As you may know, last month the staff at Coles took part in the Cancer Research UK Walk All Over Cancer challenge. We aimed to walk 10,000 steps a day for the whole of March with a target of raising £700 and I’m proud to say that we absolutely smashed it! Between us we walked 2,425,576 steps, which works out as about 1,091 miles – that’s enough to get us to Russia, Mali or even Greenland! Altogether we raised £1,408, which is more than double our original target! Thank you so much to everyone who supported us and donated so generously, we couldn’t have done it without you.
Between us we walked over 1,000 miles! Map created on milesofme.com
This March we are fundraising at Coles Sewing Centre – Deborah, Rose, Jackie, Catherine, Anna and Ellie are taking part in the Cancer Research UK Walk All Over Cancer challenge. We will be walking 10,000 steps a day for the whole of March, which makes a whopping 310,000 steps each! Between us we will be walking at least 1,860,000 steps, which works out at 930 miles – walking in a straight line then that would take us as far as Stockholm or Warsaw!
930 miles from Nottingham gets you an awfully long way! Map created on milesofme.com
Today, 1st March, is our first day of the challenge and we have already made hitting today’s step target difficult by scheduling our first aid refresher training for this evening. Being on the shop floor keeps us moving throughout the day, but to be sure that we don’t miss our first day’s target then we are all going for a half hour walk together as soon as the shop closes. If you’re in the area and see us power walking around Hockley then give us a wave!
We are proud to support Cancer Research UK, a charity that helps to fund life-changing research into cancer treatment and prevention. As well as providing resources for scientists, doctors and nurses, they provide vital practical information for patients and families on everything from symptoms and screening, to coping after treatment.
Over the last 40 years, cancer survival in the UK has doubled – in the 1970s just 1 in 4 people survived their disease for 10 years or more, but today 2 in 4 survive. Cancer Research UK aims to accelerate progress and see 3 in 4 patients surviving the disease by 2034. Sadly, many of us have a personal connection with someone who has suffered from cancer and 1 in 2 of us will develop it in our lifetime, so a donation today could potentially help someone you care about in the future.
If you can spare a pound or two to help support this great cause then you can donate via our fundraising page here – it’s simple, fast and totally secure. If you are a UK taxpayer then please tick the Gift Aid box – this makes your donation go even further as Cancer Research UK can claim back the tax you have already paid on it. We will also be taking donations in the shop and anything you can give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks to the generosity of the people who have sponsored us so far, we have already raised more than a quarter of our £700 target. There’s still a long way to go, so anything you can give will make a real difference. Thank you.
We’re all a little sad at Coles this week, as we have had to say goodbye to our Garment Making tutor Lorna Keeling. Lorna is retiring after 20 years, and we had a little goodbye party last Friday to wave her off. In her two decades with Coles Lorna has taught countless students, many of whom came to her as complete beginners and have gone on to work in the fashion industry all over the world. Lorna’s classes were always in high demand because of her expert knowledge of garment making, as well as the clear and practical way she communicated it. Her passion for sharing her knowledge ignited a love of garment making in everyone she taught, and we are all very sorry to see her go. We hope she enjoys her retirement, but we’ll all miss her!
Lorna and her very last class
Lorna and Coles staff
Lorna cutting her cake
Lorna’s delicious cake
As we say goodbye to Lorna, we have some new tutors to introduce who have their own expert knowledge to share. Our own Catherine Crew, who you may already know from the shop floor or her excellent overlocker classes, will be taking a weekly Garment Making class on Wednesday mornings. We have Lorna to thank for having Catherine here, as she first came to Coles to attend one of Lorna’s dressmaking classes! Since then, Catherine joined the Coles team and has become an expert in overlocking as well as garment making.
You may not know that Catherine passed her Level 3 in both Pattern Cutting and Tailoring with distinction, and she is now working towards her Level 4 in Tailoring. She brings this expertise to her new classes, as well as her in-depth knowledge of all the latest sewing products from working in the shop. She is so excited to teach Garment Making in addition to her popular overlocker classes! She is looking forward to spending more time with other creative people and helping them to see their projects through to fruition. Catherine will be taking a four-week summer class on Thursday mornings beginning on 28th July, before moving to a regular weekly Wednesday slot in September.
