. I had fabric left over from mine and made a very simple shell top to wear with them, the outfit is a total winner, perfect for warm days . I made this when I spent a summer living on Corfu




Friday 10 May 2019

Palazzo pants and a darted printed top

A short pattern hack 

This is a continuation of a previous blog post Sew yourself Cropped pants and a matching top

The last post was an embroidered pair of crop trousers with a top featuring the same embroidery. I appreciate that some of you have no desire to embroider by machine or hand so this is another idea - Block Printing. 



 Everything is the same as in the previous post
All of the machines, zip, thread and habberdashery etc are from Jaycotts.co.uk Contact Jaycotts




Saturday 23 February 2019

Easy to sew Jumpsuit and Jacket : Simplicity 8178

This is a Jaycotts post and it is a very simple to sew Jumpsuit for all levels of ability.

 As seen on the GBSB 2019

Labels

seam tape
using a pattern
Beginners

Jumpsuits do not show any sign of going out of fashion, and no wonder as they can be smart or casual or somewhere in between. They can take you anywhere and come into their own on holiday for day or evening. They are so comfortable!


Make it in Satin at MinervaCrafts for your party or special occasion - plain, print, glittery or animal print, one of these is perfect for you - and will cost you a lot less than ready made!

NB to view fabrics in the sale at MinervaCrafts go to MinervaCrafts Fabric Sale  you might just find a bargain! 






The pattern I chose is Simplicity 8178  I chose it because it is suitable even for sewing newbies as it has minimal pieces and does not have any fastenings - so no zipper or buttonholes to worry about.
.
There is a choice between straight and flared legs, I chose the wider flared leg.


I chose a floral crepe fabric for the main garment and plain crepe for the jacket, both widely available.  View Crepe Fabrics
This particular fabric is rather busy! More suited to holiday wear I feel. A chambray or a linen would be good fabric choices, the pattern also suggests sateen which would be lovely and Ponte Roma but if you choose this then make sure it is not too heavy and that it has a good drape.
Wash, dry and press your fabric before cutting out as a lot of fabrics shrink.

If ever you want to use a fabric such as wool for a coat or jacket then don't wash it, when I come to do my next coat blog I will show you how to shrink fabric without washing it.


If you are new to sewing then you may not understand the sizing. Pattern sizes are not the same as your commercial dress size, usually commercial garments are "vanity" sized and as you know the fit varies a lot from store to store.

So the first thing you need to do is to take your measurements and compare them to the measurements on the back of the pattern.
You may find that your top and bottom are different sizes but that doesn't matter as it is easy to cut out the top in one size and the bottom in another and merge the two sizes together at the waist.





Friday 22 February 2019

How to sew very Easy Totes and Shopping bags

Be plastic free at the supermarket








I am often told that many of us are inspired to make our own bags and we go and buy a lovely pattern, but that's as far as we ever get - mostly. The reason seems to be that these patterns require so many different and unfamiliar fabrics,interlinings and other notions which are either hard to obtain or are too expensive, or both.
In this post I am going to show you how to make a very easy Tote bag for your shopping and then I will  adapt the same design by first of all adding a lining, and then by making the bag larger to make a practical beach bag and finally a stylish faux leather large Tote with embroidery. 

Why not use a patterned fabric, do some simple applique, print your logo  or even hand embroidery, it doesn't really matter. 
In fact it's a great way to use up fabric scraps or even discarded clothes. The whole point is that we all need shopping bags and if you know how to make your own you will never be short of a bag again. The best thing is that if you use leftover fabric they are free!


Skills learned

Labels

  • French seam
  • Making a basic tote
  • Adding a lining
  • Sewing with faux leather 
  • Using a commercial bag pattern
  • Adding a zip

Saturday 26 January 2019

Sewing The Mondrian style top from the GBSB 2016 (Sewing an all in one facing )

This is a top made to embrace the 1960's Mondrian style in honour of the iconic Mondrian dress by Yves Saint Laurent.

