http://www.studioofsewing.co.nz/

Studio of Sewing, 253 Dairy Flat Highway, Auckland (2026)

25/05/2026

About last night 😉.

was last night and it was absolutely fabulous. An amazing time spent with good friends 💗.

Katie , thank you! The entertainment was fun, the food was scrumptious, the venue excellent. And the two Rosies, such a treat to hear their spectacular voices. And how informative to learn where the word Cocktail comes from 🤭🫣😆. That might’ve made snort n laugh out loud.

I wore a mix of new & old. My skirt from last year, a top I kick around in often and the new is the . It’s made from a mystery fabric from a designer sale. And it was dense, has a really high thread count. I know this, because it was super hard to pin and a bit tough to sew. So I am guessing cotton, maybe mixed with tencel as well??? It’s got a lovely soft handle & a bit of a shine (that’ll be the tencel). If I did a burn test I’d be able to figure it out, but don’t have time for that sort of malarky lol. I chose to line it, it’s an unlined pattern, but TAL have instructions on their website. The zip was from the delightful Emma . It was a surprisingly quick and easy sew. And by quick, I do still mean about 6 hours, but that’s not bad for a lined jacket 😅.

I didn’t take any photos on the night, I’m always too busy chatting and catching up. But Samara took a couple of photos of me and her gorgeous Ma Sandy . And Hubs, as always took some before I left the house.

Already looking forward to the next one.

07/05/2026

So I knitted a thing, finished way back in March. I really felt like knitting over summer so choose something that I thought wouldn’t be too hot to work on. It’s probably not going to surprise you - but it was actually too hot to work on 🤪

The yarn is African Expressions - Love (mohair, wool & nylon mix) from . It was lovely to knit. I’m not sure what it was about the pattern, but I found it really hard to get into a groove. It just didn’t knit smoothly for me. I was so close to kicking it to touch but I’m happy I persevered. One of the charts was also wrong (potentially lost in translation to English), don’t you just hate that! Lucky I had experience on my side and figured that out before too long. So I won’t mention the pattern or designer, but if you want deets, just slip into my DMs.

The colour is fabulous - right in my wheelhouse. Fits in with most of my wardrobe - and if I do say so myself, looks pretty good with my lilac - this is their third season coming up & still a firm fav.

I have 2 skeins of yarn left over (I bought extra just in case), so I’m going to knit a snood using the same pattern. Not sure if it’ll happen for this winter 😅.

The sleeves are supposed to be bracelet length - but when I blocked, I stretched them to make them longer - thankfully it worked as planned.

So do I like wearing it? Not too sure yet. I feel as big as a house when I have it on. But I’ve had a few lovely comments so maybe that’s all in my head.

Love having a new knit to wear just in time for colder climes.

And check out my trusty Sidekick Mildred 😍, George is there too, just off to the side (he’s never far away from his sister 💗)

04/05/2026

May the Fourth Be With You 😃.

One of my favourite dates of the year lol. And I asked ChatGPT to make me look like I was celebrating May the Fourth & it came up with this. Now I just need to find a Star Wars themed party to go to so I can make an outfit just like it 🤩

01/05/2026

A couple of weekends ago I was lucky enough to attend another of Prem’s weaving workshops. I’ve been obsessed with the idea of weaving since I went to my first workshop with her in January. It’s taken ALL my willpower to not buy ‘all the things’ and take this up as a new hobby. When I get obsessed with something I have to jump in boots and all and spend all the money - my restraint and caution has been most welcomed by Hubs 😉. But the Weaving Gods had other ideas, and I was gifted a 4 shaft Ashford loom so I took that as a sign that this is indeed a hobby that I need to pursue 🤩. I mean, it would’ve been rude not to right?

Because I knew what to expect this time around, I went in with a bit of a plan. I had some Rowan yarn in my stash that was supposed to be used to knit a jumper, but was perfect for this project. I decided to have quite a tricky draft/pattern (tricky for me lol) because I had Prem on hand to help out when I got stuck, and I did get stuck more than once 😅. I still winged it quite a bit - I planned to use only two colours, but threw in a couple of sections of lighter colour as well. It really was a massive leap from my first weaving project but go hard or go home I reckon. And like when I used to teach Absolute Beginners sewing, if they took on a tricky project near the beginning of their sewing journey - it made everything else seem that much easier. And this plan of attack must’ve worked, as I managed to dress the loom and make a sample piece at home since the workshop. And I didn’t stuff up the threading 🤩. Winning!

