Thank you for booking on to the 5 week Beginners Sewing Course!
To ensure you end up with 4 projects you absolutely LOVE, you will need to bring fabric for your projects each week (apart from week 1, no fabric required). Below I have gone into detail about what type of fabric you will need for each project as well as how much you will need. You can choose to buy a different fabric for each project, make a few projects from similar fabric or just use one fabric for everything! I’ll give you quantities required for most options.
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Too Long Didn’t Read or easy option:
Buy 1.5m cotton canvas and 1m quilting/craft cotton! ***
TYPE OF FABRIC:
For your drawstring bag, zip pouch and tote bag lining you are best to choose a cotton poplin, quilting cotton or craft cotton.
For your tote bag outer fabric you can make this also in the fabric listed above or use a fabric with a bit more weight (which will give the bag a bit of structure). Cotton canvas, twill, drill, and denim (without stretch) would all work well.
For your envelope cushion you can again use the same fabric as the drawstring bag and zip pouch, which will give a soft cushion cover or the same fabric as your tote bag which will give your cushion a bit more structure. Or you can use upholstery weight fabric, perhaps to match your home decor. If you opt for upholstery weight please stick to 100% cotton. A loose weave fabric such as a linen or a tapestry or Jacquard will be very hard to sew for your first project & frays a lot!
For all projects I recommend sticking to 100% cotton fabrics. However, if you want to keep costs down you can make these projects out of polycotton (a cotton/polyester blend), but be warned this fabric shrinks when your iron it (and we will be doing a fair bit of ironing!).
You are welcome to purchase your fabric from Threadquarters or shop around for other cute prints to use. There are lots of very lovely quilting cotton fabrics around (I only have a few in stock). Follow this link to find out more about where you can source suitable fabrics locally and online:
https://www.threadquarters.co.uk/buying-fabric-for-your-class/
If you pick up your fabric from Threadquarters you will get 20% off. Either purchase in store after the first class, or if you would like to shop online in advance please email me for a discount code.
HOW MUCH FABRIC:
VERY IMPORTANT – Please be aware that fabric can be either “narrow” or “wide”. Narrow fabric is approximately 100 – 120cm wide while wide fabric is approx 140 – 160cm wide. Obviously with narrow fabric you get less fabric per meter than wide fabric, and therefore you may need to buy more to accommodate your fabric. Quilting cotton is always narrow.
DIRECTIONAL PRINT – A directional print is a pattern on your fabric which has an obvious ‘way up’ or direction. For example a repeating motif of a cat, with all cats facing the same way, as an obvious right way up, and you may need more fabric to make sure your cats all end up facing the right way on your projects! Another print which is directional is a stripe. Stripes can be places horizontally or vertically and depending on how you wish your project to end up you may need slightly more fabric to accommodate your design choice.
ORDERING QUILTING COTTON – quilting cotton is usually listed by the ‘fat quarter’ online. This is a quarter of a metre piece which has been cut in a roughly square shape, rather than a long strip running the full width of the fabric. A fat quarter is approximately 50cm x 55cm. The drawstring bag and the zip pouch can both be made from fat quarters (see below for more info).
If you are ordering quilting cotton and want a half metre you may need to add ‘2’ units to your basket. Or 4 units for a full metre (n.b. this isn’t the case at Threadquarters). Please check each website to see how they are selling their fabric.
Envelope Cushion: 50cm x 110cm (or order half a metre length of fabric)
If you would like an accent colour on your envelope you will also need a piece 35x45cm (a fat quarter would work). Please note there is a bit more sewing involved if you choose to add an accent.
Drawstring Bag: 50cm x 35cm (or order a fat quarter)
Lined Tote Bag:
Outer fabric
NON-directional
Wide (>140cm): 50cm x full width
Narrow (min 70cm wide): 70cm x full width
Directional
This is slightly more complicated, depending on how you would like the print running on your straps.
Pattern running the length of your strap (it will be upside down on one side): 70cm x full width
Pattern running across the width of your strap:
Wide (>140cm): 55cm x full width
Narrow: 70 x full width
Lining for tote: 50cm x full width or 50x80cm piece
Zipped Pouch:
Outer: 50 x 35cm
Lining: 50 x 35cm
(If buying fat quarters you will need a FQ for the outer and a FQ for the lining)
If you would like to use the SAME fabric for a few projects, here are some possible combinations and quantities required:
Cushion cover & outside of tote and zip pouch: 1.5m directional or 1m non-directional
Drawstring bag and linings for tote and zip: 1m
Cushion cover, drawstring bag and linings for tote and zip: 1m wide or 1.5m narrow
Tote outer & zip pouch outer:
non-directional: 50cm x full width (>140cm) or 1m (narrow width)
directional: 1m (any width)
If there is a different combination you would like to use then please get in touch and I’ll work out quantities for you!
Don’t worry if this all seems overwhelming – I’ll be running over everything with you in the first class!!
