Summer Craftiness at Dotty Bobbin

Only a couple of weeks ago I embarked on my first Summer Crafting Workshop for adults and children following the success of the Christmas and Easter one. It is such an enjoyable day, although the preparation and clear up is mammouth!  I love crafting almost as much as sewing, and the aim of these days…

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Creative Kids where should they go to School?

A different post from me today. Things are rather unsettled at the moment in our household. My eldest son is about to transition to secondary school, my daughter is unhappy in her current school. When we moved to Hemel Hempstead we did so in most part because we wanted to change schools as my son…

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Dotty Bobbin Creations!

So the first week back at school following the Easter holidays is upon us, the sun is still shining, washing is hanging out to dry and I find myself for the first time in months with a spare 1/2 hour to write to you! I thought you might like to see what we have been…

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Automatic Buttonhole Hints and Tips

When I get clients who open up their new machines for the first time, I like to show them what all the attachments are for, and the buttonhole foot usually scares them! So I wanted to share the things I have learn’t along the way having used it many times. If you have a digital…

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Dotty Christmas Trees

Christmas is finally upon us. Seems I have been preparing for months and months. But I wanted to share with you some of our creations and hopefully inspire you to make a tree yourself.   Firstly my fabric Christmas tree. This took 4 hours to make and about 8 metres of fabric. I used fabric…

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Christmas Tree Fabric Tinsel Tutorial

  I was given this idea a couple of years ago by a crafting friend, however I have tried it out many times and have discovered what works well and what doesn’t. So I am going to share my mistakes and successes with you. I found that 25 meters of ribbon makes about 6 meters of ruffle,…

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Crafty Halloween

I have been working on my first ever homemade Halloween decorations this year, Christmas usually gets in the way! Anyway I thought it would be nice to share with you my creations and hopefully I can inspire you to do the same.    I have tried to keep them friendly, as I don’t really want…

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Sewing aids Mindfulness

Sewing has an ability to bring together people from all walks of life, it is not an expensive activity (unless you want to spend a lot, then you can!), you can sew at pretty much any age, and some have been sewing all their lives, some complete novices inspired by recent television programmes and some…

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Dotty Bobbin Beach Photo Shoot

The idea of going to the beach to do a photo shoot for Dotty Bobbin was born a few months ago. I am lucky enough that my parents live just a few minutes from Frinton Beach. We came to stay for a week’s holiday whilst they lived on their boat to let us have the…

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Pillow Case Aprons Tutorial

Welcome to another Dotty Bobbin Tutorial. Here I would like to show you how to convert those unwanted pillow cases into gorgeous little aprons. If you are anything like me I am constantly in the charity shop picking up things such as mismatched pillow cases, in this case the fabric is a lovely brushed cotton.…

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Fabric Life Size Christmas Tree Tutorial

Okay so I am one of those who likes to plan Christmas well in advance. Well this was planned 6 months ago. I don’t like plastic trees and the last 4 years my real trees seem to be practically dead by Christmas. The ones with roots are never big enough and being half Dutch I…

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Never Too Old to Learn to Sew

Have you ever thought you were too old to learn to sew? Well, I would like to start by introducing you to some very special ladies. Firstly Aileen Beaumont. She started sewing with me less than a year ago once she retired. It was something that she always meant to learn to do, she even…

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