Big Four Sewing Patterns Made Easy: Amy Scarr (Almond Rock Sews) on Pattern Hacking, Fit and Building a Handmade Wardrobe

In this episode, Amy Scarr (also known as Almond Rock Sews on Instagram) shares her inspiring journey into garment sewing, from discovering a love of making her own clothes to becoming a passionate advocate for "Big Four" sewing patterns and creative dressmaking.

Amy explains why she champions brands like Simplicity, McCall's, and Butterick, she busts some of the common myths around using commercial sewing patterns, and shares practical tips to help sewists build confidence and achieve a better fit.

We also explore how sewing has become an important outlet for Amy's creativity and mental wellbeing, discussing the joy of making, developing a personal style, and why pattern hacking is a brilliant way to create a wardrobe that's uniquely your own.

Whether you're new to garment sewing or looking to get more from your sewing patterns, this episode is packed with practical advice, creative inspiration, and encouragement to help you sew with confidence.

Key Takeaways: 

• Amy's sewing journey progressed from hobby to career
• She provides tips for using big four sewing patterns
• We discuss the mental health benefits of sewing
• Amy talks about her love for pattern hacking and customisation techniques
• She discusses her approach to personal style and dopamine dressing

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Guest details: 

Instagram: @almondrock_sews

Website: www.almondrock.co.uk

Youtube: @almondrock

• Embroidered dress progress

https://youtu.be/7qU-YowuNlI?is=179fKgswEld16_eC

• Laced bodice dress

https://youtu.be/SxxTDljM_fM?is=mytkiy6e24vQ0WGD

• Me Made May 2025 with Jimi 

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMdmlu9YA0UsDYBAtCTR6MF0SDpuAwaXo&si=SHeqcUjkhvW1VsJL

• Me Made May 2026 with Jimi

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMdmlu9YA0UsHZDrvHRTrXW6UwJp3dakK&si=ZLeucGukVpKNRpd1

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Chapters

00:00 Amy's Sewing Journey Begins
02:27 Career Path in the Sewing Industry
04:35 Freelancing and Current Projects
05:26 Writing for Sewing Magazines
07:32 Inspiration and Learning in Sewing
08:15 Personal Style and Dopamine Dressing
11:36 Favorite Patterns and Tips for Beginners
15:25 The Evolution of Sewing Patterns
17:49 Sewing as a Creative Outlet
20:08 Body Positivity Through Sewing
22:21 Me Made May: A Fun Experiment
25:19 YouTube Journey and Content Plans
27:45 Current Projects and Future Aspirations
29:50 Rapid Fire: This or That Game
33:39 Substack 

Transcript

Gemma Daly (00:10)
Amy, welcome to the Sewing Social podcast. I'm so happy to have you on today.

Amy (Almond Rock) (00:15)
So excited to be here.

Gemma Daly (00:17)
You're welcome. I was wondering if you could introduce yourself to the listeners.

Amy (Almond Rock) (00:22)
So hi everyone, I'm Amy. You might also know me as Almond Rock, my sewing altar ego. I share all my sewing across social media, my blog, magazines, a little bit of television. So yeah, I'm excited to meet lots of new people though as well.

Gemma Daly (00:39)
Fantastic. So I wanted to start with how sewing first entered your life.

Amy (Almond Rock) (00:45)
So I have a slightly different story to a lot of people. I got all the way to my twenties before I realized I probably needed a hobby. So I went and did a series of adult education courses that literally taught you how to thread a machine, make a tote bag, and then we worked our way for our first sewing pattern. And I was instantly hooked. So that was back in 2010, and I haven't stopped since. And yeah, it was it was a wonderful way to like sort of

Gemma Daly (00:53)
Ha ha ha.

Amy (Almond Rock) (01:16)
learn a new skill and it's clearly stuck with me after all that time.

Gemma Daly (01:21)
Yeah, definitely. And can you remember what was the first garment that you made, Amy?

Amy (Almond Rock) (01:25)
yes. So

I well, because you just don't know, do you? You don't know how difficult something's gonna be. I picked a strapless butterick dress and my teacher was like, ⁓ okay. ⁓ but she didn't teach me about boning or any kind of internal support. We literally just made it. ⁓ so it didn't hold itself up very well. But I was so proud of that dress.

