What are you working on at the moment?
I am working on my Quilt Market booth (which will be built in my living room this week), my Qm brochure, new sewing patterns, my next four fabric collections, my new yarn projects for my Autumn/Winter 2012 release, my next stationery launch, my new rug collection and wallpapers. Just to name a few – it’s a busy time right now!

Any plans to open your own stores?
Not at the moment, but I have been approached by others who think this is a good idea. If I do open stores I have to create something special that doesn’t exist and gives back to others not just in a material way. I’ll work on that!

Which women do you admire the most?
My Mother, my grandmother, and any woman following her heart and living her dream.

Which other designers do you admire?
I admire everyone that picks up the tools and does the work. Honestly, it’s such a personal experience. Through having this creative business I’ve been able to meet so many fantastic artists and become friends with them. I gain a great deal from being with them and sharing in our creative experiences. It’s inspiring and it feels wonderful to see their passion in action. The person at top of my favorite designer list is my hubby David Butler. In the 25 years we’ve been together I’m continually inspired by his vision and talent. He and I have created some beautiful things together, but it’s what he does with his unique voice and abilities with his design and illustration that blows me away. If you’re not aware just yet, Dave just launched his first fabric collection for Free Spirit! It’s drop dead gorgeous and I can’t wait to bring it into our home! You can meet David and his beautiful Parson Gray brand at www.facebook.com/parsongray

What do you get up to in your free time?
I love to travel for inspiration and try to squeeze in a big garden tour adventure every year. I love to garden, listen to music, dance, cook, hang with my friends and family, knit, bead, take lake breaks, read and eat!

You’re an inspiration for many sewistas out there – how do you feel about this?
I feel wonderful about this! Gosh, I am so humbled and inspired to do more. These sewistas are equally inspiring to me. It’s a gift to get to share what I love and to see that expressed in others. My biggest joy is seeing what sewists make with my projects or fabrics, their heart in the project takes it to another level. I thank God every day I get to do what I do.

What’s it like working with your hubby every day?
Something familiar and something new every day. It’s great. We enjoy each other and have developed some elevated relationship skills that have helped us navigate the days that are more challenging. The coolest thing is we’re both growing and learning all the time, always supportive of each other. This energy is wonderful, never stagnant and always interesting.

What do you love most about your job?
The freedom to reinvent everything. I have the opportunity every day to live what rests in my heart. I’m also so very proud of everyone at my studio. They take an active role in defining how the business operates and I love seeing how they take such good care of each other and our customers and partners. We guide with our hearts and strive to make life better for everyone that crosses our path.

We’re posting to let you know that unfortunately Step 5 of the Roman Blind project was printed incorrectly.

We apologise for this error and have included the correct information below:

STEP 5 ATTACH VELCRO

Measure the finished length of the blind, turn over the heading allowance at the top creating the finished length measurement. Iron. Machine the loop side of the Velcro to the top heading allowance.

Saturday 10 December 2011 at 12 noon – 2pm, £12

Make your own Robin hanging decoration for your tree! The workshop includes a glass of champers and delicious canapés from the Dock’s
Kitchenette. Other Fine Cell Work products are also available purchase at the Tom Dixon shop from Thursday 8 – Sunday 11 December.

The Portobello Dock, 344 Ladbroke Grove, London W10 5BU

Spaces are limited.

Booking is advisable.

www.finecellwork.co.uk

The issue is packed with funky projects:

Create your own watch strap

Make a bright wristlet bag

Sew a fabulous underskirt to puff up your party dress for New Year’s Eve!

DEADLINE 20/11/2011

We know that there are many talented young sewists out there and with prize pot of £3150, this competition is not to be missed!

The prizes

1st prize – Janome Horizon (worth £ 1799) and Madiera Threads Quilters Box (worth £165)
The incredible Horizon is packed full of great features to make sewing easier and more precise. Fully computerised, it has 638 stitches including 10 styles of buttonhole and 3 alphabet fonts. Plus Janome has taken all the best features off all its other machines and packed them into the Horizon.
The Madeira Quilt Box of threads is a fabulous collection of 40 reels of 400m of Madeira’s top quality general purpose Aerofil,

2nd prize – Janome Memory Craft 5900QC (worth £799)
Designed especially for quilters this model has over 500 stitches and a host of computerised features that make it perfect for dressmaking and home furnishing as well as quilting and automatic thread tension assures legendary Janome stitch quality.

3rd prize – Janome CXL301 (worth £299)
The CXL301 is an easy to use computerised sewing machine with 30 built in stitches including six styles of automatic one step buttonhole making it a dream machine that’s fun to use.

