A Rutland woman reports a growing number of people across the county turning to sewing and dressmaking since the start of the pandemic.

Caroline Beacon moved to Rutland in 2019 from Hampshire to be closer to family, adding many of her aunts, uncles and cousins live in the area.

She said: "Every time we visited we fell a little more in love with area, so the decision was an easy one to make."

Thirteen years ago Caroline was diagnosed with a life altering illness and this diagnosis led her to both a change in career and lifestyle and as a result I rediscovered her love with all things creative.

She said: "I took time to sit back, to let myself create again and I remembered the joy it brought me to make things for myself. Soon friends were asking me to make

for them and their friends and so on.

"Having got my passion back for crafting I decided to retrain and was fortunate to undertake an apprenticeship for a tailor on Savile Row. In this role I learned the finer details of tailoring and hand finishing and my love for garment making grew.

"In 2013 I took a giant leap and opened my own haberdashery shop and sewing school in Alton, Hampshire. I loved helping people to grow their passion for

sewing and creating their own garments but I noticed that many customers

were often confused choosing fabrics to suit their pattern choice, they didn't

want to choose the wrong fabric for the garment and this fear often put them

off dressmaking.

"I loved helping them choose materials or patterns, giving them advice or teaching them in one of my classes. This is when my idea for unique complete sewing kits first emerged. So when we moved here it seemed like the perfect opportunity to launch Sew Ab Fab."

From her 'beautiful' studio in Barleythorpe Sew Ab Fab lovingly creates

complete dressmaking kits for women, men, tweens and infants.

Caroline said: "Each kit contains absolutely everything you need to sew your chosen garment from fabric and paper pattern right down to a fabric label to finish your garment off with.

"As well as our sewing kits we run sewing and craft classes in person for all ages and abilities, whether you are a beginner or an improver in sewing, knitting, crochet needle felting or lampshade making there is something for everyone."

While many businesses suffered during the lockdowns, Caroline may have fared better than many.

She told Nub News: "We are a new start business that started in the middle of a pandemic so it is hard to say what impact Covid has had but I do know from many friends that they have turned to crafting in many forms to help with the unusual situation we have been in.

"People have realised that craft in any form is good for the soul and even though many have returned to work they are keeping up their new hobby."

This month Caroline is running many courses.

"We have lots of fabulous classes on our time table, some are skill based classes such as Know Your Sewing Machine, Beginners & Improvers Sewing Masterclass, Beginners Crochet & Beginners Knitting and others are projected based such as our Needle Felting Classes, Sewing Christmas Stockings, Knitting Socks.

"As I mentioned above all our classes are held in our beautiful studio in Barleythorpe, our tutors are passionate about their craft and classes are small with a maximum of 6 participants and are both informative and fun. You can find all our classes in detail on our website www.sewabfab.co.uk or feel free to contact me on [email protected]."

Caroline added: "The overriding experience of learning a craft and making something to keep or wear has been that of great enjoyment and satisfaction and one I love to pass on , whether that is in a class or via a complete dressmaking kit."