MingMakes Newsletter

November 2022

Birthday treat

Hello all you astonishing subscribers and welcome to my November newsletter. I write this from a rented house in Wales with a beautiful view over a river and rolling hills, and with sewing project currently in flow. It's like my own little sewing retreat and I do this every year for my birthday week. I celebrated the day itself with an afternoon tea by the sea, wearing my Frankie t-shirt from the Tilly and the Buttons book Stretch!

Learning journey

I finished my Saguaro Set as we headed into autumn, and so my mind turned to knits. I had some lovely navy and white striped loopback jersey fabric bought from Guthrie&Ghani when attending an overlocker workshop earlier this year, and planned to make the Edie Top from the Sew Over It Work to Weekend eBook which I hadn't used yet. It is a fitted knit top with a boatneck and 3/4 sleeves. It is a wardrobe basic and something I could do with more of.

Unfortunately I was struggling to fit my toile around the back, a struggle I have come across several times before.

I therefore decided to sign up to Alexandra Morgan's Custom Stretch Knit Bodice Block course online, from which I'm learning a lot so far. I am working through the course and will update you next month on my progress.

Trouser Block Workshop

Last weekend I attended a weekend workshop at the lovely sewing store Like Sew Amazing near where I live in Bristol, UK (that's me in the far right corner). The tutor was Serefina Taylor, and having attended a bodice and sleeve block fitting workshop with her before, I knew it would a fun learning experience. This was a trouser block workshop and I came away with a beautifully fitted block, and a recommendation for a great pattern cutting book - Metric Pattern Cutting for Women's Wear by Winifred Aldrich. She doesn't have a knitted block workshop in the pipeline otherwise I would have signed up straight away!

Read previous newsletters here.