Last Summer Frock Making Workshop for this year

On the hottest day of the year so far, the third Summer Frock Making workshop was timely and delivered yet more lovely frocks.  Here they are:

Clare’s first foray into sewing knitted fabrics turned out beautifully and she was pleasantly surprised by how easy jersey was to work with!  Clare used a lovely drapey viscose jersey from C&H Fabrics.  You can buy this MIY Collection pattern here.

Joy and Hannah both made the simple shift dress, both with pockets.  This was the first time Hannah had made something to wear and the first time she’d done any sewing for 15 years!  Joy is a knitting convert (!) and will be adding this lovely frock to the cardi she made at my Sewing with Knits workshop.  Hannah’s spotty fabric was from John Lewis, Joy’s cotton/linen mix grey fabric that has a really nice sheen is from Ditto.  This pattern will be available to buy soon from MIY Collection.

Jo is another knitter and crocheter and is dipping her toe into the dressmaking water!  I think she’s made a fantastic start with this fitted shift dress.  If you look closely the fabric print has lots of sewing related illustrations and works really well in this dress – a simple style to suit an intricate print.  This fabric was from online fabric shop Frumble.  They have a whole range of sewing related prints, I’m particularly taken with a scissor one……

All 5 students worked extremely hard to produce some beautiful dresses by the end of the day.  Hannah happily went off home in hers.  I’m eagerly awaiting pictures of Mary’s as we had a last minute change of mind over some sleeves!

Here’s what the students thought of the day:

“From the friendly atmosphere, the patient and detailed help and guidance to the utterly splendiferous finished frock (even if I do say so myself!) it has been an absolute pleasure and delight to go on the course today!  I heartily recommend it to the less experienced and slightly clueless but enthusiastic sewing machine users (like me), to those who want to try something new.  Thank you again for such a lovely day and you’ll be seeing me again in the future!”

“Thanks Wendy, the class was a lot of fun and it was great to get back into sewing.  It’s so wonderful to be going home with a dress and I look forward to coming back soon!”

“Fantastic dress making day with Wendy.  Can’t wait until this pattern is available so I can make another one of them!”

“Really enjoyable day.  It was the first time I had used knit fabric and I finished a dress and am pleased with the results!”

You might see a “Party Frock Making” workshop appearing towards the end of the year!!

More Summer Frock Making

Yesterday was the second Summer Frock Making workshop.

Here’s some of the lovely frocks that left MIY Workshop at the end of the day:

Emme in her vest dress on the left in a cute ditsy floral jersey from Ditto, Sarah in the middle in her tube dress with Ditto jersey fabric in the bodice and Lyndsay on the right in her simple shift dress from lovely black chambray from, guess where…..!

All these three dresses were the first garments that these students had ever made – impressive hey?!

Unfortunately we had one student who didn’t make it due to illness today.  My other student Amy made a good start on a dress using a Simplicity pattern that she’d brought in.  Students are always welcome to bring along their own patterns to my Sunday workshops, but……..when a workshop is designed around using my patterns, I’ve carefully designed those patterns to ensure that it’s achievable for the majority of students to be able to finish them in a day.  So if a finished product is what you want to go home with…….I’ll say no more!  Other than, Emme and Sarah went home in their frocks.  Now that’s got to be satisfying!!

Here’s some feedback from my students on what they thought of the workshop:

“Today was invaluable!  As someone who has only made basic household items and can do little more, I found today perfectly pitched for my ability and confidence level.  I came out with a lovely dress that I made from start to finish.  Wendy’s personable nature, small class sizes and expertise ensured that I was 100% satisfied with the experience and will be visiting again soon.”

“Really enjoyed the course it was so exciting to make something that fits properly, I will definitely be back again.  Thank you!”

The last Summer Frock Making Workshop is next Sunday (21st July) and is fully booked.  If you’d like to have a go at making your own frock, you can always use my patterns at the Weekly Sewing and Dressmaking classes, there are 7 time slots to choose from!  More details here: www.miyworkshop.co.uk/weekly-sewing-dressmaking-classes/

The First Summer Frock Making Workshop

Today was the first run of my new Summer Frock Making Workshop.  I’d spent a lot of time working on some new designs and patterns – quite a challenge to come up with a range of designs that could suit all shapes and sizes and all levels of sewing ability!!

I have to admit, I felt a teensy bit guilty today as I worked my students extremely hard.  Here they are, heads down, hard at work.

But it was worth it, look at these fantastic results!

Clare and Laura in lovely shift dresses in gorgeous printed cottons.

Jo and Lucy in the first garments they’ve ever made (just the hems to do)!  They were both suitably impressed and surprised with the results of their efforts!

And Sam in a collared version of the pull-on shift dress, which hopefully will be the rekindling of her love of sewing!

There were 5 dress patterns to use at this workshop, all of which will eventually be made up to buy as sewing patterns via MIY Collection, my range of dressmaking patterns.

Here’s what some of the students thought of the day:

“Thanks so much for today’s Frock Making workshop. It was really rewarding to rediscover skills I thought I’d forgotten and to go home at the end of the day with a new frock to wear. It’s definitely inspired me to make time for more sewing at home and I will be most certainly be back for another course soon.”

“I’m really happy with it. Just need some sunshine to wear it now! I thought it was great day, quite hard work for me but I really enjoyed it. The dress pattern was easy to use, and each step easy to follow – your advice is excellent as always.” 

“The dress is finished, it only took about a hour to do. I am very pleased with it, can’t wait for some sunshine to wear it now!”

The first 2 dates for this workshop were booked up pretty quickly so I’ve decided to add another date – Sunday 21st July.  If you fancy making your own summer frock, get in touch via email on miyworkshop[at]gmail.com or ring 01273 775951 or 693451.