Up-coming Workshop: Sewing for Beginners.

UPCOMING SEWING WORKSHOP. With the help of the awesome Stitch-Up, I will be running a Beginners sewing class in the incredibly beautiful Duke Studios here in Leeds. 

The class is held on two consecutive Tuesday in May, the 3rd & 10th, and are two hours each! Four whole hours to get to know your machine.

In the class you'll be shown everything you need to build your confidence with a sewing machine; we will make a super cute headscarf to get you started that will teach your some essential techniques, then we will move on to making a super useful and fully lined tote bag!

Everything you need is included within the ticket price. That includes all the fabrics too; we have a bunch of locally sourced beautiful fabrics so you can pick something out that you love. It'll be a fun, informal workshop aimed at showing you how easy it is to make something awesome and useful.

I really cannot wait. We've only got 6 places so get your tickets quick. If you can't make this one, dont worry! If there is enough of you we'll get more booked in fo' sure! All the event information, including where to find tickets, can be found right here.

Stitch-Up and Duke Studios are running a bunch of crafty workshops this year too; macrame, crochet and all things yarn, so make sure you check those out:

By the Lock Handmade // Seven-ish Months In

Seven months in, holy crap.

I can hardly remember life before having an etsy shop. 97% of the time I’m thinking about my shop; new things I can make, improvements, orders to pack up or I'm actually sewing. It is amazing and I love it. I can't remember what I used to fill my time with. I thought at six months in it would be a good point to do a little reflection on what I've learnt so far, but then I got side tracked preparing for the Etsy Made Local fair. So here we are, at seven-ish months in, and somethings I have learnt;

Push Yourself! – One of my new years resolutions in 2014 was to open at online shop... and I didn’t do it until May 2015 because I am (or was) really bad at pushing myself! I was great at setting a million goals but not so great at hitting them. Now though, I’ve realised that pushing myself actually works. Push yourself and you can do so much more than you ever thought you could. I am getting so much better at organising myself (with the help of my love, Wunderlists, and many notepads). Setting goals with clear expectations that are measurable and achievable. You’re the only one that can make things happen, and it is such an awesome feeling when you look back and realise that it is you that has made something awesome.

Let your Ideas Evolve - When I first opened my shop I thought I had a solid idea of what I wanted to make and sell, but that has changed so much already. I’ve learnt what works and what doesn’t the natural way. It has been important for me to not be precious about my original ideas; I held onto a few things for a little longer than I should have done. I know that when I look back in a year, two years time I’ll be saying the exact same thing again, but that’s okay, that is how I’m going to improve my products.

Find Support - “I need your opinion on something”, is how a lot of my conversations with Dixon start now. Getting someone elses opinion on something is incredibly helpful, whether it backs up what you were originally thinking or throws something in the mix that you hadn’t even considered. And, this is one of the main reasons I absolutely love our Etsy Team Leeds.

I stumbled upon the Etsy Leeds Team around a week after I opened my shop and I am sooooooooooooo glad I did. They’re an incredibly talented bunch with varying levels of experience and it is really amazing to see everyone supporting each other the way we do. I've been able to ask a huge variety of questions from stuff about tax to where to buy plastic bags. I have learnt so much from them it has been amazing. If you're on Etsy or thinking of opening up, search out your local Etsy Team.

Don't be scared - By far my biggest hold-back has been myself; I constantly think my work isn't good enough, and I compare myself to all these amazing people that are much more successful and awesome than I am. But I'm trying super hard to not do that. There are soooo many makers out there but its not a competition; Do what you love and be proud of doing it. If something doesn't quite work out as you expected so what!? Lesson learnt, move on to the next idea which might be the one that makes you millions.

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Etsy Made Local Prep

I was lucky to snag a stall at the Etsy Made Local Fair over here in Leeds and I am hard at work preparing for it. Its SO exciting. At the minute 2,800 people have said they're going on the facebook event.... which is pretty insane. I heard once for facebook events you should assume only half the people will show up... if thats right ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED PEOPLE will show up. 

So I am making as awesome stuff as I can before that December 6th, which includes some new things too! Scrunchies, fabric pocket mirrors and key-fob-wristlet things (which I really love!). I am using some incredible fabrics and cannot wait for the fair. If you are anywhere near Leeds, you should make the trip over! 

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Stitch-Up: Skill Share Workshop

A couple of weekends ago, Stitch Up gave me the opportunity to practise teaching craft by getting a set of sewing machines, materials and tools funded by Greeniversity Skills Share! I got to TEACH A SEWING CLASS, how awesome is that?! This first one was with a little bit of a test run with friendly faces, but I can still hardly believe how much I loved it. 

I learnt to sew from my mum, the internet and a load of practise, and it felt amazing to be able to pass the skills I have learnt onto someone who has never sewn before, or who was a little rusty. We are planning to run a bunch of introductory workshops, as well as a few more in-depth classes to get peopled hooked on sewing, so it was super useful (and fun) to see how this first one ran.

We ran this class in the incredible Stitch-Ups studio, which is such an awesome space and perfect for sewing. We went through some basic machine control, what stitches work for what and once everyone felt comfortable at their machines, we went onto sewing a lined tote-bag. I picked this as the introductory make because it covers so many techniques; backstitch, sew straight, turn corners, hem, box corners and top stitching. And, the final thing looks awesome and is something people can actually use and feel proud of.