Gemma Daly (01:34)
Ha ha.

⁓ that's lovely.

Amy (Almond Rock) (01:51)
I ⁓ I had a very boring day job. So it was like a really fun way to spend my evenings and yeah, that I dress only got worn maybe a handful of times before it sort of had to g had to go get retired.

Gemma Daly (02:06)
I think that's the same story with most of our first makes isn't it? So you've had quite an interesting career so far, from roles like editor of Love Sewing magazine to head of marketing for simplicity. I was wondering if you could talk us through your career journey to date.

Amy (Almond Rock) (02:10)
Yeah, exactly.

So I kind of joked about the fact I had a very boring job. I used to work in publishing for like a legal publishers. We produced books for solicitors and barristers, and it was very dry. It was like about reinsurance, where insurers take out insurance on themselves. So I started sewing to make that more exciting. ⁓ something outside of the work hours. But what happened was the love sewing job came up after about five years of.

my being into sewing and it was the perfect mix of sewing and publishing. So I jumped at that chance and that was a wonderful sort of I spent five years there producing 13 issues, 14 issues a year sometimes. And ⁓ it was a great, great job, but eventually had to move on. And then I ended up at Simplicity. So for people who don't know, Simplicity had an office in the UK and I was head of international marketing. So across UK, Europe,

Australia. It was amazing. I got to work with sewing patterns every day in a different way to the magazine. And yeah, did that for about five years and part of that role was being a brand ambassador as well. So, like I mentioned, I would write for all the sewing magazines. I went on TV a couple of times, went to events. it was a really wonderful mix of using all my like professional skills and all my sewing skills, so it kind of helped.

push my sewing along even further. It's the dream job.

Gemma Daly (03:54)
So what are you up to at the moment?

Amy (Almond Rock) (03:57)
So

the Simplicity office closed at the beginning of the year. the business was sold and they couldn't sell the UK and Australian offices with that. So unfortunately, the office closed. So now I'm freelancing in the sewing industry. So I do a bit of work for the American office for the Simplicity that carried on. I do a bit of work with some other sewing businesses, people you might know, like Sew Direct, Minerva, you know, and then I still write for the sewing magazines. So I have a regular column in Love Sewing.

I do a bit for Simply Sewing magazine. yeah, so I'm still in the sewing industry, just I'm master of my own destiny now, I suppose.

Gemma Daly (04:35)
Well, it sounds really interesting, a bit of everything.

Amy (Almond Rock) (04:39)
Yeah, and I love it that way. I think a bit of video, a bit of writing, a bit of consulting. I mean I'll talk to anyone about sewing for hours at end so it's good to get paid for it.

Gemma Daly (04:49)
Absolutely. So I'm curious when it comes to sort of writing your articles for magazines, do they dictate to you what they want the article to be about, or do you go to them with like a topic idea?

Amy (Almond Rock) (05:03)
Yeah, it's definitely a bit of both. having been an editor, like I know how it works as well. And most editors are constantly under deadlines and crunches and they love anyone with a solution. So if you've ever thought of writing for sewing magazines, if you go and pitch them ideas, they'll probably snap your hand off because they love someone who's going to come in and solve a gap of three pages in their magazine.

Obviously they're juggling what other contributors might be writing. So they might need something specific to sort of fit the bigger picture. So how it usually works is they might send you a list of five topics that they're interested in and see which one resonates with you. And then they'll say, have you got anything else to round out this list? And you'll send back your ideas. And between you, you might schedule a few in advance on the different topics. So it could be literally anything from a tutorial one month to an inspiration piece the next month.

Or an interview with someone lovely that you happen to have a connection to that you can bring everybody together.

Gemma Daly (06:01)
Amazing. So yeah, for any listeners that are thinking about writing an article, don't hesitate to pitch your idea.

Amy (Almond Rock) (06:09)
Definitely.

