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Fashion 4 Students 2017

Hello Everyone,

We would love to tell you about our New Fashion 4 Students course 2017. We have been listening to our customers and we have found there are a lot of keen younger sewer out there want to learn how to sew.
So if you dream of being a fashion designer, want to sew you own clothes, need help understanding patterns or would like to learn different techniques for a G.C.S.E project or A. Levels this course may be for you.

Our Fashion 4 students course is open to anyone aged 13-21.
You pick a project to work on through the 4 week course or bring along a piece of work relating to your coursework and Karen will give you the guidance and help you need to achieve your end goal.

The course is more self lead, students pick a project they want to do and bring the relevant materials along to class.

We have designed the course so students will learn the the following and make samples along side working on their individual projects:

​Understand sewing terms, simple pattern adaptions, detailed garment construction, how to go about simple alterations, darts, overlocking, inserting sleeves and adding a simple lining.
Karen will also talk through understanding stabilising and interfacings.

The course can take a maximum of 4 students, we keep groups small so students get the attention they need.

There are currently 3 spaces left and our first course dates are as follows:

Thursday 27th April 6pm-8pm
Thursday 4th May 6pm-8pm
Thursday 11th May 6pm-8pm
Thursday 18th May 6pm-8pm

The course cost £85.00 per person. If you would like to book a place on this course you can do so by:
Phone: 01926 859 892
Or pop into our shop : 80 Warwick Road, Kenilworth, CV8 1HL.

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It’s Our Birthday!

Karen Delahunty Sewing & Knitting Centre Turns 3!

Can you believe that we have been up and running for 3 years now? Where has that time gone!

We’re so thrilled to be celebrating our third birthday at the shop, so we thought it would be a really fun idea to put together our birthday window display, complete with balloons, pom poms and a little black dress with a lot of sparkle!

We really can’t thank all of our lovely customers enough.

It is thanks to all of you that we are able to continue supplying the local community (and beyond) with lovely fabrics and quality haberdashery items.

We’re so grateful to have such wonderful support from you all and we couldn’t be happier doing what we do.

Thank you to all of you, whether you pop in for a chat every now and again or shop with us most days of the week, we think you’re all wonderful and we couldn’t have achieved the feat of 3 years in business without you!

We had lots of fun putting together this Window Display

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Crafty Friday: Origami Gift Wrap Bows

Can you believe it’s less than 2 months to Christmas?

We love Christmas, it’s such a lovely festive season! All those cosy nights in by the fire, the loveliest food, time spent with family, gift giving (and receiving!) What’s not to love?

One of my favourite things about Christmas is Gift Wrapping. I know lots of people who think it’s a chore and really boring, but I LOVE it! 🙂

So for this week’s Crafty Friday, I wanted to share with you, how to make an Origami Bow to sit on top of any present and make it that extra bit special. You can make these from paper or Fabric – for this tutorial I’ll show you how to make the paper version (they’re less tricky!)

What You’ll Need

  • Sheet of Card ( I used 20cm x 20cm or 8″ x 8″) – You’ll need to make sure it’s square.
  • Scissors
  • Ruler and Pencil (Optional)

How to Make an Origami Gift Wrap Bow

Fold your piece of card in half horizontally.

Note: If you’re using patterned paper, You’ll need to fold with the right sides together.

Now, unfold and fold again, this time, fold in half vertically.

Unfold the card again and turn so that it resembles a diamond shape.

Fold one corner to the opposite one to form a triangle, press along the crease.

Unfold and repeat the previous step using the corners on the other side.

When you open the card back out after this step, you should see that from the centre point you have 8 creases.

Keep the last fold in place, so you still have a triangle in front of you.

Take the right hand corner of the triangle and gently push it up to the top point of the triangle.

The creases you made should pop out and cause this to make a diamond shape; press to hold in place.

Turn over your sheet of card and repeat the step above with the next corner.

From the tip of the diamond shape you now have in front of you, draw a line roughly 2cm down. You can do these next two steps by eye or by drawing and marking exactly with a ruler and pencil.

​Fold along the line you’ve just marked (or where you think), so the tip of the diamond is now pointing down to the bottom of the diamond,

Open out all of your creases.

You should see a small square shape has appeared from the creases in the centre.

You are going to use those creases to help form the centre of the bow.
Take one side and fold along the crease, repeat this on all four sides, so the points of the card meet in the centre and the bottom of each side has formed a square shape.

Push the centre of the square inwards along its creases until it forms an X or Cross shape.

Press the X/Cross shape flat.
Starting from the right hand side, fold over the top edge (making sure to only use one layer of card) until it almost touches with the centre crease. Repeat on the left side.

Turn over the card and repeat with the second layers of card.

Gently pull the sides, to open the creases out. Push down at the middle.

You should see on one side a square has formed in the centre and on the other side, you have two creases that almost meet in the centre.

Working on the side where the creases almost meet, open out very carefully and not fully, so that you can see where the creases begin and end.

You will need to cut each crease that touches any corner of the centre square, cut from the outer edge to the corner of the square.

Once cut, press the piece back together, so the creases are in place.

Fold the bottom diamond shape up to the one at the top; press in place.

Focusing on the two pieces sticking out to the sides, fold the bottom corner up to the centre fold and repeat on the opposite side.

Flip the centre diamond piece (that you just folded upwards a few steps previous) down, so they are now on the same side as the pieces you just folded. Repeat the folds on the opposite sides.

Take the large two diamond shapes and hold together, cut along the centre crease; make sure you cut through both layers of card.

Fold the line that you cut along and the adjacent sides by 1cm or less.

Turn the card over again, fold in the outer points (coming from the square in the middle), tuck the points under the square and press along the edge to hold in place, repeat on both sides.

Cut the excess overhang of the bow ribbon – if you wish, this is optional.

Ta dah! You’ve got your very own Occasion Origami Gift Wrap Bow! 🙂

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Fabric of The Week: Nordic/Scandi Red Cotton

You may have seen this gorgeous fabric featured in the latest issue of Sew Magazine as part of the Home Trends Section. We love this fabric and think it would be perfect for Christmas craft projects or handmade gifts as well as fun textile prints or even homewares; being 100% Cotton, means this fabric really lends itself to a number of different options and creations.

We think this fabric looks great on its own or combined with other contrasting materials. We made a lovely 3D Christmas Tree hanging ornament using this print and our bottle green with red and gold starts material. We could also see this as a really festive stocking to be hung over the fireplace come Christmas Eve!

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Fabric of The Week: Bronze Sequin Polyester Stretch

This fabric is perfect for dressmaking as well as craft use. You can create a really dazzling outfit for the festive season with this fabric, or you could use it for children’s costumes for school events.

For one week only you can get this super glitzy fabric for under £10.00 a metre.
This fabric, has a one-way stretch and is made of 100% polyester, the drape is perfect for making dresses or jumpsuits to dazzle!