New Patterns from Anna Vickery

Hello, Anna here again to introduce you to my second instalment of sewing patterns for childrens clothing!

The first 3 patterns seem to have gone down really well - thank you all for your lovely comments and feedback, it’s been fab to see photos of all the dresses you have made on the Millie Moon facebook page, please keep them coming……

I’ve come up with 4 new patterns for the summer,

 I think my favourite is the dungaree dress, it looks like it would be really comfortable to wear and I love a skirt with pockets. 

There is also a rock n roll style dress with a full circle skirt, the pattern for this one looks a bit scary because of the size of the skirt, but it’s well worth it for the way it drapes and falls, perfect for dancing and twirling in. 

The third dress is a summer sundress, based on the pinafore dress shape, but with little tie straps and patch pockets, lets hope we get some nice weather for it.

 And the fourth pattern is, drum roll…., a shirt for little boys! We’ve often said what clothes can we make for boys, and there are some brilliant boys fabrics in Millie Moon at the moment, so here it is - I hope to be able to offer this as a workshop soon too.

As a special thank you to everyone that has purchased patterns, and hopefully to those who will soon i’ve written a little free diy for you to make a net petticoat that would be perfect to go with the new rock n roll dress or party dress from the first batch of patterns (or any other dresses/skirts your little girls have with full skirts, or even to wear on it’s own over leggings!) Enjoy x

Anna's patterns are available in all the shops or online £10 each

www.milliemoonshop.co.uk   FREE POSTAGE!

Hello hello, 

Anna here and I’m very excited to be introducing my new range of Sewing Patterns For Children’s Clothing!

They’ve been a long time coming…..I’ve been working with Millie Moon for over a year now and I’ve often been asked when people see my little dresses in the shops ‘Do you have a pattern for that?’ or during workshops ‘Can I buy a pattern?’ and the answer is now YES!!

My mission was to create an easy to follow, multi sized range that was simple to sew at home and that you can buy all the lovely materials you need to make at Millie Moon. There’s 3 styles to fit ages 1-5 to start with - a very cute Party Dress with a full skirt, a versatile sleeveless Pinafore Dress and an A-line T Shirt Dress with built in sleeves.

They’ve been a challenge to put together, I had to use my, somewhat rusty and self taught, CAD experience and call upon some of my lovely friends for their help - huge thanks to Chris at Wing’s Art and Design Studio and Aran at Latitude Photography for their skills, and everyone at Millie Moon for their        enthusiasm and patience.

I hope you enjoy making the patterns as much as I’ve enjoyed putting them together - all feedback would be much appreciated, I’d love to see photos of your finished dresses and hear your suggestions for the next additions to the range.

Please note…….All my patterns are clearly marked Not For Commercial Use, this means they are for home use only by Mummys, Aunties, Nannys etc making for their friends and family NOT for business or any other monetary gains/sale. As simple as the patterns and instructions look they have taken me a long time to develop and I also design and sell handmade ready to wear dresses. Copyright law exists to protect designers who risk sharing their ideas and I hope people understand and respect this. Thanks x

GIVE AWAY TIME

So, 3 styles, 3 samples, 3 Millie Moon shops, I thought what better excuse for a little introductory giveaway! There’s 1 free pattern up for grabs at each Millie Moon store - simply pop in as soon as possible, have a look at the sample dress and enquire:

 ‘Do you have ANNA's pattern for that?‘ 

to claim the hot off the press 1^st editions…… 

remember - Just one pattern per shop - first come first served

 I’m also aiming to cover making all the little dresses as workshops at Millie Moon, starting with the Pinafore Dress on 9th February in Keynsham and 27^th April in Frome - these workshops include all materials too, bargain.

Sewing Sisters

Eliza M Ruby Dress Pattern 

Well we finally had 5 minutes to do a bit of sewing. We both decided to make a dress for our 5th birthday, so we went for the Eliza M Vintage sewing patterns.  Becki chose the Daisy dress and I chose the Ruby dress. 

Eliza M Daisy Dress Pattern

That was the easy part as we have both chosen patterns that flatter our shapes, the hard part was choosing the fabric. 


Becki settled on a Moda print  'Beacon Cove'  with Lobsters. Bright and summery and perfect for this weather we are having at the moment. Using approx 3metres of fabric for the full skirt the dress cost £44.50 (plus pattern) Not bad for a summer frock.

Becki in the lobster Daisy dress 

I decided to go for a simple denim which will be a great staple in the wardrobe all year, but also an inexpensive way to test the pattern out. But, now I've made it successfully, which fabric next?? I added a red polka dot bias to trim the armholes and the neck. In total my dress cost me £12.30! (plus pattern) what a bargain. 

Rachel in the Denim Ruby dress

The patterns were easy to follow and simple to put together. We worked on the separately, and everything was going well until we got to the fitting. Then the text messages started to flow and a conversation on how to alter the shoulders began. It turns out that we both have strange shoulders and short bodies (blame the parents!) so we had to make similar alterations to the patterns. This was nice and simple and the dresses were finished in a day! 

We are both really pleased with them and had so many comments about them that we thought you might like to take a look. Its so nice to be able to say "I made that!" 

love
Rachel x

The Eliza M vintage sewing patterns are available to buy on our website www.milliemoonshop.co.uk £14 each and free postage. 