And I would say to anyone who has a small sewing business as well, they love news stories. They want to fill their news pages with lots of interesting spotlights on different sewing businesses. They just don't necessarily have the brain space to go out and find all the stories. So if you send them a little press release or a news story, you're probably going to get in the pages.

Gemma Daly (06:30)
Fantastic. So where do you think you get your inspiration from for your writing, Amy?

Amy (Almond Rock) (06:36)
So I think I one of the big things I love about sewing is like constantly being able to learn, even after 15 plus years of sewing. There's always things that you can do again and learn how to do it in a better way. I mean, there's so many different ways to sew a pointed collar and get the perfect crisp point. ⁓ as well as things that you don't sew very often. I've just returned to sewing swimwear. I haven't sewn swimwear in about six, seven years, and it's like a

crash refresher course. So it's nice to like learn something new. then I was think this when I put this dress on. I tried something completely different with this lacing technique round the neckline that I'd seen, just an image on Pinterest. I love scrolling Pinterest for ideas and Instagram and just thinking, can I make that? There's no tutorial. Let's figure it out. Let's see how we can make it up ourselves.

Gemma Daly (07:08)
Yeah.

Ha ha ha.

Yeah, so you love to try sort of different things and like you say, figure it out for yourself. That's really interesting.

Amy (Almond Rock) (07:38)
Yeah, I d I mean obviously there's a lot of failure involved in that. So it it can be a bit of a blow if you're, you know, if you hate failure, if you want something to be successful every time. But I like that's why I like toile making, fitting your body requires a lot of trial and error and it's all part of it. Like it's not really a failure, it's just you've learned something new. so yeah, I don't mind that stage of it.

Gemma Daly (07:41)
Ha ha ha.

Yeah, and as we always say, you learn best from your mistakes anyway, don't you? So let's talk a little bit about your sewing and your me made wardrobe. How would you describe your style?

Amy (Almond Rock) (08:06)
Absolutely.

so for anyone who hasn't followed me, I I do sew a lot of dresses. I just love a dress. It's one thing. You put it on, your entire outfit's sorted. So I sew a lot of dresses, a lot of colour. I I used to be was a bit of a teenage goth. I don't know how I survived with all that black because I love colour. So so my wardrobe now, every time I open the doors, it's like a face full of colour and print. So I like to sew happy clothing.

Gemma Daly (08:22)
Mm-hmm.

Amy (Almond Rock) (08:44)
Dopamine dressing is, you know, a big thing that makes me happy. And I mean, I can make everything across 15 years. I have tried making everything. I've I've made jeans, I make coats, you know, I make my own bags. ⁓ so it's not necessarily about having to make things for the safe things. I make the things that make me happy and dresses make me happy.

Gemma Daly (09:07)
Lovely. What do you think was the turning point then? Like you say, you you were dressing in all black as a teenager. Was there like a a click moment where your style completely changed?

Amy (Almond Rock) (09:13)
Mm.

I think probably s sewing helped it when I finally started sewing because idea of not being able to find what you want in the shops and you know, I I like a little bit whimsy, like a conversational print. That that's the things I always loved in vintage fashion. probably don't dress like my music taste. I I was a bit of a goth because I do l quite like grunge and and metal music, but that doesn't mean I want to look like that. So I sort of evolved past that sort of

idea that you should look a certain way. so yeah. So now I wear very pretty girly vintagey dresses and I still listen to classic rock music. ⁓ but yeah, so sewing just kind of liberates you because you're in charge of every step. So you can really pick what you want to make and wear and you're in complete control.

Gemma Daly (09:54)
Nice.

Yeah, I love that. I love that. And I just want to pick up on that phrase dopamine dressing. What does it mean to you?

Amy (Almond Rock) (10:12)
Mm.

To me personally, it doesn't necessarily have to be like bright colours, but something that really resonates with you, colors can have such a powerful effect on your mood. for anyone who hasn't ever had their colours done, it's quite an interesting like technique as well. I had mine done quite a few years ago. And while I generally stick to the rules of what they recommended for me.

