As it's been a while since I've shown you any pattern amendments I thought I would take the time today to show you how to solve one of the biggest issues with jackets I have encountered recently.

The Saggy Hood Issue!

This issue is usually caused when you want to increase the chin guard depth but have forgotten to cut and slash the pattern at the back of the hood to create a sort of invisible dart and remove the excess fabric. Below is a step by step guide I have created today to show you how to cut, slash and reshape your hood patterns so that you don't have these issues!

If you have any queries about this, please drop me a message or comment below and I'd be happy to help!

I hope you've enjoyed today's tutorial! xoxo

Hi everyone!!

Oh my word what a whirl wind of a month January was! Between giving tutorials, creating Little Hem Raisers and branching into our first lot of Ladies Hem Raisers, it's fair to say it's been exciting!

With the beginning of February already upon us (apologies we're 4 day's late!) we're now creating some gorgeous red velvet dresses in the spirit of love! As a special Valentines Day offer, we're also giving away a free mini lipstick with every purchase!! Really can't wait for you guys to start making the most of this offer!

Come on, 10 days to go! Let's get those outfits sorted!! <3

Hi everyone!
It seems like ages since we've done any sort of tutorial on here! I've been so busy pattern cutting for our new exciting clothing line and building up the business that I actually haven't had much chance to focus on the blog side of this!

Anyway, with that in mind, one of the most common queries we get asked is "How do I lace up my dress". This really can apply to any dress with a lace up back, a lot of the bridesmaid dresses we've worked with actually have lace up backs the same as wedding dresses so it's really important that you get the knack for this!

First step is to fasten the popper on the back of your dress, then thread the ribbon through the top hole on the left. Then taking the end on the inner side of the loop, thread it under the loop on the right so you have both ends of the ribbon on the outer side of either loop. Then making sure either length is still even, thread the right side under the left loop so both ends are now on the same side. Then repeat the process until you get to the last few loops at which point you can start tightening the back. Now it's really important that the laces are kept nice and flat throughout the whole process, no one wants a twisted lace! Check out this really good video I found on YouTube to help you out with a visual...

I hope this helps you all out! We also give tutorials on this for free during your fit session for anyone who would prefer to be taught face to face!

If you would prefer for you and your bridesmaid's to relax or focus on other things on the morning of your wedding, you can book us to come out and we'll get you all into your dresses! Terms and Conditions apply and a fee is chargeable, email us for further details!

All our love;

Hem Raisers xoxo

This week has been another busy and eventful week! We created our next Little Hem Raisers skirt called Edie and as promised, we have been looking at lots of new inspiration to get creating some clothes for you grown up Hem Raisers out there! :')

In addition to this, today we have just approved the proofs for our branded "Hem Raisers" labels and we are just so excited to see them in person! There's no better feeling than seeing your creations become a reality!

After naming Edie, we found that the meaning of the name is "Prosperity", here's hoping that Edie brings us lots of good fortune in business and in life this year! Xoxo

We're now at the beginning of our second week in January and things couldn't be busier! As previously posted we recently opened our first store on our Facebook page @hemraisers and have been busy drafting patterns, fabric shopping and sew, sew, sewing!

It's an exciting time at the moment, with lots of new ideas that I want to explore so make sure you keep checking up on us! :)

Now to meet our second little addition to Little Hem Raisers, Gypsy! She's a full circular skirt just like Melody but made from a heavier weight cotton! Perfect for an occasion or just as something easy to throw on that will go with pretty much anything! A lovely addition to your little one's wardrobe! 

I hope your little one falls as much in love with this one as we are!

P.S. We promise to start making some clothes for you grown up "Hem Raiser's" too! xoxo

Well, what an amazing and eventful week! With the birth of our first item in our Little Hem Raisers Collection; Melody and the opening of our Facebook Store "@hemraisers", we couldn't be more excited!

Now after a busy week running lots of fit sessions and sending fit comments out to factories all over the world, we're ready to kick up our feet and relax with a well deserved glass of wine but first it's time to cut out some more skirts in our fabulous new prints we bought today!

