Christmas wishes

I wish all my friends and family a Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2015!

Elephant love dress

It is very rarely now that I'm allowed to sew for Leoni, simply because she has her own taste and that doesn't always include mummy's handmade clothes ;-)
However, she asked me to make her a new dress (actually two, the other photo will follow later), she picked the fabric herself and really loves it. Yippee!!!

Who would have thought?

For all of you who don't know, which is probably the majority of all my followers, this is my husband Alan. As I was working today he accompanied my daughter to her Young Embroiderers class (under a little protest though), where they made these cute Christmas trees.
Yes, HE actually made this and by the sound of it he quite enjoyed it! He even used a sewing machine and found it 'ok', only that he didn't have a lot of control of the pedal with his thick boots :-) Now, I've got five sewing machines in my workroom and he's NEVER EVER even attempted to use one before. Should this be the start of a new hobby?

Prize winner

About two weeks ago we received a letter from the City Council announcing that Leoni had won in their annual drawing competition for the Dundee Energy Efficiency calender 2015. Her picture (and thirteen others) was chosen from hundreds of entries from all primary schools in Dundee. And today was  the prize giving at Dundee City Council where she received a framed certificate, the calendar of course and some other lovely surprises. Well done, girl!

Clearance SALE

The last craft fair before Christmas is over and I'm needing space for new things coming in the new year. Over the next few days I'll be having a clearance sale on my bags and elephant cushions, so if you're still needing a Christmas present or simply want to spoil yourself, here's the chance! If you're interested in one of the items please email me a info@dotsnstripes.co.uk

SOLD

El Porto bag now £49 incl p&p. Size approx 45x25cm.

Messenger bag now £39 incl p&p, size approx 42x37cm.

Sold

 Shoulder bag now only £22 incl p&p, size approx 90x68cm

SOLD

SOLD

SOLD

SOLD

Advent calendar

Tomorrow is the 1st of December and what do your kids and maybe you as well do on that day?
Yes, open the first little door on you advent calender! And that's what we're going to do here at Dots n Stripes, too.
Not a chocolate one but one full of surprises. Every day until the 24th December we'll have a special offer on for you which is only available on that day.
The surprises will be listed under 'New Arrivals' on our website www.dotsnstripes.co.uk

Happy 1st Advent everyone!

Hats for sale

I have some beanie hats available that are looking for a new home. They are £6 each plus £1.50 p&p. The age is mentioned in every corner of the photo and if you would like to purchase one, just leave a comment below or email me at info@dotsnstripes.co.uk.

 

Weekend offer

Get 15% off your order this weekend at Dots n Stripes with your discount code NOVEMBER15!
From boiled wool to buttons and remnant fabrics to ribbons. This offer is valid on Saturday, 8th and Sunday, 9th November.

Happy weekend everyone!

Custom order

I finished them a while ago but just didn't get round to post a pic. These cute jackets are custom orders for two sibblings, made from jersey and jogging sweat fabrics. Sewing for little ones is so much fun!

Magazines for sale

I'm clearing out some of my older OTTOBRE design sewing magazines. They have been used only a few times and are in good condition with only very little wear to the covers. The available issues are  5/2008,  2/2010 and 2/2011, they are £4 each plus £2 postage.THE KIDS ISSUES ARE SOLD NOW!
I'm happy to combine shipping on multiple purchases, just send me an email with you choice. To have a look though the magazines click here.

New dates

The new workshop programme is online: in addition to the popular shopping bag class I now also offer a workshop for this adorable reversible tote bag with a soft tie fastening which is easy to make and therefor suitable for those with only little sewing experience.
For more information please check out the link.

New dress

When this stunning Hilco jersey arrived a few weeks ago I knew straight away what to do with it. It is againg the Ottobre twist knot pattern but this time as a dress (you might remember I made it one few months ago in tunic length). Not that I wear dresses very often but it can't harm to have one ready when needed, can it?

Meet Mr Smith

I like to show my readers what students do in my workshops or 1-2-1 lessons so I thought it was time you met Mr Smith. Just over a year ago I received a phone call from a gentleman and was asked if I could show him how to hem trousers. He had bought himself a sewing machine as he was fed up with taking his trousers to the alterations shop everytime he had a pair that needed shortened.
Little did I know that he would become my most regular student! Since then he has made himself a pair of trousers, cushions, a long sleeved shirt and various other things and the photo shows you his latest and biggest project so far, a jacket. He has put a lot of his own ideas into it and I must say I'm very impressed and a little proud of what he has achieved!

The winners

We have six lucky winners of our OTTOBRE design sewing magazine giveaway:

Susan Allen
Verena Wilcock
Jennifer Galloway
Kathleen Paterson
Claire Bennett
Catherine Moores

Congratulations to you all and thanks to everyone for taking part!

Sewing magazine giveaway

OTTOBRE design has kindly given us the opportunity to promote two of their popular sewing magazines and we would like to do that in form of a giveaway.

All you need to do is send us an email with your choice of magazine and you will be entered into the prize draw.

We are giving away a total of three women's autumn/winter 2014 issues and three kid's autumn 2014 issues and the winners will be announced on Sunday, 28th September!

Ottobre design kid's issue 4/2014

Ottobre design women's issue 5/2014

It's all MINE

I have various bags that I use for demonstration purposes for my sewing workshops, but I didn't have one that I actually called "my own" - until today. It is a HUGE shopping bag made from lime green fake leather, lined with wipeable nylon and the base is lined with decovil for more stability.
Guess what I will be taking to Tesco next time? 

New family member

This is Toffee, a 3 year old Abyssinian guinea pig, absolutely adorable. We picked her up from the cavy rescue today and she and Florence had a first encounter - without any rumblestrutting or fighting. They seem to get on fine, but before they're going in a cage together, we let them have a sniff at each other every night now for the next few days just to be sure they are ok together.

Wedding photos

It doesn't happen very often these day that we attend a wedding, but I suppose that's down to just getting older, haha, and not having many friends and family that are not married already. Anyway, yesterday was an exception and we spent a lovely day at Paul and Emma's wedding at Forbes of Kingennie. The setting was absolutely beautiful and even the weather was playing along. Here are some impressions:

 

Skirt workshop

That's what Debbie and Kathleen made during the workshop:

Two lovely corduroy skirts, well done ladies!

Ottobre tunics

and another Quintia coat, ready to take to the Flower and Food Festival with me in a couple of weeks.

Some new items

My next craft fair, the Dundee Flower and Food Festival, is only three weeks away so I've started to make some new clothes:

Quintia coat, age 3-4

Hooded boys jacket, age 3-4

We're back from our holiday in Germany and had a lovely time visiting family and friends and just chilling out. This time we took the ferry from Newcastle to Amsterdam, the water was very quiet (much to my liking as I'm not overly keen on boats :-) and on the other side it took us another 4hrs drive to get to my mum. That way we were a bit more flexible over there when it came to doing daytrips. Especially on the return journey we appreciated  having a car instead of flying as there are no luggage restriction....and there's always a lot to take back from Germany :-)