Gemma Daly (10:20)
Ha

Amy (Almond Rock) (10:42)
I also think that colour, when you look at a colour and it speaks to you, it doesn't necessarily matter how it looks on your body. ⁓ so I just find colour quite, you know, emotional and moving. And then prints, I just love the idea of anything you see outside in life can be translated onto a fabric print, like fruit or animals, stripes, spots, you know.

Gemma Daly (11:04)
Ha ha

Amy (Almond Rock) (11:07)
everything is available to wear on your body in some kind of large crazy scale or tiny micro scale. Fabric is kind of wonderful. I could I don't know why I don't own a fabric shop because that would make me truly happy. But yeah, like I know dopamine dressing is kind of like a modern phrase that's come come along and per it's perfectly encapsulated that.

Gemma Daly (11:21)
Yeah. The passion's there, that's for sure. Yeah.

Amy (Almond Rock) (11:36)
that feeling of the joy that you can get from colour. And if you're even if you're a d not really a big colour fan, just the tiniest pop of colour, like a teeny little pop of red on an all black outfit, can bring you so much happiness. So I'm not expecting everyone to dress like a clown, don't worry.

Gemma Daly (11:50)
Yeah.

So do you have any favourite dress patterns? 'Cause I know you're quite a big fan of the big four.

Amy (Almond Rock) (12:03)
Yeah, definitely. I mean, I started, mean, that dreaded butterick pattern that I started with, from then on, I sort of knew what I was working with with those patterns. So I have used a lot of big four throughout my time at Love Sewing. I've used a lot of indie patterns as well. I cycle I seem to cycle through favourites. I'll have like a favorite dress pattern, I'll make it like 10 times and I'll hack it so it's unrecognizable. so one pattern can go a long way. I really think you can get your value.

Gemma Daly (12:07)
Ha ha

Amy (Almond Rock) (12:33)
Money from them. and then I'll move on to the next pattern. I do really, really love a McCall's sundress. There's so many of them. I love a princess seam bodice, great for fitting. had a very obsessive phase of sewing sew over it shirt dresses for a long time. I made a lot of them.

Gemma Daly (12:52)
Hmm.

Amy (Almond Rock) (12:55)
At the minute I'm a little bit hooked on McCall's 7969, which is a very loose, oversized wrap bodice with raglan sleeves. And I've hacked that many times. I must maybe have 10 of those. Gosh. So yeah, so I'm I have strong love affairs and then I move on to the next pattern.

Gemma Daly (13:09)
Yeah.

Brilliant. a lot of people are a little bit wary of using those big four patterns sometimes due to them sort of historically having issues with sizing. Do you have any advice for people who do want to use them but are a bit hesitant?

Amy (Almond Rock) (13:30)
Definitely. I think that the biggest challenge that people have found with them is that one, they're written with this assumed knowledge. They were they're a product that was made when people were learning to sew in schools. You already went in with all of this knowledge. So they kind of hit the ground running. they've learned from that. And a lot of the more recent ones have more like learn to sew versions of them, very beginner friendly. And then the other part of it is the sizing. They're kind of

generally built with more ease in the body, two to three inches. And I think that most Europeans like one to two inches max. We like a more close fitting garment. So I do have a series of videos that I made in collaboration with Simplicity that teach you to look at the finished garment measurements and you pick your perfect size based on those measurements and how roomy you want it to be rather than using the US recommended sizing. So that's definitely a big point.

And I would definitely say if you haven't used one, people say, I haven't used one for a long time. And they're talking about like 10 years plus. If you picked up one of the modern ones, you would find it it's laid out nicer, it has a lot less ease. There's some really nice styles now. in the last few years, since the company's sort of realigned and figured out all their production methods now that all the brands are under one roof. So in case anyone doesn't know, Simplicity, McCall's, Vogue, Butterick.

