Updated May 2023
Email us to receive a PDF copy of the guide.
Sewer Works Fabric Stores by Thread DenSewing Journal
An op shop for fabrics!
🎉 Welcome to the Most Creative Treasure Hunt in Town! 🎉
Say hello to the Resource Recovery Centre at Creative Community Space, where old fabrics and crafty odds and ends get a second chance at life. It’s like an op shop for fabrics!
Instead of tossing unused fabrics and haberdashery into landfill, the Resource Recovery Centre gives them a second act. If you are a beginner looking for fabrics that don’t break the bank, or if you have been sewing for years and love finding a long forgotten gem, you need to pop on over!
Join your circular community and swap your textiles and sewing supplies. Visit one of our shops and bring up to 5 items from your stash that you no longer need. Whether it’s textiles, patterns, or crafting tools, we welcome contributions that are in good condition and suitable for reuse.
🤝 Who’s Behind It?
Creative queen Katrina Naish, a textile visionary with 20+ years in fashion, founded this social enterprise to make waste stylish. Alongside her team—including print-artist educator Jodie Stephens—they weave sustainability into every stitch.
🚫 Donation Pause Alert! Before filling the car, check if they are taking donations. The shelves (and storeroom!) are often bursting at the seams with fabric and they hit pause on donations while they catch up.
Double-check the trading hours [click here] and plan your visit to the fabric ReStore, Ivanhoe East or Creative Community Space, Greensborough.
Swim Style Patterns Courses
These courses feature sewing patterns by Swim Style Patterns based in New South Wales, Australia.
Sharon, owner and creator of Swim Style has been pattern making for 40 years. She has always shared the joys of sewing with her daughter, Justine. Now Swim Style is run by both Sharon and Justine, doing what the love the best – sewing!
Hooked on Yarn? Your New Favourite Corner of the Internet: Ravelry.com!
Many knitters, crocheters, spinners, weavers, and general yarn whisperers will have already discovered Ravelry.com, if not, you’re in for a treat! Ravelry is a free online community made just for people who love working with yarn. Whether you’re a seasoned shawl-maker or just learned how to chain stitch, there’s something here for you. It’s part inspiration board, part digital project tracker, and part bustling social club.
We use it to find new projects (a fav’ is searching by yarn weight for patterns to use up the stash) and check reviews of patterns for potential new projects. But, you can use it for so much more. You can favourite patterns, queue up your dream projects (hello, 2027 sweater goals), and even organise your yarn stash online! Perfect for those moments when you’re this close to buying the same skein for the third time!
Have fun… and don’t lose too many hours on there.
Making a Winter Coat
Does the cold weather have you thinking about making a coat? We’ve had a look at popular coat patterns the sewing community loves to make.
Melbourne Trench Coat by Tessuti
We can’t go past a coat named after our hometown. Designed by Australian brand Tessuti, this single-breasted trench coat is unlined and features a button-through opening with a hood. It’s perfect for layering in Melbourne’s unpredictable weather.
Stella Coat by Style Arc
Another home-grown brand brings us the Stella – a fully lined below knee length wrap style coat, panelled back with yoke, tie belt with belt loops, back vent and inseam pockets. Style Arc instructions known for being concise, but they have created a tutorial for this pattern.
Straight Cut Coat by Waffle Patterns
This is a minimal and chic style coat with various design options. The biggest feature is the collar variations, you can choose from the classic tailored or basic round neck. There are several tutorials to support you through various steps making the coat.
Named Clothing – Isla Trench Coat
This timeless, straight-cut and lined trench coat sewing pattern features plenty of details, such as a belted collar with large lapels, a cape, welt pockets, sleeve opening tabs, and a belt.
If you are looking for support making a coat, whether it is your first or something trickier than you have tackled before, take a look at our Coat Club – click here, to make it.
What does fat quarter mean?
