AllWoundUp.............. a new sewing / pattern cutting helpline for when you get stuck, and just need to ask a question -

Probably me when I was a kid -determined :-)

Whatever your enthusiasm re. sewing / pattern cutting / style / fashion / craft techniques, do you sometimes get stuck and spend ages trawling through youtube videos and books without much success? I know this happens to you out there, so I am trying to fill the gap between coming for classes (time or finances or distance may not allow), and just giving up altogether! 

Here's AllWoundUp - think of it as a kind of sewing help line, where you could just email, skype or phone, with your problem area, and I could give you speedy help, so that you can get on with your current project.

Of course, it’s not always easy to describe a practical problem in words, which is where Skype comes in, along with photos…​

To access this new service of mine, please email at first, with a basic description of your problem, any good quality photos, tell me the kind of fabric you are using, and details of any haberdashery that’s involved. I will then arrange either a Skype call with you, or a time for an email response, or a phone call. Details of charges below:

Remember that some seeming ‘problems’ are just down to practice - sewing a straight line for instance (!), but some problems are down to knowhow, tips and tricks - putting in a set in sleeve, shoulder pads, interfacing techniques, collars, revers, pockets and even how to place and pin / mark your pattern on the fabric. 
I can help you with all these, and I can support the advice with instructions and  illustrations that I will share afterwards, and these would be like you’d find on a commercial pattern, but better and more detailed!

Anyone from absolute total beginners to very experienced can use this service, and I aim to make our conversations informative (of course!), friendly and where possible, fun too.....

I have a LOT of experience, not only in sewing / pattern cutting / toiling / fitting / bespoke designing and making, but also in teaching (in colleges and universities) the skills of pattern cutting and production - that’s making up, for those that aren’t familiar! My CV is available on request, and a short biography can be seen on my website: www.bobbiesroom.co.uk/biography

Please email me on atelier@bobbiesroom.co.uk or text me on 07941 619992, or reply here for charges - these are to be confirmed as this is my first promo email about this, and I am currently looking at the pro and cons of different methods, from 'pay what you think it’s worth', to standard ‘so much’ per hour, to so much per item….. 

Look forward to your thoughts on this - please let me know if you think it would be good / worthwhile / something you might use.


Thank you!​

Bobbie

'BUYING FABRIC ONLINE: How do you know what you're getting, and how do you get what you want?'

A very useful Fabric Workshop is up and coming at my studio here - date to be confirmed, but late Feb probably - please state your preference re dates and I will organise accordingly.  smile emoticon
Here's the text for the ad: 

Hi Everyone,
I am a designer / maker / teacher of pattern cutting / sewing / bespoke garments, and would like to tell you about an upcoming Fabric Workshop which will be happening here in my spacious studio on the edge of Cropredy at Prescote Manor. (See the map on my contact page below for the location: www.bobbiesroom.co.uk/contact)
Cost will be around £20 for a 2 hr workshop, and you will go away with:
A LIST OF FABRIC SHOPS AND SUPPLIERS, including Harris tweed suppliers direct from the Scottish Islands, silk tweed from the suppliers who Coco Chanel first used for her jackets (yes, it was British!), Yorkshire tweed suppliers, luxurious ex designer fabric suppliers, tech and sports fabrics AND some small SWATCHES OF SOME OF YOUR FAVOURITES smile emoticon

I'm aiming to encourage creativity, enthusiasm, knowledge of course, and successful making as a result. If you know what the fabric can do, you can design and make accordingly, AND be inspired - just knowing what you can get, gives you ideas.
Please email me on atelier@bobbiesroom.co.uk, or just reply here on this post or message me, to let me know if you are interested in principle, and I will organise accordingly. Thank you!