They're all owned by the same company. So they're individually produced brands, but they've all learned from each other. They figured out who was doing this bit best and who was doing that. ⁓ so they're quite a different product than you might remember. Well, definitely if you've been sewing for over 50 years, they've definitely changed a lot since then. And if you haven't sewn one in the last few years, I'd recommend picking up one of the latest designs and giving it another go because you might be pleasantly surprised. A lot of them have video sew alongs now. So if you learn

In a more visual way, that's good. They can take you through every step. but yeah, like if you love an indie, that's absolutely fine. I love the tissue paper, it's so much easier to place on the fabric. You can see through it so you can position it on your fabric more easily. But I speak to people who hate tissue and they absolutely love the hard paper stock. ⁓ and now you can buy the big four patterns as A O

pattern files and have them printed yourself onto the thicker paper. So it's quite a different beast to what it was a few years ago. So I say again. Mmm there you go. So yeah they like print at home if you like to torture yourself and stick all the tiles together or get an A0 version and get it printed at the copy shop.

Gemma Daly (15:59)
Yeah, I didn't know you could print them off actually. That's a n that's a new tip for me.

Yeah.

Brilliant. Now I heard somewhere that you have over five thousand patterns in a cabinet in your home. Is that right?

Amy (Almond Rock) (16:27)
No guilty as charged. So part of my role at Simplicity was being like the on-hand sewing expert for customer queries. We had a lovely customer service team in the office who would help with obviously where's my order? Like I don't, you know, is there a pattern like this? Things like that. But if someone said, I need help with step 17 of this pattern's instructions, that would come to me. So I'd go to my lovely filing cabinet and I had a copy of

Gemma Daly (16:52)
Ha ha ha.

Amy (Almond Rock) (16:55)
Pretty much every pattern that we had in print. So in total, there was like 9,000 patterns. I couldn't have all of them. So I had I had about a three or four thousand of like the most recent patterns, plus my indie stash of, you know, back catalogue and vintage sewing patterns. And ⁓ yes, they gave me one of the industrial-sized filing cabinets. It was a kind of disgusting off-mustard beige colour at first.

Then I got my trusty paintbrush out and I've painted it white so it looks a bit nicer. ⁓ but yeah, it's it can have five thousand sewing patterns. It absolutely boggled the mind. ⁓ so yeah, it's too many, isn't it? It's too many.

Gemma Daly (17:38)
That's amazing. It's

amazing. So what do you think sewing gives you, Amy, that nothing else can?

Amy (Almond Rock) (17:49)
That's such a big question. my gosh. I think it like does multiple things for me. It's sort of very good for like my creative outlet. Gives me a place where I can play and make clothing that I love to make and wear. So that's like a wonderful thing. I think it also does something very good for my mental health. You know, the kind of zen meditative.

part of it where you calm down and you have to focus and everything else just drifts away. But it's really good for things like like working methodically. You have to go through certain steps can be rearranged, but most of the time you have to do things in an order. It's good for spatial reasoning. You really understand 3D shapes. It helps you develop a better relationship with your body because you understand it and you dress it.

how you want it to to be dressed, you know, nothing too tight, nothing uncomfortable. Everything's designed specifically for you. so yeah, it does it does things for me on multiple levels. It's very satisfying to keep learning, as I kind of talked about, keep my brain young, learn something new with every project ideally, or have something that's a nice palate cleanser that can just yeah, enjoy the process.

So yeah, lots of different things, but isn't that wonderful that one hobby can sort of tick loads of boxes?

Gemma Daly (19:15)
It really is. There's so many things there, isn't there? And it is quite a common theme that we've discussed on the show about using it for your mental health and things, but I think it is important to pick up on the fact why we're doing it in the first place as well, like trying to dress your body, maybe in a way that you can't achieve from the shops. So that is that's a really interesting point.

Amy (Almond Rock) (19:22)
Mm.

think that like, you know, especially as women, a lot of the time we're kind of taught to hate our bodies. Like, no matter whether what's you're never at the perfect size, you're never at the perfect shape. It's it's so exhausting. And it's nice to like disconnect from that and just think of yourself as a series of measurements that translate to, you know, your project. If you're a 38 bust, if you're a fifty-two bust, it doesn't matter, you just it's your bust.

Gemma Daly (19:46)
Yeah.

Amy (Almond Rock) (20:09)
and you want to make something that fits it nicely. ⁓ I think that yeah, it's it's a n it can be obviously a bit frustrating still. You still have to tackle prejudice that you have about your own body, but at the same sense it's quite healing to make clothes that fit you and you enjoy wearing.

