busy – The haberdashery Blog.

The blog is back……🙌

Posted on April 5, 2020 by Ami

Yep, it’s been a while since I’ve posted on this blog……but hey I’ve got no excuse for not having the time at the minute.

I hope your all well and safe xxx

So the bricks and mortar shop has had to close temporarily until the corona crisis has past but we’re working hard to get orders out to you via post.

I’ll be keeping you updated with everything we’re doing on here, Facebook and Instagram so make sure you find us.

It’s only been two weeks since lockdown and things have changed here massively ……..

1. I’ve started to do live tutorials on Facebook (I’ve had to face the fear of the camera)

2. I’ve released an online Quilting workshop which will take place for a week in April ……..

see the details on the website https://simplyneedlecraft.com/shop-%26-workshops/ols/categories/online-courses

3. We’ve started a new fabric community

see the details here of how to join https://simplyneedlecraft.com/shop-%26-workshops/ols/products/monthly-fabric-club-community

4. I’ve released a free ebook which contains my best advice if your thinking about getting a sewing machine https://simplyneedlecraft.com/shop-%26-workshops/ols/products/free-ebook

5. I filmed a video about my mental health struggles which had 18.8k views in 3 weeks

5. I’ve joined up with a friend in South Africa, Harry Perfors Physical & Mindset expert to help people through the corona lockdown. We’re focusing on helping on keeping your mindset level, how to help motivation, beliefs, self doubt and anxiety during this challenging time………. find us on Facebook

Please let me know how your all doing, I can’t wait to see all of my customers again.

Stay safe

Ami

xxx

Ami James - Textile Artist, children's sewing bee, Crochet, Workshop and classes

Amazing Start To The Year……Warning, lots of workshop photos ❤️

Posted on January 19, 2018 by Ami

Hi everyone,

Its been so busy here in the Sewing Studio which is brilliant and the diary is filling up quickly.

Theres a new craft club starting here on Monday at 10am-12pm. It would be lovely to see you there…..

The Crochet workshops have already started back. This runs every Saturday morning 10am-12pm. There’s no need to book, just come along and learn new skills. They are a friendly bunch that progress very quickly ………

The Kids Sewing Bee has also started back and as ever they are all enthusiastic and creative. We’ve had cowls, pencil cases and pouches being made and rag dolls and doorstops in progress……

My adult workshops have also been busy and so far this year we’ve had rag ruggging, beginners sewing and the Free Motion Embroidery workshop…….

The Craft & Chat and Making Memories Quilting Group have also started back 😍…..

All dates coming up are available to see on my website here

that’s all happened in 13 days 😳………….. I’m one very happy tutor

thanks for reading

Ami

xxx

Ami James - Textile Artist, children's sewing bee, Fabric, sewing studio, Workshop and classes

The Next Chapter ………

Posted on November 17, 2017 by Ami

Hi everyone,

Its been a few weeks now since the Haberdashery closed its doors and I’m finding time to breathe. I have to admit it’s been a shock to my system having spare time but I’ve had the time to sit down and plan next years courses and workshops.

The most popular workshops are back as well as a few new ones thrown in too.

All the dates and details can be found here at http://www.simplyneedlecraft.com/workshopsclasses.html

There’s been quite a few workshops that have took place in the last few weeks so I’ll run through them and show you the projects.

Paper Pieced Christmas Stocking workshop last week…..

Free motion embroidery workshop last week …..

The Textile Art Canvas Workshop this week…..

Thread Painting Landscape Workshop this week …..

We also had our Craft & Chat evening and the Making Memories Quilting Group…..

The children in the Sewing Bee have also been extremely busy too making quilts, advent calendars, bows, bags and baskets…

So I’m keeping busy making sure everyone gets creative 😊

thanks for reading, make sure you pop over to the website to look at all the new dates.

Ami

xxx

behind the scenes, children's sewing bee, in the haberdashery, News, sewing studio, Workshop and classes

New Adult Quilting Group, New Sewing Bee Class and Young Quilters Event.

Posted on September 15, 2017September 15, 2017 by Ami

Hi everyone,

I’m back from my Holidays and raring to go……

I’m currently as we speak getting ready for the Melbourne Festival which starts on Saturday. I’m really excited to be part of this amazing event. I’ll be exhibiting at 52 Blanche Croft…….

I’ve got new groups and classes starting.

The first is a quilting group which is affiliated with the Quilters Guild. This is a great new group which is set up for everyone interested in patchwork and quilting. To bring along their projects, share ideas and advice and plan any future projects. This group is be held on the 1st Monday of every month here in the Sewing Studio.

I also have a new Sewing Bee starting on Thursday 28th September. The group is aimed at children aged between 8-12 years. The sessions will run every Thursday 4-5pm and the cost £7.50 per week.

I only work with a small number of children and the classes are ongoing, so if you want your child to have a place please let me know asap to reserve a place…..

We also have an event set up with the Young Quilters Guild. This event is taking place here at the Sewing Studio on Thursday 26th October 10am – 1pm.

This event is for children aged between 6-18yrs.

Projects include Halloween themed decorations and treat bags. Hand and machine sewing will be learnt.

