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.

Christmas in July...?

Summer is here! The sun is shinning! Lots of time to sit in the garden and enjoy all those light warm summer evenings. Ummmm ...


Maybe we should take advantage of this weather and get ahead of ourselves. Christmas is only 173 making days away and if the sunshine does arrive in september/october again this year, we will want to be rushing out into the garden for a quick bbq not making stockings and lavender hearts for the school fair.

Shop display on Sunday 1 July for the Frome Artisan Market including christmas tree

So now is the time to be bold and brave. Buy that christmas stash and get those projects started. You will soon have a large collection of stock ready for all those last minute gifts, school fairs and house decorations. 


We have just received the first of the Christmas collections in from Riley Blake.


The first is 'Santa's workshop'

Beautiful bright fresh prints, small enough for those little projects or as a babes 1st christmas quilt 

by the metre, FQ, charm packs and layer cakes

Also 'Apline Wonderland'

A contemporary collection of greens, reds and blues. Birds and trees in winter scenes. Perfect for christmas tablecloths, napkins and quilted coasters.

by the metre, FQ, charm packs and layer cakes

Finally, Riley Blake Advent Calendar Panel 

A simple and effective way to create a family advent calendar which can be used year after year

  The panel includes the calendar, softies in christmas scenes and a holiday banner. 

This is just the start of the christmas collections, we have many more to come including Michael Miller and Moda

What will you make? 

A little bit of advice...?

Dear ladies 

I received this on Facebook and thought I must share it with all the lovely sewing ladies out there.  Now I know where I have been going wrong all this time... 

If I had the technical skills, I would enable a sound track to play Andy Williams crooning  " Hey, little girl, fix your hair, put on your makeup" !






Love Vickie, Fromemaid 

An evening with the Frome WI

On May 17th we were invited by the lovely ladies of the newly formed Frome Wi to be their guest speakers. All the team gathered together at the shop on beautiful Catherine hill and wandered up the hill to the United Reformed church hall on Whittox lane, sewing machines at the ready.

With plenty of space to spread out we quickly set up our 3 make tables and 3 demonstration tables. Tonights theme, Jubilee of course.

Two tables were making Jubilee corsages with Angela and myself and the other table were working on paper craft with Gaynor. Some fab pieces were made.

On the demonstration tables we had Vickie (Fromemaid) demonstrating her own jubilee tea cosy kits, 

Caroline was marking the jubilee with a special quilt demonstration 

and Becki was giving away expert tips in making jubilee bunting. 

A really lovely but exhausting evening and the ladies moved around the room, one lady referred to it as 'speed crafting'! Hopefully everyone had a go at the makes and were inspired by the demonstrations.

We have a range of jubilee fabrics, ribbons, buttons and bows in both shops. Fromemaid tea cosy's, Millie Moons Bunting and corsages are available ready made and in kit form. Pop in and be ready for your street party!


Thanks to Frome WI for inviting. We will see you in November for "christmas crafts"


 Photos supplied by Storm @ Frome WI
If you are interested in joining the WI, then please contact Storm via their Facebook page

Introducing Caroline Frances-Payne

Hi my name is Caroline, my passion is colour, Patchwork and Quilting.

I became interested in quilting when I lived In germany. I made a little jacket for my small daughter with material already quilted. They had some fabric in this gift shop in the town centre. I was enthralled by the little patterns on the fabric and would spend hours creating garments.




After a move back to England, ending up in Tidworth, I would get hooked on Readicut rugs but the passion for fabric was still burning.

We moved to Frome in early 1982, after a few years I was invited to join Frome quilters, thats when the passion really too off, I became a fan pf appliqué and would love to cut out loads of 'Sunbonnet Sues' using fabrics from a lovely little shop in stoney street. My girls got used to me frequently visiting and buying fabric which was small and dainty. My passion for colour came later when on a workshop by Carole Lizbeth I was blown away by her bold use of colour. I was hooked. Next came a workshop with the legendary Kaffe Fassett at the American Museum in Bath and I was overwhelmed by his thinking. From 3 simple templates you could achieve anything. It was all down to the pattern and colourways of the fabric.

Then along came Millie Moon to Catherine Hill. Vibrant and bright and full of colour. Glorious quilting fabrics on my doorstep. I soon became a regular at the shop and the girls offered me the fantastic opportunity to share my love of colour. I have now been teaching patchwork and quilting with them for 4 years. Each group, new and nervous is a wonderful challenge to me, I love to see them develop into positive people each week and by the end of the course the look on their faces says it all. Its lovely to see that the joy of such a craft is not lost forever and we can make this happen by introducing them to patchwork in many ways and watch it grow.

    

I live in Frome with my husband Charlie and our 2 Jack Russell's, Doris Day and Moo Cow. I sew everyday and get my fix of colour and creation. Come and join me.

