Our Little Shop of Typography Treats!

Over the last week, we've spent a bit of time consolidating our range of typography prints that we offer on facebook. We must admit, it was getting a teeny bit crazy with the all of the personalised prints that we'd completely forgotten to update these in quite a while, oops! We are pleased to announce that our updated range has now been filtered through to our facebook pages and will be updated on Etsy very soon, too!

As well as the 'I Like You' personalised print, we now have customisable Wedding, Annivesary & Christening Prints as well as the newly added 'Dislike' print - for the more cynical friend or relative! We're so happy to say that our Ex-Boyfriend Series and Beatles prints have been really popular and they'll also be staying!

In addition to that, we've also been super busy creating new prints and we'll be featuring one print each day, on facebook over the next week or so. Make sure you're following us to catch the first glimpse!

To take a look at the range, please take a look at, PRINTS TO BUY.

A5 prints are now offered at £10 (framed options available at £15) and A4 prints are now only £15 (framed options at £25). 

As always, we love working with you to create a print that is personal to you, so please get in touch to discuss colour options or email us at info[at]shedressedinblack.co.uk for personalisation enquires. 

Big thanks to everyone who has already purchased a print, we've really enjoyed working on all of them!

Much love, 

L&R xx

Sewing School // Love Heart Bunting Chains

Hello Sweets,

Can you believe it's March already? A little DIY today for adding something fresh to your home in time for Spring...

Bunting is a fab way to add a touch of rustic charm to your home & you may have noticed from the Twee Towers Tour, that we love hanging it around our abode, but it doesn't have to be restricted to the usual flag shape! This week, we've been making love heart bunting chains to decorate small areas that looked like they needed a bit more love. If you're like us and have boxes upon boxes of paper and fabric scraps that you can't seem to throw away, this DIY is absolutely perfect for putting it all to good use!

You will need:

Paper scraps
Cookie Cutters (or anything else you'd like to use as a stencil!)
Sewing Machine and thread
Scissors

1. First of all choose a selection of papers in your chosen colour scheme and using the cookie cutters, trace around the heart shapes. The quantity will depend on the size of the space that you have to hang the bunting!

We went for card painted in a dusty blue, doilies for a lace effect and an atlas print!




2. Cut out your hearts!



3. Then it's time to get sewing! Line up your first heart in the machine, face down and sew left to right across the top. Between each heart, keep sewing for a couple of cm's before introducing the next heart to create your chain. When you're finished you should have a wonderful chain of heart bunting! (ps. apologies for the rubbish lighting, we're night owls and Twee Towers needs more lamps!)



4. You can either pin straight on to the wall or sew a bit of ribbon into a loop on either side of the chain to aid hanging! Pretty!



Much love,
L&R xx

Literal Lyrics: A sneak preview!

Happy Leap Year everyone! Hope you're all making the most of the extra day! We're bringing monday wine night back (and re-branding it Wednesday wine night) with one of our favourite girlies Carla this eve, definitely looking forward to a catch up and a tipple, has been too long since we've all been together!
We're also currently in the process of re-jigging the prints that we have available on our Etsy shop (it's been a slightly abandoned recently - our 'I like You' prints are still available!) and thought it was high time that we added some new prints to the mix. We both been desperate to do some linear illustrations as all of the other pieces that we've put out have been digitally produced and we've got loads of ideas for a collection of slightly silly 'Literal Lyrics'. Lola had a little scribble over the weekend and we thought we share a sneak preview of one of our designs, 'The Beach Bouys: Surfin' USA!' By no means finalised just yet, look out for the full collection of literal lyrics on our Etsy page soon :)
Much love, L&R xx

Reels of Cotton & a bundle of nerves...

Ahh, does anyone else find it so daunting to make a definitive start on projects that you have been dreaming up for so long? It's time to finally make a start on our first girly Spring/Summer collection of attire and we've got to admit, we're starting to bite our nails a little bit.

The ideas come thick and fast...one of our first nights living in Twee Towers we stayed up to the early hours bouncing around ideas and we've been working on them ever since. We set ourselves an objective to start the project this month, and we've certaintly organised, prepped and re-organised enough to allow us to start but when it comes to the actual cutting and sewing of fabric, the deadline has been pushed back... until the first lot of fabric arrives... until the second lot of fabric arrives... "wait, we can't start yet... we don't have zips!"