Runner up prizes (worth £21)
Five lucky runners-up will each win a Madeira 18-spool box, a collection of 18 different Aerofil sew-all thread colours on 200m reels.

BONUS!
The winning design(s) will be featured in Sew Hip as a pattern – this is your chance to become a published designer!

How to enter
We want all budding designers to design a garment for one of our three categories
• Daywear
• Special Occasion
• Suits

1. In the first stage, we want to see the sketches with fabric swatches and notes on how you intend to make the garment. (Design sketch entries must be received by 20 November 2011). Send them to: Sew Hip Fashion Designer competition, All Craft Media, The Chestnuts, Brewers End, Takeley, Herts, CM22 6QJ. Don’t forget to attach name, email, telephone/address. Only those with a SAE will be returned.

2. The chosen semi finalists will be asked to make up their entries (to a size 10/12) and send them in by 15 January 2012.

3. A final selection of 6-8 of these entries will be selected to showcase on the catwalk everyday at Creative Stitches in Glasgow from 8-11 March 2012 and Sewing for Pleasure, 22-25 March – with the winners being announced at the Saturday lunchtime show at the NEC.

Full rules of entry are available on application

The Spring shows

Creative Stitches at the SECC, Glasgow 8-11 March 2012 and Sewing for Pleasure at the NEC, Birmingham 22-25 March 2012 are both packed full of fascinating features, supplies and FREE workshops and demonstrations. Find out more about both shows, and other creative craft events at www.ichf.co.uk  or call the ticket hotline on T: 01425 277988.

What does a typical day involve for you?

Once the school run is done and the house is tidy (does that EVER happen?!) I usually sit down and try to squeeze in a bit of work before collecting my son from nursery. I might even get to do a spot of sewing if I’m lucky! Then my son and I spend the afternoons going for bike rides, visiting playgrounds or seeing friends until it’s time to collect my daughter from school. After that it’s back to mum duties until bedtime. Depending on how much I get done in the morning, I might work again once the children are asleep.

How does being a mum fit in with work?

This September is uncharted territory for me; it’s the first time that both my children will be at school at the same time. I’m rather looking forward to having a few extra hours in my day, and boy do I need them. Before now it’s been quite tricky to get all my work done in the few childless hours I have. Luckily, working from home is a godsend as I can just work in the evenings if I need to. Maybe now though I’ll have time to put my feet up once in a while!

What’s the best and worst parts of your job? Honest!

Best – Seeing all the lovely projects that are submitted and being filled with ideas and inspiration.

Worst – Seeing all the lovely projects that are submitted, being filled with ideas and inspiration, and not having time to make any of them!

What is your workspace like?

I work on the dining room table so I’m usually surrounded by unopened letters, half-finished cups of squash and colouring pencils!

What’s something surprising about your job that you think readers would be interested to know?

When I tell people what I do, they usually ask how I have time to make all the projects that go into the magazine each month, but I never actually have to make anything! I piece them all together and ‘make’ them in my head.

What have you learnt about the rest of the Sew Hip team since being here?

That they are a dedicated and very friendly bunch with lots of ideas and a great shared vision for Sew Hip. We all have different tastes which is great, especially when we’re all tackling and interpreting the same project.

What are you doing right this minute (apart from answering these questions)

Cooking a chicken pie for dinner, and explaining Horrible Histories to the kids. Oh, the glamour!

Do you have anything exciting planned for the rest of the day (work and personal-wise)?

I need to do a few illustrations for Vick, then I’ll be working on a budget plan for a house renovation that we are hopefully about to undertake, probably accompanied by a glass (or two) of Pinot Grigio (after I’ve done the illos of course!)

What’s your favourite wine?

If I’m being forced to choose, it would have to be Pinot Grigio.

If Sew Hip was a vegetable, what would it be and why?

If Sew Hip were a vegetable, it would be a plump home grown pea: you can’t wait to crack it open to get to the exciting stuff inside which you just know is going to be delicious.

We’ve had a few queries from some of you regarding the Winter Warmer Bag pattern. In the pattern it states that you need to cut the pieces listed on the Cutting List and on the Pull Out Sheet.

This unfortunately was an error on our part – the only pattern piece you need are the measurements listed in the Cutting List – there are no extra pieces on the pattern sheet that you need to cut out.

Apologies, and good luck making the bag!
Remember to send us a pic!

This here is an apology to The Sewing Cafe – in this issue (35 – OUT TODAY!) we featured their wine glass tags in their Table Decorations project photos and didn’t put the tag holders on the glasses the right way. Please see them image below to see the correct way to attach your wine glass tags.

Hope you enjoy making your own table decorations! I’ve already started making the placemats!