Vintage Fashion House – Everything Sewing Vintage Fashion

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Evelyn Wood Vintage Fashion House and Vintage Sewing School

Hi! I'm Evelyn!

I'm an expert dressmaker with a love of everything

Sewing Vintage Fashion,

and my obsession is helping others become the sewer they want to be!

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New on the Blog

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Looking for friends who understand your passion fo

Looking for friends who understand your passion for sewing? You’ve come to the right place! Many of us don’t have close sewing friends, but thanks to online communities, we can connect with sewists all around the world who share our love of the craft! ⁠
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Let's get to know one another better! Comment below with where you’re located and your current sewing obsession. 🌎🧵 If you want, find someone else's comment and say Hi to them! ✋️

One of the best things about running Vintage Sewin

One of the best things about running Vintage Sewing School (apart from my wonderful students - you know who you are!) is the samples and garments I just HAVE to make for new courses each month 🤩⁠
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And one of my favs is my Strawberry Dress. ⁠
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The purpose of the course I made this dress in, is to demonstrate how to take a relatively simple garment design, in this case, a red A-line pinafore, and use a few simple techniques (that don't require learning another complicated sewing skill) to transform the garment into some 'fancy' or a little bit 'extra'!⁠
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Let's look at some of the details that make this otherwise plain dress 'fancy'!⁠
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On the neckline, I used my signature reverse neckline, this time in a V-neck to trim and frame the whole neckline.⁠
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This gave a base to what I call 'faux-broidery', or fake embroidery. These sweet little strawberries are actually a ribbon trim cut into individual pieces and stitched on so it looks like proper embroidery! (did it trick you?). ⁠
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Little faux-broidery strawberries also feature on my waist ties, a little detail to highlight the tabs and where they meet the pockets. ⁠
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Of course, I gave it beautiful, big patch pockets, because, pockets 😀⁠
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To mirror the detail of the neckline, I used a reverse facing again on the hem which gave it a sharp border effect and finished it off with strawberries on top!⁠
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To make this dress swish and move I used a linen cotton mix from @spotlightstores ⁠
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Also, on this hem facing I used interfacing with it. This gives it more structure and fullness at the hemline than say the hem facing used on the green skirt I showed you recently (it was linen and had a hem facing the same size but no interfacing)⁠
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Next time you're making something, perhaps think about what little fancy feature could you add?⁠
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How do you make your garments that bit fancier?⁠
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My NEW YouTube VIDEO is LIVE NOW!! Don't miss out,

My NEW YouTube VIDEO is LIVE NOW!! Don't miss out, click the link in my bio above to learn Where and Why to use Understitching, and how it can be a game changer for your sewing! ⁠
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We all know we're supposed to understitch, right? A lot of the time a pattern doesn't actually mention it or sometimes it just, very helpfully, says "understitch the piece".⁠
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Once you know what it is, the next level is being able to use this (amazing, sewing secret skill) even when your pattern doesn't tell you to. So the big question is WHERE? ⁠
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Where do we understitch? How do we understitch for best results?⁠
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I'm going to let you in on one of sewing's most under-rated skills in my new YouTube video that will really ramp your projects up a notch with cleaner, clearer finishes!⁠
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Have you learned the value of understitching yet?

🎉NEW YouTube Video going live THIS WEEKEND! 🎉⁠
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Have you ever made a garment and just love it except that neckline or arm facing JUST. KEEPS. FLAPPING. OUT? Or a collar that isn't really crisp and doesn't hold smooth lines?⁠
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Well, don't worry! I have the solution and I am not keeping it to myself! One of sewing's, literally undercover, secrets is Understitching!!⁠
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I can already hear you saying, well yeah I know about understitching, what's the big secret?⁠
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You'll probably have seen the basic instruction in a pattern a million times - understitch the facing. That's all well-and-good but where is the best place to understitch? What about other places and other patterns?⁠
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So join me in a deep dive into the secrets of understitching and find out the difference it can make to the finishes of your me-made garments in my new YouTube video coming this weekend.⁠
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If you'd like to be notified when the NEW video goes live, click the link in my bio and hit the "Bell to Notify Me".⁠
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Are you a devotee of understitching or do you <gasp> skip it? Share your understitching stories in the comments below!⁠

🤫 Secret Sewing tools that no one is talking ab

🤫 Secret Sewing tools that no one is talking about! I know you love gadgets just as much as I do and I’ve tried loads of them. These are 3 tools that most people aren't using - but should be!⁠
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Coilless Safety Pins – Just like a regular safety pin - but with no round bit at the end to get your fabric stuck in. Genius! ⁠
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Loop Turner – Small spaghetti straps can be so fiddly, but this tool makes turning them right side out a breeze! ⁠
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Spray starch – Yep, that old fashioned stuff that’s used to stiffen collars. It also works great to stabilise fabrics that tend to slip and are difficult to work with such as rayons, chiffons, crepes and stretch jersey fabrics. ⁠
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✂️ Do you know of any other secret sewing tools? I want to know! Share them in the comments and I just might feature them in my next secret tool video!⁠

Have you ever tried shirring? It’s quickly becom

Have you ever tried shirring? It’s quickly become one of my favourite techniques! ✨ It’s the perfect way to turn your lightweight woven fabrics into comfortable, stretchy garments. ⁠
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I admit though, it can take some fiddling to set up, so I have 2 tips:⁠
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1 - Write all the settings down that you used or changed from 'standard' on your machine. Keep this info so you can undo anything and keep it stored in your sewing journal so next time you shirr you have a starting point for all those fiddly settings.⁠
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2 - And second, make multiple! Just plan to make multiples of the shirred garment or batch different shirring together so you get the most out of the set-up of all those settings!⁠
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I will definitely be making more than one of this cute top next time!⁠
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P.S. If you want to learn shirring but don't know where to start, I can help 🙂 I walk you through this technique step by step in my Vintage Sewing School shirring course! 🧵 You'll get instant access when you join as a member 😉⁠
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