A vintage polka dot dress!

So I keep looking a new indie sewing patterns to buy and one that I like a lot is the Sew Over It vintage shirt dress and Alder dress from Grainline Studios. Oh the number of times I’ve put those in my online shopping basket! And then I remember I already have one that almost the same! […]

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I got my own labels!

Ok, ok, they’re nothing fancy but I love them! I splurged and got myself some customised clothing labels off Easy 2 Name. It’s just one of those sites where you can enter in the writing you want, font, colours etc and choose a little picture if you like, the type that people sometimes get kids […]

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The perfect pair of black trousers

This is one of the reasons why I got into making my own clothes – no pair of skinny black cigarette trousers ever seem to fit!! And it’s just depressing after you’ve tried on your tenth pair and spent twenty minutes hopping around trying to get them over your thighs… I’m really hoping that’s not […]

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White shirt dress pattern hack

I love shirt dresses. I think they’re perfectly between formal and casual and very smart looking. I usually end up making quite vintage looking ones like here but I wanted to try something a bit more fitted this time.  I already had this shirt pattern from Burda which I got a while back. I’d only […]

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Me-Made-May 2016

“I, Emily of Self Assembly Sewing, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May ’16. I endeavour to wear at least one me-made item each day for the duration of May 2016” #MMMAY16. That’s going to be my hashtag of the month! I’ve signed up at So, Zo… What do you know? and pledged myself to […]

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Fabric shopping – Walthamstow market

  Getting supplies is one of the most fun things to do when you’re a home dressmaker. Wandering through fabric store and haberdasheries, diving into rolls of gorgeous materials and piles of zips… So much fun! It’s also important not to go too crazy to start off with. My mountain of unused materials will attest to […]

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My Lexi dress!

This is my first make from my recent indie sewing pattern haul. I chose the Lexi dress from Named. I’ve been coveting Named sewing patterns for a little while already. I love their style, packaging, website, backstory… Basically everything! If I ever get round to producing my own patterns they’d be brand I’d aspire to. […]

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Putting together PDF patterns

Sometimes it’s just not worth getting paper patterns. As beautiful as the packaging usually is, once you account for the extra costs and time of delivery etc. it’s often better just to print it out yourself at home. It can be a bit daunting though, especially when you realise you’ve just printed out 47 A4 […]

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