Wednesday 31 December 2014

Christmas Quilting

Now Christmas is over I can share just some of my customers quilts which I have had the honour to longarm quilt on my ABM Innova.  Many of these were Christmas presents for my customers friends and family.


Geometic 3



Liliy of the Valley


Triangle Triangle



Meander




Bamboo



BaaBaa


Waskily Rabbit


Peacock Palm




I would like to thank my customers for allowing me to share their beautiful quilts and we all my customers & quilting friends a very Happy & Prosperous New Year.

Fiona

www.QuiltSandwich.co.uk

P.s.  There is a Special Offer on the website.....10% of extra wide fabric & wadding when you have your quilt top quilted by me during January.

Sunday 14 December 2014

Overlocking Workshops and Palmer Pletch Fitting with Celia Banks

This week saw our first retreat with Celia Banks.

Many local people asked for sewing skills courses, so we found Celia and brought her to Bridlington only to be let down by all the local people who didnt put their money were they mouths were!  BIG MISTAKE! you missed some superb tuition.

Celia turned out to be a great tutor and as well as general sewing skills, her specialty is palmer pletch which is a method of fitting paper patterns to ensure the best fit possible. She teaches all over the UK and visits Denmark twice a year as well as the USA to keep her qualifications up to date.  She has also recently been teaching and working with the wardrobe department from Granada Studios Coronation Street.

Our first day was overlocker skills. followed by two days learning the techniques to fit a blouse.

So many people go out and purchase an overlocker and don't really get to grips with all the wonderful things these machines can do.




Celia guided us through threading, tension & various different stitches. We threaded our machines with 4 different colour threads to enable us to see clearly where each thread goes in each stitch.






We also had a wide variety of other fabrics to play with too




Later we made a simple cushion cover to practice what we had learnt.


Ceila at the machine demonstrating.



The Palmer Pletsh course



Paper patterns are all well and good, but generally only have a couple of alternation point marked on. this is fine if you have the 'perfect' body shape.  If not then when the garment is made it will not be the 'prefect' fit for you.

If you have low bust, high bust, fuller bust, bigger back, hollow back, larger shoulders etc and in fact any problem other than the perfect body - this course is a must for you.

After selecting the best size of pattern, the pattern pieces were carefully cut out and the areas around the armhole were re-enforced with scotch tape.

The pattern pieces were then pined on to the body



The patterns were readjusted


and refit





and then a similar process with the sleeve


 when the pattern was perfectly adjusted the garment can be cut and made up

  ( Thank you Val for being the model for the pictures )


Here is the back of another blouse showing the back dart adjustments



Celia at the machine demonstrating how to make the perfect dart


 Celia recommended this company as a great supplier for many different stiffenings, shoulder pads etc


This course is very personalised and all the ladies without exception went away with a blouse pattern which fit perfectly. Everyone had a great time and learnt a great deal and so much so that they have asked for Celia to come back again.  Watch this space!

Details of our workshops and retreats can be found here - http://www.quiltsandwich.co.uk/#!workshops/c24c2