Sometimes you forget just how much you have done and indeed achieved in the past 12 months so I have enjoyed looking back at 2019 and reflecting on some things myself and All About the Sew have been up to. I have held 33 stand alone workshops, 5 of which were 2 part sessions and 5 courses which have been 6 weeks long. In total that’s 68 sessions with a total of 189 workshop places being filled.
Here are just a few of the wonderful All About The Sew makes of 2019!
Personally this year I have had a big birthday to celebrate which has become a standing joke amongst certain members of my family and friends about just how many celebrations I had! Who could forget the most incredible sewing themed cake my friend Kathy made me?!
We also had an amazing family holiday to the USA big lakes which has been a total highlight of my year.
In April I held a workshop where I invited a professional photographer, Christopher Brain to capture workshop moments on camera. Chris did an amazing job and really highlighted the fun aspects of the workshop and I am so pleased with the results. You can also see a brilliant short video on the homepage of my website here.
As part of my birthday celebrations and my continued plan for developing my own skills, I was treated by my family to a whole weekend of learning through attending a bodice fitting masterclass workshop in Bristol. The tutor was Elisalex De Castro from By Hand London. It was an amazing weekend full of learning, sewing and lightbulb moments! Not only has this helped me with dressmaking for myself but I have also been able to put the skills and knowledge into use on my workshops which is amazing too. You can read more about my experience of the course and what I learnt here. I plan to repeat the experience in 2020 by attending another weekend workshop to learn more skills. I can’t wait!
One of my business highlights this year has to be my success in being chosen to be one of Small Business Saturday’s Small Biz 100 for 2019. I found out in the Summer that I had been selected but had to keep it a secret until the campaign was launched at the beginning of September. I was one of 100 businesses selected throughout the whole of the UK to be showcased by Small Business Saturday. Through being part of the campaign it has really pushed me to do things I haven’t done before including my first Facebook live! I have met some fabulous people and it has been amazing to both promote my sewing workshops on a larger scale and also drive my passion of supporting small businesses forward especially in my local area.
The first event was the launch party in London – the Blue Tie ball, where we were invited to celebrate with the rest of the Small Biz 100 and previous years winners, known as the alumni. What a night! I put my bodice masterclasss skills into practice by making a space themed Elisalex dress to wear.
My day for All About The Sew to be showcased was October 21st when I held a coffee and sewing morning in Knowle to celebrate and thank all my customers, friends and family for their support. There were hand sewing projects to enjoy; tea, coffee and sewing themed cakes; a fabric and pattern swap; lots of fun sewing chatter and a prize raffle to win a brand new Janome sewing machine which raised over £400 for St Peter’s Hospice in Bristol which is just amazing! Thank you to everyone that came and supported!
The Small Business Saturday team went on a UK tour of cities and towns on a big blue bus to raise awareness of the campaign, bring together small businesses and offer mentoring and support. I went along to my nearest bus tour stop which was Walsall and enjoyed networking and having an interview for Facebook on the blue sofa! I even took my sewing machine along!!
On 7th December- Small Business Saturday itself, I visited 16 businesses in Knowle, chatted about small business life and how we can encourage people to support their local independent shops and businesses. It was a fabulous day and there were so many more wonderful businesses on the high street- too many to visit in one day!
The end of the campaign was marked by a celebration at the House of Lords which was a fantastic experience. It was lovely to be with the other Small Biz 100 again and felt such an honour to be at the House of Lords. An amazing end to my Small Business Saturday experience this year!
If you haven’t attended a workshop before and would like to hear 2 ladies’ stories about learning to sew with All About the Sew then I wrote a case study earlier this year. You can read Katie and Nicola’s stories here.
Well that’s it for 2019 and this decade! I hope that you have enjoyed following me and attending workshops this year and once again thank you for your continued support.
Don’t forget to check out the latest workshops here and if anyone has had new machines for Christmas then get in touch to learn more about my 1 to 1 sessions.
Next year expect more of the same along with some new exciting workshops and tutorials – watch this space! I look forward to seeing a lot of you in 2020!!
Happy Sewing!
Lorna x