Thread Den suggests a fat quarter as the fabric requirement for the week 1 workshop in our Sewing Basics for Beginners Course. So, what is that and what does that mean?
A fat quarter is a pre-cut piece of fabric especially popular with quilters. It is an economical way to purchase small fabric requirements that have become standardised. Most fabric stores that cater to quilters will have a wide range of fat quarters available either in bundles of complementary colours and designs or sold individually.
A fat quarter is usually:
- 50cm x 50cm square (approximately)
- 100% cotton plain weave fabric
- Cut on the straight grain and including the selvedge on one side of the square
A fat quarter is cut by; first cutting half a metre of quilting fabric off the bolt (producing a rectangle), then cutting that directly in half (achieving a square).
The size of the square produced is not exact because:
- In the USA the first cut is half a yard (45cm) not half a metre (50cm)
- The width of a bolt of fabric varies
Image from The Fabric Fox UK.
Why pre-wash your fabric?
For best results, wash and press your fabric before class. You should launder your fabric exactly how you plan to wash and care for your finished garment.
Fabric should be pre-washed to pre-shrink, to remove the chemicals from the manufacturing process and wash out any dirt. Have you noticed how much softer your fabrics can feel after washing? That is due to sizing. Applying a sizing agent (a bit like starch) improves the strength and helps the fabric resist the mechanical stress applied through the manufacturing process.
Most fabrics from natural fibres shrink when you wash them. Cotton fabrics often shrink around 5%, however, shrinkage up to 10% is not uncommon.
Papercut Patterns Courses
These courses feature sewing patterns by Papercut, based in Nelson, New Zealand.
With a focus on freedom of expression and positive body image, Papercut Patterns are dedicated to creating fashion with a consistent premium quality and a unique signature style.
We believe in eco-friendly fashion revolution and the sustainability of sewing your own wardrobe without compromising on style.
papercutpatterns.com
Elbe Textiles Patterns Courses
These courses feature sewing patterns by Elbe Textiles, based in Perth, Australia.
By encouraging more people to make their own clothing, I am hoping this can help shift the focus of an industry dominated by fast fashion, and lead consumers to a more thoughtful, curated and ethical wardrobe. After experiencing the time, effort and reward that goes into the creation of a garment, it’s hard to go back to a mass produced, chain store item.
Lauren
elbetextiles.com.au
Filming with Retro TV
Retro TV dropped in to film a segment at Thread Den. Miss Lee gave Courtenay the fabulous fifties hair she had always dreamed of. Subscribe to the Retro TV YouTube channel to watch the episode the moment it drops and learn how to do a brick set and create stunning 1950s hair waves.
If you ever want your own hair lesson with Miss Lee contact us! We can even organise a fab’ party with all your friends. It will be just like the sleep-over scene in Grease. “Look at me, I’m Sandra Dee…”
The Ulysses Trench Coat
Elevate your dressmaking skills!
Our newest course is the Ulysses Trench Coat by Victory Patterns.
This pattern from Victory Patterns goes up to a 113cm bust, therefore we are going to be grading custom patterns for participants needing more inclusive sizing. Bookings for a bust over 115cm will close two weeks prior to the start to allow grading patterns.
The list of dressmaking skills covered in this course is extensive: Taking measurements, choosing the right size and shortening or lengthening if needed, pattern placement and transferring markings, and cutting technique. Applying bias binding on unlined seams, some French seams, stitching a lining to the rain guard overlay, notched out holes for the belt and patch pockets with flaps. How to handle some pattern pieces that have been cut on the bias. Creating a professional centre back vent, using a buckle or creating a buckle with D-rings, optional – making self-bias binding. Phew! What a list!
In this comprehensive new course, we are going to take you through the whole process from beginning-to-end of using a tissue paper pattern. The course cost includes a pattern and instruction booklet. Participants should expect to do some homework during the course to ensure you stay on track and finish the trench coat during the course time frame.
See the course description and view more photos – click here.