SEE DETAILS of what will be covered below:

'If you're thinking of buying fabric online (and we do that a lot more these days for many different reasons), I’ve realised that a lot of people just don’t know what’s out there, and what they might go for in making any kind of garment, let alone what they might choose for a really special occasion - a wedding dress or outfit.
So I’m putting together a workshop where we can look at:

• HOW TO KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GETTING WHEN YOU BUY ONLINE!
• Sample swatches of actual fabric: types, varieties within a type, what's suitable for what use,
properties of different fabrics, how to tell what a fabric is if it's not labelled, (you might need to
know for washing / ironing / dry cleaning / dyeing etc).
• What questions to ask the supplier when you contact them, so that both you and they are saving
time and wasted swatches being sent.
• Technical stuff - thread count / strength and resilience / types of prints / names of weaves /
construction ...and what that all means!
• Histories and background of fabric production in different areas of the UK, and the world.
Did you know for instance that Banbury (my nearest town), used to be the centre of the production of a fabric known as ‘Plush’ ?

There will be loads of beautiful fabrics for you to look at in the studio, for inspiration and information -
• Harris and Yorkshire and Irish tweeds,
• Cottons: (fine shirtings/lawn/muslin/satins/prints/woven Madras checks/denims/honeycomb
weaves, oil cloth),
• Silks of all descriptions from silk tweed to taffeta, organza, georgette and satins,
• Wools, from fine suitings to pilot cloth (used for duffle coats), to jacquards, cashmere and all in
between.
• Many different types of lace.
• Tech fabrics- vinyls and polyester microfibres, neoprene, nets and mesh for sportswear and
accessories.

Email me on atelier@bobbiesroom.co.uk, or comment here, or message me for confirmed dates and all other details you might need smile emoticon

Thanks!
Bobbie


• 
  How to find Atelier
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  How to find Atelier
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  See more at BOBBIESROOM.CO.UK

For all FABRIC freaks: Fabric and style, and a vintage wedding dress design discovered in an attic!

A wedding dress design drawing dating from 1937 was discovered in a woman's attic, and we will use it to base her own upcoming wedding design upon :-) Beautiful, drapey, silk satin / georgette / lace will be the fabrics, and a real 30's vibe - no huge petticoats here!

                                            

                                            

Woven stripe silk taffeta

ALSO: I'm thinking of doing a workshop about fabrics, as it's been suggested to me more than once... 

I’ve realised that a lot of people just don’t know what’s out there in terms of fabric, and what they might like for making any kind of garment, let alone what they might choose for a wedding dress. 

‘Fings ain’t wot they used to be’, regarding your Mum being at home and making clothes, as times have changed, and most women work now, like it or not. When you’re a kid, you pick things up without even realising it, and I didn’t realise how much I learned just being around my Mum who was making clothes for me and herself, and going into the fabric shop with her. 

I, and several of my students for pattern cutting and sewing agree that it’s the fabric that makes a thing, and of course that pleases me a lot!

So……I thought I could pass on a bit of what I know and maybe encourage creativity, enthusiasm and successful making as a result. Personally, it’s always the fabric that tells me what and how to design and make. If you know what the fabric can do, you can design and make accordingly. :-) 

I’m going to put together a workshop where we can look at:

• Sample swatches, types, varieties within a type, what's suitable for what use, properties of different fabrics, how to tell what a fabric is if it's not labelled, (you might need to know for washing / ironing / dry cleaning / dyeing etc), and, very important:
• How to know what you are getting if you buy online.
• Technical stuff - thread count / strength and resilience / types of prints / names of weaves / construction ...
• Histories and background of fabric production in different areas of the UK, and the world. 

Did you know for instance that Banbury (my nearest town), used to be the centre of the production of a fabric known as ‘Plush’ ?!

There will be loads of beautiful fabrics for you to look at in the studio, for inspiration and information.

Please email me here if you’d like to be included on my updates. Just put ‘Fabric workshop’ in to subject line, and I’ll let you know dates. First or second week of Feb looks promising, but please email me if you have any preferred days / times. There's no obligation, of course, just would like to let you know :-)

It'll be here in my spacious studio on the edge of Cropredy on the second floor of Prescote Manor. Cost will be around £25, and you will go away with a list of fabric shops,and suppliers including Harris tweed suppliers direct from the Scottish Islands, silk tweed from the suppliers who Coco Chanel first used for her jackets (yes, it was British!), Yorkshire tweed suppliers, luxurious ex designer fabric suppliers, tech and sports fabrics AND some small swatches of some of your favourites. 

Any other comments always VERY welcome - I love to know what you think :-D Email me on atelier@bobbiesroom.co.uk

Bobbie 

Pattern, patterns, patterns..........

