Billie - Tilly and the Buttons

Sweatshirt fleece, French terry, ponte, double knit, interlock or sweater knit with at least 10% stretch. N.B. You’ll need a sturdy machine to sew the balloon sleeve version in a thick sweatshirting fabric.

Optional: Ribbing for cuffs etc, if main fabric has less than 20% stretch: regular sleeve – 0.6m (5/8yd); balloon sleeve – 0.7m (3/4yd)
Matching thread
Optional: For stretchy sweater knits, stabilise shoulders with 30cm (12in) of 6-9mm (1/4in) wide satin ribbon
Sewing machine OR overlocker (serger), plus basic tools, incl ballpoint machine needle

This page is to help give you a precise and accurate description of what we mean by each of our skill levels for our courses so you can best gauge whether a course is right for you!

If you are still unsure after reading this page, feel free to email us or come and have a chat in store and we can help you further.

Beginner

You are a beginner if you are completely new to the skill at hand or haven't practiced the skill in a long time, such as having used a sewing machine at school but having left school over 20 years ago.

Not all our courses marked beginner are suitable for complete beginners to sewing, such as our beginners to dressmaking or our beginners to overlocking classes. If you are looking to start from the very beginning in your sewing journey, we always recommend you start with Beginners to Sewing and progress from there. Even if you feel you know some of the basic skills taught in Beginners to Sewing, we recommend you do the full course as this will give you complete, up-to-date, and fresh experience with the basics and make progressing more comfortable!

Improver

You are an improver if you have some recent experience with learning the basics but haven't had much chance to explore beyond. Our improvers classes will usually teach you a new skill not covered in our beginners courses, for example our Improvers to Overlocking class would presume you know how to operate an overlocker comfortably and teach you how to make a lettuce hem!

If you feel relatively comfortable with the basics and want to learn more, these are the courses for you. These courses are also great for confident sewists to learn skills with professional supervision to make sure you're making the most of them! Come, ask questions, learn, and leave with a wider range of sewing techniques.

Intermediate

You are an intermediate learner if you feel very confident with the basics and have some extra skills under your belt already. Our most common intermediate classes are our classes that explore pattern drafting or manipulation. This requires you to have confidence and experience with dressmaking patterns so you have the best chance of understanding how the manipulations work, and what shapes usually occur.

The intermediate classes will teach you the foundations of more advanced sewing knowledge such as larger scale projects, tailoring, pattern alteration, and advanced machine techniques.

Advanced

You are an advanced learner if you feel confident with intermediate techniques. These classes are made for those who have vast experience but would like an extra pair of eyes or a bit of moral support for quality and exploring new projects. It can also be useful for those who maybe just haven't explored the specific technique yet, for example - you have made tailored trousers but haven't tried making jeans yet.