So here is my 2nd ever weaving project. I’m pretty happy with it. I don’t know what to call these things - are they a poncho? If anyone knows, please tell me. I wore it out n abouting today and it was quite nice to not wear a jacket/coat but still be warm enough.

I’ve never been gifted a piece of equipment before and I’m super grateful to the lovely Linda for letting me be the next Guardian of this loom 💗 (and thank you Ruth for keeping me in mind). And as I name everything, my loom is now Linnie the Loom 🤩.

The weather today as you can see is an absolutely spectacular autumnal day.

18/04/2026

Ugh! I have this friend who asks lots of questions.

So, in true form - how many tops is too many? Asking for a friend 🤪

But serious face now, is 4 too many? Well, the cobalt blue one is a woven, the pink and green ones are a fabulous knit rib fabric and the lilac one is a sweatshirting, so I think I am ok with 4 of them.

And considering it’s a woven pattern but looks bloody fabulous in knit fabrics, I think I’m onto a winner of a pattern.

I’m still on the fence with the length of the lilac swearshirt version. I think it might look better a tad shorter, but I ain’t going to be shortening it, so it will just have to do. And I’ll probably be quite happy it’s a bit longer when it’s cold. And when I saw there was a fold of fabric around one the Firm Bots in the photos, I nearly asked Hubs to take more photos lol - I’m sure you know me well enough by now to know exactly how that conversation would’ve gone down 😅.

And seeing as the Lilac one is the freshest off the machines, let’s focus in that one shall we.

The lilac is a gorgeous brushed sweat-shirting from , with matching ribbing. The ribbing colour match is spot on. The brand is Go to Organics. It is seriously lush. It’s an excellent weight at 225gsm - so just like Goldilocks likes it, not too heavyweight , not too lightweight - just rightweight 😜. Even after washing, the brushed side is still super soft. Which is excellent as some sweat-shirting fabrics lose that brushed softness once washed. I’ve bought some neon pastel pink as well, so need to make that up into something at some stage. No doubt I’ll show it on here. And Emma , if you’re reading this - best organic rightweight cotton sweatshirting I have ever bought.

And I do find it mildly amusing that the pants/shorts that appear in each of these photos are my new most fav pants pattern . All my other pants are feeling slightly unloved 😬.

16/04/2026

Yahoo!!! Some great news 🤩. Just when everything else is going up in price, the amazing Babylock Victory is on sale for Mother’s Day. And if you’re a Gold Card Holder, there’s another 10% discount on top of that as well.

Everyone knows how much I love this machine. And if you’ve been lusting after one, this could be the sign you need to bite the bullet (don’t bite that bullet too hard though, not good for the teeth 😅 - actually don’t bite the bullet at all, just buy a Victory from me and support my small business 💗, much cheaper than ongoing dentistry from biting bullets).

I ship NZ wide for free as well.

DM me for details. I can’t give you the price on here (it’s a thing) but happy to share with you all the details in a DM.

24/03/2026

How many pairs of is too many? Asking for a friend 😊.

This my sewing friends, is pair number 5. And I like them as much as I like the other 4 pairs.

The fabric is from a designer sale, and I remember it being called a Denim Twill. But all denim is twill 🤔, more commonly a 3/1 twill or sometimes a 2/1 twill (lol, nerding 😅). This definitely has denim characteristics though, indigo on one side and lighter on the other, a definite twill pattern, it’s heavy like denim but is super drapey. It must be the blend of fabric, I’m thinking it has a blend of tencel as there is also a gorgeous sheen to it. So let’s just call it denim shall we lol 😄. Denim is not a recommended fabric, unless it’s light weight, but this has so much drape I was pretty confident it would be OK.

