Melly & Me are two sisters from Australia who have joined forces to produce a collection of wonderful sewing patterns for bags, quilts and soft toys.  We’re delighted to now stock a large selection of patterns from their range.  We love the toys in particular and are already making Rudy the reindeer with some Christmas fabric from our stash!

Melly & Me sewing patterns

A new sewing book arrived in the shop today: Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter.  Lotta Jansdotter is a celebrated international designer who has published 24 of her most popular sewing patterns into this book.  Each project is paired with step-by-step instructions, charming photographs, inspiring design ideas, and helpful, hand-drawn how-to illustrations everything you need to make whimsical pieces for the home and beyond.

Best of all, there’s nothing complicated about the projects!  Perfect for a beginner.

I think the warm, sunny, Spring time weather that we’ve had recently is what has given me an urge to do some sewing. I’m fairly new to sewing so I started with something simple – an A-line skirt. I used Amy Butler’s barcelona skirt pattern and some of Amy Butler’s fabric which I think is perfect for summer.

The instructions that come with the pattern are clear and the pattern pack also includes the instructions for making a layered skirt and an apron.  I might well try the layered skirt next as I’ll need to do some sewing again soon, in order that I don’t forget how to do it!  Perhaps I should have taken step-by-step photos to remind myself of what I did at each stage?

Even for a beginner, it was quick to make – I did it in a weekend.  If I’d really gone at it I could have made it in a day, but I didn’t want to rush it.

Here I am modelling my skirt:

My Amy Butler skirt