Vote for July’s MIY Maker

Argh, it’s that time of year when time starts to morph into one big blob and the end of the month slipped past me unnoticed. So, a little later than planned, here are your choices for July’s MIY Maker.

Clockwise from top left:

• a Fulwood dress by Ros
• Sharon’s Granville wrap skirt from my second book “A Beginner’s Guide to Making Skirts”
• comfy cuffed trousers by MissNicJ from my 1st book “The Beginner’s Guide to Dressmaking”
• Christine’s hacked Rusholme skirt from “A Beginner’s Guide to Making Skirts”.

Who gets your vote to be July’s MIY Maker and win their next MIY Collection pattern for free?

Leave a comment with your choice.  I’ll announce the winner on Saturday. Voting is also open on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Full details on how you can enter your make for August’s MIY Maker are here.

Vote for May’s MIY Maker

Me Made May meant stiff competition for this month’s MIY Maker as sooo many great makes were shared over on Instagram, but I whittled it down to these 4. Who will get your vote?

Clockwise from top left:

• Crystal’s t-shirt from my first book “The Beginner’s Guide to Dressmaking”
• Lyndsey’s MIY Collection Longley cardi
• Another t-shirt by Claire from “The Beginner’s Guide to Dressmaking”
• Nicola’s Rusholme A-line skirt from my second book “A Beginner’s Guide to Making Skirts”.

So, have your say, which of these gorgeous garments do you think deserves to be this month’s MIY Maker and win their next MIY Collection pattern for free?

Leave a comment with your favourite and I’ll announce the winner on Tuesday morning (6th June). Voting is also open on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Vote for February’s MIY Maker

Who gets your vote to be February’s MIY Maker?

Here are your fabulous four to choose from, clockwise from top left:

• Abi’s Rusholme A-line Skirt from Beginner’s Guide to Making Skirts
• A denim MIY Collection Fulwood Dress by Kath
• A sleeveless MIY Collection Wisewood Dress by Em
• A red hot Fulwood dress by Jackie.

So, it’s over to you, whose make do you think deserves to be this month’s MIY Maker and win their next MIY Collection pattern for free?

Leave a comment with your favourite and I’ll announce the winner at the end of the day tomorrow (Wednesday 1st March). Voting is also open on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Find me in all these sewing magazines this month!

I’m embarassingly all over the sewing magazines this month, I’m afraid there’s no escaping me!

My regular column in Love Sewing is all about New Year sewing resolutions along with some ideas to get you started. My main piece of advice – be realistic!!  There are only 12 months in a year…..I wrote in more detail about this here.

The Rusholme A-line skirt pattern from my book “A Beginner’s Guide to Making Skirts” is in Sew Now magazine and the Granville Wrap skirt is included with Simply Sewing.

Enjoy and I hope your 2017 is off to a creative start!

Beginner’s Guide to Making Skirts Blog Tour

Did you see the fantastic line-up Cico organised for the blog tour of my new book “A Beginner’s Guide to Making Skirts“?
Here’s a summary of the gorgeous skirts those creative bloggers made. Each of them also included a detailed review of the book, so click on the links I’ve included to see their full blog posts.

I know how much work was involved so I want to send out a huge thank you to each of them for taking part. Jane, Kerry, Marilla, Elisalex – you’re THE best xxxx

Day 1 was Jane Marland’s Rusholme A-line skirt:

Day 2 was Kerry Green’s Maxi Rusholme A-line skirt:

Day 3 was Marilla Walker’s Roehampton Culottes:

Day 4 sadly didn’t result in a finished project from Peas and Needles, but there is a brief review of the book:

And last, but very much not least, Day 5 was Elisalex’s Fallowfield Pencil Skirt for the By Hand London blog:

Hope they all inspired you as much as they did me!

Beginner’s Guide to Making Skirts – The Rusholme Skirt

Five days to publication and welcome to the fourth project in Beginner’s Guide to Making Skirts: the Rusholme – an A-line skirt.

Rusholme is a famous area just to the south of Manchester city centre where I lived during the second year of my degree.  It’s situated either side of Oxford Road, one of the main routes into the city and famous for its Indian restaurants, colourful sari shops and celebrated in “Rusholme Ruffians” by Manchester’s own; The Smiths.

Named after its similarity to a letter A shape, an A-line skirt is fitted at the waist and gradually flares out over the hips to the hem. Christian Dior is generally credited with introducing the A-line shape in 1955 with a spring collection that used the shape not only in skirts, but dresses, coats and jackets.

Source: Google image search 

I don’t know many people that don’t suit an A-line skirt. It’s such a great skirt shape and deserves a place as a staple go-to skirt in your wardrobe. Flattering and comfortable A-line skirts work well in a wide range of fabrics and depending on the details and fabric you use can create lots of different looks.

There are lots of different ways to make this skirt; 3 different lengths, with a faced waist or a waistband, with a centre front pleat, with cut-away front hip pockets that are actually a lot easier to sew than many people think…..

or just completely plain with some contrast topstitching.

In lightweight wools with a lining it can be a smart skirt for the office, a shorter version in denim looks great with contrast topstitching and is perfect with bare legs and trainers in summer or with warm woolly tights and boots in winter. My longer length camel coloured corduroy version with pockets is a great 70’s throwback that still looks great today.

A-line skirts looks great in medium weight woven fabrics such as denims, linen, cotton/linen blends, corduroy, velvet, cotton chintz, cotton poplin, lightweight wools and stretch woven fabrics which have some elastane.

Watch out for skirt number 5 tomorrow!

I’m now taking pre-orders for signed copies of the book. You can order yours here. NOTE: You will be charged when you place your order, but your book won’t be sent until publication day on 25th October.

All photography is by Julian Ward © Cico Books with styling by Rob Merrett. Illustrations are by Wendy Ward.