Sew your own advent calendar workshop

Create your own advent calendar that can be used year after year and fill it with the treats you really want!

In this workshop we will cover a variety of techniques, including creating box pleats with a pleating board, sewing with wadding for a quilted effect, sewing piping for a decorative border, and attaching quilting tabs so that your creation can be hung easily every December 1st. Many of these skills can also be used in quilting so this is a great way to dip your toe!

While nibbling on mince pies and drinking some lovely warm drinks (all included) you will make a great decorative centrepiece for your festive home with 24 pockets that you can fill with anything from chocolate coins to Lego, to gin! Whatever takes your fancy 😉

Available dates:

Sunday November 12th 10.30am - 5pm

Saturday November 25th 10.30am - 5pm

Location: Nim Burgin Studio, 27 Murray Street, M7 2DX

Kits are available for just £15 and include:

• Front and back panels (quilting cotton)
• Pocket fabric (quilting cotton)
• Gold wooden hand-painted advent numbers
• 2 meters gold piping
• felt for hanging tabs
• wadding

Advent calendar kit

You will need to bring with you:

• Sewing machine (limited number available if needed)
• Basic sewing kit (scissors, pins, green and red thread)
• Packed lunch.
• The kit detailed above (If you prefer to create your own kit please contact me for the dimensions needed.)

Workshop cost: £50 including festive refreshments throughout the day.

Please email nim@nimburgin.com to book your place and notify if you require a kit.

All workshops are kept small which ensures you get a really good level of personal tuition. Please note that there is a minimum attendance required for these workshops to go ahead. 

Hustling the bustle

The Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre's Costume Hire Department recently commissioned me to create this Victorian style corseted bustle dress in green duchesse satin. It is based on a costume that had been on their rails for 17 years was a very popular plus-sized pattern.

The dustle and draped apron front of this dress take up a lot of fabric, and the Victorians really liked all their trimmings and decorative touches and this dress is full of them. There is a velvet trim bordered with fringe as well as ribbon, and several feature buttons. The corseted bodice has satin covered piping at the seams and edges, and the sleeves have lace inserts and more buttons.

The lace-up back to the bodice means that it can be worn by people of a wide variety of sizes, which is very useful for Costume Hire as you never know who you'll be dressing.

The Costume Hire Department were thrilled with this revamped version of a favourite and have put in an order for another one in purple already!