London Dressmakers Club meetings

Do you live in or near London and fancy coming to our monthly meetings?

This is the link: London Dressmakers on Meetup.com

We schedule the monthly meetings between Tuesday and Thursday per quarter so anyone with a regular evening class is able to attend at least two out of three. January's meeting was on a Tuesday, February will be a Wednesday and you can guess what weekday the meeting in March will be. The following quarter we start over, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.

You may not have heard of Southwark, it is the tube stop between London Bridge and Waterloo - extremely conveniently only a few minutes from central London. Our meeting place is a lovely cafe under the arch in Isabella Street. Detailed directions are in the Pages section on the Meetup site.

Someone will be there from 6pm and we usually stay until at least 8.30pm if not even 9 o'clock. The get togethers are very informal: you can turn up whenever you want to and leave at any time. There is no agenda and no program.  We sit and chat about all things sewing (and all sorts of other stuff), the meetings are very social.

We are obviously not able to bring sewing machines along. We haven't found a venue that would be affordable so EV is as good as it gets. The staff are lovely and let us get on with it (we hope we are good customers for them) - many of us have some kind of craft project with us. Maybe hand sewing or mending, basting or similar things - or something other than sewing. It is up to you. New people who join us often say that they wish they had brought their own craft project. We seem to be quite motivating in that respect!

Hopefully in other respects too: we love to share our love, enthusiasm and knowledge of sewing. So if you ran into a dressmaking issue and need some advice, ask us. Even if no-one knows, we may know of somewhere to look. Some of us are keen on pattern drafting too, others are into making costumes more than everyday clothes. The group's members are a varied lot and we love meeting new people. So don't be shy, come along and see what the meetings are like.  We don't charge the (very small annual) membership fee on the first evening, if you like it and come back then I much appreciate the contribution towards the organiser's fee that I pay to Meetup.


Do you live too far to travel to meetings but you would love to be part of things?  Check out our sewalongs - they are virtual events that we don't meet up for.  We pick a theme of what to sew and participants can then post comments to share what they are hoping to make, or ask questions if they want - we usually get quite a lively exchange going. There is also a photo album that anyone can post a picture of their item to - lots easier to show then try to describe something.

The sewalongs are posted for a two week period, this is the longest that Meetup allows an event to be scheduled. Sometimes we put on a second part if we feel that some members would like more time.

The current sewalongs are about checking through unfinished projects, known as UFOs, to decide what to do with them (Part 1 is almost over (January 2017), Part 2 is here March 2017). There is a separate sewalong for picking a UFO project and finishing it (February).

One of our members suggested a sewalong to Make Two garments from the same pattern: two different versions, or a toile and the actual project, or any other kind of making two things that you only need to mess around with for the fitting once. This is also in February, immediately after the other February sewalong.

We also post monthly reminders about Sewing Resolutions that we hope will motivate us into great progress - you can also take part in these by posting in the comments. There is one a month so please check the general website.


Are there any questions about the group that I haven't answered?  Please let me know in the blog comments underneath this. Thank you.

Hope to see you soon.

I LOVE...

Tell the World- the Sewing World, that is- about something you really like.
The organisers hope to encourage members of the Dressmakers Club to post some blog articles.  Any member can do this, just contact Giselle or Barbarags, either in person at a meeting or send a message via the Meetup site, and we will tell you how.  I promise you it is really, really simple.

I thought of trying to persuade members to write about themselves, a new member each month but I discovered that you are so busy that it is hard to work to a deadline or you are so shy you hide your light under a bushel.  So this is a new theme, write what you want when you want, as long as it relates to sewing, about the things you love, are inspired by, couldn't do without etc.  Maybe it is a particular pattern that really works for you, your sewing machine or gadget that you think is brilliant, a shop or on-line company that has great stuff to offer, a course ( hands on or on the Internet)  that has increased your proficiency, a designer or exhibition that has inspired you, a particular style ( 1940's, Goth or such) that shapes the clothes you make or a book or magazine that gives you help or ideas.  There are so many possibilities  that I hope you will be queueing up to tell us about these things that make sewing a joy and about which you can spread the word .

To start off I am going to say  I LOVE OUR MONTHLY MEETINGS.  It is such a good way to meet other sewers in a relaxed and friendly way.  Often people say that they don't know any one else who sews and with whom they can talk dressmaking.  The monthly meeting attracts sewers of all standards and it is great to hear about and see what they are making.  You can pick up tips and ideas at every meeting, I hear people talking about fabric shops they have visited, where they buy vintage patterns. Often members bring along books, magazines or patterns that they have recently bought so you can browse and see if they appeal to you and maybe interested in getting them yourself.

