Freestyle Sewing and Pattern Making Tutoring

In my recent visit to Paris, I offered to make my son a shirt.
I have some yellow and grey check linen that I think would be great for it, and he thought a short sleeved shirt would be perfect!
He wanted it the same as a shirt that he already has, so I decided to copy the pattern.
I didn’t have much design stuff with me so I just made a few notes and measurements on a piece of card I had, took a few photos and we’ll take it from there!
Follow along to see the process of maki the pattern and the shirt. It will also include a post on matching checks!!

This is a favourite activity in the Freestyle classes, however, I’m thinking about doing a specialised course to teach you how to copy your favourite garments.
Leave your thoughts below.

The garden of Christian Dior, at his childhood home.
It’s easy to see how inspired one could become here!
There’s so many different outdoor areas, including a studio, a reflective pond, a lookout onto the beach and the sea, as well as a maze and so many beautiful plants and flowers, a plethora of roses too! So much colour!
There’s also a memorial garden with a sculpture of Christian Dior in it, I’m sure this is a new addition! Just for the museum.
I’m sure the garden has evolved over the years, but I feel the essence of beauty remains, I myself am inspired by it!

We visited Musée Christian Dior in Granville, France.
This is a quick Look at what we saw!

This was the childhood home of Christian Dior, and a lot of his inspiration for designing came from his home and especially the garden.
The home was actually a Museum of his work and designs.
The garden was beautiful and had many different areas to inspire one’s creativity.
Stay tuned for the garden reel next.

Transformation of a knit dress by Aparna!

Aparna is quite new to sewing and is loving being able to make her clothing fit better.

Aparna is learning a lot about how clothing is made and altered. She has a lot of patience, this alteration involves a fair bit of unpicking, the skirt was taken apart from the top of the dress at the waist, which allowed the darts to be created and the side seams to be taken in.
The binding was removed from the neckline, an inverted pleat was made in the centre then different binding was applied, still in the same colour palette which looks fab! 🤩

The skirt was then regathered to the correct measurement and it was put back together.

Great work Aparna! 🌟

I’ll be away now for 7 weeks, returning on Saturday 13th June for Freestyle classes!

While I’m away, a lovely colleague is coming to take Freestyle classes for me on Wednesdays, from 29th April - 27th May.

I worked with Hue in the fashion industry many years ago. She has had her own label, is a pattern maker, fashion designer and she has a business in bridal and alterations. She has a lot of experience working with delicate fabrics and special occasion wear, so if this is something you’d like to learn more about, or make then join Hue in her Freestyle classes.

Book via link in bio!

I’ll be popping in here occasionally during the 7 weeks to keep you updated on what’s coming up in the studio, and what interesting fabrics and places we see on our travels!

Enjoy your sewing while I’m away!
Love Colleen 🧵🪡

This make was waiting to be produced for years!

My sister in law gave me some fabric and a top she had to make her another, but that was many years ago!

I found the fabric when I was tidying up the studio a couple of weeks ago, and decided to make the top.

It was a really fast make! I ripped the pattern of Penny’s top!
The seams were sewn on the 5 thread overlocker, it does a chain stitch and 3 thread overlock! Perfect for knit garments.

The neckline was bound using the binding attachment on the industrial machine and the hems and lace application on the cover-stitch machine!

It was quick and satisfying!

Especially because Penny loves it, and said it was “worth the wait!” 😁

Happy days!!

This skirt was a bit of a challenge, commercial patterns sometimes have tricky or ambiguous instructions and markings….and this was one of those.

It was tricky to follow the pattern, in the end we pleated it the way it looked good and fit, and it turned out looking fab!

Great work Fiora!🌟👌



Despite it all Fiora has done a great job of this skirt! 🤩

Have you made velvet clothing?

It can be quite scary!

First decide which direction you’d like it to go, rough or smooth down, there may be an obvious difference, there certainly was with this fabric!

It’s a beautiful peachy colour! 🍑

This is a custom make for an Addison Ash client.

I thought this fabric might have been a bit tricky to sew! It sewed fine, no need for a walking foot on the industrial machine.
It may have needed a walking foot on the domestic machine, but I’m all for making my job easier by sewing on the industrial machine!😂

Initially, this dress was to have a zip in the centre back! This is where it was tricky!
First I sewed it in without any stay stitches or tearaway and the fabric stretched! Then I tried sewing tearaway onto the underside of the centre back to keep the fabric the correct measurement, but this puckered the fabric! The last thing I tried was sewing the zip in by hand, this was also tricky and despite method I used it would always end up uneven, a little puckered in one area!🤦‍♀️

We decided to ditch the zip and go with a short opening at the back with loops and buttons! This actually worked much better as the velvet is stretchy and it turned out didn’t really need a zip!

Stay tuned to see more of this dress make!

Let me know what your experiences are with sewing velvet!