My 1st Sewing School Class

This week I took my first class at Love Stitch in Heswall. After ten years teaching the girls at school, it was a new experience for me teaching adults. Six lovely ladies came along and here's a little natter about our morning.

The workshop space at Love Stitch is ideal for for small groups. It is a lovely bright room, well equipped and cosy. We were even treated to proper coffee and biscuits on arrival!

The three-hour class was to make this pretty cube cosmetic purse, which is always a favourite with my customers from my Etsy shop.

Love Stitch provided this range of gorgeous cotton fabrics by Tilda for the ladies to mix and match for their purses. They all selected different combinations!

They soon got down to the business of cutting out the pieces needed.

Then on to making the patchwork outer layer.

Next quilting the layers together.

It was great to see everybody beavering away! It was so quiet with everyone concentrating, not a bit like school!!

The binding and the zip were a little more tricky, but this stage was soon mastered by all.

I think you'll agree their finished purses are amazing. Each one looks slightly different in the different fabric combinations. There could be some very lucky recipients on Christmas morning!

Some of the ladies asked for written instructions incase they forget how to make them again. I have promised I will put together a tutorial just as soon I can find a spare minute. Look out for it in the Tutorials tab on the left hand side.

I have two more classes booked in the run up to Christmas. Follow this link if you are interested in booking a place.

Embroidered Home Picture - 21st November - 9.30 to 1.30

Applique Christmas Stocking - 9th December - 1.00 to 5.00

Love to see you there. Happy sewing!

Judith xxx

Christmas Sewing School

I'm really excited to announce my new venture. I've been talking to the lovely ladies at Love Stitch in Heswall and they've asked me to teach some classes as part of their Sewing School programme.

Before I tell you all about them, I will fill you in on whats been happening in my world over the last few months.

Just over a year ago after feeling dissatisfied with teaching for some time, I was finally pushed to jump when I was made redundant. Over the next year whilst covering a maternity absence, I came to the conclusion that what I really wanted to do, was something more worthwhile and rewarding; teaching has become a rather thankless job (those of you who are teachers may identify with this). I had been a volunteer with Safe Families for Children for a while and in July a part-time paid position on the team came my way. It was a wonderful answer to prayer when I got the job and I'm loving every minute. I no longer wake up on a Monday morning and count the number of days and weeks till the next break. I work with some fantastic people and lots of truly amazing volunteers.

For those of you who have not heard of us, Safe Families for Children is a Christian organisation that has a growing base of volunteers from local churches supporting local families, who are going through difficult times.

Working part-time is perfect for me, it means that I can return to some 'proper teaching'. By that I mean teaching others who want to learn practical skills to make things. Love Stitch is a lovely little haberdashery shop in Heswall on the Wirral where I live. It is a small independent business, which is rare on our high streets these days. It is run by a group of lovely enthusiastic ladies who make time to take care of their customers. The sewing school offers a range of classes to suit different interests and abilities. They also have a coffee shop serving delicious homemade cakes. There is a coffee and crochet group that meets there every Friday.

At the moment I have three classes booked in the run up to Christmas (there are others available too with different tutors).

The first class is on 12th November when we will be making this cube shaped cosmetic purse in Tilda fabric. The class will include the skills of patchwork, quilting and inserting zips. Follow this link to Love Stitch for more information.

The second class is on 21st November when we will be making this pretty wall hanging. In this class I will be introducing free-motion machine embroidery. For more information and to book a place follow this link to Love Stitch.

The third class is on 9th December when we will be making this large Christmas stocking incorporating free-motion embroidery. If you want to know more, follow this link to Love Stitch.

It would be lovely to see you at any of these events.  As I look forward to the future, I am full of ideas for other classes I could run as I try to inspire others to explore their creative side!

Until next time

Judith xxx