Downloads & Tutorials

The curious kiwi loves free stuff and I am sure you do too. Here are some patterns & tutorials I have made, plus a few other random but useful downloads. Please feel free to have a go and make sure you share your results with me, I am curious to see them

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Tutorial: Make your own Sleeve Board

I don’t tend to make official New Years Resolutions but this year (2012) I do want to spend more effort in the finishing of my garments in order to finally crack that elusive rtw look, which we all know is the antithesis of the “home-made” look. A big part of achieving this is good pressing, something I am pretty good at but I still need a bit of help in the form of some sewing gadgets and I love a good sewing gadget!

See how to make your own Sleeve Board here and check out the other weird shaped pressing item I decided to make at the same time.

Tutorial: Visualising Fabric on Patterns – Part One (Photoshop)

I posted recently about my NERDY stash busting using Evernote. Several sharp-eyed seamstresses noticed that in my examples I had included images showing my selected fabrics with the pattern line drawing. I make these up to help me decide if I like the pattern in that fabric and also to help me chose how best to place my pattern pieces on the fabric, for example if it is a boarder print like in two of the examples below.  I find if I get the perfect fabric choice I’m much more excited about the finished result.

So for those of you who were curious how I achieved this, and so you should be, I would love to share with you how I do it.

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Tutorial: Visualising Fabric on Patterns – Part Two (Gimp)

This is part two of my tutorial showing you how I transform pattern line drawings with photographs of my fabrics to get a little taste of the end result. It also helps me decide if I like the pattern in that fabric and it is particularly helpful when using boarder prints to work out how best to place the pattern pieces on the fabric.

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“Strawberry” Shopping Bag (Pattern)

I saw this little bag in a shop when I visited Wellington in November 2009 and I’ve been planning to make myself one ever since. I’ve seen a few more around since then and considering Mother’s day is not far away it’s the perfect excuse to make a few to give away (and of course one for me)

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Ikea Hack = Happy Sewing (Tutorial)

I have been threatening to cover my Ikea chair to match my ironing board for some time now so I thought it was time I followed through. I have posted this mostly to inspire others because it is simply a super easy project and everyone should have the choice to say “no” to bad taste ironing board covers and itchy cheap Ikea chair upholstery Because I am sure I am not the only one sitting in her knickers sewing and getting itchy thighs! Hehe xx

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Small thread Spool Holder for under AUD$5.00 (Tutorial)

I like to display my sewing items and keep them within easy reach so I’ve had this little project in mind for a while and thought I would document as I go to see if I can inspire someone else. Here is my solution to displaying my sewing threads in a nice manner

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BSC Perth Reversible Apron (Pattern)

I made this apron pattern and instructions up for my Perth, Australia based BurdaStyle Sewing Club. We made one each at our second meeting on September 12th 2009. It was a huge success and a lot of fun so I thought I would post it for others to give it a go It is a very basic pattern designed not to scare off beginners and has huge potential for personalisation and modification.

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Size Charts

Scanned and translated size charts from the magazines I subscribe to – hover over to discover which is which and click to enlarge.

     

          

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Burda/BurdaStyle Tutorials:

Click to enlarge: