Crafting Comforts
Edition 15
Lighter Days, Lighter Makes
Bringing spring into your sewing room
There’s a point each spring where everything begins to shift, the days grow longer, the light changes, and our homes start to feel different again.
April brings that quiet sense of a fresh start, a time to clear, refresh, and make something simple and beautiful.
With the season turning and Easter holidays upon us, we’re bringing that feeling into the sewing room with projects designed to add a sense of lightness, calm, and creativity to your everyday.
What’s Inside This Month....
In this month’s newsletter, we’re welcoming the shift into spring with thoughtful sewing, practical tools, and projects designed to be both useful and enjoyable.
From seasonal makes for the home and a closer look at finishing techniques, to favourite tools and a live Sewing Street preview, there’s plenty to explore.
Whether you’re planning your next project or simply taking a quiet moment to read, we hope you’ll find something here to inspire your making this month.
Pattern of the Month: The Spring Block Pattern Collection
A thoughtfully paired bundle to take you from patchwork to a beautifully finished cushion. The Spring Block Pattern helps you build a fresh, balanced design, while Pillow Talk guides you through the finishing details with confidence.
Get your Pattern of the Month here →
Tools of the Month
Three go-to pressing tools—a felt mat, clapper, and mini steam iron—designed to help you achieve crisp seams, flat blocks, and a beautifully finished result.
See Tools of the Month →
Tip of the Month
Blog of the Month
A gentle look at spring sewing, with ideas for bringing light, softness, and seasonal balance into the home.
Coming Soon to Sewing Street
Don’t miss our live on Sewing Street this April, featuring beautiful new bag designs alongside the striking Flock Quilt.
Read more →
Coming Soon
A new collection of curated sewing kits is on the way—thoughtfully assembled from my own fabric collection, with each one designed to be both practical and quietly special.
Read more →
In the Shop
Alongside this month’s feature, you’ll also find:
Handy Guide Library | Family Comforts
The Bag Atelier | Family Comforts
Everything designed to support you in making projects that are well made, practical, and made to be used.
May this season bring lighter fabrics, calmer moments, and joyful making.
With warmest wishes,
Sandi and the Team
Family Comforts
Premium heritage with British warmth and craftsmanship
What do you think?
We’d love to hear your thoughts on the newsletter, and any ideas you’d enjoy seeing in future issues.
If there’s something you’d love to see more of this year-be it patterns, kits, handmade pieces or behind-the-scenes making-I’d love to hear from you.
Email me here →
Pattern of the Month: Spring Block & Cusion Companion Set
Create fresh, balanced patchwork with the Spring Block Pattern, then take it all the way through to a polished, professional finish with Pillow Talk – The Cushion Companion Handy Guide.
This pairing has been put together to make the process straightforward, from your first block to a finished cushion you’ll be proud to have in your home.
Inside the bundle:
• Spring Block Pattern – build your patchwork layout with ease Spring Blocks for Quilting | Family Comforts
• Pillow Talk – The Cushion Companion – covers borders, piping, trims, zip styles, and cushion finishes Pillow Talk- The Handy Cushion Companion | Family Comforts (also available as a digital download- PDF)
Whether you’re updating your space for the season or creating a coordinated set, this bundle gives you everything you need to move confidently from making to finishing.
This month: £15 for the set (usually £19.50).
The Perfect Pairing
One of the strengths of this pattern is how easily it adapts to your own style and home.
You might choose soft, calming tones for a relaxed spring feel, or introduce a little contrast with deeper colours to give it more definition. It also works beautifully with mixed fabrics, making it ideal for using treasured scraps or building a coordinated set from your stash.
A single block can become a cushion.
A few blocks can form a table runner.
Or you can build a larger piece over time.
It’s a design you can return to again and again with each time resulting in a completely different style.
A Little Note from the Workroom
In between working on new designs, there’s always a bear taking shape on my sewing table, just a quiet reminder of where it all began for us.
Even as we move into more home focused projects this season, that sense of comfort, craftsmanship, and care remains at the heart of everything we make here at Family Comforts.
Tools of the Month: Pressing & Finishing Essentials
Good finishing starts with good pressing, and these are three tools we return to time and time again.
These are the kinds of tools that quietly improve the finish of everything you make. They aren't 'essential' as we suggested but they do make the job at hand a lot easier.
If you choose to buy through these links, it helps support Family Comforts at no extra cost to you.
Tip of the month - Press as You Go
It sounds simple, but it makes all the difference.
Taking a moment to press each seam as you work keeps everything neat, accurate, and far easier to assemble, especially when working with blocks or cushions.
It’s one of the easiest ways to improve your finish without changing anything else.
Always set your seam before opening it out or pressing to the side. Taking a few seconds to gently press along the seam first will noticeably improve the finish of your work. It’s a small step, but one well worth not missing.
Read our Latest Blog
A gentle read for the season ahead
A calm, seasonal read exploring simple sewing ideas, softer colours, and lighter fabrics to gently refresh your home this spring.
Sewing Street Update
Live on 27th April
Family Comforts returns to Sewing Street with a brand new design by Jason Yenter — the Flock Quilt.
In the second show, Sandi brings back the much-loved Daisy Folding Handbag in fresh new colourways, alongside the return of the Cavatelli Slouch Bag, also reimagined in updated tones.
Together, the two shows offer a complete sewing session, thoughtful design, practical techniques, and projects ready to take straight to your sewing table.
Coming Soon: Curated Sewing Kits
As we prepare to move house this spring, it’s become very clear to me, that my fabric stash simply can’t come with me in its entirety!
So rather than packing it away, I’ve decided to turn it into something far more useful.
Over the coming weeks, we’ll be releasing a series of curated sewing kits, each one made from carefully selected fabrics from my own collection.
The first will be a beginner-friendly pouch kit, designed to help build confidence while learning key techniques, complete with fabric, zip, interfacing, and pattern.
Each kit will be slightly different, and quantities will be limited. Once they’re gone, they won’t be repeated.
These are fabrics I’ve collected over the years, which are now ready to become part of something new.
More details coming soon. Kits will be on the website by the end of this month.
Wherever your sewing takes you this month, choose well, make carefully, and enjoy the process.
Let’s Sew Together – Book Me for a Workshop, Course or Creative Talk!
Did you know I run friendly, hands-on sewing courses tailored to suit all levels, from beginners finding their way with a needle, to seasoned stitchers looking for fresh inspiration? My workshops are ideal for quilt groups, independent fabric shops, local sewing clubs, and even small groups of friends who love to sew together. I also offer inspiring talks for the WI and other community groups, sharing stories from behind the seams of my design journey (with a few cheeky bears thrown in for good measure!). If you’d like to bring some stitching magic to your group, event or venue, I’d love to chat. Let’s create something special together!
Top Tip:
When booking a sewing workshop, think about the projects your group will enjoy most—whether it’s learning a new technique, making a keepsake, or tackling a skill you’ve always wanted to master. Tailoring the theme to your group makes the day even more inspiring and memorable.
To view upcoming courses or to make an enquiry simple click below.
All Products
Our Best Sellers this Month
Spend Over £50 for
FREE P&P
Great news! From now on orders over £50 will qualify for FREE postage. No codes needed - your discount will be automatically applied at checkout.
Happy crafting!
NB Applies to all items sold online.
Consider this.....
Long before chocolate eggs and foil wrappers, Easter was rooted in older, nature-led traditions - marking the return of light, growth, and new life. You might like to borrow a little of that this year with a simple garden or home Easter hunt using fabric eggs, soft handmade pouches, or small sewn treasures. It’s a quieter, more thoughtful way to celebrate the season, and one that can be brought out and enjoyed year after year.
