Wirral designer Emma Embery shares her tips for ensuring your Diamond Jubilee street party is one to remember WORDS BY EMMA MAYOH PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIRSTY THOMPSON
Clothes and homeware designer Emma Embery isn’t one to sit around. In nine months she’s designed a ready-to-wear fashion collection – on sale in Tokyo, Los Angeles and New York as well as Wirral – she’s opened an eclectic boutique, Hide and Seek, in Irby, launched a series of craft classes and given birth to a baby boy.
‘I can’t believe how well things are going,’ said the designer, who learned her trade working for labels including DKNY, Liz Claiborne, Ralph Lauren and Monsoon. ‘People really seem to have taken to what I do here and it’s fantastic.’
The 37-year-old had been designing collections of pretty womenswear and bridal items. But she wanted to branch into home accessories, as well as supporting other local people who produce everything from fashion and furniture to art work. All of it is stocked in the Irby shop.
Emma is also holding workshops for those who want to celebrate the Jubilee in style with help from local experts, including Claire Johnson. The sessions show you how to create everything from patriotic bunting, wine coolers, and tote bags to delicate vintage style drinking glasses and jubilee cushions in the shape of a corgi!
She said: ‘Lots of people want to make their own things. This is the perfect way to have a go at being creative. This is our heritage and it’s important we mark the occasion properly and in style.’
On the opposite page Emma and Claire help you create bunting and a Queen’s silhouette T-shirt to wear on this historic occasion.
For more information about Hide and Seek and workshops at the Irby boutique visit www.hideandseek.biz
The print version of this article appeared in the June 2012 issue of Cheshire Life
We can deliver a copy direct to your door – order online here
Make your own: Emma’s Diamond Jubilee T-shirt
Materials
1 T-shirt, buy new or transform an old one
1 image of The Queen’s silhouette, you’ll find plenty of these on the internet
20cm wide patterned fabric
1 pack of bondaweb
Vintage jewellery for the necklace and crown. Emma’s uses a diamante drop earring for the crown and pearls for the necklace. You’ll find plenty of these in charity shops or Emma found some in her nan’s jewellery box
Sewing machine, or you can hand stitch if you prefer
Iron and ironing board
1 piece of scrap fabric to protect the material from the iron
Method
Print out the silhouette image. Iron the bonder web onto the back of the image and then cut out around the picture to give you your stencil.
Lay the bondaweb flat on the patterned fabric and iron to bond the two. You can then peel the back off the bondaweb and steam iron it onto the fabric of the t-shirt.
To make sure the motif is extra secure, machine or hand stitch around the edge of the silhouette.
You can then decorate with pearls and other jewellery. This can be done by hand stitching the jewellery into place on top of the Queen’s head motif. Be as sparing or lavish as you would like. Emma raided charity shops and her nan’s jewellery draw for inspiring items.
Make your own: Claire’s Jubilee bunting
Materials
� m bleached cotton calico
� m each of red, white and blue cotton print fabric
2 packs of bondaweb
3 m white biased binding sewing thread in red, white and blue
Scissors
Ruler
Pencil
Pins
Iron and ironing board
Sewing machine
2 large pieces of scrap fabric to protect the iron and ironing board when using the bondaweb
Method
Measure and cut out six rectangles of 22cm x 26cm from the cotton bleach calico. These will for the caking of the bunting flags.
Measure and cut out six rectangles, again of 22cm by 26cm, from the blue cotton fabric.
But the bondaweb sheets in half, following the instructions on the pack, iron the bondaweb onto the reverse sides of the red and white cotton fabrics.
Use scrap fabric to protect the iron and ironing board by placing the bondaweb in between them.
Measure and cut out strips 4cm wide from the white cotton fabric. Measure and cut out 2cm wide from the red cotton fabric. Remove paper backing from the strips of fabric.
Place the strips onto the blue cotton print fabric, laying the white and then the red strips on top. Trim to the correct size. Press the strips in place using the iron.
Stitch along the edges of the strips of fabric on the flags using a straight stitch using the thread colour to match the fabric.
Place the white fabric rectangles over the top of each flag and pin in place. Using blue thread, sew around the three edges using a straight stitch on a 1cm seam allowance. Remove the pins as you sew and leave the top of the flag open.
Trim the bottom corners of the flags, turn the right sides out and press with the iron.
Press the biased binding in half along the edge and pin flags in place so they are evenly placed.
Sew all the way along the lower edge of the biased binding to secure the flags in place, removing the pins as you sew.
How are you marking the Diamond Jubilee? Tell us about your celebrations, including a few images, by emailing letters@cheshire.life.co.uk
