Give The Gift of Sewing

Give the gift that keeps on giving this year – the gift of sewing!!

If you have a crafty type to buy for or you’d like to suggest a present for yourself, what about a MIY Workshop gift voucher?!

November’s MIY Maker

New Classes at MIY Workshop!! Make a Kimono | Make Your Own Knickers | Fabric Stamping

Two new teachers are bringing 3 fantastic new classes to MIY Workshop this autumn with lots of dates and times (weekdays, weekends, evenings) available.

Michelle will be showing you how to make your own bespoke kimono and your own knickers:

Nula will be teaching fabric stamping so that you can print your own fabric:

Spaces are limited at all these classes. Full details including prices, dates and how to book are on the MIY Workshop website here.

Come & Make A Skirt From “A Beginner’s Guide to Making Skirts”!

In celebration of my new book “A Beginner’s Guide to Making Skirts” being published in October I’m teaching 2 one-day classes based around the book.

These are the only 2 dates that I’ll be teaching one day classes based around my book this year, so once they’re booked, that’s it!

The first date is suitable for absolute beginners that have never made clothes before, the second date is for those who already know how to use a sewing machine and have done some dressmaking. Both classes include a signed copy of the book to take away with you and make more skirts!

To book, email me at miyworkshop@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you!

SUNDAY 6TH NOVEMBER 10am-4pm

MAKE AN EASY PULL-ON PENCIL SKIRT WITH WENDY WARD

Join bestselling craft book author Wendy Ward for a day of dressmaking. You will make a pull-on stretch pencil skirt from her new book “A Beginner’s Guide to Making Skirts”. The class includes a signed copy of the book to take away with you to make more skirts and even all your fabric and thread. All you need to bring is yourself!

This class is ideal for beginners and don’t be scared of sewing knitted fabrics, we’ll be using a regular sewing machine and Wendy will guide you through setting up the machine to sew stretch fabrics – it’s a lot easier than you think. There are lots of different ways to make this skirt; different lengths, adding gathering to the side seams and colour blocked panels so you will be able to make it really suit your own style.

• Suitable for absolute beginners.                                                                                             
• Class size limited to just 5 people.
• £125 includes a copy of “A Beginner’s Guide to Making Skirts” and materials.

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SUNDAY 4TH DECEMBER 10am – 4.30pm

MAKE A SKIRT WITH WENDY WARD

Join bestselling craft book author Wendy Ward for a day of dressmaking to make your choice of skirt from her new book “A Beginner’s Guide to Making Skirts”.

There are 8 skirt styles to choose from and the class also includes a signed copy of “A Beginner’s Guide to Making Skirts” to take away with you to make more skirts!

This class is ideal for those who have just started sewing and those with more experience but need a refresher, some new ideas or just a confidence boost.

You will be able to choose to make one of the 8 different skirt styles in the book and with each skirt having at least three different style options you can really make the skirt your own style. Wendy will teach you how to perfect lots of dressmaking techniques; from pockets and pleats to zips, gathers and different ways to finish waistbands using her own tried and tested methods.

• Best for those who know how to use a sewing machine and have done a bit of sewing.
• Class size limited to just 5 people.
• £125 includes a copy of “A Beginner’s Guide to Making Skirts”.

The Wisewood – Now Available as a PDF Pattern!

Hooray, you can now buy the Wisewood pattern as a PDF download and get sewing instantly!

I have to confess I love this pattern (is it a bit weird to say that about one of your own patterns?!) That sleeveless dress version in the picture above? I wear it soooo much in the summer, it’s comfortable and flattering to wear and can easily be dressed up or down.

The pattern has 2 cowl options – a standard depth cowl that you could probably wear without the need for a vest underneath or a dramatic deeper version that falls into lots of luxurious folds and drapes. Shown above is the top with the deeper cowl and the dress with the regular cowl.

The pattern includes 2 different ways to finish the deeper cowl: simply left to drape through the whole of the dress front, or with the bottom part stitched out to give a more fitted dress below the waist which emphasises the beautiful drape of the cowl neck, like the one below:

Both dress and top versions are included in the pattern and the instructions will walk you through inserting sleeves or how to add a beautifully professional finish to the sleeveless version as well as the different ways to finish the cowl.

8 sizes are included in the pattern ranging from bust size 80cm to 111cm (31.5″ to 44″) and hip size 88cm to 119cm (34.5″ to 47″). This pattern is sized based on body measurements not dress sizes and includes full details of finished garment measurements for each size to make sure you get the right size first time.

Here is a lovely selection made by my students in sewing classes at MIY Workshop:

There’s more inspiration on this dedicated Wisewood Pinterest board.

Get your Wisewood pattern now for just £9 and start sewing tonight.

If you’re not a fan of PDF patterns, the Wisewood is also available as a paper pattern here.

MIY Workshop Class Reviews

Did you know there are masses of reviews from past students about their classes at MIY Workshop? Have a read here.

Me Made May 16

Are you taking part in Me Made May this year?

It’s Zoe Edwards’ yearly event aims to get us makers wearing more of what we make, find out more about it and how to take part here.