Catherine Crew
Our next new tutor is also a familiar face – we are welcoming back Jayne Childs, who will be teaching some fantastic embroidery workshops in the coming months. Some of you may remember Jayne, as she worked for us (when we were Husqvarna Studio) for several years before moving on to be sales manager at Husqvarna Viking UK. Jayne makes embroidered lace, designed by hand and created using Husqvarna Viking computer software and embroidery machines. She uses text within her lace to weave stories and tell tales inspired by her research into lace and social history.
For the past twelve years Jayne has been making and selling a range of lace fashion and home accessories, under her brand name of JC Middlebrook. She recently became a UK brand ambassador for Husqvarna Viking mySewnet software, and she also works part time at Nottingham Trent University as a Research Assistant for the Lace Archive, as well as teaching on the Fashion BA course.
Jayne is looking forward to sharing her software and embroidery knowledge with you in her workshops. All three of her upcoming workshops are based around designs that Jayne has created especially for the classes, which are inspired by Nottingham’s lacemaking history. In her Paper Embroidery Workshop she provides vintage papers for you to embroider on and create some unique art. Her Embroidered Lantern Workshop and Embroidered Lampshade Workshop will lead you through the creation of some beautiful homewares, once again inspired by vintage Nottingham lace designs.
Jayne Childs
Our final new addition is completely new to Coles. Emma Smith has been a freelance tutor for various venues across Leicestershire, Warwickshire and Yorkshire since 2019. She is a prolific dressmaker for her own personal projects and enjoys sharing her knowledge to help others discover the joy of sewing and develop their own skills and experiences. Emma originally completed a fashion and textiles degree and, having spent many years in the UK manufacturing industry, she brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the team.
Emma has some amazing things planned for her classes with Coles. Coming up, she has an Introduction to Patchwork and Quilting class for people completely new to the hobby, as well as two-day and three-day workshops helping you through trouser-making and jeans-making. These are two of the more challenging garments to sew, and her workshops promise to be extremely informative.
Emma Smith
You can find all of our upcoming classes online here and you can book online or by calling the shop on 0115 9881550. As you may already know, our classes are very popular so we do recommend early booking to avoid being disappointed. We hope to see you in one of our classes soon!
So, we opened our doors on 1st June 1996, a staggering 26 years ago! It’s fair to say a lot has happened since then!
Our very young children are now grown up and have families and careers of their own. Staff have come and gone and come back again! We welcome back Jayne Childs, who opened with us in 1996, and is coming back to teach classes in the autumn. Sewing machines, fashions, techniques, fabrics, and inspiration have all changed, the advance of technology in sewing machines has frankly been breathtaking.
The shop front back in the days that we were Studio Husqvarna
Our original Studio agreement with Husqvarna from 1996
But some things remain the same. We opened with a mission to get people sewing again! Against the backdrop of a cyclical recession, we mortgaged ourselves to the hilt to open a new kind of sewing store. One designed to inspire you to sew, with great products, inspiration, knowhow, and classes to make the experience of sewing a joy, therapeutic, and to create a community of stitchers who would want to come back for more and more.
Me, back when I had black hair!
Of course, the whole thing nearly crashed and burned. It was two months before we got any sort of revenue stream, but with plenty of money going out! I remember one day being here all day to take £2.50. The window cleaner came, and I had to pay him £3. I thought then, what have I done?! Rose was working nights to pay the bills at home and looking after our 2 boys during the day. I am not sure quite how she did it.
Rose planning one of our first classes
Anyway, we hung on and as summer turned to autumn, things started to improve. Our footfall increased and a lot of orders started to come in by phone (pre websites!). People started attending our classes, and sewing machines started arriving for service.
Our old style course brochures
We managed to acquire a tie up with People’s College who used our space and machines to host classes in our premises. Lorna Keeling, who is just set to retire, started teaching with us from those days – I know that staff and customers alike are going to miss her when she goes.