Introducing Dressmaker Anna Vickery

We are really pleased to welcome the lovely and very talented Anna Vickery to our team. Anna has been teaching workshops with us in Wells for about a year now, but is now joining the team working in the Wells shop. Anna is developing workshops in dressmaking, working with paper patterns, teens workshops and many more and we hope to offer a wide range in both Frome and Wells. 

Here is a little bit about Anna by Anna.

"I studied Fashion Design at The University of the West of England in Bristol, and graduated with a Ba(hons) in 2005. During my time at university I was selected to exhibit at Graduate Fashion week in London and at The Royal West of England Academy in Bristol. My Fashion Design degree covered many areas including design, pattern cutting and sample development, garment construction, illustration, technical drawing, styling, business, visual culture and contextual studies.

After university I started my career as a Junior Designer for a specialist company which design and produce heavy duty leather and textile products, mainly for the Police and Armed Forces. It was very much ‘in at the deep end’ but great experience - if I could work with leather on heavy machinery I can sew anything….

Along the way I have also worked for a luxury leather brand and a floral designer - I always seem to pick nice/tempting products to work with, and now I’m at Millie Moon, trying to resist new fabric every week!

I also currently work with amazing Womenswear and Bridal designer Alexandra King. I met Alexandra at university and now help her create handmade clothing and accessories for women worldwide from her Somerset studio. We design and make every garment, mainly dresses, in house and strongly believe in traditional craftsmanship and service. I am mainly involved with the actual making of the dresses, it may surprise you to know that despite my background in ‘design’ I hate drawing, so we work well together - Alexandra is an inspiration and truly lovely friend. www.alexandra-king.com

Since school/college/university and beyond my influences have come from twentieth century art, media and design. Current projects I am working on include making a Wedding Dress for an old school friend who is getting married in June, working on a new Chilrenswear/Flowergirl mini collection ready for a Wedding Fair at Bristol Zoo we are exhibiting at in March, oh and i’m about to move house so i’m collecting ideas for new interiors projects, starting with re-upholstering 6 dining chairs….

I’ve been leading workshops for Millie Moon for nearly a year and have just started doing a few days in the Wells shop - it’s great to be able to share skills in such a colourful and creative environment. I’m also looking forward to my first Millie Moon Hen Party soon. My next workshops include Teen Dressmaking, How to make a Childs Dress, How to make a Clutch Bag and How to use a paper pattern. I am also available for 1-1 sewing/dressmaking tuition.

Teens PJ Shorts workshop Sunday 24th March - Wells shop

Anna will be in the Frome shop on Friday 15th February 2013 with a teens workshop - "Up-cycle your clothes" come along with your own garment that you would like to change, update or customise. Make it fit your own individual style! ages 11+ involves some use of the sewing machine and hand sewing techniques. Great for those who have an interest in fashion design.


Pop in and see Anna in the wells shop for a chat or book a workshop. Anna is also available for 1-1 sessions should you need specific help or advice.

New workshops with Anna coming in the spring: 

• Beginners Embellishments
• Step by Step by tulip skirt without a pattern 
• Make your own Pyjama shorts
• up-cycle your clothing
• Simple Sun top
• Girls simple summer dress

www.milliemoonshop.co.uk

50s style skirt workshop with "Make me a dress"

Sunday 19th February was Millie Moon's first workshop with local Dress designer of 'Make me a dress' Alexandra King. This dress by Alexandra is an example of her beautiful work in one of the fabulous fabrics by Martha Negley, that we stock at Millie Moon.

50's style skirts was the make of the day. 

After deliberating with the fabric choices, all the ladies finally chose fabulous Michael Miller prints. Alexandra set about the demonstration and made it all look so simple.

     

Alexandra at the machine

Adding the contrasting bias binding

                                              

Then it was the turn of the ladies to have a go. Using 2 metres of 44" fabric and no pattern, the ladies cut out their skirt and quickly began sewing.  They all actually found out it was as simple as Alexandra had made it. The no pattern skirt had pockets, bias binding and a zip. So many skills learnt and applied in such a short space of time.

Emma and Amanda concentrate on the binding  

    Pleating the waistband

        

The 3 hours flew by and there were 4 beautiful 50's style skirts perfect for dancing the night away!

putting in the zip    

  Lucy in her cherry print skirt

                                                     

Alexandra has put the DIY Tutorial for the skirt making workshop onto her blog for you all to have a go

makemeadress.blogspot.com

More workshops with Alexandra "makemeadress' coming soon to  Millie Moon

Just take a look at our fab new patterns in store by 'Charlie's Aunt'; vintage inspired bag patterns created by Emma Brennan. http://www.charliesaunt.com/ All packs include to-scale patterns and instructions with easy to follow diagrams.

Poacher's Bag - inspired by British Country life in the 1940's.

Gershwin and Ellington Clutch Bag - inspired by 1930's style clutch.

Home Guard Clutch Bag - inspired by 1940's wartime envelop clutch bags with added miltary styling.

Melford Messager Bag - inspired by the 1940's ARP warden bag.

I have my eye on the Poarcher's Bag.........with all my projects maybe I will treat myself and save this sewing project for a raining day.

If you would like to get your hands on these gorgeous patterns do pop into store or call us on (01373 464650) and we can hold one by for you.