This year so far we have been really busy with private sewing lessons. I absolutely love teaching on a one to one basis because we can really focus in on what the student or students require.

There are lots of reasons people come to a private lesson at Stitching Kitchen. It might be because they want to craft along with just their own friends or it may be that they can’t make it to the group sessions or maybe the group sessions don’t suit their learning needs.

I just wanted to share with you some of the some of the fabulous experiences we’ve had recently. In December I was approached by a young lady who wanted herself, her sister and her mum to get together and to get to grips with their sewing machines again, it had been many years since the sisters had used a sewing machine. Mum still had a machine but it had been a while since she got to use it. So we did a session where we covered the same skills as a typical ‘Get to know your sewing machine‘ workshop and finished up making a small project at the end of the session. This private session was actually a Christmas present, and it’s set their love of sewing back going again.

Also in January, we had a private booking for a birthday party, five friends who have known each other for years and they try and do something for birthdays rather than just buying each other gifts. This time, they decided to do a sewing day. It was a real mix of abilities there was two who were fairly confident to use a machine and interpret the patterns but the rest were shaky and rather rusty to say the least. Every single one of them finished their aprons before 4pm and there were also plenty of chatting and giggling along the way, they had a really good time!

They had a choice of two different patterns, so there was plenty of going on. They either did the Herba Apron by sew different which looks so much better when lined so I insisted they lined it even though there were some were scared looking faces. And actually the ladies who made the butcher’s apron which wasn’t lined didn’t finish any quicker because the straps were a little bit fiddly and took a bit more sewing so everybody finished up at the end of the day with an apron which looked fantastic and they all had heaps of fun.

I have to share the story of Lucy. She has gifted a couple of private sessions to finally help her get to grips with her new machine. I think she’d bought herself a sewing machine during the year and she’d been too fearful to take it out of the box. The first hour we got that machine out of the box, made sure she was confident using it and we got chatting about what she wants to make, which was a dress.

She bought some fabric which she loved – red corduroy but I wasn’t sure the pattern she had was quite right for it. So I sent her away to go and think about it and have a bit of a go at perhaps either looking for new fabric or new pattern.

When she arrived for the next session she decided to copy an old dress that she loved. She had actually started! The existing dress was quite worn out so she dismantled it and used it as a pattern and had started cutting into her lovely red needle cord. I was amazed, she was so being fearful of taking a machine out of the box, but had no hesitation of having a go at copying clothes, most of us feel quite nervous of that process.

She had cut out the basic shapes with a seam allowance but had no ideas about how to finish or construct the garment. So within a couple of hours we’d covered off several techniques, facings, darts, interfacing, button holes and got started constructing the bodice. The next time she visited we put the skirt together. We decided to make a change with her over the original dress and put the waistband in because it just it just worked better that way. I know she went to a Christmas party in it and she looked very festive and very beautiful. It was a it was a great project, I am so proud of Lucy and so pleased to be a part of it.

If you’re interested in the process of cloning your clothes you don’t actually need to take a garment apart. We’ll be covering how to do that in the clone your own clothes workshop which is on the 27th of April.

The other reason that I get people coming to Stitching Kitchen for private lessons is where homeschooled children would like to do some sewing and the parent that is homeschooling them doesn’t have the skills.

At the moment I have three homeschoolers that come fairly regularly. One of whom is a very little young lady who is learning how to do lots of hand stitching and embroidery being extremely creative. The other two have a brother and sister and they are really enjoying constructing things using sewing machines. At the moment, we’re running through soft toys and cushions and those sorts of small projects, lots of creativity, lots of colour, and lots of fun, but they’re also learning different stitches on the sewing machine and getting to grips with control of the machine and making sure that it’s running nice and smoothly. So there are heaps of reasons why people come along for a private session at Stitching Kitchen. Do let me know if it’s something you’re interested in and we can take it from there.