I sized down from a 42 to 40. They are definitely wriggle room in this size (where you have to wriggle to get them over your hips), which I was expecting. Didn’t want the weight of the fabric to be too overwhelming.

The topstitching on the pleats is divine 🤩. I used the chainstitch on my Coverstitch machine and had a wooly nylon in the looper. I really wanted it to stand out. I kept the rest of the topstitching in blue so the pleats do all the talking. If you’re still here and have a Coverstitch - I strongly encourage you to use your chainstitch more often, it is a seriously brilliant stitch. Use it like this for standout topstitching, or use it for stitching the seams when you’re making jeans or denim clothes, or use it for your seams when you’re making a fugly - it is so easy to unravel if you need to unpick a seam. It’s such an underrated stitch.

17/03/2026

The by was always a popular make back when I was running the Studio — I often encouraged Absolute Beginner’s to make it up as their second project, and it was just as loved by more experienced Sewsters.

I’ve made five over the years, but I’ve always wanted to try the short version with a zip front. A quick little pattern hack later and… here we are 🤩

I’m really happy with how it turned out. The outer is a beautiful wool from and the lining is 100% silk Liberty from . And I do love how lush a silk lining feels 💗

I’m also unusually prepared for the coming season, which makes me feel slightly smug. Not that it’s cold enough yet — but when colder climes finally arrive, I will be super smug 😜

One thing I thought about with the zip front was sizing. The Nova is designed to be oversized, but I didn’t want to feel completely swamped when it’s zipped up, so I sized down to a 2 for this one. It fits mighty fine.

And I got a bit lazy with the back hem. It’s usually hand stitched, but I used the blind hem stitch on my sewing machine because super speedy. In the photos I can see it’s not quite as blind as it should be 😂 It’s less obvious in real life, and since it’s on the back I’m hoping I can live with it. And anyway, as I used to tell students who worried about these things: just sashay when you wear it and no one will notice.

So look out for me this autumn/winter sashaying and looking might smug wearing my new Nova Coat, because you and I both know I ain’t going to be redoing the hem 😜

05/03/2026

My latest make 🤩. This is - made in this fabulous wide rib knit from . The colour is amazing 🤩.

The pattern is drafted for a woven, but I was pretty confident it would work in a knit. It needed to be fairly drapey/soft & this fabric fitted that perfectly. I cut the back on the fold as there was no need to have an opening to get my noggin through. And I shortened it a couple of inches too.

It was a super quick sew, just a couple of hours from cutting out to wearing. And I’m not a super speedy Sewster, there’s only a back, front, sleeves & facings to sew which really does make it speedy.

Love this for autumn, and as the days get cooler will layer with a long sleeve top underneath.

24/02/2026

Ages ago I bought one of Helen’s limited edition kits, it was called Dance Disco 🤩. And this bralette and 2 pairs of knickers is what I (finally) whipped up. Good things take time and all 😅.

The bralette is the . This is the 2nd time I’ve made this pattern, it’s seriously comfy. I used thick plush elastic as the band, this was so I could take advantage of the full lace edge. And it was included with the kit, so definitely worth giving it a go. I wasn’t sure what it would be like to wear, but pleased to say it just adds to the comfort factor. It’s fully lined, so all the seams are enclosed giving a really polished finish.

The first pair of knickers is a modified version of a self-drafted boy leg pattern, they usually have either lace elastic or self fabric bands around the legs, but I opted to just use the picot elastic included in the kit for this pair. It’s all Business in the Front & Par-tay in the back 😜. The 2nd pair is the ‘thongies’ by . I’ve made this pattern a few times - comfort factor is high for a thong. I didn’t have quite enough fabric for the waistband - but the pink works with the pink flowers & the pink straps - winning 😍.

This kit was serious value for moolahs - 1 bralette & two pairs of knickers.

I tried them on and showed Hubs and asked what he thought. He told me his first thought was they’d be better off than on 🤣🤭😜. Husbands lol 😂 😂😂

Studio of Sewing

25/05/2026

07/05/2026

04/05/2026

01/05/2026

18/04/2026

16/04/2026

24/03/2026

17/03/2026

05/03/2026

24/02/2026

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