Sewing up a storm

For my birthday I decided to give myself a present. I booked in for the "Customised bag in a day" workshop at Nicole Mallalieu's Northcote Studio.

 

I chose the large Tote or satchel to work on as my base pattern. Echino front flap, cotton drill outside and a yummy purple inside. We focused how to make professional looking bases, variations on straps and also inserting gusset zips. But along the way all sorts of tips and hints about how to get more effective results with our sewing. In between the sewing, lots of conversation about crafting communities and the trials and tribulations of running small businesses.

For me it was a whole day to focus on sewing and technique, something that I have not had in a while.

 

I am already coveting the Zippers for bags and Interfacing workshops, I just need to find an excuse to buy them for myself! I also love the idea of the pattern-making workshops, but time is my only enemy.

Thank-you Nicole for a wonderful day, and whilst I didn't get my bag finished I did walk away with lots (read too many) ideas for how I can make my Konstant Kaos bags look more professional.

You Sew, Girl - the book!

As part of my travels I paid a visit to Nicole Mallalieu's new shop/workspace this week and was thrilled to have the chance to flip through her new book published by Harper Collins.

She has written a whole book, not a few piddly little chapters like I wrote a while back ...

It is jam packed with tips, hints and lots of projects. One project that caught my eye was the baby hat project which looks so cute!

I am very much looking forward to getting my hot little hands on a copy as soon as I can! Keep an eye on her blog for details of where to purchase the book.