December Newsletter

What’s New For Sew Me Something This Month?

December. The favourite month of many. The smell of freshly mulled wine filling the air and streets full of festive lights are making the atmosphere joyful and merry. As predicted, the cold weather has taken a toll on us here at the SMS office, we are all doing our best to keep healthy and avoid the dreaded C word… covid. It goes without saying that the wellbeing of our team and customers is of the utmost importance, we apologise for the effect it has taken on #TextileTuesdays and other content releases. With all the excitement surrounding Christmas, we are working as hard as we can to provide you with the best service we can. In the meantime, let the festivities begin!

New In The Studio: Bianca Coat Pattern Hacks

Who doesn’t love a pattern hack, especially with your Bianca Coat. Now in The Sewing Studio is how to sew in seam pockets and a hanging loop. Sometimes all it takes are these little details to bring the garment to life. But don’t stop there, we always love to see your own creations and hacks. Don’t forget to share them in our SMS Friends group on Facebook. Not got your pattern yet? Buy the Bianca sewing pattern here.

The fabric we used for the Bianca Pattern hacks is cerise 100% boiled wool

Interested in getting more from your pattern? Join us Online in The Sewing Studio

Here is some fabric inspiration for your Bianca Coatigan:

Dark petrol 100% boiled wool

Deep purple 100% boiled wool

Royal blue 100% boiled wool

Red 100% boiled wool

Fabric Focus : Boiled Wool

This months fabric focus is all about boiled wool, the perfect winter fabric. Now in The Sewing Studio, you can find the answer to all your questions about working with boiled wool. Learn how it is made, the benefits of boiled wool, how to use it, and how to care for boiled wool.

Read the full blog in The Sewing Studio, under start sewing, fabric focus.

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Bianca Coat: In-depth Sewing Course

This loose fit “coatigan” has a dropped shoulder line to add ease and comfort, with turn backed sleeves for a casual feel. The square-edged shawl collar drapes into a waterfall front or it can wrap over to create a double-breasted look.

Our Bianca Coat is deceptively simple to make yet stylish and works in both heavy woven and knit fabrics. This one is made from Ochre 100% Boiled Wool Fabric.

All of our In-depth Sewing Courses will provide you with a free PDF sewing pattern.

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Download the free sewing pattern and make yours following the 9 simple steps. These include:

Suitable Fabrics

Supplies Needed

Different Ways Of Finishing Your Bianca Coat

Laying Out And Cutting Your Fabric

Making Up The Pockets

Making And Attaching The Collar

Making Up And Attaching The Sleeves

Finishing The Hems

Your Finished Bianca Coat

Portia Trousers: In-depth Sewing Course

The ideal trousers for winter and spring fabrics.

The Portia Trousers appear to adhere to convention but it’s the attitude you have while wearing them that makes the difference.

Katherine Hepburn would have loved these trousers with their ever-so-slightly masculine style. They sit just below the natural waist and hang straight down from the hip. Worn long and sassy, they have angled jeans-style front pockets and back patch pockets to give them a more modern feel.

To make your own pair, download the free sewing pattern and find this sewing course under in-depth courses in The Sewing Studio.

Christmas Sewing Projects: Santa Sack

For when a stocking isn’t big enough… or so the kids say, *rolls eyes instantly*. This simple sewing project is perfect to get you in the Christmas spirit and is a great way to use up those remnant fabrics and scraps.

For this sewing project, you will need:

Cotton Christmas fabric for top of sack and the letter

Cotton Drill

Bondaweb

Ribbon

Pencil and paper to draw your alphabet letter

Safety pin

Follow the step-by-step tutorial in The Sewing Studio and download our template to get making yours.

Looking for inspiration for your sewing project, join us online and sign up here

Needing Christmas fabric ideas?

Makower Merry Snowflakes Red Fabric

Makower Merry Holly Fabric

Makower Scandi Trees Grey Fabric

White Nordic Tree Print Fabric

Sewing Techniques: How To Sew Facings

Facings are a lovely way to finish off a raw edge.

In these lessons you will learn:

How To Sew An All In One Facing

This is a really neat way to finish both necklines and armholes at the same time. Also known as a Buggy facing.

It finishes off both the neckline and the armholes at the same time so reducing bulk across the narrow shoulders of a sleeveless top or dress. So this would be a great alternative way of finishing the Iris Top or even a Sleeveless Kate Dress. 

Follow the step-by-step tutorial in The Sewing Studio

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How To Sew A Neck Facing

This is a simple way to neaten a neckline and will be a mirror image of the main garment.

The right side of a facing is shown on the inside of a garment so it will need to be a ‘reverse’ shape of the main garment especially if the garment has an asymmetrical neckline.

Follow the step-by-step tutorial in The Sewing Studio

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Christmas Sewing Project: Christmas Cards

One of the highlights of Christmas is sending and receiving greeting cards from family and friends. I love making my own rather than buying the generic ones, you can personalise them to create something meaningful or just fun! This is a great activity for everyone in the family, it’s a fantastic way to get creative especially for the younger ones.

The SMS team have been having fun making Christmas cards, we used printing and sewing to create these cute cards. 

To see how we made these, find the project in the studio

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Last Order Date Before Christmas

Our last date to order is the 21st December by midday, all orders placed after won’t be posted until after we return back to the office at the start of January.

Due to the current delivery driver shortage and Christmas chaos, we cannot guarantee your order will arrive before Christmas as it is in the responsible hands of Royal Mail and their couriers once we have sent it out.

24 Advent Calendar Sewing Tips

Have you been watching our sewing tips series? If not, why not! They are there to help you or just to remind you of some simple tips to better your sewing process. Everyday in December we are uploading new, short and sweet videos on our Youtube. We will be sharing these sewing tips across all of our platforms so you don’t miss any.

12 SMS Days Of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me a Perdita in a peartree. Across our social media, we have been posting our interpretation of the 12 days of Christmas as you may have seen. Head over to our @sewmesomething Instagram/ Facebook/Twitter and try and guess the lyric before reading the caption. If you came up with a better idea, let us know in the comments, it was quite a challenge sticking to the original. I mean, Miranda’s milking… really?

Elf On The Shelf Is In The Studio

A naughty Elf has been ‘helping’ us out at SMS HQ this December, but he always seems to be getting up to trouble. Keep an eye on him for us and see what he’s been getting up to on our Instagram Story. You’d be surprised how much damage an elf can do.

Don’t follow us on Instagram? Find our page here.

Last Minute Christmas Gifts

All of our sewing kits make beautiful gifts and have always been a popular choice for our lovely customers. Here are a couple of suggestions. However, you can view our full range of kits online. Click here.

Bobble Clasp Purse

Embroidered Trio of Lavender Hearts Kit

Infinity Scarf Kit

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