Bows for School

September 7, 2025 Bianca Silva

Hello, hello!

It has been one busy week!

My eldest is back at school and has really enjoyed her first week back. While my youngest is having mixed feelings.

She wakes up crying in the morning saying she doesn’t want to go to school but at breakfast she is super excited to go.🤷🏼♀️

I think because we had to stay for the first session and she did an hour or so everyday, it’s not the routine she is used to.

So we have another 2 weeks of this odd schedule and we should be back to routine.

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Friday was my daughter’s friend's birthday party where she gave her friend our handmade gift!

One of the first things the friend’s mom asked me was if I made a matching set for my daughter as well. 😅😂

As you know, my daughter did mention a matching set too but I hope the mom, friend and my daughter just forget about it! 😂

Now, I wanted to ask those of you who live in or around Manchester (or anywhere else, really! - would you be up for a little Christmas party/dinner in the beginning of December?

Just to get together, eat some good food, and have a laugh before the holiday madness kicks in. Let me know, and if there’s enough interest, I will start organizing things!

3 Tickets left for my One-Day Sewing Celebration at Janome HQ!

There are only 3 tickets left for my One-Day Sewing Celebration at Janome HQ!

It’s going to be a full day of sewing with sewing machines provided by Janome so you don’t have to bring yours. There will be food and drinks to keep us going and some goodie bags and raffle prizes too!

If you were on the waitlist for this event, you should have received the link to book your ticket. You can also book your ticket using this link:

👉Secure your spot now!

Stitches of the Week

Made for Mermaids - Sydney Sailor Bow

Just before the start of school and after seeing the bows I made for their friends birthday, my girls wanted hair bows to match the colours of their uniform.

I wanted to make them out of a cobalt blue poplin I had but apparently I used it all up already, so I picked out a ditsy floral fabric from my stash that has tones of blue and they both loved it.
Then I made the mistake of asking them how many bows each they wanted. 😂

They wanted 2 each!

So there was me the day before (as usual) cutting out, sewing and hot gluing bows together to have them ready for the first day of school!

They do look really cute in them, but one bow has already broken. 😑

The alligator clip dismantled itself, so I’m going to try and just pull it off and glue a new one on.
I must say I love this pattern, it makes the most beautiful bows and there are 3 different sizes to choose from.

Fabric: Ditsy floral print cotton poplin.

Size: Medium

The Win: Finished all 4 in one evening!

Tilly and The Buttons - Indigo Dress

It’s finally happening!

After 3 days of working at Leon’s this week to cover some shifts, I found a little spare time to get a start on the Indigo dress.

I did a quick adjustment to the waist of the bodice by just drawing a straight line across because I am going to create a channel to insert elastic.

I made sure that the side seams matched(after folding the bust dart on the front bodice) and used the end of that side seam as a guide to draw a straight line across.

The only other thing I managed to do was iron the fabric so it’s ready for cutting, it had lots of creases after being rolled up in my stash for years.

But that’s all I got round to doing this week! Better than nothing.

I hope this evening (Sunday) I can start cutting out my pattern pieces and get going.

Fabric: Olive viscose challis originally from Pound Fabrics.

Size: A size 2 bodice with a size 3 skirt for more gathers.

The Drama: Having worked 3 days at Leon’s and some private sewing lessons, I didn’t have much time to work on this. But in all honesty, this ain’t real drama. 😂

Skill Builder of the Week

What to do when you have a nest of threads at the beginning of your seam?

I’m sure there have been occasions when you are sewing and you turn your project over only to find a cluster of threads. It’s happened to all of us.

The things I would be looking at are:

- Was there about 10cm of both the bobbin and top thread left towards the back of your machine? If you haven’t, as the machine tries to loop the threads over each other it tangles and creates a nest.

- Did you start sewing right on the edge of the fabric? Here the pushes the fabric, and the thread, down into the needle plate where it tangles.

How to avoid this:

Make sure you pull roughly 10 cm of thread towards the back of the machine.

- Start a little more in from the fabric edge and backstitch.

- Hold on to the threads for the first few stitches.

If you’re sewing with tricky fabric, start your row of stitches on a scrap piece of sturdier fabric, then sew straight into your project.

What to do when you have a nest of thread through a seam

Sometimes the bunching happens a little further into our row of stitches, and the reasons for this could be:

- Not threading the machine right.

- Incorrect tension.

How to avoid this:

- Thread both the bobbin and top thread correctly.

- Check your tension and stitch on a scrap piece of fabric to test.

All of these are simple things to check and do, but more importantly, get into the habit of doing for a smoother sewing experience and less unpicking.