We've launched ourselves head first into everything else, our sewing school projects (making the cutest DIY fancypants & our take on patchwork chevron cushions), the blog itself materialised after a couple of hard-working weeks planning (and the help of our fab designer Zoe!) but with our dress collection, we've been so much more precious with it! So, tomorrow is THE DAY! The day that fabric meets scissors and catches up with our old friend the sewing machine. If you see either of us procastinating on twitter, watching this on repeat, debating the difference between arial and helvetica or anything else we might try and do instead, please feel free to shout! And hopefully, we'll have something pretty to share with you soon :)

One

Two

Three

Four

Five
Nom, we want pistachio green sewing machines!

Sooooo that we've got absolutely no more excuses not to crack on with getting the collection made, we have the most wonderful collection of guest posts lined up for you in the coming week . Kicking off this week, our lovely friend Chris will be sharing a hilarious insight into a musical challenge he was set, whilst James will be contributing some really useful tips for charity & vintage shopping! As well as all that, we'll also have some super fab guest posts from a host of our favouritist bloggers and friends! We treat you well here at Twee Towers ;)

So please excuse us whilst we hibernate in our beautiful little studio for the week and we'll be right back with our usual features and some exciting sewing school projects for you to try to!

Anyway, it's the weekend, go and enjoy yourself kitty cats!

Much love,
L&R xx

Sewing School // Chevron Scrap Cushion

Hey sweets,

This weeks Sewing School we've been dabbling in a little bit of patchwork! Had no idea it would be so much fun, we may become quilting addicts, seriously enjoyable and the results are just soo cute! So here it is, step-by-step, our chevron scrap cushion!





You will need:

Several different patterned fabrics cut into 10 - 2.5"x5" rectangles
Plain cotton 20 cut into - 2.5" squares
Plus plain cotton amount dependent on your cushion size.

sewing basics - measuring tape, pins, scissors, thread, machine (though could easily be hand-sewn if you have the patience!)



Step 1: Mark out your squares. There is probably a more sophisticated way of doing this, but we're just teaching ourselves as we go along... Once marked up, cut your squares and rectangles out...




Step 2: Lay your fabrics out in the order you want them so that you know the order & direction of your stiches (the significance of this will make sense in a moment)...



Step 3: Pin 2 squares to the front of your patterned rectangles. Repeat for all rectangles.



Step 4: Start sewing from corner to corner, in the same direction on each square (see pictures below)



See below - we used a yellow thread so that you can see the stitches. **Remember to alternate the direction of stitches to create the zig-zag effect.**



Step 5: Cut the corners of the pieces off just above the stitches.



Step 6: Open out the rectangle and press the seams flat like this:



Step 7: Layout in your order again, ready to start piecing your patches together?



Step 8: Place the pieces face to face and stich straight along the edge (as close as you can!)



Keep going until you've attached your entire row like below and press the seams (pressing addicts, like things to look neat as we go along!)



Step 9: Repeat with the second row, then fix the top and bottom (again by sewing along the edge, face to face, don't forget to press after!)



Step 10: Cut 2 strips of plain cotton the length of your panel (ours were 2.5" wide to fit on our cushion) - sew to the top and bottom.




Step 11: Repeat with cotton for the sides, cut to the height of your panel (again adjusting the width according to your cushion size.) and press (of course!)... So here is the panel, ours isn't perfect, but it sure is pretty!



Rather stupidly (blame our enthusiasm, we were so excited at how lovely it was looking we couldn't wait to finish!) we forgot to photograph the next steps so bare with us while we attempt to explain how to turn it into a simple envelope cushion.

Cut 2 panels for the back, to the size of your cushion panel and so that they will overlap, with a little extra for seam allowance. Hem the edges that will form the overlap. then pin to the panel, face to face and sew all round the edges, flip inside out - et Voilá - One super cute patchwork cushion!

Hope you enjoy, it's really easy once you get into the swing of it, we've definitely caught the quilting bug, may have to set aside some time away from the collection to work on more patchwork projects!

