Tara CusterTara Custer’s love of sewing and crafting started [...]Read moreVanessa LynchVanessa is the crafty and design savvy voice behind [...] *Call charges will depend on your provider, please check with your operator 9.30am - 7pm (Bank holidays 10am-6pm) We’ve collaborated with leading UK furniture company Loaf, to launch three exclusive sofas and two footstools designed in their distinctly relaxed style. Come and see the collection on the Second floor How to find us The Buchanan Galleries car park, which provides parking for John Lewis Glasgow, can be accessed from Killermont Street or Cathedral Street. There is signposting to it after leaving junctions 15,16 or 17 of the M8. John Lewis is opposite the Buchanan bus station. Buchanan Street underground station and Queen Street main line station are two minutes walk away from the Buchanan Galleries. We're proud of the close links we forge between our Partners and local schools, charities and organisations.

And wherever we do business, at home or abroad, we work with communities to make a difference. Our Community Matters programme in our shops continues to support local charities and community groups. We aim to give at least 1% of pre-tax profits to community initiatives.boqueria curtains We will continue to seek out projects that support the John Lewis Foundation at home and abroad.wuky curtains at 8 If you'd like to nominate a good cause for Community Matters please complete the nomination form and take it to the Customer Services department.scania 143 curtains The charities we're supporting from November 2016 - January 2017 are:pbkids blackout curtains

This is how August - October 2016 Community Matters' charities benefited from being part of the scheme: Cancer Support Scotland - £1,132 Crosshouse Day Surgery - £934 Finding Your Feet - £934 Would you like to help ussupport Barnardo's?no mildew shower curtain liner walmart To make a donation to Barnardo's, our 150th anniversary charity, and help support those UK children who need it most, please text JL [Enter your local shop name] to:swish curtain track john lewis 70300 to donate £3swish curtain track john lewis 70500 to donate £5 70100 to donate £10 Bringing Skills to Life is about allowing pupils to explore, imagine and create. Through this education programme we aim to inspire children and develop their imagination and practical skills for life.

For more information, please visit the Bringing Skills to Life website (opens in a new window) With the introduction of the new carrier bag charging law, single-use carrier bags will no longer be free. Our charity, known as the John Lewis Foundation, will be responsible for distributing the proceeds to charities throughout the UK. Giving old sofas a new life We'll collect and re-use your old sofa when you purchase anew sofa from usThere's no denying it - the most luxurious and covetable fabrics in the world are often the hardest to work with. And maybe it's exactly that that added to their stature in the first place: not everyone could just pick up a few metres of silk chiffon and whip up a gown in a day. But luckily for us in this age of information, there's no longer the need to spend months picking the brain of the elderly dressmaker in the village across the stream - with some helpful hints sourced from around the interwebs, and plenty of self-imposed practice, becoming a master of tricky fabrics is completely achievable.

Today, we tackle velvet. Velvet, and specifically velvet woven from silk threads, has always been associated with royalty and nobility. A multitude of factors contribute to the high ranking of silk velvet - not just it's notoriously shifty temperament: velvet is traditionally woven on a very unique loom that weaves two layer of fabric together, face to face. From the diagram below, you'll see how the silk thread is woven through both layers of fabric, and then cut through the middle to separate them. It is those cut threads that creates the velvet pile. This of course can be done with any fibre, be it silk, cotton, viscose or polyester, but it is the light reflective quality of silk threads that creates the most dramatic velvets, not to mention it's soft and drapey texture as well. And the difference between velvet and velveteen?? That's simply a case of how the double layer of fabric is woven: velvet pile is created from the warp (the threads that run vertically, parallel to the selvedges) and velveteen pile is created from the weft (the threads that run horizontally along the width of the fabric).