Gemma Daly (20:18)
Mm.

Yeah.

It is, and I would agree that we are taught to hate our bodies. I don't think it comes from ourselves, does it? It comes from like society. So it is quite nice or it could be quite nice to be able to disconnect from that emotion, you know, about it and just see it as maybe a bunch of measurements that you're trying to make this thing fit to. So that's really interesting.

Amy (Almond Rock) (20:37)
Exactly.

I mean, don't get me wrong, it can still go wrong if you you can still make the perfect, most well fitting garment and then look at yourself and be like, I don't like this. That's still that's always gonna be a dilemma because just because it fits you really well doesn't mean you're going to like it. But you've got a better chance.

Gemma Daly (21:08)
Yeah. And I think that is an ongoing learning, journey, isn't it, with sewing? Because I often see these beautiful new patterns and I think, yeah, I really want to make that. And then I make it, wear it, and I think, actually, that isn't for me. I'm unfortunately not somebody that can pull off a big collar, even though I love to look at them. But I do like a puffy sleeve.

Amy (Almond Rock) (21:18)
Mm.

⁓

No,

definitely. Instagram and all the like hype around a new pattern coming out, the promotion is very good. It's very psychological. It's kind of social media is wonderful at helping you find patterns that you didn't know existed. It can help show you the perfect thing, but it can also show you something that you don't really need, isn't really right for you, and you get swept up in the excitement of, I'm gonna be one of these people that made it and

I'm gonna be in that crowd and it's going to be wonderful. So yeah, it's you have to kind of shake yourself out of it a little bit sometimes.

Gemma Daly (22:08)
You do, you Now, Me Made May has been and gone, but I want to talk to you a bit about how you've been doing Me Made May over the last couple of years. Can you tell us about it?

Amy (Almond Rock) (22:13)
Mm-hmm.

So for anyone who hasn't spotted this, ⁓ for the last two years I've decided to shake up Me Made May. I started Me Made May ⁓ in 2010, that first year after I'd only been sewing a short while, I did Me Made May with like five garments. And since then I've taken part every year, and now pretty much every day is me made everyday for me because I have enough handmade clothing. So for the last couple of years I thought, hmm, what can I do?

Gemma Daly (22:22)
Yeah.

Well.

Amy (Almond Rock) (22:50)
That would be different. And somebody suggested on my Instagram, how about I let my husband pick out my outfit every day? He's an exceedingly good cheerleader. He's been there since the start. He's always encouraged my sewing. He loves seeing everything I've made. And I thought this is gonna be a really fun experiment to see what he picks out. What does he like

Gemma Daly (22:59)
Ha ha ha.

Amy (Almond Rock) (23:16)
Like personally, what does he like from my wardrobe? What does he think is appropriate to wear to going to work, going out for dinner? It's it was such a great psychological experiment. And he's a good sport. He loves being on camera. So every video he would introduce what he's picked for me, explain why he's chosen it, sometimes with really strange answers. ⁓ like he'd pick me a skirt out, he'd be like,

Ooh, I thought you'd look nippy in this one. I'm like, right. Okay. And then over time it kind of you see the patterns. He's obsessed with blue dresses. Every time there's a blue dress available, I would if he'd picked it once, I would take it out so he wouldn't pick it again. But he would literally go through until all the blue dresses were chosen. It's fascinating. It's a really good giggle. ⁓ we love being on camera together. yeah, it was like a nice.

Gemma Daly (24:10)
Hmm.

Amy (Almond Rock) (24:13)
Fun experiment last year. And then I said, should he come back again this year? And overwhelmingly, people said, Yes, bring him back for another year.

Gemma Daly (24:23)
Fantastic. It is lovely to see something a little bit different and you're both so joyful. It's really it's really nice to watch.

Amy (Almond Rock) (24:31)
Thank you. No, we have a lot of fun. There's a lot of off camera laughing, so we have to cut cut that out. And ⁓ yeah, we're both quite it's quite odd to have two like extroverts married to each other. ⁓ but it definitely works on camera.