Our embroidery software club took off with people coming to us from all over the country. In 1999, we managed to get onto the NEC Exhibition circuit, and gained a lot of new customers from those shows. We started getting contracts for servicing sewing machines in schools and supplying new machines too.
Exhibiting at the NEC
As things started growing, we needed more staff and our massive premises started seeming to be shrinking. Launches of new products, especially sewing machines, were well supported, and everything was going well. Of course everything changed in March 2020, thanks to Covid 19. I remember locking the door on 23rd March and wondered if we would ever open it again. We diverted the phone lines to home, tied down every cost and hoped.
What we didn’t expect was that everyone would start sewing masks, gowns, and take sewing up as a hobby while stuck at home. Not only were our wonderful customers supporting us where they could, but we also had interest from new stitchers and before we knew it, Rose and I were in every day shipping out orders.
We had so many online and phone orders that soon Catherine was able to come back to keep our mail order department running. Then came the demand for sewing machines to be repaired, so Lee returned to the workshop and in no time we were back to about 40% of where we would expect to be at. All the while, Sam was supporting us as our Finanace Manager, working hard from home until she was able to return to the office.
The lockdowns came and went, the toughest for us being Jan – April 2021, when sales fell away. Once things re-opened for good, we could bring back our other staff and people gradually started to come back in. Starting our classes again and seeing our regular customers and tutors more often, along with having Catherine, Anna, Debbie and Jackie back on the shop floor, has brought the shop back to life. We are still working at getting back to where we were in 2019 but without our loyal customers and supportive staff and tutors then we really wouldn’t still be here.
The Coles Sewing Centre van ready for a collection, delivery or home service in the Nottingham area
It has been a tough road, but we have pivoted. We have invested in our website, which Ellie has tried to make more user friendly and contains more of our range than ever. Anna and Rose have worked hard to make our Zoom classes just as crammed with useful information as our in-person classes and Anna’s online software classses are selling out just as quickly as ever! We want to make online learning even easier for you to take part in so we are currently setting up a learning website, which is due to launch in July.
I’m glad to say that we not only still have all our staff, but have also taken on a service and retail apprentice, so we are planning a rosy future! Our senior service engineer, Lee, has gone from joining us as an apprentice 13 years ago to sharing his expert knowledge with an apprentice of his own. George has been with us for over a year now and is learning fast. We have also been joined more recently by Oscar and Amelia, who are learning about retail and sewing from Debbie and Anna.
George and Lee working on a machine
Hopefully, we can do an update in 26 years’ time. In the meantime, thank you for all the support over the years, it really means more to us than we can express. We wish everyone safety, health, and a bit of wealth.
Oh what a year! A year we may all want to forget but one we probably won’t for so many reasons.
We started the year in lockdown, so once again our doors were shut. All the staff were again at home and Neil and I were busy keeping the ship rolling, answering the phones, picking, packing and dispatching orders. Towards the end of January Ellie started working from home, updating and improving the website. George, our apprentice engineer, returned to the shop to continue his training and to help with the many machines that started to come in for servicing. Due to a high demand the service department was once again fully operational by February, with both Lee and George back at work.
Lee and George at work in the workshop
Along with all the other retailers across the country we reopened our doors on 12th April, and weren’t we glad to do so! Initially we were only working a 4 day week – people were nervous about coming back into town and who wanted to use public transport?! Gradually more customers came to see us and we were able to gradually bring our staff back into the workplace.
We were in a conundrum, did we reopen our classroom? Would people want to come to classes? A decision was made: the classroom would stay closed for the summer with a plan to restart classes in September. We purchased screens and rearranged the tables so that people attending classes would be socially distanced and would feel safe. Finally in September we restarted our classes and we were delighted to welcome people back!
For the foreseeable future the screens and our covid classroom guidelines will remain in place. We will be adding new workshops in 2022, so do keep your eye on the website.
Another challenge we have had to overcome was stock, or more to the point the lack of it. Early on in the year it became apparent that sewing machines were in short supply due to a shortage of parts, but also a shortage of containers to move them around the world. Although this remains an issue, it has much improved.