#don'tdrinkandsew

Remember that circular skirt pattern I showed you all how to draft on 01.04.17?! The one I was drafting because I was going to use it to create our first ever flower girl dresses?!
Well I still am but last night I just couldn't resist the urge to create this gorgeous little skirt in some left over fabric of mine to show you how fabulous this pattern really is! Check it out!

Meet Melody! Our very first design for our Little Hem Raisers collection and I couldn't be more in love! Truly made up with how well this turned out!

We'll now be selling these in any size. Prices start from £8.99 for an original, handmade with love by Hem Raisers garment so just drop us a comment below or send a message using our Contact page with your Little Hem Raiser's waist measurement and outside leg length and we'll do the rest!

Ok, so how many of you out there have heard of "The Happiness Planner"? Not many, I'm guessing! I first heard of THP about a month ago, I checked out their website and quickly signed up to their daily email list. Each day they send you an inspirational quote or a column to do with really becoming the best possible version of yourself.

Today, they sent us a video clip of an interview with Steve Jobs, now I'm not the most "techy" person admittedly. I know what I need to know in order to do my job and to get about the internet but I can certainly see and appreciate how Steve Jobs helped change the way we look at technology today. I mean how many of you have IPhone's out there?
It is said that his "passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized 6 industries, personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing" and I think the fact that we all know at least one other person who own's at least one of these products; be it an animated movie, a phone, an IPod,  shows that he more than pioneered the industry but led the world in one sure direction through ambition and passion. 

Below is the clip I was sent today. In this clip Steve Jobs talks about we have to push at the world in order to mould it to be a better one, because if we stay between the lines nothing can ever change. Let's push the boundaries together!

Don't forget to check out The Happiness Planner's website and sign up to their email list! You won't regret it, I promise!
https://uk.thehappinessplanner.com/

Hi there! I hope you all enjoyed yesterday's blog post on how to thread your sewing machines. For anyone who already sews I'm sure it seems like second nature for you but for our newbie machinists it can be a lot to take on! Hope it helped some of you out! Remember, if you have any queries, you can always drop us a message!

Now a couple of weeks ago I posted some images of little flower girl dresses on our facebook page @hemraisers. I literally can't wait to get started with making some of these dresses so I thought why not make them together?!

Today, I'm going to show you how to draft the pattern for a circular skirt which will give the dress a much fuller look as above. The circular skirt is probably the easiest pattern you can draft and it's one you can do without having to create a basic block first! I'll explain more about basic blocks in the next post but for now, let's get started!!

Creating construction sheets are probably the most important thing you can do in pattern cutting. Construction sheets form the foundations of any pattern you're drafting whilst allowing you to make amendments were needed without having to start completely from the beginning.
To create our construction sheet for the circular skirt, start by drawing two lines as below.

Once you've done this you can start working on the measurements you will need in order to create the circular skirt. The only measurements you need are the waist and the length. Now I'm going to be working with a 54cm waist and a length of 24cm due to age of the dress I will be making however you can use the same process to create a circular skirt for any age or even for yourself.

Once you have your waist measurement, you will need to do some calculations in order to get our first measurement point. Please see the below sum and adapt the waist measurement to suit your pattern;

54 - 2.5 = 51.5 / 6 = 8.6cm (This sum is for a full circular skirt. For a Half Circular you divide by 3)

Now we need to mark off 8.6cm along each line from the point, please see the blue markers on the below image;

To complete the waist measurement, also measure 8.6cm from the center of the point to give you a central point. Now this is where it becomes like "Connect the Dots" keeping your elbow in the same position on the table (don't lift your elbow from the surface) begin to connect the markers in a half circular motion. This has now given you your waist line.

This is where it gets even easier, now using the waist line as a guide, measure the length from this point to create the hem line using the same method as above, for this I will be using my length of 24cm.

Now you have your circular skirt construction sheet. Now draw around the skirt shape ignoring all lines before the waist and after the hem using a coloured pencil in order to outline the skirt.