Gemma Daly (24:46)
Do you think you're gonna do it again next year or will you mix it up,

Amy (Almond Rock) (24:51)
No, I keep trying to think what

what could I do next year to take it to another level, something completely different. I'm very open to suggestions. If anyone listening to this has an idea for me, please get in touch. Where could we take it? but yeah, maybe he's done and it's something something else entirely different.

Gemma Daly (25:11)
Watch this space. So you also have a YouTube channel, don't you? have you got any more plans for it?

Amy (Almond Rock) (25:12)
Exactly.

Yeah, thank you so much for mentioning that because it's a really like new passion of mine. Technically, I did set it up years ago and then I sort of abandoned it. But I'm back at it with a renewed passion because I just love having more time to talk through things on YouTube. Instagram just constantly wants you to be very quick and snappy. ⁓ so on YouTube you can delve into technique a bit more. So for instance, like there is a video tutorial of me.

showing you how I made this lacing technique in case you wanted to try it. There's sewing diaries where I show me toile making, how I'm making fit adjustments. There are pattern inspiration videos because I love being a little bit of a detective, say matching patterns from popular brands with high street or designer outfits so you can sew the look. yeah it kind of cycles through lots of different topics but it's less rushed.

You know, you can enjoy yourself a bit more. So I've been really loving returning to YouTube. I've got a video, I've got a lot of videos in in the pipeline for the minute. I'm making a handmade leather bag from a kit that I'm showing everybody how simple that is to make their own leather bag if they want to complete their outfit. So that'll be coming out soon. I actually went to the University of Manchester and I had a full body scan.

Of my measurements. They used special technology to scan your body. This is a free service that they offer. And it was quite confronting to see your entire body in a 3D model with all the measurements. But that will be so helpful in sewing to know all of my exact measurements. Obviously, there's little bits of fluctuation, but it's so much more precise than anything you could sort of take at home. So I'm going to make a video about that experience.

Gemma Daly (26:45)
Wow.

Amy (Almond Rock) (27:08)
And one of the things they did for me is they gave me some pattern blocks that were adjusted perfectly to my measurements. So I'm going test out if that works. so you can look forward to that video coming soon. And yeah, I have another one ⁓ lined up for another sew the look video with inspiration from the Outnet. ⁓ if you like designer fashion and you want to pick the perfect patterns. So yeah, lots coming to YouTube.

Gemma Daly (27:32)
Amazing.

Yeah, that's all really interesting stuff and I will definitely link it all in the show notes. Do you have any other exciting plans coming up, Amy, either for makes or work or?

Amy (Almond Rock) (27:39)
Thank you.

So I mean work is constantly evolving. I mean, if there's anybody out there who needs me for anything, please reach out. But yeah, I'm just enjoying lots of good sewing time at the minute. Like I mentioned, getting back into sewing swimwear. So I finished two swimsuits. So I'm looking forward to testing those out. And I'm working on this project that's kind of like I think I've bitten off more than I can chew. You can see the start of it over on my YouTube.

I'm making a Brawra-inspired embroidered dress, and it's essentially a linen dress with stripes of embroidery stitches. So it's using all the embroidery stitches you might get on a sort of higher-end machine. My machine very fortunately has lots of different decorative stitches included. And I'm sewing rows of stripes in embroidery stitches all the way around a shirt dress. I've only gotten as far as the bodice and the sleeves so far.

Actually takes a really long time. What have I decided to do? But it's going to look so like amazing. I'm really excited with the progress. I have to move on to the tiered skirt. I also have some ribbons and trims, ⁓ sort of ladder insertion lace. If you've ever wondered how that gets inserted, I'm going to be putting that in between the tiers. I'm gonna add some pleats to it as well. So lots of yummy texture and detail. I mean

Gemma Daly (28:44)
Yeah.

Amy (Almond Rock) (29:11)
It might be finished by Christmas at this rate, but it's looking really good. So there's a video about me picking the pattern, testing out the process, picking the combinations of stitches so you can see how they look together and you know how I got started, plus a couple of mishaps where I nearly ruined the entire thing after hours and hours of stitching. But yeah, I'm looking forward to finishing that up and sharing it soon.