Much love,
R&L
xx

Sewing School // Flo-jo's Fancy Pants

Hey sweets, welcome to our very first sewing school! Some of you might have seen that last year we made our very first collection of Men's accessories, aptly named 'He Dressed in Black' to get us into the swing of designing and creating. Under the circumstances of having to get the pieces ready for the boys to take to Europe, we ended up doing this in one manic week and didn't get to enjoy the process as much as we'd have liked to. Therefore, ahead of the Women's collection that we have planned for Spring (we've had these ideas in our head for sooo long, we can't wait to get them out there) we've scheduled in a couple of sewing mini projects to get us back in to the swing of it and thought that you might like to join us along the way!
We're starting with this super sweet and super easy DIY... the Flo-jo's Fancy Pants knicker making set! In future, we'll be showing you some of our own DIYs but Rhi got Lauren this kit to for Christmas to start practising with and it was so much fun to put together that we just had to feature it!
The kit can be purchased from the Flo-Jo Boutique (currently on sale too - hurry up kitty cats!) and contains everything that you need to make your own vintage inspired pants as well as clear diagrams and instructions... perfect for beginners looking to get a bit of practise.


The kit contains:Paper pattern sizes 8-18Cotton MaterialCotton gussetElasticRibbonLabelInstructions with diagrams
All you will need is (as recommended by Flo-Jo's Boutique):Basic Sewing SkillsCotton threadSewing machine (with zig zag stitch)ScissorsA rainy afternoon!


1. Firstly, look at the patterns contained in the kit. There should be one piece for the front (we'll call this A), one for the back (B) and one for the gusset (C). Conveniently, the kit has lines for varying sizes (between UK 8-18) so just chose the size that you're looking to make then cut out the pieces.
2. Next, place the cut out patterns (A) and (B) on to the cotton fabric, ensuring that both pieces fit on and secure using pins. Next draw round the patterns on to the fabric using chalk or a light pencil.


3. Cut them out!


4. As above, cut out the last pattern (C) on to the material provided for the gusset.
Then you're ready to get sewing!



5. You'll be instructed to place & secure then sew in the gusset (C). This will secure parts (A) and (B) together in the middle.


6. Next, we stitched all around the flat knicker shape to secure the gusset and neaten the edge (the diagrams in the kit come in extremely handy for getting your head around this part!)


7. After you've done that, it's time to put on the elastic! This is the slightly tricky part! Once again, you follow the edge of the knicker shape laid out flat, keeping the elastic pulled tight (by pulling towards you as the material goes forward in the machine) this ensures that the edge ruches up to give your pants elasticity.


8. Voila! Finish by making a bow with the ribbon provided and stitch on.


9. As the kit that Rhi had chosen for Lola consisted of blue and white gingham cotton and a splash of ruby red, we embellished the pants with a Dorothy ruby slipper - made from white cotton and glitter glue! Maqnifique!

Yay! We wanna make more... our families and friends might get lots of pants next Christmas! Big thanks to the Flo-Jo boutique for this wonderful idea!

Join us next week in the studio again in two weeks time for our next mini project!

Much love,

L&R xx

Christmas Twee // Wrap-Stars...

Hey lovelies,

We've finally started wrapping our presents (nothing like leaving things to the last minute right?) - here are some fabulous festive wrap ideas for those of you who are running behind with your Christmas Prep schedules as well!

Creative Ribbons & Musical Touches...




Lola's Wrapping for Rhi. Brown paper, sheet music strips and glitter stripes layered with ribbons and antique lace




Eclectic Ribbon mixes and tissue wrap, with music stripes and hearts for J




Cris-Crossed ribbon & more antique lace...


Gifts As Wrap





Buying anyone a pretty scarf this Christmas? Scarf used to wrap little gifts, co-ordinating ribbon and vintage buttons...


Gift Boxes





Embellish plain kraft boxes with book page fans and scrabble tile initials...


Confetti





Confetti trim. DIY confetti by folding large sheets of tissue and holepunching, use a mix of pretty colours (we used peach, mint, green, black and cream!) - a bit of PVA on the paper and sprinkle!


Bright Colours & Crackers




Not your usual festive colours, bright yellow paper, doily touches and red ribbon to make pretty little bundles. Fiddly little stocking fillers that are impossible to wrap? Make a simple cracker from a toilet tube & wrap, embellish with a doily and tie ends with more co-ordinating ribbon.

Pretty, pretty! We're still not even close to completion with the wrapping so best get a move on this eve sweets! Hope you're feeling suitably festive and are not gripped with yuletide fear, the days are rushing in aren't they? 3 more sleeps till Santa-Time! Yay!

Much love

R&L xx