Making underwear with Emma

 

 So yesterday was my day of underwear making with Emma Kidd from Emiliana Underwear. Jam and I had a nice lie in during the morning and then I hopped on a train to visit the Old School Club in Clapham Junction. Due to some silliness with the trains I arrived just in time, but what a course awaited me! Emma introduced herself to the class (6 of us in all) giving a brief overview of her experience (she has oodels and hearing her talk about foreign working conditions and her own ethics was really interesting) and showing us some of the fantastic knickers that have been made from her designs. 

 Next it was the classes turn to introduce themselves saying our name, why we were on the course and what the last thing we made was. There was a really nice mix of people in the class some who had never used a sewing machine before and some more experienced ladies as well. Emma came round to look at our fabric choices, I'd taken a few bits of stretch jersey from my stash plus a lacy black piece of fabric that I'd picked up from Mason's the day before. Emma asked if I had any preference on which I'd like to use as they were all suitable, I'd shown my selection to Jam on Monday and he had shown a preference for the black lacy one (surprising huh?) so I went with that one. There were three designs of knickers to choose from, a standard knicker shape, a hipster brief or a short. Emma mentioned that the short was slightly more work than the other two but having her experise on hand I decided to give it a go.

 Next it was the classes turn to introduce themselves saying our name, why we were on the course and what the last thing we made was. There was a really nice mix of people in the class some who had never used a sewing machine before and some more experienced ladies as well. Emma came round to look at our fabric choices, I'd taken a few bits of stretch jersey from my stash plus a lacy black piece of fabric that I'd picked up from Mason's the day before. Emma asked if I had any preference on which I'd like to use as they were all suitable, I'd shown my selection to Jam on Monday and he had shown a preference for the black lacy one (surprising huh?) so I went with that one. There were three designs of knickers to choose from, a standard knicker shape, a hipster brief or a short. Emma mentioned that the short was slightly more work than the other two but having her experise on hand I decided to give it a go. After choosing some contrasting elastic (I narrowed it down to fusha and teal but went for the teal as its Jam's favourite colour) we cut out our fabric and after a quick practice on the machines to check that they were stitching okay (and they were the right stitches) we started work on our own material. I had a quick centre seam to do before catching up with the rest of the class who had all started the tricky business of sewing the elastic to their fabric (straigh lines weren't too bad but around the legholes the sewing machine decided that my material was a bit too tasty to resist and ate it! (Resulting in me getting a bit aggrrhhh).

 Fortunately Emma was there to help me (and sewed a few of the problem sections for me, thank you Emma) and Inma from the old school club appeared with more tea and cake. Many hours later and my deskmates had finished theirs ad I had these crackers (loving held up by Emma - yes she is that wonderful, I have now independently verified this!). I had a really great time on the course, I'm definitely going to order some of the kits (and you can too from here) to give the other patterns a try (and maybe try the short in a more sewing friendly different material? Just to see if its any easier (although I'm thrilled with the result and hopefully on my own machine I'll find it slightly easier than with a machine I didn't know).  Emma was the most fantastic teacher, in the world ever (I was its fair to say a bit starstruck in her presence, what she is doing & the ethics and sentiment behind it are so awesome) I'm hoping I will be able to do another course with her at some point but until then I have my beautiful knickers to remind of a very special valentines day!