Make sure you label your construction sheet up appropriately, it will need to state construction sheet so that you know not to cut this out. Now to create you circular skirt pattern piece you must overlay a blanck piece of pattern paper, you should be able to see the the skirt shape underneath the paper due to the coloured pencil. Carefully trace around the shape and walah! You have a circular skirt pattern!

The final step is to add your seam allowance, this will need to be added to the side seam, the waist and the hem. Keep in mind that this pattern piece only shows one half of the front or back panel of your skirt! You will need to cut this on the fold in order to get a full front and back panel. The below image will show where the seam allowance (Red Dashed Line) will need to be added (I've drawn over my original lines using excel so this won't be exactly accurate on the image. Please make sure seam allowance is the same distance from the hem at all points 1/1.5cm);

Cut it out and you're ready to go! I hope you've enjoyed learning how to draft a circular skirt! I'm looking forward to getting this cut out in fabric and showing you all what it looks like!

If you need any help with this, fell free to drop me a message and I'd be happy to help!

Happy Sewing! XOXO

Welcome to our first real blog post! Exciting times!

First things first, you have to have access to a sewing machine before you can thread one! Duh! :')
If you have decided that now is the time to make that special purchase, choosing one can prove more difficult than actually threading one. With so many options to choose from; Janome, Brother, Singer and many more, it can be confusing which way to go.
Now of course, Singer, has had it's praises sang for many years and has rightly earned it's place on the sewing wall of fame however my personal favourtie (which you may already know if you've been following our facebook group @hemraisers) are the Brother sewing machines.
My very first sewing machine, as mentioned in "Our Story", was a Brother sewing machine purchased by my parents back in 2004, this machine was with me throughout my education and is still going now! I loved my Brother sewing machine so much, I even bought it a friend during my second year of University! Both machines plus my Toyota 4 Thread Overlocker are integral parts of my sewing fleet and I couldn't be without them. 

In the end, the decision is yours however if you want something that will run, run, run with a great support team on the Brother website then Brother is the way for you. I can't stress how much my sewing machine has put up with for a domestic, I've sewn pvc and leather fabrics, wedding dresses, even tents and the canvas sections of the elevated roof in a VW Camper Van!

Anyway! Now that I've chewed your ears off about the wonder that is Brother, it's time to get onto the subject you came here for; how to thread your machines! Now all domestic sewing machines are pretty much threaded in the same way, even industrial machines to an extent. Below, I have attached some step by step images (reading left to right) of how to thread each section of the machine. If you have any queries at all, please feel free to comment or drop me a private message on our contact page.

Happy threading! XOXO

Place your thread on the back pin of your sewing machine. You should notice a small metal circle to the left of the machine, winde the thread in a clockwise action around the circle. Take the end of your thread and place it through a small hole in the bobbin. Holding onto the end of the thread, place the bobbin on the machine pin closest to you and push the pin to the right. Still holding onto the thread end, carefully press the machine foot and watch as the bobbin fills up with thread!

Remove your filled bobbin from the machine and place to one side for later. Unthread the machine keeping the main thread on the back pin as before. To the left of the machine and just before the metal circle, you will see a sort of hook. Start by pulling the thread under and over the hook so that thread is coming towards you. Then guide the thread down towards the tension dial and back up towards the top. When you wind the needle up and down, you will notice an inner hook, raise the hook to highest point and guide the thread over to the left side of the hook and down towards the needle, this will make a sort of "W" shape. Now thread the eye of the needle (front to back) and place the thread end under the foot and toward the back of the machine.

Now you need to thread the spool case with the bobbin you filled in the beginning. First, remove the spool case, place the bobbin inside the spool in a "9" formation (the thread end will make the tail to the circle) then pull the pin back on the front of the spool case to allow the case to fit neatly back onto the inner pin. Then, holding onto the upper thread end, move the needle up and down so that the needle hooks the lower thread (the bobbin thread) and pulls it up beneath the foot of the machine. Pull both threads towards the back of the machine and now you're ready to go!