At our August meeting I discovered that Celine had made the jacket and skirt that I plan to make in the future and she advised me that the fit of the jacket was looser it appeared on the photograph on the pattern packet and the skirt came up tight.  Even better for estimating how that pattern will fit me,  Celine and I appear to roughly the same size as we discovered when she tried on the jacket I had made and was wearing at the meeting.  This will give me a head start on the sort of alterations that I will need to tackle when it comes to making it myself so I am particularly glad that I went to the meeting.

You may get inspiration to tackle an item that you have always wondered about making.  At August meeting I saw an amazing corset and two beatuiful bras at a previous meeting, both of such quality that you would think they were made by professional makers.  Have you ever dreamed of making these to your own measurements?  Here is proof that you can.

Don't be afraid if it is your first visit, we are a friendly bunch and, although the meeting starts at 6 pm, we are always there  beyond 8 pm so pop in on your way home from work.  This month (August) we are sneaking in an extra meeting on Monday 24 August so come along to this one at Ev's near Waterloo station if you can't wait for the September meeting.  Check out the Meetup site for the details here

Our Sewalongs

Butterick 4790

Every so often we schedule sewalongs as part of the LDC group's events.  This is how they work:

Our sewalongs usually start with some members of the London Dressmakers Club deciding that they would like to make either a specific garment or item, or something with a specific theme. Sewalong aren't "meetings" as such.  We don't meet up in a physical location for this, this is an opportunity to sew the item at home, at your own pace: a sewalong is just like a knitalong, you do your own thing and then you compare notes.

The scheduled event gives you a chance to exchange tips and comments with the others who have signed up. You can post comments on the Sewalong meetup page, or upload photos in the suitable photo album.  If you have a query or get stuck with your project, then ask a question in the comments or bring your work-in-progress along to a monthly meeting to ask the others for advice in person.

Meetup allows us to post meetings that last up to two weeks, but no more. The Sewalongs typically run much longer - we like to put them on for anything from two to three months.  It is up to you whether you might like to get started early and get it done, or if you want to space out your sewing a bit over the entire period. Life is busy and it can be a challenge to find sewing time.  It is important to be able to sew in whichever way works best for you.  The Sewalongs can be great inspiration and motivation to complete a specific item.

Some sewalongs are quite informal: we did put a 'simple item' sewalong on a while ago and dressmakers could make anything they wanted. We set a time of two months and invited comments and photos but didn't suggest any other framework or structure.

Other sewalongs were a bit more structured: we split the two months into several two week slots that we scheduled individually and suggested specific tasks for each part.  We will probably keep doing both kinds of sewalongs, some people prefer one to the other.

Our May/June/July sewalong is to make a Summer Wrap Dress - any kind. This came out of several members wanting to make the Walk Away dress (as seen on the Sewing Bee 2015: Butterick 4790 or the vintage edition Butterick 6015. There was even a 'Walk Away Dress, the Mini Version'! Butterick 6204), some of us have the pattern and want to make it up.  It is up to you whether you want to make the Walk Away dress or another kind of summer dress, it doesn't strictly have to be a wrap dress, this is more by way of suggestion.  Go with whichever pattern and style of dress you feel like!

Butterick 4790



Butterick 6015

Do you have any question about our sewalongs?  Don't be shy asking, just post a comment below or on the relevant sewalong meetup page.

Happy Sewing!


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This is the blog of the London Dressmakers Club

This is the blog of the London Dressmakers Club.  We are based in London, UK.

We are a sewing group organising meetings through Meetup.com.  You can find us here:

 

              The London Dressmakers Club on Meetup.com

This group is open to anyone who enjoys sewing and fashion: beginner or advanced dressmaker, maker of garments or sewer of useful items - everyhone is welcome to join.

We are looking to schedule all kinds of meetings and events.  We would love to hear about what you would like to do, like sew alongs or exhibitions to go to, - if you would like to go on fabric shopping trips, attend meetings where we can sit, hand stitch, and swap sewing tips, - or something totally different that we haven't thought of yet.

We would also like to encourage all members of the group to contribute to this blog: this is a members' blog and better the more people contribute.  You can comment on any post already, but we would particularly like members to become registered authors so you can put up your own posts and photos. Please drop us a line.

You could write about a project you made or a work in progress you are busy with (lots of progress photos please! I'm a sucker for those! G.).  You could tell us about an item you want to make and what you like about it: show us photos of the fabric, the pattern or any other bits and pieces you got for it. Or you could tell us about a technique you found useful, or give a summary of a good blog or a short list of links - I'm sure that any kind of contribution like this would be really helpful to other members.

We could also have a regular feature of 'Ask a sewing related question'.  You ask the question, the members of the London Dressmakers Club do their darndest to provide a helpful answer.  That could be really helpful?

Put your thinking caps on and let us know what you come up with.

Please get in touch!