Ta Dah!

Dressmaking is not something I have had the time or inclination to do for many years. I hate to admit it but it's been 22 years since I last made an item of clothing and that was to wear for a boyfriend's 21st Birthday Party. That, as I remember it, was a shocking creation involving a pair of trousers and an evening coat with huge shoulder pads (I have an excuse for this; it was the very end of the 80s!). Clothes in the high street are so inexpensive these days and making something to wear can work out to be more expensive than simply nipping into a clothes shop. Also I tend to concentrate on making things that will be used either as accessories or to decorate the home.

I was inspired as I am sure many people were by the first episode of "The Great British Sewing Bee" - a programme that hopes to do for sewing what "The Great British Bake Off" did for home baking. In this episode the contestants were challenged with making an A Line skirt and being a fan of skirts in the Summer I decided it was time to re-acquaint myself with dressmaking.

Back view

A while ago some fabric in a shop caught my eye. It was a retro design in greens, whites and turquoises in a funky curvy geometric pattern. I loved it but realised that it didn't fit in with the usual Hope & Gloria designs but could make a fun skirt for the Summer just for me. Armed with two metres and my pattern ordered from ebay I set to work.

Apart from a minor hiccup with cutting out and needing to dash back to the shop for another metre of fabric it was fab to make and I am delighted with the results. I am sure that a professional dressmaker casting a critical eye over my project may find a few faults and I am sure that the seams could be straighter in places but this is just down to practice. Speaking of which I have more fabric on order to make another. All I need now is some sunny weather and some fake tan on my legs and it's ready to wear!

Party! Party!

Children's Parties are always the most special of occasions and the Hope & Gloria Team love it when we are called upon to add to the celebrations. We offer a range of party themes and one of the most popular is t-shirt decorating.

Last week Tanya and I headed to Maidenhead armed with 16 humble plain white t-shirts, felt & fabric shapes, buttons, ribbon, beads and fabric paint. Our purpose? - to help a lovely girl called Orla to celebrate her 9th birthday.

It really is fascinating to watch designs being thought out and then becoming a reality. Each of the 16 girls had their very own individual ideas in mind and Tanya and I had a fabulous time helping to completely transform the plain t-shirts in to fab and funky creations. All of the party goers were delighted to take home their t-shirts at the end of the party and wore them with pride.

Here are some pics of what was made:

You can find out more about Hope & Gloria Children's Sewing Parties by clicking here

Happy Half Term

I have just realised that I completely forgot to post these gorgeous creations from the children's sewing workshops that I ran this half term. Life has been mad for the past week - the first week of a new half term always is.

So here they are lovely, lovely sunglass cases and covered notebooks. Everyone who came along was as wonderful as always so well done to everyone and I can't wait to see you at the Summer Workshops in a few weeks time!

I love these notebooks. A huge well done to Ella, Gemma and Laura.

Fabulous handiwork by Jasmine and Tegan.

Gorgeous accessories made by Molly and Stephanie.

Marvellous Moustaches

Tasteful sewing projects for boys can be tricky once they get to a certain age. When they have outgrown the pirate/sailboat/dinosaur phase it can be hard to make something to adorn a room that will please let alone elicit a response of"cool!".

This is why I have been really delighted to find groovy moustache designs creeping in to home furnishings and accessories over the past few months. There have been rumours of moustaches becoming trendy in fashion magazines for a number of years now (although these are yet to go mainstream), and the "Movember" campaign to raise awareness of prostrate cancer charities grows bigger year by year. As a result you can now see all sorts of derivations of fun, facial hair on all sorts of things from phone covers to cushions.

In our house we love them - the boys think they are lots of fun and I am able to finally create a sewn canvas that they are happy to have hanging in one of their rooms.

I was really pleased to find the background fabric and the large moustache motif is made from my old favourite -  felt. I went for a handlebar moustache to begin with. Simple but effective it is now ready to hang. Hooray for moustaches!