I love me a good list, so you'll have to forgive me for blatantly copying and pasting this one from Wikipedia, and not even attempting to rewrite it in my own words. It's good one though. Getting ready to cut your velvet The issue of "nap" is of utmost importance when it comes to velvet. Like suede, you'll see that the shimmer changes depending on whether you run your hand along the pile upwards or downwards. Generally speaking, most velvet garments are cut with the pile facing down (think about how much more natural it is to stroke a bodice from top to bottom as opposed to running your hand up!), and this shows off velvet's light-catching, shimmery nature. Cutting it with the pile going up is also completely acceptable, and makes for a darker, richer look. The most important thing to remember, regardless of which direction you choose to cut your velvet, is to cut all pieces facing the same direction! In terms of choosing the right sewing pattern for your velvet, the good news is that the world is your oyster!

Simple, drapey dresses are elevated to gown-worthy status by the luxurious quality of the fabric, while more structured, intricate designs made in velvet will make you feel nothing short of regal. The romantic shimmer of the velvet brings out the best in this easy peasy gathered skirt. This figure hugging beauty has Kim Dress written all over it...No extra fuss in the form of gaudy jewelz, dramatic makeup or hairdo's needed. 90's glamour at its best! Cutting & marking your velvet Silk velvet from the right side The first rule of thumb is to cut from the wrong side. Velvet pile has a similar feel to that of a fuzz-cut - just imagine trying to keep a pattern piece securely in place on top of those shifty little hairs that insist on moving side to side! Keep pattern pieces in place with weights and cut with a rotary cutter for best results. Velvet pile is notoriously shifty, especially when right sides are together, so the second rule of thumb is to cut pattern pieces from a single layer of fabric, as opposed to cutting pairs from folded fabric.

For pattern pieces that require you to cut a pair, a bodice back for example, remember to flip your pattern piece over once you've cut the first side to avoid cutting two of the same. When cutting a pattern piece that requires you to cut it on the fold, cut one side and then carefully flip it over, keeping that centre front line intact as shown below: As you cut, little hairs cut from the pile will go everywhere, so it's not a half bad idea to keep a vacuum cleaner handy! When it comes to marking construction points such as darts, your best bet is the ever faithful tailor's tack. While the pattern paper is still in place, thread up a sewing needle and loosely sew through the dart point a couple of times - going through both paper and fabric - to create a loop. Snip the treads and carefully remove the pattern paper, leaving the cut threads behind. If you weren't pulling your hair out with frustration trying to cut your pattern pieces with some degree of accuracy, then attempting to sew your first velvet seam will do the trick!

When pile meets pile, as it inevitably will have to do when it comes to sewing up your garment, you'll immediately realise that those right sides do not want to go together. The key here is to breathe deep, go slow, and use every stabilising trick in the book in order to sew a precise seam.Hand sew two rows of basting stitches either side of your actual seam line. This will essentially create a stable pathway to help you machine stitch the seam without the two layers distorting out of place as you sew.Choose a wide-ish straight stitch, and you might find that reducing the pressure on the foot helps to prevent further shifting. Velvet and irons are not friends. Too much heat and pressure will crush the pile (which is something you could experiment with to create crushed velvet). Instead, crank up the steam and lightly press seams with the tip of the iron. For best results, lay your velvet onto a velvet board, a towel or a piece of scrap velvet so that the piles sort of interlock and therefore don't get crushed.

If the pile does get crushed, a good tip is to hold it over a steaming kettle and brush it out with a soft toothbrush. Avoid lining or facing velvet with anything too slippery or tricky to work with (especially not more velvet!); choose something nice and easy to sew and feels good against the skin - something like cotton lawn or voile is ideal. Steer clear of fusible interfacings!! If you need to give your velvet a smidge more substance or stability, opt for a no-sew interfacing or interline with cotton organza. If the pile is long, trim or shave it down along the excess seam allowances to prevent bulky seams. Some velvets do not take well to overlockers/sergers. It's always a good idea to test out a scrap to see how it reacts before applying it to your garment. As I'm sure you've already gathered, sewing successfully with velvet requires time, love and a pinch of perfectionism. Don't let that slide when the finishing line is so close in sight! Always take the time to finish a velvet hem by hand.