Now, I already wear a lot of me-mades all the time (I’m sure that won’t be news!). So I’ve added a little twist to my pledge:

 ‘I, Wendy Ward of http://www.wendyward.co.uk and www.miycollection.com (@thatwendyward on Instagram), sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’16. I endeavour to wear at least one me-made item from my collection of samples I’ve made of my patterns each day for the duration of May 2016. I will also plan a completely selfish sewing project and get it started as a treat for finishing my book!’

Hopefully wearing more of my samples will inspire my students when they see the patterns being worn in real life and I’m really looking forward to the selfish sewing part of that pledge!

What with Me Made May and the next series of the Great British Sewing Bee starting later this month, I’m looking forward to a month of making.

Sunday Sewing Classes

After many requests over a long time I’ve finally given in!

Starting from Sunday 12th June there will be 2 Sunday time slots available for weekly sewing classes: 10am-12 and 12-2pm.

You can book just one class or both and you can mix and match these sessions with all the other weekly classes (see full timetable here).

These classes will happen on one Sunday per month starting on Sunday 12th June. From July they will run on the 1st Sunday of the month.

Prices are the same as for all the MIY Workshop Sewing and Dressmaking classes, ie. a block of 4 classes for £90, a block of 10 for £195 and single classes at £35. The only difference is that if you want to only do Sunday classes, you must do consecutive Sundays.

As with all other MIY Workshop classes there are only 5 spaces available per class, that means I only have space for 10 people to do regular Sunday classes. 

You can work on your own choice of project at the classes and they are open to all levels of ability from absolute beginners to more experienced stitchers. The common theme whatever your ability is that I won’t teach you shortcuts, I’ll teach you how to sew well and I won’t just teach you the standard way to do things that you can find in any sewing book you pick up, I’ll show you my own techniques that I’ve developed over years of sewing and teaching.

I’ve been sewing since I was 12 and pattern cutting since I was 16. I’ve got a 1st class degree in fashion, an MA and a teaching qualification. I spent 7 years working in the fashion industry (read a bit about that here) and I’ve been teaching adults to sew since 2007. I also write a regular column for Love Sewing magazine, my first dressmaking book “The Beginner’s Guide to Dressmaking” which came out in 2014 is a bestseller and my second book “A Beginner’s Guide to Making Skirts” will be published this Autumn.

So, you’re in safe hands! I’ll teach you how to sew well and make clothes to be proud of. 

But don’t just take my word for it, have a read of what previous students have thought here.

To book your place, email me at post[at]wendyward.co.uk

Do I Really Need to Tack?

You’d think I get my sewing students to do this for my own amusement sometimes if you came to one of my classes!! If I had a pound for every time I’ve been asked this question…..

Now, my stock reply is this: wouldn’t you rather spend a bit of time tacking, than unpicking machine sewing that’s gone wrong? And isn’t tacking more enjoyable than unpicking machine sewing?!

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t tack everything, but honestly, there are some things that I will always tack, mainly set-in sleeves, zips, collars, cuffs, pleats and usually hems get tacked. I just don’t see how it would be possible to get the kind of results I expect without tacking. When it comes to my students, I get beginners to tack most things and my more confident and experienced students will only tack more fiddly things such as sleeves, zips and awkward shaped seams.

I think tacking can also take away a lot of stress for beginners; if seams are held securely in the right place with tacking, newbies can just focus on the machining and being accurate without needing to worry about also removing pins as they go and making sure they don’t sew over them. (That’s right – don’t ever sew over pins, even if they’re placed at right angles to your seam, your needle can still catch the pin and get a slight nick in the needle and I’ve even heard accounts of needles breaking and flying off when people have done this and that’s not a scare story!)

Here are some more uses for hand tacking, that I think can’t be beaten with any other methods:

• marking buttonhole positions so they’re visible on the right side of your garment and won’t permanently mark the fabric
• marking fly front topstitching for the same reasons
• accurate stripe and pattern matching – your machine will often push the layers out of alignment if the seam is just pinned.

I have recently become a convert to machine tacking in certain circumstances; a machine tacked seam is stronger than a hand tacked one and so can be useful when fitting and if you machine tack your seam closed before inserting a centred or slot zip you can get really neat results. To set your machine up to machine tack, choose the longest stitch length and a tension setting a bit lower than you would normally chose for the fabric.

At the end of the day, tacking is also a good exercise in reminding us what makers had to do before the days of sewing machines and then look at traditional bespoke tailoring; tacking and sewing is an integral part of how they create such beautiful garments. Come on, what’s good for Savile Row tailors has got to be good for us dressmakers too hasn’t it?!

This post is part of my Q&A column for Love Sewing magazine, issue number 26. Get your copy now to read the other questions I tackle this month on ease and when is the right time to start pattern cutting.

2016 Master Classes Now Open For Booking!!

My new timetable of Master Classes for 2016 at MIY Workshop is now open for booking.

There are some old favourites along with some new classes and something for all abilities whether you’re a nervous beginner wanting to just learn how to use a sewing machine or a more experienced stitcher that just can’t get to grips with sewing knits.

Full details on the MIY Workshop website here.