Non members -£7

Members – £5

All children if not ready a member will get a years free membership to the Guild after visiting us.

Last night was this months Craft and Chat evening. This is a great evening for us crafters to get together with our projects. There’s lots of different types of crafts every month and the atmosphere is fantastic……if you would like to join us pop along on the first Thursday of the month….

My workshop dates have increased this quarter of the year. I’m really pleased how quickly they are booking up. If you’ve not had a look at the dates then please visit http://www.simplyneedlecraft.com/workshopsclasses.html

workshops include hand embroidery, quilting, mother and daughter sewing class, beginners sewing, fabric journals, art quilting and fabric collage and vintage workshops.

Thats it for this week, have a great weekend and I’ll see you next week.

Ami

Ami James - Textile Artist, children's sewing bee, Christmas, Fabric, Workshop and classes

The asewing Studio!

Posted on August 25, 2017 by Ami

yes it’s my favourite part of the building. It’s a place that’s full of creativity, laughter and proud moments.

So this blog post is dedicated to everyone’s hard work.

Lets start with my groups that entered the Festival of Quilts…

Lets start with my younger group. This is a group made up of three girls, Hollie, Dolcie and Ellie and one boy Luke.

Their entry to the competition was a quilt called Up, up & away. They have been working hard since Christmas to get the quilt finished before the deadline.

They used applique, weaving, embellishing and quilting techniques. They received a highly commended in the competition……

My older group is made up of four girls, Elizabeth, Hope, Mia and Molly. Their quilt was named Natures Wardrobe. They used hand dying, raw edge appliqué, free motion stitching and free motion quilting techniques. The win 3rd place in the competition….

Both groups have worked extremely hard and I’m so proud of them.

Both quilts are on display in the shop for another week…..

Carrying on with the Sewing Studio ….

I’ve been joined by three of my stitchers over a week to make a patchwork and quilted lap quilt…..

We’ve quilted bags from two from my stitchers…..

I’ve had another two finishing off their bunting….

We’ve had four door hangers, hot air balloons …….

We had ten book marks……

And we’ve started fabric weaving baskets that still are in working progress….

The adults have also had a try with Christmas stocking and trees…..more workshops dates for this will be announced soon……

I’ve also got new dates and workshops available in thread painting miniatures….

And paper pieced landscapes…..

I’ve also now announced my last Quilting for beginners course for the year…….all courses and workshops are on my website http://www.simplyneedlecraft.com

Its been a creative time for me too as the Lie of Land exhibition in Bishops Castle has now started. I’m exhibiting with Midlands Textile Forum and my piece is called Mother Earth…..

and after the Festival I set myself a little challenge……. a very little challenge ……. my first mini quilt …..

With all of this I hope you realise how much I love my Sewing Studio.

thanks for reading

Ami

Ami James - Textile Artist, behind the scenes, children's sewing bee, textile art

It’s All About Events

Posted on May 26, 2017 by Ami

Hi everyone,

Wow what weather …….. Perfect weather for events this weekend.

You can catch us at Sainsbury’s this Saturday morning working with Hubbub to get little stitchers sewing and adding embellishments to clothes…..find details here

It’s also Derbyshire Open Arts this weekend. This year is my first year of taking part of this festival which covers Derbyshire. The festival starts on Saturday and runs until the 4th June.

I will be here on Sunday and Monday to talk to visitors. I’ll be showing you my inspiration, techniques and methods.

We are also open as usual on Saturday where you can view my work.

Hours are….

Saturday – 9-4pm

Sunday – 10-3pm

Monday – 10 – 3pm

There is also a craft market running on the Saturday hosted by Curly Magpie & Friends.

Ok so events that have already taken place over the last week or so……

we had the lovely Maria Dent, Felt Artist with us to run a full day workshop in Landscape Felting.

We had an amazing turn out with lots of beautiful results. We will be talking to Maria very soon to arrange more dates…..

On Saturday we had our long waited Young Quilters Event.

We invited children between 6-18yrs to join us in the Sewing Studio to take part in this great event which allowed them to get free membership to the Quilters Guild. Again we had an amazing turnout. We shall be adding more dates to the Guilds list very soon….

As you can see we’ve been so busy and I apologise for the lack of blog entries.

Thank you for your support. I couldn’t have be able to do this without you.

Hope to see you over the weekend.

Ami

xxx

behind the scenes, Butterick patterns, children's sewing bee, Christmas, Crochet, Fabric, in the haberdashery, New Stock, sewing studio, Workshop and classes

The Bird & The Hare !

Posted on September 23, 2016 by Ami

Well hello and happy Autumn to you :).

I can’t quite work out where this week has gone……time is flying by which means we are close to Christmas now (in a crafting sense). So it was perfect timing to increase our Christmas fabric range. Not only have we got the gorgeous festive prints from Timeless Treasures now we have these yummy ones in stock too.

AND we’ve also had a new range of fabric paints in…… 24 different shades which become permanent after ironing.

It’s that time of year again where Butterick drop the price of their sewing patterns. Patterns are now half price until the 15th October. Over 3000 patterns in stock.

