My great aunts were professional seamstresses during WW2, and taught my mother, who taught me. I made my first dress aged 11, and as a teenager and student, I stitched fast, cheap fashion. Early in my working life, I was happy to stitch and wear a professional looking wardrobe, but once I could afford to buy nice clothes from shops, sewing took a back seat. Around 2018 I became interested in sewing again, this time aiming at getting the perfect fit and finish, rather than rushing a dress in time for a night out. I attended classes with Jenny Harrison at Dillington House, which helped me to make more ambitious garments and to teach others to sew. My mother still sews and I still ask her advice sometimes!

I am qualified to teach adults, and have spent much of my career teaching foreign languages in schools. As a teacher I plan the progression of skills in the best order for building confidence and a sense of achievement. I want to help you to enjoy producing something you actually like and which you can’t get online!

In a world where many of us spend much of our time in front of a screen, I hope that sewing together will remind us that working with our hands, with real things and real people is fun and essential for our well-being.