Sew Chinelo: How to transform your wardrobe with sustainable style

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The workshop will hold on Saturday the 5th of April from 13:00-18:00, in the very trendy Bow area of East London. This is an all inclusive 5hr workshop; all the fabrics, equipments, haberdasheries you need to make the top/dress will be included and I have taken it upon myself to make sure you have unlimited tea/coffee and biscuits (O what a hard task!), who knows I may even bake a cake ,not promising though. I have added only 5 dates for this workshop so spaces are very limited; get booking guys!!! Here’s the link https://www.kazoova.com/activity/454/

Customising existing garments, or upcycling, is how I started my sewing journey. Before I learnt how to sew, I upcycled everything. My advice is, if you don’t know how to sew, see the garment as a blank canvas, and use your thread, needle and embellishments to bring it to life. However, if you already have some sewing experience, then look at the garment as a piece of fabric and really go for it. This was what I did with the Alteration Challenge whilst I was on the Sewing Bee. The show’s youngest ever contestant keeps up her sewing by presenting at Great British Sewing Bee workshops across the country. She is also a columnist for Love Sewing magazine.As usual I would love to see how you get on, please send me your pictures, questions, comments, and suggestions

With the head of your tape lined up with your top seam, mark your underbust line and your waist line; these are reference marks (remember the maths you did earlier, this is what I am referring to)Take the fabric you put aside, fold it in half again so that you have four layers of fabric. You will now use your centre front panel as a template to cut out your 4 side panels. Lay your centre on the folded fabric and cut around the cut edges only. from the centre folds from the top seam, measure down 2-4″ and mark (this is for the sweetheart dip so make it as low or as high as you like). from that mark, draw a line that slopes up towards the joining panels at the top seam. From the top seam measure down the bust line (this is a reference mark) along this mark, divide your bust measurement by 4 + 2″ and mark, from the mark you just made draw a straight line 2″ long towards the centre fold. Connect the end of this line and the panel joining along the top seam with a diagonal line, it should now look like this along the top Step 4; From the bottom centre corner, measure up 2.5″ , from here curve a line down that meets with the mark along the bottom edge. Now join the horizontal measurement marks with a straight line; it should look like this. I can'tinterview you without asking about your wonderful earrings. Even my husband, who has no fashion-sense or interest in jewellery, has been commenting on themeach week! How many pairs of enormous earrings do you have? Do they all come from one shop? And which are your favourites?

I am sure you have a very bright future ahead, and that the GBSB will be a great springboard for future projects. What are youworking on at the moment, and what do you have planned for the future? for sleeves follow my tutorial on sleeves, the link is: http://chinelobally.com/2014/02/04/busy-bee-how-to-cut-a-sleeve-without-a-pattern/ Unfold the piece and use your iron to invert the right side facing crease. these are your dart lines (the centre of your darts), use your tape to measure a dart that is 1″ deep and 5.5″ long, draw this with chalk: I think Heather had been saving all her creative juices for this task! Sunray pleats in the bodice. Lashings of fabric to boot, along with a top hat, chainsand a whip! I say!!! Go for it Heather! Fold your fabric in half, right side facing in, and press (TIP: always press after every fold). From the top edge measure and mark the blouse length+1.5”, mark in intervals to enable you to draw a straight line across the fabric, cut along this line and set the longer piece of fabric aside.

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This top will need some side bust darts, although the top is not fitted, darts will help it hang better on the body. To create the darts, place the top of your tape measure at the highest point of your shoulder seam, measure down your shoulder to bust measurement and mark. along the side seam place a mark about 1″ lower than the mark you just made;

along the bottom draw a curve that is lower at the folded edge, and slopes upwards to meet the bottom outer edge of the template. It should resemble this: Hope you enjoyed the bee. This week I will be showing you how to make a little girl’s summer dress with a full skirt (no pattern of course). This is truly a deviation from my usual escapade so I feel the need to explain why: there are two reasons really, 1. its juniors week on the sewing bee so in honour of that and 2. one of my god-daughters watched the preview for this weeks show last week and was traumatised by the JOKE!!! I made about me not liking kids, this 7 year old sweetheart actually refused to go to sleep that night until she understood what I meant by that comment (which was a joke)! so I have decided to dedicate this weeks post to my little rug-rats. I have made them these cute little summer dresses, now these little divas are ready for some sunshine divide your bust measurement by 4 and mark this along the bust line from the centre of the top, like the picture below. so this for the underbust and waist also I’m sure everyone remembers my tie melt down. Gosh that was a very wordy pattern and not being a pattern girl it completely threw me. Prior to the sewing bee I had never used a pattern, but when I was confronted with my first pattern for the show, I relied heavily on the pictures for direction. So sorry to all those who were disappointed with the melt down, but hey, I never have to make a tie EVER again (I say that now but something inside me tells me I will soon post up a tutorial on making a tie freehand). I promised last week that there'd be an interview with one of the finalists. I really wanted to talk to Chinelo before she got inundated with other things, as I know SO many of you have enjoyed her creations and been inspired by her freehand cutting. It's taken longer than planned due to technical issues, but I'm delighted to welcome Chinelo Bally to the blog.Although the idea of freehand garment construction intrigues many in the West, this method has been used traditionally and is still used in many of the less developed parts of the world. Fashion varies greatly around the globe and there is a vast array of traditional dress codes. In Africa and Asia many garments are created, if not entirely freehand, with at least some reference to this approach. Hi Sarah, I’ve been sewing for just under 3 years now and it all started with me not able to find tops that I really like in the shop so I decided to make my own. When I got my first second-hand sewing machine, it sat on the dinning table for 3 months after 2 failed attempts at making a top for myself without a pattern. I finally decided to learn how to sew, so I went to aunt who is a tailor and shadowed her whilst she did dressmaking for her clients. I was really fascinated by the way she worked and instantly fell in love with the idea of making my own clothes over again. As always I would really love to see your attempt at this. Please send me any questions you may have and I will endeavour to reply as soon as I can You will now mark your horizontal measurements along these vertical marks you just made, always remember that you are measuring from the centre folds. Quarter your, underbust and waist measurements, add 2 inches to each of these and mark this along the corresponding reference mark, join these marks with straight lines and from the waist mark slant your line to the corner of the hem. Cut around your lines through all layer (but when cutting along the sweetheart line, only cut the front layer)