Never really realised exactly how much work was involved in putting together a pattern in a nice envelope......!! At first I thought 'well, it's just a drawing for the envelope, the pattern pieces and the instructions' and ask a friend to try it out, and proof read it...

   

Well, nothing's ever easy - we know this.....! But in the course of doing all this I am having to: spend several hours sourcing nice envelopes, only to find out that the printers will actually cut the paper so all I have to do is stick it down, learn how to use the pen tool on photoshop (doesn't sound like much, but it's not that easy, especially if you want to know how to make your work visible (!), do a LOT of little diagrams to illustrate the instructions, lay everything out for printing, including the back of the envelope with photo of the item, AND flat drawings.... all this is extra to creating the image for the front of the envelope (which I like doing), and making the pattern pieces. They are OK, so long as you don't have any curves, hahahahaaaaa.....:-( 

Maybe I'll just be an artist instead....;-)

Oh well, it'll get there in the end I guess.

Accessory patterns

I was quite touched the other day, as one of my students who'd done the Colsca / Smittens workshop (and who also comes for pattern cutting classes), came in brandishing her newly finished smittens, which she'd made from my pattern, feeling very happy with them! I say 'touched', but that's not quite the right word. What I meant was that it was something like hearing a song you perform on played in a shop or club (not that that's happened that often to me!), or I guess seeing a book jacket you've designed in a bookshop....

So my job over Christmas is to work out the best packaging idea for the patterns, as the one I have at the moment is just a kind of stopgap, due to having to produce them quickly for a workshop. Then it will be on to the patterns for other accessories I designed a while ago. I have quite a few ideas, but the packaging is soooooo important. People who actually get to see my stuff seem to love it, so I've realised that it's seeing the stuff in real life that's the key to selling it, or a pattern or a workshop for it. I've sold about 6 without trying at all :-)
So that's my work cut out (get it?) over Christmas, alongside the bespoke commissions.

Speaking of which, now that the tweed wedding dress has departed, and will make it's starring appearance next Saturday, somewhere in Gloucestershire, I am on to an equally different fabric for a wedding dress - suede - well, faux actually, but you'd hardly know the difference! It's gonna be VERY nice I think, and will have a sumptuous,  '50's but modern' look to it. MANY metres of fabric here!!!  Looking forward to it :-)

​Anyway, here's the lady of the smittens, looking very happy, and some images of the pattern envelopes below :-D
Bobbie x​

Classes a go-go

Classes a-go-go

22/9/2015

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September is always a crazy month if you're a teacher - organization overload, all the formalities, and then eventually you can actually get down the REAL stuff - the knowledge, and the imparting of such!!!

There is quite a lot, (am I kidding myself?!), actually loads of technical stuff involved in pattern cutting teaching, but the aim of it all should be (in my humble opinion) to give others the means by which creativity can happen. I call it the 'transformation' :-) Ideas on paper or in the head, transformed by means of technical stuff (the making if patterns and toiles), into amazing garments, or parts of garments. If you know these methods, your creativity knows no bounds and you also have the respect of others around you in the business. I guess that's a bit like trying to write a song, but not knowing any of the technical stuff that enables you to play it to other people, i.e. playing and instrument, singing, writing music, using programmes on the computer.....OK it IS possible, but not easy.
So, it's a means to an end....
My means to an end right now is to get organised for tomorrow (first day teaching out this academic year), so less blathering.....
I'm using the plastic sheet for blocks now, which means no more dog ears and wiggly edges, however many students have to copy them, so more to make today as well as all the paperwork :-)
Speak soon!
Bobbie 

Love this pic of 'old style' blocks...

Tomoko Nakamichi

Tomoko Nakamichi is the author of those wonderful pattern cutting books, 'Pattern Magic' of which there are now 3 in the series...

It's hard to find out much more about her personally on the net - there don't seem to be any Youtube videos - but I did find a post on someone's blog, (link above) which, if you scroll nearly to the end has some photos of the lady herself giving a lecture / workshop at the Bunka School in Japan where she taught in a regular basis. How I would have loved to be at one of those, really to see the kind of person who has dedicated herself to her craft in such a way, and how she communicates her information.
                                It ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it! 

A little preview: