Denford-based Debbie Shore has just launched her book ‘Making Cushion Covers’, published by
Searchpress. Debbie was sewing before she can even remember; her mum was a seamstress and taught Debbie to sew and the sewing machine was as much a part of their lives as the cooker or the TV! It has taken Debbie many years to come to realise that there is such a huge interest in the craft, so many people wanting to learn new skills, mend, repair and create, and she is now on a mission to get the nation sewing!

After spending years encouraging people to take up the craft of sewing, Debbie will be taking beginners classes at the Silver showroom in Rushden, starting on 21st January. The classes came about by demand - there are so many people who have a sewing machine they are fearful of or have lost the instructions for, or who feel a little intimidated by ‘experts’ or classes, so Debbie wants to put them at their ease and explain how their machines work and their capabilities, and to give them confidence to get creative with fabrics.

Debbie has quite a history in the media, working in TV since 1979, appearing in commercials and corporate video until 1986, when she began a career as a children’s presenter for Kids ITV. She became Zippy’s love interest in Rainbow in 1988, and as CITV put all the ITV local channels under one umbrella, she had a ‘roving reporter’ job to take a crew to different children’s programmes to film how they were made. Debbie then went on to act, appearing in Brookside, Hollyoaks, and Emmerdale and in many commercials such as Coca Cola and Daz.

Nowadays, Debbie sells sewing machines and the likes on a shopping channel, Ideal World in Peterborough, and has made six instructional sewing DVDs which she also sells on the channel. In addition, she writes a monthly column for Sew magazine in the ‘home’ section and hosts a sewing forum [www.shortcutstosewing.co.uk] with over 600 members, where she answers questions and introduces new sewers to each other.

Debbie also takes on commissions for anything from home make-overs to alterations and, in her spare time, enjoys re-upholstering old furniture. Her next goal is to organise a sewing ‘roadshow’, starting in Bristol then Leeds, in essence a weekend workshop designed to help those new to sewing!

‘Making Cushion Covers’ was written by Debbie over a period of four months and is illustrated with photos taken by her husband. The couple was able to hand the complete book over to the publishers and, within weeks of being on pre-order at Amazon, it topped the needlecraft category. The book is also available from www.thimblelane.co.uk

Details of Debbie’s classes at Silver in Rushden is on her forum, www.shortcutstosewing.co.uk or you can contact Debbie on 07528 527 172.

Cushion Covers

Cushion Covers

Cushion Covers

Cushion Covers