It was kind of daunting being the one in charge of a class like this. A couple of the machines jammed a few times but I managed to work out the problem and get it sewing smoothly again, which was a huge relief. The best part through? Seeing how happy everyone was with what they had made! Everyone was so pleased with that they had made (they did look awesome!!). The pattern we used was sewn inside-out then flipped the right-way right at the end so when the final step came around and everyone could finally see what their bag was going to look like, it felt amazing. Everyone did so well, no major mistakes at all and they all looked incredible in the end. Thanks guys, you did SOOOO good.

So, if you're in Leeds or the surrounding area, give Stitch Up a follow: on twitter, facebook and instagram. We will be putting some dates out pretty soon, it would be awesome to see you!!

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What I Learnt from my First Craft Fair.

My first ever fair is done! I worked incredibly hard getting ready, sat at my sewing machine every night getting ready, panicked the night before, slept like crap and then it all went pretty well. I met a lot of cool people and I actually sold some stuff! Best of all I learnt a lot! I know that next time I will be better prepared and a lot less stressed. So, here is what I learnt:

        - Test run my layout - I played around with everything the night before to give myself an idea of how I wanted it to look. There are a lot of people out there that have shared their stall lay-out pointers, the most repeated tip I saw was 'Add height!!'; I tried super hard to do this although I know I could have done better. I loved my chalk-board signs and my extremely DIY banner. I know now I'm going to always have my eyes open for things I could use as displays on my stalls.

       - And to be open to changing it - On the day I decided to not use a bottom sheet because I loved how the table I was given looked! And I added an extra sign suggesting people take a business card! As well as a basket of pouches to encourage people to have a flick through, which totally worked too. I guess you'll never 100% know where you're going to be positioned so its important to be flexible.

       - Bring along enough stock - What happens when someone buys something, is it going to leave a gap? On the first day I sold two tote bags which left a HUGE gap and made everything look pretty bare. I had to sew more that night when I really wanted to lay down after being on my feet all day. I should have already had a couple spare because they were such a prominent part of my set-up. Giving yourself enough prep-time leading up to a fair plays a huge part here too.

    - Make friends with other stall holders - Although I am incredibly uncomfortable talking to strangers, when I had the chance I had a look around at everyone else's stalls, said hi and picked up a few cards. I met some cool people! (I even bought a couple of things form a cool illustrator). I learnt about some other fairs coming up and some local suppliers too which was super useful. It also meant if I wanted to run for a coffee, to the toilet or to grab something to eat I could ask someone to keep an eye on things!

      - Take Notes and Notice - Everyone loved my knotted headbands and a couple of coin pouches too, so now I know to make more like those! I also noticed the first day that hardly anyone took a business card, so I moved things around and it totally worked. Keep an eye on what people like and what people say, its all useful! I added extra detail onto some price tags, things like "One of a Kind" and "Made with Vintage Fabric". they always got people talking and interested which was super cool to see!

       - Annnnddd, research the event - I should definitely have done this one. Is the event advertised well? Will there be similar stall holders there? The fair I went for was in the Cornexchange, a awesome building full of independently ran shops so I thought it would be perfect! But, the fair was advertised really really badly and there wasn't that many people visiting. I'd be surprised if anyone came specifically for the fair... And some of the other stall holders seemed to be selling for sellings sake, not because they loved the things they were selling, which was a bit of a bummer.

Overall, I had an amazing time, super thankful to everyone that came to see me and say hi and for everyone that bought something I made. I can't wait to do it again! I've enquired about two more later on in the year already. I definitely didn't need to be as nervous as I was. 

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Making it Happen.

It has been kind of quiet around here recently, and that is because I've been busy sewing and making stuff for my shop. I have also signed up for a Craft Fair which is only three weeks away... Not sure if I'm being incredibly optimistic/dumb to sign up to something so soon but its in one of my favourite buildings in Leeds where I always said I'd love to have a stall soooo I did it and signed up anyway. Now I have to get a serious move on to get a bunch of new things ready, which is pretty time consuming.

I've had a few people ask some sewing based questions since I started making my creations public, so a ton of posts are planned to share some tips and ideas for you. If you have anything you'd like me to help you out with or answer, let me know!

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By The Lock Handmade Is Open!

Today is the day! By the Lock Handmade is officially open. All the things I have been busy perfecting are up and ready for sale on my very own online store. I am so nervously excited and extremely happy to have gotten this far already.

I really feel like I have already learnt so much since I first decided to make things to sell online. The first thing I did when I made the decision was to buy a ton of zips in a million different colours and sizes, all without having a real set idea on what I was going to make with them. It was good in a sense, because I got to start making right away but now I know that I only really want to use metal zippers, brass ones mainly; they are beautiful! I still don't know what I was planning on doing with green 11" zips... I also started out with making awesome patterned linings, but now I love having plain neutral insides. I'm a lot happier now I've had a little experiment and I am incredibly happy all of the things I have made so far.

I know that I want to use re-purposed materials, vintage & charity shop finds (I found the best vintage haberdashery that is pretty close to my house!), hand-dyed, hand-printed fabrics alongside mixtures of other patterns I just can't resist. I eventually want to start screen printing (if all goes well). I only ever want to make small batches of each style too, so each one will be pretty unique. I'll be doing everything myself from start to finish, and taking custom orders if you fancy anything specific or special!

To celebrate the huge day, I have a give-away for you to get involved in. If you win you can pick anything from my Etsy store and I'll send it out to you with a bunch of other surprises too to say thank you for the support! This will include some hand-sewn stuff too. Follow the below to get your entries in;

a Rafflecopter giveaway