Love at First Stitch: Demystifying Dressmaking

Product Information

The Bertha cardigan is a me-made essential. The oversized shape and batwing sleeves that are inserted on the flat mean making to wearing time is practically nothing!

It's World Book Day tomorrow and we're thinking about our most treasured books. Like loooads of other sewists, I (Louise) used Tilly's first book, Love at First Stitch, as a tool when I first started sewing. And because of that, it's a book that will always have a very special place in my heart :) WHAT CAN I MAKE? - The book includes six main patterns - trousers/dungarees/playsuit, two dresses, a T-shirt, cardigan and pyjama set. All the patterns have multiple ways you can make them - giving you 24 projects in total - them so you can get so much out of the book. The most involved project in the book is the 60s-inspired Olive pinafore dress. This make will add new techniques to your sewing skills, such as double-pointed darts, an all-in-one facing and press-on snaps as an alternative closure. Dressmaking basics like pinning, using a sewing pattern, cutting out, transferring pattern markings and understanding clothing construction Simple, elegant, and a little groovy, Love at First Stitch is all you need to start making the dresses of your dreams--with 7 complete full-size patterns.After that you move on to sewing your first garment - the Margot pyjama bottoms, then you will learn a valuable skill - how to insert an invisible zip with the Delphine skirt. I've also returned to the tutorials within the Mimi blouse a few times in my learning. This blouse requires you to sew buttons and buttonholes, which again are more key skills that beginners can master with practice and with the very helpful steps in the book. These are patterns that you can also return to any time, as you fancy them or as you get a new idea. There's been a couple of times when I've looked at a shirt pattern and thought to myself 'I'll just make a Mimi' instead, because I know it is achievable. For full context, my mother taught me to sew when I was 14, so I've been dressmaking for a good... uh... good grief, over half my life?! In any case, I am not the target audience for this. This book is for absolute beginners.

The Juno pyjamas are another favourite design from the book because they are oh-so-comfortable. They use the Tabitha top pattern and legging-style bottoms that are as cosy as they look! You can also turn them into adorable shortie PJs for the summer months. Tilly's hints and tips for making sewing part of your lifestyle, adding your own special touch to any sewing project, and even how to polish your signature style. Tilly’s hints and tips for making sewing part of your lifestyle, adding your own special touch to any sewing project, and even how to polish your signature style. As you can see, the designs start simple enough for novice stitchers and get increasingly more challenging - in a good way - as you build up your skills and confidence. By the time you get to the Mimi blouse in chapter 6, for example, you'll be stitching a Chelsea collar, buttonholes and adorable pleated sleeves. In Stretch!, Tilly takes you through all you need to know about sewing with knit fabrics and how it behaves. The book is the perfect guide for anyone who has never sewn with knit fabrics, or anyone wanting to perfect their stretchy sewing skills while making a set of gorgeous handmade outfits.

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Key techniques, such as inserting an invisible zip, stay stitching, shaping with darts, setting in sleeves, gathering, French seams, stitch in the ditch, buttonholes, lining a garment, slip stitching and loads more! Love at First Stitch offers a refreshing approach to dressmaking for modern makers. With jargon-busting tutorials and a down-to-earth attitude, the book takes you from the absolute basics of threading your sewing machine through to creating a wardrobe full of gorgeous clothes that you'll be proud to say you made yourself. The book includes patterns for the Brigette Scarf, Margot Pyjamas, Delphine Skirt, Megan Dress, Clèmence Skirt, Mimi Blouse and Lilou Dress. I've read the two other books by Tilly Walnes, creator of simple yet stylish pattern brand 'Tilly and the Buttons', but was yet to read this, her first book, and a real beginners guide to dressmaking and sewing.