By Caroline x

Carolines next beginners Patchwork and Quilting workshop begins on Wednesday 13th June 6.30-8.30pm for 6 weeks in Frome.

Caroline also runs an 'Introduction to Patchwork' workshop once a month. The next available is;
Wells:  Sunday 20th May 10.30-2.00pm
Frome: Tuesday 19th June 1.30-4.30pm

Caroline is also available for 1-1 tuition

Call the shop to book your place. 

Millie Moon meets the ladies of Wells WI

On Tuesday 3rd April, The Millie Moon team pulled up in front of the beautiful Wells museum, ready for our evening with the lovely ladies of the Wells WI.  Arms filled with sewing machines, fabrics and of course my little speech, I think we were all a little nervous.

Once inside the impressive building, the two rooms we were allocated were quickly transformed into Millie Moon demonstration and workshop space. In the demonstration room the team showed their skills. We had:

Angela - Freemotion embrodiery

Anne - Dressmaking

Vickie - Home accessories

Caroline - Patchwork and Quilting
In the workshop room Gaynor was doing paper crafts and myself and Becki made jubilee corsages.

As the ladies gathered the time came for me to stand  up in front of over 70 ladies and make a little speech about 'Millie Moon and how it all began'. Luckily it went ok and I quickly handed over to the team. 

   

It was soon a buzz of activity as all the ladies moved from table to table to see the demonstrations and take part in the workshops. The ladies were all lovely and very enthusiastic. All chatted and asked questions about all aspects are craft and sewing. 

The two hours flew by really quickly, all of us were tired and hoarse but we left very happy. It was a really fun evening and so great to see the WI still going from strength to strength. 

Thank you to Wells WI for inviting us and we look forward to seeing you all again soon. 

Also a big thanks to the Millie Moon team Caroline, Anne, Vickie, Angela and Gaynor for coming along and supporting us. You made it a great success!

We will be at the next meeting of the newly formed Frome WI on Thursday 17th May... 

Rachel x 

Make and Cake Evening 26th April

I still have Tuesday's where I pinch myself; I can't quite believe I'm part of  the Team  for my favourite shop.  It get's even  better this month as I'll be spending an evening at Millie Moon with my friend Tamsin of Tea 'n Cake, running our first make and cake evening.  I'll get to combine two of my favourite pleasures; sewing and food!
The "make" will be different each time we run these evenings, our first is  a Vintage Style Tea Cosy as we felt it teamed the two enterprises together nicely and it felt a particularly British item; relevant for St. Georges week and the whole 2012 vibe.

I'll be providing a choice of  fabrics, in kit form, so you'll have the instructions to go forth and multiply Tea Cosy's once you've made your first with us!  The kits themselves would make great gifts I think. Please visit Tamsin's blog where she describes the format of the evening:  http://www.teancake.co.uk/index.php/events/

  Phone Millie Moon or pop in to book a place, I look forward to seeing you there!
By Vickie the Fromemaid

My First Workshop by Fromemaid

I ran my first workshop at Millie Moon a couple of Tuesdays ago; Summer Doorstops.  I couldn't have wished for a better group of people to work with.  It was so good to spend time with people who enthuse  over the choice of  fabrics Becki and Rachel have in their shop as much as I do!  All the materials necessary  were provided in the price of the workshop, resulting in each of  the four ladies  producing  beautiful doorstops plumped full with long grain rice.  There was a lovely atmosphere and a fair bit of laughter,  I'm really excited about my next workshops.

I'll be running the Millie Moon rolling programme of  workshops on Tuesdays as well as workshops for some of my own Fromemaid designs.  Check out the Sewing School on the Millie Moon website, if you'd like to find out more.

By Fromemaid x

Mary Jane Baxter - Emergency Hat

Mary Jane Baxter is a milliner, with a love for vintage and recycling. Her hats are regularly featured in fashion press and TV. A well known name in the craft world, Mary Jane has contributed to Mollie Makes, Cloth and Sew magazines as well as writing for Selvedge and The Guardian on-line. Her monthly column in Homes and Antiques magazine, "style on a shoestring' led to the development of her first book "chic on a shoestring"which was launched at Libertys in 2011.

Mary Janes beautiful blog and website www.maryjanemakes.com has regular updates and is a host of creative ideas.  The pictures and descriptions inspire as she talks about all things vintage. The 'Cheap chic tip of the week'  shows projects and quick ideas.

On Saturday 17th March we are very excited to be having Mary Jane Baxter holding a workshop at our Frome shop. Yes, our little shop in Frome!!

Mary Jane will be making 'The Emergency Hat' from  her book "Chic on a Shoestring", All materials will be provided too make a lovely little vintage style pillbox hat.

There are a couple of places still available on the workshop. 

 £65       10.30-4.30pm. 

Please contact the shop for more details. 

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