A few staff changes have occurred during the year…
We have taken on a customer service apprentice. Interviewed initially on zoom due to Covid isolation, Carys joined our team in August.
Anna and Debbie have started supervisor apprenticeships, a steep learning curve!
Jackie has become a grandma (congratulations Jackie!) so has reduced her hours and now works two days a week.
Catherine is covering maternity leave at our alterations shop but will continue to teach overlocker classes in the New Year.
As the year draws to an end we would like to say a big THANK YOU to you all for your support (without it I might not be here writing this), and we very much look forward to seeing you next year!
Christmas Opening Hours
To give our staff a well-deserved break we will close at 2pm on Christmas Eve and reopen on Tuesday 4th January. Although the shop will be closed the webshop will remain open, any orders place will be processed as soon as we return.
Coles opening hours Christmas 2021
Your Christmas Makes
We know you will all have been busy stitching your Christmas gifts – we’d love to see what you have been making, do send us your pics and we’ll share them in a future Blog!
Merry Christmas from everyone at Coles!
So from everyone at Coles we wish you a merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year! We look forward to seeing you all again in 2022.
We are all stitchers at Coles Sewing Centre so we like to get together every so often for a sew and a chat, although Covid restrictions sadly put a stop to that for a while. So we were all very excited to get together on Saturday to have a staff sewing night for the first time in nearly two years! As you can imagine, we did a lot more chatting than sewing because we haven’t all been together for so long, but here’s a little look at the projects we all currently have on the go.
Jackie has a brand new granddaughter and has been making all sorts of sweet outfits for her lately. I just had to take a picture of the completed dinosaur print dress that she brought with her, although apparently she’s unlikely to make one in my size, which is very disappointing. Jackie is a whizz with pinning and cutting out and she had the pieces for another dress cut before the end of the evening, even with all the talking and distractions!
Jackie’s completed dress
Jackie’s next project
Deborah has just bought some of our Tilly and the Buttons jersey and is going to use it to make the Tabitha dress from Make It Simple by Tilly and the Buttons. She’s chosen to make the drawstring variation in a long length with a three quarter sleeve so that she can wear it in the winter with a cardigan, tights and boots, or in the summer with a pair of trainers. She spent the evening tracing out her pattern pieces and I’m sure you’ll see her wearing the dress in the shop before very long. Both Jackie and Deborah have made a lot of the projects from Make It Simple – it’s a fantastic resource for quick makes so if you’re interested in getting a copy then you can find it on our website here, along with other useful books on dressmaking. We still have some of the Tilly and the Buttons jersey in stock too, which you can find on our website here.
Deborah’s next project – Tabitha from Tilly and the Buttons’ book Make It Simple
Catherine, as you might expect, spent the evening on the overlocker – she was the only one of us to actually get some sewing done! She is currently making several cushion covers, some for herself with the fabric and matching Seralene thread pictured below, as well as some for her son. She is cleverly making use of off-cuts from some curtains that she took up and as the pieces were only half the width she needed, she has combined two different fabrics so that one half of the cushion is plain and the other half is patterned. You would never know that they are made from fabric that might otherwise have been thrown away.
A quick note on Seralene. Catherine always uses Mettler Seralene thread for overlocking as it is lovely and smooth, causing less breakage and creating less fluff than cheaper threads, which means your seams are stronger and neater. We don't currently have Seralene thread on the website as I am still working on getting our whole catalogue of products online, but you can purchase it in store. If you aren't local to Nottingham, don't worry - we take telephone orders too!
Catherine’s fabric with Mettler Seralene thread
Catherine at her overlocker
Anna had a pencil in her hand all evening as she was planning out a new quilt. She likes to take inspiration from patterns she sees on her travels and she has found some beautiful tiles outside a shop on Chapel Bar in the city centre. As you can see in the photo, she is currently translating the tiling into quilting blocks, which takes quite a bit of planning but the outcome is worth it. She has already made a gorgeous quilt based on some tiling outside Primark on Long Row, so I’m sure her Chapel Bar quilt will be equally beautiful! It’s lovely to see how Nottingham influences her quilting – each quilt has its own story and history, as all good quilts do.
