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A statement summer dress in Silhouette by Alison Glass

Alison Glass is a fabric designer I love.  Her fabrics are bold, colourful and I have had a lot of pleasure from working with them in the past few years.  Handcrafted was my choice for this Improv Quilt I made in 2016.  It is a collection of Indonesian batiks - very modern and fresh.  I have also sewn up a storage basket with her Indigo handcrafted, and Kay made this cushion by Jeli Quilts recently for the studio.  I met Alison and the Andover team at Quilt Market in May in St Louis.  Her booth was a little heavenly corner of everything I would like in my life. The most exciting range for me was definitely the Silhouette collection, just...

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The mission behind Jenni Smith Studio patterns

The mission Nothing beats the feeling of saying "I made it myself",  yet 7 out of 10 young people don't know how to sew a button on. For a good 30 years these basic life skills have been completely scrapped from education, in the UK at least.  I am one of the forgotten generation who did not learn how to sew at school. I am a self-taught dressmaker who loves having the ability to create unique, well-made clothes that reflect my personality and style. I have taught over 250 people to sew in the past 5 years so releasing patterns seems like a natural progression. The aim is to try and help people gain the skills and confidence to build their...

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A magic two-way sequin jacket

Hi, it's Kay here. Last week we wrote all about our love of two-way sequins.  Jenni has been wearing her lovely skirt and we have had three more people running up similar versions in the studio.  I went for the royal blue fabric which turns to black and wanted a simple jacket to sew up, with as few seams as possible to allow it to hang well. I chose New Look 6305 and bought some stretch black that feels like PU for the facing and cuffs.  I cut out with the rotary cutter and used the stretch stitch, size 70 needle and polyester thread as we mentioned last time.  The jacket has 2 bust darts, no centre back seam and...

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All you need to know about sewing with two-way sequins

I was a bit over excited on our last trip to Empress Mills when I discovered the magic sequin fabric they have in stock. I had seen a Facebook video showing how this fabric changes colour when you stroke it, but I hadn't quite realised how cool it would be in real life. The excitement was enough to encourage me to overcome my fear of sewing sequins and try and run up something in time for the party season.  So I came away with three-quarters of a metre of bronze (turning to silver) fabric and a plan to make a simple skirt. This fabric has stretch so I knew I could eliminate a zip and waistband from the start.  I used...

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