by GillyMac | Apr 17, 2018 | Uncategorised
Earlier this month I headed off to New York for 8 eight days with my family. Our trip started on the Tuesday after the Easter weekend. This lovely long weekend before we headed off meant that once I had got my classes finished and the house and family prepared for the...
by GillyMac | Mar 2, 2018 | Teens, Uncategorised
Over February half term I decided to make a baby quilt, well more like a throw. I made it as a gift to my form tutor, as his partner has just had a baby. He’s also been my form tutor for the last five years so it’s also as a thank you gift. I go to sewing classes with...
by GillyMac | Feb 16, 2018 | Uncategorised
The announcement this week from Coats (owners of FreeSpirit Fabrics) was shocking in its swiftness, but the writing has been on the wall for some time, had we chosen to look at it. Coats business is dominated by its ‘Industrial’ business (around 70%)...
by GillyMac | Feb 4, 2018 | Uncategorised
[sg_popup id=”11″ event=”onload”][/sg_popup]Yesterday I had an extremely rare term time Saturday off from teaching my lovely teen classes and attended a lecture by Tula Pink, a young Amercian textile designer, who now lives just outside Kansas...
by GillyMac | Feb 1, 2018 | Beginners, Classes, Designing, Dressmaking
With so much dressmaking in full flow at GillyMac Designs, I thought it would be an ideal time to share with you some tips on how to work your way around a dressmaking pattern. UNDERSTANDING THE PATTERN: Unless you are using a modern pattern, you will find that...
by GillyMac | Jan 13, 2018 | Uncategorised
Twenty eighteen may be well underway, but, even though the tree is down, the decorations are away and my tax is done (hurrah), the start of my New Year is on hold until 1st February to allow me to complete more of my ‘2017 Finishing Off List’. There is...
by GillyMac | Dec 28, 2017 | Uncategorised
I have read soooooooo many posts online these past few days, where people are upset that the gift they have made has not been properly appreciated or even appreciated at all. It is sad, and I can feel all the frustration when I read each story. I don’t have...
by GillyMac | Nov 21, 2017 | Uncategorised
It is very easy to buy a bundle of fabrics, all from the same range, because the colour combination (often called a colour story) will have been worked out for you. In the Tula Pink Tabby Road Collection, the ‘Strawberry Fields’ colourway has red grouped...
by GillyMac | Oct 18, 2017 | Uncategorised
When I was at school, for the short time I was allowed into the sewing machine room, the whole class was warned never (NEVER) to touch the tension dial. We were all terrified of that tension dial and what could possibly happen if we altered it. Actually, when...
by GillyMac | Oct 10, 2017 | Uncategorised
With the Singer Overlockers on sale in Lidl this week and with the use of overlockers on the TV series, The Great British Sewing Bee, more and more of the sewing community has access to an overlocker. Overlockers are sadly often misunderstood tools. They can do so...
