Sewing with Disabilities: Five Accessible Tools (Guest Post by Samantha Purple Sewing Cloud)

There’s a whole world of amazing sewing tools out there that have been designed to make your crafting easier. To celebrate Disability Pride Month, we’ve commissioned Samantha Waude from @PurpleSewingCloud – who you may recognise as a Tilly and the Buttons model from Make It Simple and Agnes – to share her top five accessible sewing tools. 

Whether you consider yourself to have disabilities or not, you will want to get yourself some of these! Over to Sam…

“Hi, I’m Samantha, I’m feel very excited to be invited by Tilly to write this guest blog post about my top five sewing tools. 

As a sewist with disabilities, my sewing tools are very important to me. Over the years I’ve curated a collection that works best for my needs and disabilities - without them I wouldn’t be able to sew and create a beautiful wardrobe of clothes that make me smile.

I’ve chosen my top five tools that I use every time I sew and are essential to me. These tools will work for everybody too, not just for people with disabilities - so keep reading or watch my video!

How to Embroider Flowers on Your Clothing

Have I ever told you how much I love embroidery? I find the process itself so soothing, and the perfect way to unwind after a long day. And the result is such a pretty way of embellishing both ready-to-wear and me-made clothing to make them truly special.

Ever since I first designed the Marnie blouse sewing pattern, I’ve had the idea in my head for a version with a flower-embroidered yoke – earlier this summer I turned this dream into a reality.

If you’d like to create a similar effect, I’m going to show you how to embroider flowers on your clothing. This tutorial is simple enough for embroidery beginners, and will teach you a few different stitches along the way – lazy daisy stitch for the petals, French knots for the centres, fishbone stitch for the leaves and back stitch for the stems.

Confession: I’m not the world’s neatest or most patient hand stitcher, but I adore the result regardless. So, even if you’re not the most confident embroiderer, I’d still encourage you to give it a go!

[In the intro I accidentally said "satin stitch" but I meant "fishbone stitch" - oops!]

How To Do A Full Tummy Adjustment on Trousers or Shorts

Do you often feel as though you need a bit more room in the stomach area in your trousers or shorts? If you're nodding your head in agreement, you may benefit from doing a full tummy adjustment to your me-made garments.

A full tummy adjustment adds width and length to the stomach area on a pair of shorts or trousers (or pants if you're one of our North American friends). It's a handy adjustment to do if you need a little bit more room across the tummy, but the rest of the trousers fit well and feel comfortable.  

But how do you know if you need a full tummy adjustment? If you often get drag lines across the stomach, a tight front crotch or if the side seams are pulled forward in line with the tummy area, this can indicate that you could benefit from a bit more room across the front. Even a small full tummy adjustment can make all the difference to how your shorts and trousers fit, and is a great adjustment to keep up your sleeve, or should we say down your leg (sorry). 

We've made a video which explains how to do a full tummy adjustment from start to finish. If you prefer to learn via diagrams and text, then keep on reading. 

For this tutorial you’ll need your front leg pattern piece, a pen or pencil, a ruler, some scissors, some tape, and a bit of paper. 

So, once you’ve got those handy, let’s get started.

Sewing Inspiration & Fabric Picks for Esti

If you're sewing up an Esti co-ord or two this summer, you're in the right place for a healthy dose of fabric and high-street inspiration for your makes!

Ideal for all your favourite spring/summer fabrics, Esti is designed for light- to medium-weight woven fabrics. Try linen or chambray for a more structured silhouette, or viscose (rayon) or Tencel (lyocell) for a drapier look.

First, let's have a peek at the lovely Esti samples...

Fabric: Ruby Star rayon - Grid Fabrics

We're obsessed with the faux jumpsuit potential of Esti and just had to get this look on the cover!