Pea Green coat

Here's the lovely Hannah from Ann's morning dressmaking class modelling her lovely green coat that she made - she looks really happy to be doing it doesn't she?  It was lined and looked really professional, and the colour was amazing.  I should maybe have moved her from under the machine acessories sign though - Hannah does not come with any machine unfortunately for you.  That would be a good deal wouldn't it?  Buy a machine and get a dress maker included! 

Better still - buy a machine and come and learn how to do your own dress making - now that we can do!

Seem to have a little backlog of photos from before Christmas - so let's have a catch up shall we?

Jill Carter held a Dorset Button workshop before Christmas - here they all are, working hard:

And some of the results too, the photos really do not do them justice, they looked wonderful.

Jill is back with us this year again - if you are interested in booking a course come in and see us.

Happy New Year!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.  Didn't it go quickly?  All that work and preparation and then it is over in a flash.  We have already had customers in the shop looking for supplies for next year's Christmas projects!!  Hard to believe I know.

We are working hard on the new class brochure, which should be due for release over the coming weeks all being well, so do let us know if you would like a copy.  The Christmas decorations have come down and we are now in full Sale mode.  If you are looking to invest in a new machine, now might be the time to come in and see us.  All craft fabrics have 10% off and Christmas fabrics have 20%. 

There are quite a few of the dress making fabrics on sale at the moment too - anywhere from 20% - 25%.

Happy New Year and here's to a creative year.

We had a Storm at Sea workshop last week.  A busy day, but hopefully enjoyable.  Everyone managed to complete at least one block which was great.  It always amazes me how the same block can look so different with just a different placement of fabric.  Bernies Christmas block, which is the top left on the second picture was lovely - she had very cleverly fussy cut a little Christmas block to go in the centre. But they all looked amazing and due to foundation piecing we had lovely perfect points!

The next few photos are show and tell from Patchwork Club.  This is Bea's Virginia Star quilt, machine pieced and machine quilted - all on a Juki of course!  The next one down I think was Maria's, but it was a while ago and she is hiding behind her quilt - so if it isn't Maria, I apologise.  The bottom one is another one of Bea's - what a busy lady she is!



Our Chelmsford branch held a one day charity sale in aid of Downs Syndrome on Saturday 23rd November.  Donations were made by staff and customers who had attended classes and the items included quilts and knitted items.

Many thanks to all members of staff and customers who participated, and also to customers who purchased items.  The day raised £300, which is wonderful - many thanks to all.



Dress making for Beginners!

Here we have the youngest member of our dress making class.  This is young Miss Effie modelling a little number that her Mum Sara made for her:

How adorable is that?  Effie comes along to class and is as good as gold, Sara manages to get on with her work and if Effie decides she needs a bit of attention there are always plenty of volunteers on hand to help out. 

Here Come The Girls!

Check out these lovely ladies:

Liz, who comes over from Colchester to do our windows, made all of these wonderful knitted fairies.  They are just wonderful and she has made 21 of these already.  They come from the Knitted Fairies To Cherish and Charm by Fiona McDonald - a great book priced at just £9.99. 

Also featured in the middle picture is the new Wendy Air wool, priced at just £4.95 a ball.  It comes in a great range of colours; green, white, light pink, hot pink, navy blue, heather, stone and black.  There is a lovely crochet pattern for a scarf to match the wool - would make a lovely Christmas present.... just saying!

The red ones at the top are my favourites, I love their outfits.  No comments about their hair being like mine either please!!  The windows are looking wonderful at the moment, if you have five minutes to stop by to have a look, please do - loads of inspiration.