Brother Sewing UK

Situated in sunny Plymouth, Make at 140 is a fantastic sewing shop, cafe and workshop space run with a fantastic passion for the community! Sewing supplies, workshops and machines in Plymouth Hello, my name is Lizzy and I am the creator and founder of Make at 140. Make started its journey as a button shop called Funky Poppy, which sold unusual buttons, button jewellery, gifts and anything made with buttons. It was a great little shop in a touristy part of Plymouth, where people would come year after year to choose from my homemade buttons and jewellery. My love for buttons started when I was a child, playing with my Granny's button tin, which I still have now. You can’t beat a good button - change the buttons on any garment and it makes it look expensive, designer and special! Starting off with buttons and upcyling, my journey took me into the wonderful world of sewing. I was given a Brother sewing machine for my birthday one year, I got it out the cupboard a couple of tim...

Hello again Brother readers! I thought I’d drop by with another blog post – this time I felt compelled to share my love of the queen of all of the seam finishes – the French seam. If you haven’t come across French seams before, they are used mostly on fabrics which are lightweight, sheer, slippery or fray easily - perfect for all of those floaty, gorgeous, spring and summer makes! The final finish on a French seam will encapsulate the raw edge of fabric and give an oh-so-neat look! Previously, I had avoided using this seam finish as it felt like a lot of hard work when I could easily just use my overlocker to give a nice, clean and professional finish. But I need to tell you that it really is worth that little bit extra effort. You won’t be able to stop staring at the beauty of the inside of your clothes – trust me! Sounds great right? So how do you go about making them? It really is a lot simpler than some people think so please don’t be scared off!  To help, I...

Have you ever thought about using your embroidery machine to mimic Hawaiian applique?  A Hawaiian quilt is a distinctive style of quilt originating in the Hawaiian Islands that uses large, radially symmetric applique patterns. Motifs often feature stylised botanical designs in bold colours on a white background, with the applique made from a single cut on folded fabric. Quilting stitches normally follow the contours of the applique design and therefore it can be a tricky technique to master. However, your Brother VR embroidery machine can make short work of this particular style. Figure 1 - Applique designs Figure 2 - Stitching out the applique design The VR comes with several built-in applique designs, identified by the fact that the first 3 stitch references are stitches rather than thread colours!  The first is a dotted line with a pair of scissors at one end, and that’s the giveaway, because they create the applique element and the placement lines f...