Love The Great British Sewing Bee? Meet the show’s sewing Guru here on our doorstep in Hackney

As a busy Mum of 4, I was thrilled watching the kid’s week episode of The Great British Sewing Bee. I love every aspect of the sewing process from planning, cutting out and sewing together. Sewing is my guilty pleasure as it’s time out just for me. It makes me truly happy. One thing I’ve realized being a mum for 14 years, is that my kids are happier when I’m happy!

Never Heard of the Sewing Bee? Let me fill you in. Made by the same production company as “Bake off”, it’s a competition celebrating the talents of amateur sewers. As parents we’ve all had that dreaded moment when we need to rustle up an emergency costume overnight, and in last week’s Sewing Bee, 9 frantic sewers pulled together a veritable zoo of amazing fancy dress outfits in just 4 hours.

Lucky me then, that my friend Claire-Louise Hardie is the Sewing Producer for the show, so I get insider scoops and tips. Only joking she is really tight lipped about revealing anything! Claire-Louise is also The Thrifty Stitcher, and her teaching studio in Stoke Newington is remarkably like the sewing room on the Bee. She has also written the official tie in book for series 3, and was so busy last year she invited me to join the company too.

The ethos of The Thrifty Stitcher has always been to encourage aspiring dressmakers whilst keeping class numbers small. We provide all students with a warm friendly welcome, and our sewing room playlists seem to have inspired the music on the Bee too. Focusing mostly on entry level or beginner sewers, The Thrifty Stitcher offers a range of classes and packages. We run a freestyle Dressmaking Club for those who like to go off  piste, along with skills based workshops for improving sewers. We even offer 121 personal tuition during the week. We’ll shortly be launching a new Children’s clothes making course on a weekday morning, so watch this space.

Claire –Louise, who is the creative heart of The Thrifty Stitcher, trained originally in Costume Design at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. She’s been blessed with a varied career that’s taken her around the globe. Sewing however, has always been at the centre of her career, and in 2009 she began teaching sewing after discovering that it was no longer on school syllabuses. She believes her job on The Sewing Bee is tailor made for her unique set of skills and experiences.

Do you have a machine gathering dust in a cupboard? Why not let us help you liberate that machine? You never know where it will lead. Could you become one of the next batch of contestants on the Bee?

Happy Stitching!  

Tash Matthews and Claire-Louise Hardie- The Thrifty Stitchers

http://thethriftystitcher.co.uk

This blog post is an advertorial as Mumsnet Hackney is currently proudly featuring paid for advertising by The Thrifty Stitchers.