Sew The Penelope Dress with Tony Rea Finalist from GBSB Series 9
Regular price £95.00We are so excited to have Tony Rea from 2023 GBSB with us at Make to teach you how to sew this gorgeous dress by the GBSB contestants team at Emporia Patterns.
The Emporia Penelope dress features a loose fitting, lined bodice with a v-neck, wide, dramatic sleeves and a maxi skirt with an external frill, plus a side seam pocket - you can also make it as a simple one drop midi length. Perfect for summer and winter, depending on your fabric choice, Penelope is set to be your new best me-made friend.
Make her from cotton poplin or lawn to get maximum volume in those statement sleeves, or go for viscose or something with more drape for a softer look. Summer fabrics like broderie anglaise, chambray and linen are perfect for hot weather, while needlecord and jacquard would work well in the colder months. Penelope can be a lovely holiday outfit, is great for weddings and special occasions as a maxi, or as a casual dress for everyday wear when made without the frill.
Penelope comes in sizes 6 - 30.
On this one day workshop you’ll not only learn how to sew all the techniques of the Penelope dress but you will get all the opportunity to ask all the burning questions you have about the Great British Sewing Bee and get all the inside gossip from Tony himself.
What you will learn:
Sewing Seams: Stitching clean and durable straight seams with finished edges
Inserting Sleeves: Sewing and attaching sleeves
Bodice lining: sewing your bodice with a precise and neat point to the V neck.
Hemming: Practice creating neat, even hems for a polished look.
Gathering: Creating even and tidy gathering on the skirt
Inserting Pockets: inserting inseam pockets
What you will need:
A Sewing machine (if you require to use one of our machines you will to advise us during booking as we have a limited amount of machines available)
Sewing kit – pins, scissors, seam rippers etc (we also have a large selection of this for you to borrow)
Fabric - depending on the style of dress you are after depends on the fabric you choose, you will need upto 4m of fabric for the longer full dress.
Thread to match
A full check list will be sent to you once you have booked the class.
What we provide:
The penelope pattern will be given to you two weeks before the class so that you can prepare the pattern, either trace & cut out the size you’d like to sew or cut straight out so that we have a smooth running class.
A large light workshop space with irons, sewing kit and teas and coffees on demand.
Tony Rea! So you can pick his brains about the GBSB behind the scenes gossip.
Level: Next stage beginner you will need to know how to sew using a sewign machine and have sewn at least one garment before.
Duration: 6.5 hours including
Tutor – Tony Rea
Tony is a maker and content creator from Bude, North Cornwall. But you may know him better as being a finalist on Series 9 of The Great British Sewing Bee.
Before entering the Sewing Bee, he had only made men’s clothes for himself. Everything he had made on the show he had never made before. Tony took this as an opportunity to grow
as a sewist and learn to explore new techniques. At that time, he really didn’t know what he couldn’t make and Tony takes this ethos through into his teaching to attempt to demystify techniques which are sometimes considered challenging.
Tony, now having built upon his time on the Sewing Bee; is passionate about getting more people making and improving their own making repertoires.
In addition to teaching, Tony is also very active in Pattern Testing for numerous patterns houses and he has also had a men’s shirt pattern released in his name.
Tony lives with his wife and two teenage daughters in Bude. He also has an older daughter.
Please read our workshop cancellation policy before booking your class
Make Workshop Cancellation Policy
Please note we try to calculate how long a workshop will be and plan to finish each garment in the allocated time but this isn’t always possible, If you are unable to finish in the workshop time we will make sure you are confident with your garment to be finished at home.