Hi – my name is Emma, and I’m thrilled to be coming down to The Dressmaker
Fabrics in 2025 to deliver jeans making workshops.
I’ve been teaching full time since early 2022 and I take immense joy and pleasure
watching people develop their love of sewing.
Classes are often more than just learning about sewing – they become sessions for friends (old and new) to spend time away from their own daily 9-5’s, where sewing becomes a soothing distraction allowing time for contemplation and relaxation
My interest in dressmaking started at a very young age. Back then my Mum was a
dressmaker and made clothes for herself and also lots of matching dresses for my
sister and me. I had a bag of the scraps that I would hand sew into outfits for my
dolls. My first experience on a machine was a hand crank belonging to my Grandma – playing and learning and getting a feel for how a machine worked.
Fast forward to school and I was lucky enough to be able to take a needlework class. This was probably the real start of my obsession and throughout my teens I was able to express myself through clothes that no one else was wearing.
After school a B/tec and then a BA hons degree in Fashion and Textiles led me to
work in UK garment manufacturing. I worked for various manufacturers supplying
many (now disappeared) high street stores – including Woolworths, C&A, Adams,
Boots, Next, Phase Eight, The Disney Store, Tesco and George. As fast fashion took hold and consumers demanded lower price items manufacturing moved away from the UK and I took a 15 year hiatus from the industry, returning in 2015 to work in corporate and workwear. However, my passion for dressmaking for myself never went away and I continued to sew voraciously for myself, and now have a wardrobe that is over 85% me made.
My general motto is “if I can make it, I can’t buy it”. Making my own clothes means I have garments that fit, that no one else will be wearing and I am not supporting the (often unregulated) fast fashion market and the devastation it’s causing to our environment.
In 2019 I started working with a friend teaching dressmaking classes in my spare
time. This quickly grew and I realised there was a demand for dressmaking and
sewing lessons. Although never inclined to go into formal teaching, I found that teaching recreational classes was something that I really enjoyed. During lockdown many people took up new hobbies to pass the time when we were
isolating ourselves from the world, and once we were able to socialise they’ve
carried on with things that gave them enjoyment and distraction.
Lockdown changed the outlook on a lot of things for many people - me included -
and realising there was demand for tutors I made the leap and gave up the 9-5
corporate world to pursue tutoring as a full-time occupation.
Since then, I have been kept extremely busy teaching at various locations and
meeting hundreds of fabulous people all looking to expand their own skills.
Click here to find our more about my Workshop at The Dressmaker Fabrics starting 2025
