Event Planning

Event Planning

Bianca Silva

Hello, hello!

I feel I have to address the weather this week…

What is going on! One day it pours down and it’s freezing, the next it’s hot, and then the next it rains the whole day. 

I feel the weather turned really quickly, like it went very cold and rainy suddenly too early in the year.

Anyway, I can't change it, so I have to live with it.

My youngest is finally on a full schedule at school and next week is the first time I am going to experience both my children in school with the same schedule!

She is loving it and she even got given a yellow jumper as star child of the week. She was well pleased with herself. ♥️

My eldest lost one of her teeth as well, and we forgot to get the tooth fairy to come out and put a coin under her pillow! Ooops! 

Tears were involved and a letter was written to the tooth fairy. The next night she made an appearance and replaced the tooth with a coin. 😅💪

-

Thank you all for replying to my last email about adding another Sew&Bond™ date! Because of your amazing response, I scheduled another event on the 4th of October, and there is only 3 tickets left, so if you would like to join us for the day, be sure to grab your spot soon!

https://beesilva.co.uk/products/sew-bond-social-sewing

 

Stitches of the Week

 

Tilly and The Buttons - Tabitha T-shirt Dress

This was a super quick make this week, and the only one! 😂

It started off well at Sew&Bond™ last weekend where everyone helped me pick the fabric and I cut out the sleeves.

I didn’t cut out any more than that because I wanted to alter the dress a little and there wasn’t enough length on the cutting mat to accommodate it. 

So I left it to cut at home where I normally join 2 cutting mats and definitely have the space.

If you’re unfamiliar with this pattern, it’s actually a t-shirt pattern in Tilly’s book (Make It Simple) and you draft your own skirt which includes a channel to thread a drawstring through.

I didn’t want the drawstring so I overlapped the t-shirt and skirt at the waist to cut it in one length.

After cutting the front bodice, I realised I didn’t have enough fabric to cut the back on the fold! 😶

So I cut it in 2 pieces, but then I forgot to change the front bodice that was taped to the skirt for the back bodice and I started cutting the back neckline too low!

I remembered when I was halfway down the front neckline!

I immediately stopped, but it was too late! 

It’s a little lower than it should be, but it doesn’t look bad. In fact, I don’t think you can actually tell that I cut it too low. I shortened the neckband a little so it could bring the neckline in a bit and I think it’s worked out really well! 🎉

After trying on the dress for the first time it was too roomy, so I ended up taking it in at the sides an extra ⅝ inch, including on the sleeves and I think it fits quite well now.

I also chopped off a bit of the sleeves to make it ¾ length.

I find that lately I’ve been pulling up all my sleeves a lot, they are just irritating me at my wrists. I wonder if this has something to do with age because I always used to love having the tops of my hands covered. 😂

It was also nice to use my coverstitch machine again to finish the hems after using it on the crop top a couple of weeks ago for the first time in about a year!

This machine can do so much more than just nice hems, but I have yet to find the time to just sit and play around with it.

 

Fabric: Mustard ribbed jersey

Size details: It was a 3 originally, but I took in the side seams quite a bit.

The Drama: I thought all my stripes were all matched! On one side they are all in line, on the other side, I somehow managed to match the stripes from one side with the stripes below on the other. So they are off by one stripe. 😵


 

Christmas Fabrics

I bought some Christmas fabrics this week to plan a project for a sewing event I want to organise for the festive season! 🧑🎄

I got 8 different prints and 2 solid colours to mix and match because one of the projects I want to work on is an advent calendar!

I have other projects I would like to add to the agenda, but this one is going to take the longest to plan.

Year after year I’ve said I am going to make an advent calendar and I just never do it! And I am probably not the only one who says this.

So by telling you about it, I feel you will hold me accountable this year! 😂

My plan for this event is for everyone to get some Christmas sewing done. I feel some or maybe even most of us leave everything ‘til last minute, but this way, there would be a day dedicated to it.

I was thinking of providing all the fabrics for projects like advent calendars, and/or bunting, stockings, reusable gift bags.

You would get to choose before the event what projects you wanted to make so I could get all the fabrics ready to give to you on the day.

It’s not going to be a formal workshop, but rather a little festive sewing time together.

All skill levels would be welcome!

It may be your first go at a Christmas project, even if you’ve already done some dressmaking, or maybe you’ve made a few things before and/or just want the time carved out to get organised.

Please let me know if this is something that you would be interested in coming to. I would rather not go ahead and organise everything if no one would be interested in it.

If you are interested in coming, I would also like to know if you would prefer it on a weekday or weekend, and which project are you most interested in sewing.

 

Fabric: Depending on the projects, I would provide fabric like calico, polycotton, velvet.

The Drama: Please let me know if this event is a good idea.

 

 

Skill Builder of the Week

 

Using a “Leader” Fabric

If you’ve ever had your sewing machine eat your fabric at the start of a seam, a ‘leader’ fabric will save you lots of frustration.

Before you begin sewing your actual project, put a small scrap of fabric under the presser foot and sew a few stitches. Then, without cutting the thread, feed your real fabric in right after.

This helps the edge of the fabric (especially delicate ones) from being pulled into the machine, it gives you neater, even stitches at the start of your project and it even saves you a bit of thread.

And you can keep on reusing the scrap ‘leader’ fabric over and over again for other projects.

 

Maker Spotlight

This week’s spotlight goes to @soisewedthis!

 

 

Amber made this dress using this beautiful cotton lawn fabric from Minerva called “Flores Forest”.

She combined a couple of patterns, New Look 6446 and New Look 6692, plus she added a shirred back panel.

This print somehow reminds me of a holiday I went on with my friend to Marrocco in 2010. I think it may be the palm trees, but it is a great memory to be sparked!

We travelled to 4 different cities by train and bus and we have a few stories to tell of our whole getaway! 😂

Want to be featured in my newsletter? Just reply with a pic of your make. I’d love to see what you’ve made!😍

 

Latest Video

 

 

Events:

Sew&Bond™ - September (SOLD OUT)
Sew&Bond™ - 4th of October
(3 Spots Left!)
Sew&Bond™ - 25th of October (SOLD OUT)
Sew&Bond - 29th of November 2025 (SOLD OUT)
Sew&Bond™ - 13th of December 2025 (1 Spots left!
)

 

Workshops:

Build Your Confidence in Sewing Workshop
From Fabric to Finished Tote Bag Workshop

 

Sewing Patterns:

Roma Necessaire
Paphos Pouch

 

Thanks for reading and happy sewing!
Bye for now, B! xx

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