This week was the end of our last quilting course of the year 😦 I just love tutoring these courses. It’s a daunting task to people new to quilting but every single one of my ladies have done me proud. The evenings and day courses have been fun, relaxed and productive so it’s a definite that I will be running courses again next year.

The kids in the sewing bee have been busy (as always). At the moment when have two groups making patchwork bags, a group starting to make a rag doll, two groups making doorstops.

On Saturday we have finished off appliqué cushions and book covers.

The book covers are a great project, it allows to pick you own colour scheme (and is great for using up scraps). Then designing the layout followed by thread choice and the most exciting part……picking and experimenting with stitches.

Our Sue and her lovely ladies from the crochet workshop have been following the Stylecraft crochet along……..the crochet workshops run every Saturday 10-12pm. Beginners very welcome.

Lastly, I’ve been experimenting again with raw edge appliqué …..neither of these are finished but I’d thought I’d share pics to prove I’ve been busy 🙂

That’s all my news for this week, it’s been another busy and vibrant week here. Thanks for following.

see you next week

Ami x

children's sewing bee, City & Guilds, sewing studio, Workshop and classes

Never a Dull Moment!!!!

Posted on September 2, 2016 by Ami

Hi everyone,

I hope you all had a great bank holiday weekend. It was nice to get some extra family time in the nice weather. But it was nice to get back to creating and teaching.

Let’s start with the sewing bee…..

my younger stitchers have been tackling patchwork

Whilst my older stitchers finished off their owls

All the children I teach are so enthusiastic and take to every challenge in the most amazing way.

Next it was the start of my last 3 part quilting course of this year 😦 (don’t worry I will be back with new quilting courses next year)

It may be the last quilting course of the year BUT there’s always lots of other workshops happening …..take a look at the workshops for the end of the year Here

I’ve been rather busy this week dying fabrics and making mini art quilts before I start back on my course after the summer break….

And I also found time to change the window display….

All in all a very productive week.

thanks for reading x

Ami

behind the scenes, children's sewing bee, City & Guilds, Crochet, in the hoop, sewing studio, Workshop and classes

Thanks For Reading x

Posted on June 4, 2016June 3, 2016 by Ami

Hi Everyone,

Thank you to everyone that reads our blog. We are gaining more readers and followers recently which means so much.

Lets crack on with the week shall we? Its been a short week but still packed with fun !

Our children’s Party plans are going well. To find out more please click here here you’ll be able to get info on packages and prices as well as booking.

Our party invitations arrived too this week….

The Big News – Yarn Bombing !

Yes you heard right !

The local council has agreed to let us yarn bomb the town (the Delph) for Christmas.

The displays will be put on show on the day of the Christmas light switch on event and will remain up until new year.

We/I am asking for your help to make this possible. ….We need 10.5 inch squares 🙂

Workshops !

I had a very proud moment when my ladies from this months quilting course finished their lap quilts using a disappearing nine patch design.

They have cut, sewn, pieced, basted, bordered, quilted and binded these gorgeous quilts.

All beginners I might add.

Very Proud !

June’s quilting course – 3 part is full I’m afraid but next week I’ll be sitting down with my diary and planning dates for July.

Also quickly I have a new Children’s Sewing Bee starting Monday 5th September 4pm – 5pm for the 8yrs-12yrs…….I have ONE space left. Please contact me if you are interested.

The Craft Room !

This week I have also been bust setting up a new Facebook group – The Craft Room.

This group is for any type of crafter and its a place to meet like-minded folks, share advice and tips and to also share your makes and advertise you crafty pages. Pop over and join us, it’s still early days so little helps. The Craft Room, Join Here

What I’ve Been Making

I’ve had quite a creative week this week….

A new wall hanging…..

A book cover using stitch and slash……Please visit the website to see workshops on the technique

And a crocheted necklace….as part of my coursework.

Thanks everyone for your support its truly overwhelming….I’ll see you next week 🙂

Ami

xxxxx

children's sewing bee, Crochet, New Stock, sewing studio, Workshop and classes

None Stop !

Posted on March 12, 2016 by Ami

Another week has passed and its been full of fun.

We’ve had workshops, new stock and a visit from Superman (with photo evidence to prove it)

Lets start off with this weeks workshops.

My little sewers in the Sewing Bee last week got to grips with the sewing machines. So we began with straight stitches, stitch lengths, decorative stitches and curves…..

On the same day our Sue was continuing with the Crochet Workshop where the ladies a carrying on with crocheted tops…….progress report –

On Wednesday evening we had the first part of the three-part quilting course. This session was aimed at design, picking fabric combinations, learning to use a rotary cutter and cutting mat safely and we even managed to start piecing our blocks together.

On Thursday we had the Beginners Free Motion workshop. Learning about the essentials for free motion and to sketch and appliqué with a sewing machine…

New Wool Alert

The Stylecraft Yarn we started stocking last month has been a huge hit so it was time to stock up. So we’ve had new colours in DK, 4Ply, Aran and Chunky.

Its been a hectic but a very enjoyable week, its overwhelming how busy we’ve been. Thank you for all of your support.

Have a fab weekend and I’ll see you next week.

Ami x