Anna’s plans for her Chapel Bar quilt
Anna’s complete Long Row quilt
As always, I was the slowest and least productive member of the group. I have been working on some crewel embroidery kits from The Coleshill Collection that my sister asked me to make for her 40th birthday. Unfortunately, she turned 40 in 2018 so I’m a little behind schedule! I stitched out just one leaf, using satin stitch over a backstitch outline for the main part, blanket stitch for the top, while the bottom was composed of a stem stitch outline and filled with seed stitch. Given that it took me the whole evening to complete that, I think my sister will be lucky to receive her embroideries by her 50th birthday!
My work in progress
Another leaf finished!
As you can see, we all love to sew but also have very different areas of interest and expertise. That’s why we love our staff sewing nights so much, it’s inspiring to actually see what everyone else is creating. It’s also the reason why we can usually find someone with the knowledge and experience to help when customers come to us with questions. I don’t know when we’ll next be able to meet up like this, but hopefully it won’t be another two years before we can have another stitch and chat!
Hi, my name is Ellie and I’m in charge of the Coles Sewing Centre website, although you might know me from the shop as I used to run the Mail Order department. These days I mainly work behind the scenes keeping the website up to date with all the latest products, and that’s a busy job because we have a lot of products! I will be posting with updates about the latest additions to the Coles catalogue, from newly arrived fabrics to the current courses and the latest Husqvarna Viking machines.
This week I will be talking patchwork and quilting fabrics, as we have just had a delivery of some real beauties! We have a new collection called “Hand Stitched” that was designed by Karen Lewis Textiles for Figo Fabrics – this a lovely range that draws inspiration from hand sewing and the natural world. As you can see from the pictures below, “Stitches” brings to mind sashiko embroidery, while “Tossed Leaves” and “Plants” have a simple and elegant foliage-based design.
Stitches Mustard
Stitches Cream
Tossed Leaves Clay
Plants Chartreuse
Plants Yellow
Plants Coral
“Hexies” is my personal favourite from this collection, although I can’t decide how I would like to use it – I’m about to try English Paper Piecing for the first time and it would make gorgeous hexagons, but wouldn’t it make a lovely needle case too? Of course I could always combine the two…
Hexies Red
Hexies Chartreuse
Our other new addition this week is some Christmas fabric – with only three and a half months until Christmas then now is the time to get started on your Christmas makes! We have four new fabrics from the “Traditional” collection by The Craft Cotton Company, which include traditional Christmas plants such as holly, poinsettia and mistletoe, with festive metallic highlights.
How have you all been? What a strange 18 months we have been through!
Well we are delighted to still be here, and all our staff have stayed with us. In fact we have 2 new members of staff, apprentices, George Farmer in the sewing machine service department, https://www.colessewingcentre.co.uk/service-repairs and Carys Brandy in the shop https://www.colessewingcentre.co.uk/. You will probably speak to Carys if you call us by phone on 0115 9881550/1, or come into the store, so say hello and make her feel welcome! The store is now open as normal from Monday to Saturday 9.15 am to 5pm, we do ask you to wear a mask and respect social distancing instore for both staff and customers, thanks.
Our newest member of staff, Carys
George has been with us since November last year and is learning very quickly. He is great with overlockers too, so if you need your sewing machine or overlocker, servicing or repairing, we have a great team here to do it for you . You can or pop in with it, or we can collect it from you, by our van in the local area, or by courier https://www.colessewingcentre.co.uk/shipping-and-returns. There is a loading and unloading bay at the front of the store, or pull into Lennox Street by our side door. You have time to conduct dropping your machine off for repair, but hey why not use the metered parking bays nearby on Lower Parliament Street. It’s £2.40 for an hour, but we will give you 10% off your shop, so spend £24 and park for free! Nottingham Parking: https://www.transportnottingham.com/driving/parking/
During lockdown we have seen a great uptake in sewing. If you need help or inspiration, why not get in touch at info@colessewingcentre.co.uk, we would love to hear from you, or see your lockdown projects!
Well that’s all for now, but we will blog again soon!
Sew What's Happening at Coles? 