A Jaycotts.co.uk How do I do that post


Skills shown in this post are

  1. All in one facings
  2. Invisible zip 


SewAngelicThreads


I love the colour block dress from the Great British Sewing Bee book From Stitch to style, but before I invested in the fabrics I wanted to try out the top first in fabric left over from other projects. This top is based on the MONDRIAN dress created by Yves  Saint laurent in 1965. Made to be worn as a cocktail dress the Mondrian was made from heavy silk crepe so that it hung straight in the body.  It quickly became the most iconic dress of the 1960s

This top was made in Art Gallery Fabric , this particular fabric is a very high end cotton print. You can use any cotton fabric  so long as you get a good contrast with the black bands.  All the fabrics need to be the same weight.
If you do fancy indulging yourself and buying some Art Gallery fabric Minerva Fabrics sell it,  Art Gallery fabrics .these are print fabrics but are gorgeous.


There are other linen, cotton ,and linen blends available too Cotton and cotton blend dress fabrics

And if you want to go back to the traditional colours there are lots of plain cotton's too, these are. Cotton Lawn fabric
The quality and price of all of these is excellent


The original Mondrian was made from panels of blue, white and acid yellow interspaced with black. My modern interpretation is in a light coloured print fabric with black bands added to form the iconic design.


The top is amazing don't you think and can be made fairly quickly.
 This tutorial shows you how to do an all in one facing.


You need to follow the link below to read the rest of the post.....

Thursday 17 January 2019

A Black wool lined pencil skirt with a touch of Embroidery


A lined pencil skirt, with a touch of Embroidery


A very similar post to this was featured on the MinervaCraftsBloggerNetwork recently A wool and Mohair mix pencil skirt .but I wanted to share some of the information about making toiles with you too.





The pattern I chose is a skirt pattern from Butterick - B6184. I chose this because it has a high waistline which features heavily this season. This particular pattern is out of stock, but it does not matter because any pencil skirt pattern can be used. Take a look at the choice, Pencil skirt patterns





In this post I am not going to give you a skirt tutorial as such  because after all skirts are simple to make right? - wrong. Well, they are simple but if you are making a pencil skirt the fit just HAS to be right! So that is what this post is about, fit.



Sunday 6 January 2019

What is the difference between a Tailored and non tailored garment, in pictures


What is the difference between tailored and non-tailored garments?

Hello, this is here by request. I know I said that I wasn't going to write a blog for a few weeks as I am busy making a coat, but so many of you have requested to see some of the garments I made at college over 30 years ago, so here I am blogging when I should be sewing.

First of all watch my you tube video as much of the explanation is there and it saves me having to type when I should be sewing!



Direct link to video if it doesn't show is Tailored vs non-tailored



In this video you will clearly see the difference between a Tailored and non-tailored coat or jacket.

Here are close up photos of my ancient garments, fully tailored, totally sewn by hand, and which took six months to a year to make! However you can see how well they have survived despite being in a suitcase for many years.



This is one of my examination garments. I had to make a winter coat without using a pattern of any sort. The fabric is Mohair and cost me £80 which was an absolute fortune then. This coat is extremely heavy!





Sew yourself some Croppped Pants and a matching Top

This is a Jaycotts.co.uk post using Simplicity 8391

This is such an easy outfit to make, with or without embroidery. It is suitable for beginners upwards.

Skills learned

Centred Zip
Pintucks
Pressing
Positioning of embroidery/applique
Button loops
Zipper foot



When I first saw this pattern I wasn't sure if it would suit me or not. Wrong! I decided as soon as I tried it on that I love this outfit.It is perfect for holidays, flattering and easy to sew. I like the 3/4 length wide trousers, they are cool to wear in the sun - I like to cover up mostly and I want garments which are easy to wear and light to pack.
I have paired the outfit with a pair of navy wedges.



The pattern is by Simplicity and is available to purchase from Jaycotts Simplicity 8391  In the envelope are patterns for a top, skirt, pants and shorts, everything you need for your holiday in fact.
The fabric is from Minerva Crafts and is a linen look Cotton, Linen look Cotton fabric This fabric is cool to wear and very easy to sew.
The pattern shows the garments made up in cotton trimmed with eyelet fabric or lace, but I wanted to use embroidery on mine - of course!