Sewing-a beginner's journey

I meet lots of sewers in the shop, both experienced and beginners and one of the great things about this job is being able to chat about all things fabric and patterns. As all crafters know, sharing information is vital to progress. Nowadays, with social media this has been taken to a new level. 

A few weeks ago, Make started a new Facebook page, the Makers' Forum which is a "closed" site. It is proving popular and I love to see what people are making at home. It includes, sewing, knitting, crochet and much more. Why not pop in a request to join, the more, the merrier!

One of our regular contributors to the forum and regular in the shop is Zara, pictured above.You can see that she loves her sewing!

Zara began sewing just over a year ago. A keen knitter, she was eager to follow up her jumpers with a skirt to match. Having seen someone who did this successfully, she was eager to learn. 

Zara signed up for our "Get to Know Your Sewing machine" workshop and from that point, there was no looking back!

Inspired by "Tilly and the Buttons", Zara bought her book, "Love at First Stitch" which she felt was perfectly written for the beginner. Using patterns from the book, she made the Margot PJs then, as her confidence grew, the Clemence skirt.

With two young boys at home, Zara wanted to sew garments more suited to her lifestyle and signed up to the workshop at Make, "The Jersey Wriggle Skirt".  To Zara, she and cotton jersey fabric was a match made in heaven! Any trepidation about working in cotton jersey knits disappeared and Zara likened the quality of the Lilestoff fabrics like cutting through butter!

Zara signed up to a couple of online courses through Tilly and the Buttons and a few Agnes tops and Coco dresses followed.

As a beginner, the support available through the independent pattern makers Zara prefers such as Tilly and the Buttons, Grainline and Sewaholic has been invaluable.

There are images galore online to refer to and, the aspect which Zara has appreciated most is the guidance as to which types of fabric to use. 

To make this Chloe pinafore, Zara wasn't sure of the meaning of the various denim weights and which one would work best. Using the blog online, she was guided to a successful end.

  Linden sweatshirt

                                                                                        Sewaholic

Zara is a regular at the Make Creatives' evening on a Wednesday when she is able to couple her love of sewing and knitting with that of drinking coffee in her favourite coffee shop. She also keeps an ear to the ground as to when the workshop space is free so that she can pop in and spend a couple of hours on her crafting when she has time.

Asked what she has gained from sewing over this past year+, Zara said that it has done wonders for her body image. No longer is she a particular shop size but a set of numbers which translate into a garment which suits her style and shape. Garments are no longer from a certain shop but unique and suited to her exactly.

If you have been inspired to start sewing, why not get in touch with Lizzy in the shop and give it a go. It would be interesting to see where your journey takes you!

We also have workshops for beginning knitting, crochet and a lot more.....

Happy making,

Sheila

Many of the patterns and fabrics seen here are available in the shop and online.