by GillyMac | Apr 21, 2021 | Beginners, blog, Quilting, Sewing Made Simple
Following on from last week’s blog, I am focusing on starting your quilting journey with your walking foot this week. Here is a list of my favourite beginner-friendly walking foot quilting designs for you to practise. The practice session aims to get you...
by GillyMac | Mar 24, 2021 | Beginners, blog, Patchwork, Quilting, Sewing Made Simple
I am frequently asked ‘how much does it cost to start sewing?’. The amount of equipment and tools on the market is vast and can be confusing. In this post, I have boiled down what you need to just the bare essentials. There is always more to add, but let us start with...
by GillyMac | Mar 17, 2021 | Beginners, Patchwork, Quilting, Sewing Made Simple
Breaking thread is super annoying. It happens for many reasons, none of which are any less irritating. Here are my top tips. Start from number one and work through them until it is solved. Get a cup of tea and settle down to fix the problem. When I am stressed, I can...
by GillyMac | Mar 10, 2021 | Beginners, blog, Sewing Made Simple
Sew a line of straight stitches and a line of zig-zag stitches to determine if your sewing machine tension is correct. The straight stitches should be even, and in alignment on both sides of the fabric. The zig-zag stitches should be perfect zig-zags and not look like...
by GillyMac | Feb 10, 2021 | Beginners, blog, Dressmaking, Patchwork, Quilting, Sewing Made Simple
What To Buy for Learning to Sew Be prepared for this to be a journey. Moreover, learning to sew is like any skill, it improves with practice, and there aren’t any shortcuts. Equip yourself correctly. A good machine does not need to be an expensive machine....
by GillyMac | Jan 6, 2021 | Beginners, blog, Dressmaking, Patchwork, Quilting, Sewing Made Simple, Teens
If you are new to sewing machine purchasing or upgrading, it is often hard to know which sewing machine you should buy. Because of this, it can be easier to narrow down the options by price. This is a fine way to start, but really only removes some of the alternatives...
by GillyMac | Oct 10, 2020 | Teens
I have always loved teaching my teen classes and wanted to extend the opportunities to sew to a much wider teen audience. Earlier this year I created a small library of video tutorials aimed at young sewists. The videos are all completely free and there are already 6...
by GillyMac | Jul 27, 2020 | blog, Patchwork, Quilting, Tutorial
Have you ever been put off making a quilt because it will be too big to quilt? Or maybe your quilting confidence is much higher when the piece you are tackling is smaller. For either of these problems, Quilt-As-You-Go is the answer! Quilt-As-You-Go (QAYG) is a...
