Customer Spotlight: Mary Sims, plus New Patterns from Titchy Threads

Our May Customer Spotlight is the lovely and talented Mary Sims... 

Mary is one of our most prolific customers, currently making clothes for herself, her 2 daughters and their dolls!

We love Mary's makes and think she should be making clothes professionally for others too!  Click on any of the pictures below to see the fabric Mary used for her makes.

About Mary:

I graduated with a degree in psychology and started out working on psychological research & data analysis. I'm now a full time mum of two young girls. My husband works away for prolonged periods of time, so I have plenty of time once the kids are in bed to sew to my little heart's content, or at least until exhaustion has me making silly mistakes!

I was most likely inspired to sew by my mum who regaled us with tales of how she made her wedding dress and then refashioned it into a tennis dress. I knew from a very young age that if I ever got married, I would make my own wedding dress, which I did.

I started sewing clothes for myself as a teenager when I had specific ideas of what I wanted to wear but couldn't find it them the shops, or at a price I could afford. There was no online shopping back then so I was very limited in what my local fabric shop had to offer. I didn't properly start making my everyday clothes until just before I was pregnant for the second time.  Until then I mainly made party clothes, I loved being able to make something unique. I knew I was never going to turn up wearing the same as someone else. I was very lucky that my husband used to have a lot of posh work dos so I got to make a few ball gowns back in the day!

I've always been crafty, I've always loved making things. When I was little I made dolls houses and furniture for my little sister (I now make dolls clothes for my daughters). I used to do a lot of cross stitch for many years, not so much now though with less time for myself. I've also dabbled in knitting.

These days I like the instant gratification of being able to make something in a couple of hours. I've been on a real jersey kick lately. But I do also like the longer, more involved projects in between where I can take my time and plug away at it in the (usually) short chunks of time I get to sew. It would be lovely to have more time to sew but for the time being, with two small people at home, I'll settle for this. I don't want to wish this time away as I know they'll grow up all too soon!

I get my inspiration mainly from the lovely online sewing community. There are so many talented seamstresses out there and I love seeing their interpretations of patterns. I also love the Boden catalogue, I find my sewing plans expanding whenever one comes in the post!
After having two babies I'm feeling a bit like a teenager again, in that I'm unsure of my style and what suits my changed body shape. So I'm trying to experiment to find my style again.

I love Girl Charlee's fabrics, it's so nice that it's becoming easier to find good quality dressmaking fabrics, in particular jerseys, in the UK.  I'd like to try my hand at their Swimwear Fabrics at some point, but my current favourites are - 

We hope you have enjoyed reading about Mary and seeing her makes.  You can follow Mary on Instagram (@sewmarylou).
If you would like to be featured in our next Customer Spotlight post, please email sales@girlcharlee.co.uk and we will get in touch with you.

We're excited to announce that we have 4 great new children's patterns from Titchy Threads, available to download now at GirlCharlee.co.uk.

Titchy Threads offer modern sewing patterns for children's clothes with a lot of options for customisation and some unexpected details. They are committed to producing high quality patterns with clear step-by-step directions and extra features to help customers. All patterns include layers that allow you to print out only the sizes you want to use.

 

 

 

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Happy sewing!
~ Mark & The Girl Charlee UK Team