Measure, Alter, Make – Adjust Your Patterns for a Better Fit

You may only get to toile making stage in this class. You can either do this out of the calico provided or bring your own suitable fabric depending on the fabric recommendations on your paper pattern. Whether you will get to make a final version of your garment will be discussed at the end of the first day.

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.

A Sewing Essentials Kit (either your own or one of ours)

Fitted clothing - this makes it easier to measure you

ONE SIMPLE paper dressmaking pattern with instructions.

When booking please provide your email address if you have one. We promise we won't spam you with advertisements or sign you up to anything you don't want, it's just so we can easily send you all the information you will need before commencing your course.

Missing a Session on a 6 week Beginners to Sewing and/or Dressmaking
course
When booking onto any of our 6-week courses, you are agreeing to attend on the same day and time each week. If you are unable to attend any of the scheduled dates you will lose that session. However, if you would like to make up that session, you can book on to a Time to Sew session for a concessionary fee of £23!

Cancellation by you of a Workshop
We require a minimum of 7 working days if you wish to cancel your place on a workshop and an administration fee will apply, to allow us time to offer you an alternative session. Please note – Less than 7 days’ notice we will unfortunately not be able to offer you an alternative and you will forfeit your payment.

Cancellation of a Time to Sew booking
If you wish to cancel your booking for a Time to Sew, you must give at least 24 hours notice. If you do not, you will not be eligible for a refund or rescheduling. If the 24 hour minimum period is met and you attempt to reschedule on more than one occasion, you will incur an admin fee of £20. If you fail to attend your second rebooking, you will not be eligible for a refund or rescheduling.
These rules are in place as our Time to Sew sessions can get busy and if you book, cancel, and we don't have time to let people know theres a space, other customers will be kept waiting unnecessarily - like a GP appointment.

Cancellations by Us
If a cancellation is unavoidable, we will offer an alternative session to suit you or offer a full refund for that individual session or workshop. We will give a minimum of 7 days notice before the cancellation of a set date workshop or course. We are not responsible for any loss from travel or accommodation expenses so we recommend buying insurance when you book.

Payment
All our classes can be purchased; online, over the phone or you can come into the shop and pay. We ask for full payment up front. We will give a minimum of 7 days notice of a cancellation. Please be aware we will not be responsible for any loss in travel or accommodation costs, we recommend you add insurance to any hotel or travel bookings.

Health & Safety
We guide you on how to safely use the equipment at the school, but please be aware that you do so entirely at your own risk. Due to the nature of the equipment you will be using there will be lots of close work. If you normally require glasses for this type of work, please bring them with you.

Accessibility

Please be aware that our workshop is in the basement and is only accessible via stairs. There is a bathroom and drink facilities on the basement level. We are happy to help carry any bags and aid you however we can to get up and down the stairs.

DBS

All of our tutors who work with children have up to date DBS checks.