Gemma Daly (29:39)
That sounds like a really interesting project and I'll definitely keep an eye out for that one. It's right up my street. So just to round off the interview, Amy, I like to do a little game of this or that. Is that okay with you?

Amy (Almond Rock) (29:50)
Mm, yes, I love this I love this part of the show. I always

I'm really interested in hearing what people pick.

Gemma Daly (29:58)
Okay, so I think we know the answer to this one, but we'll go for it anyway. Bold prints or classic plains? A huge surprise. An organized stash or creative chaos.

Amy (Almond Rock) (30:05)
Ball prince.

Creative chaos. I would love to be organized, but I'm not quite there.

Gemma Daly (30:18)
Fair enough. Tea or coffee.

Amy (Almond Rock) (30:22)
Tea. Very important. Earl grey, super grey, lots of skim milk that doesn't even taste like milk. It tastes like milky water. And yeah, a big giant mug of it to keep you going while sewing.

Gemma Daly (30:35)
Very specific. I like it. Scissors or a rotary cutter?

Amy (Almond Rock) (30:41)
I know I always kept thinking about this because I knew it was on the list. I think I'm gonna go with rotary cutter. I have the most amazing self-healing mat on my cutting table that is clear. So it just looks like a regular tabletop. It's nice and bright and light for when you're working. And I got it from a place called Rhino Cutting. They cut it to the exact size of your table. So that's a game changer. So rotary cutter.

Gemma Daly (31:08)
Yeah, I might have to check that out myself. ⁓ a tried and tested pattern or something new.

Amy (Almond Rock) (31:15)
Tried and tested because you can always hack it and turn it into a completely different project, ⁓ but you don't have to remeasure yourself.

Gemma Daly (31:22)
Perfect. Sweet or savory?

Amy (Almond Rock) (31:27)
I think I'm g I

think I'm gonna go savory, you know. I a few years ago I would have said sweet, like hands down, but now I'm going savory.

Gemma Daly (31:35)
She's a changed woman.

Knits or wovens.

Amy (Almond Rock) (31:40)
Wovens. I don't mind a knit, but gosh I love a woven. There's so many different kinds. And yeah, I would say that's the bulk of my stash's wovens.

Gemma Daly (31:50)
Spring summer or autumn winter.

Amy (Almond Rock) (31:52)
Spring summer. I'm a Leo, I'm a summer baby, I love the sunshine. We've not quite had that much of it yet this year, but I love to dress in a lovely spring summer dress.

Gemma Daly (32:04)
One project on the go or multiple?

Amy (Almond Rock) (32:06)
⁓ multiple. I might

have about eight at the minute. ⁓ but I'll just love that you can switch between them. You can pick up the one that's speaking to you that day, not the embroidered dress. You leave that until you've got you've got time.

Gemma Daly (32:23)
Bless you. And the last one, follow instructions to the letter or do your own thing.

Amy (Almond Rock) (32:28)
If I'm talking to beginners, I always say, follow your instructions. You'll learn so much by working it through in order. And then the secret is once you've been sewing a while, you can throw them out the window. You know roughly what you need to do, unless it's got some unique construction, you can sort of make the instructions up. So yeah. The longer you've been sewing, the braver you can get.

Gemma Daly (32:32)
Mm mm.

Exactly. So where can people find you, Amy?

Amy (Almond Rock) (32:53)
so if you like this chat and you want to follow along, I'm over on Instagram at Almond Rock underscore sews and I'm over on YouTube too at Almond Rock Sews So yeah, that that would be really great. I also have a blog if you like the kind of slow, enjoyable reading or you want to get my content emailed to you to enjoy your leisure. So that's almondrock.co.uk. It's it's nice to still have a blog after all this time. ⁓ I know not a lot of people have them anymore, but I'm still going.

Gemma Daly (33:22)
You go girl Well, you've been an amazing guest, Amy. Thank you so much for joining me on the Sewing Social podcast today.

Amy (Almond Rock) (33:32)
Thank you so much for having me. This is wonderful.

Gemma Daly (33:35)
You take care. Bye.

Amy (Almond Rock) (33:36)
Bye Everyone.