I learned so much. I am thrilled not to be scared of sewing machines any more! I loved this class, I thought I wasn’t going to get as far as we did and I am happy/thrilled with the results and skills learned today.

I gained an appreciation of pattern engineering and a better understanding of the subtleties of fit. Lovely hearing Helen’s experiences and dipping into her knowledge. Thank you, it was worth the journey from Devon.

I recently had a fantastic day pattern cutting with Helen after my husband kindly bought me a voucher for Christmas. I had had the benefit of Helen's experience before when we made a bodice block and my project this time was to make a summer dress based on a Tudor kirtle. Helen spent a lot of time beforehand researching the styles and seemingly endless possibilities of the look and function of the dress after I sent her some photos of the kind of design I had in mind. Helen has an incredible wealth of knowledge and experience to draw on and talked me through the stages of how to move and remove darts and incorporate Princess seams instead and how to drop the sleeves to make the garment more historically correct. I learned so much and am busy finishing my toile ready for a further fitting session with Helen and more advice regarding the lining and lacing. Helen is very friendly and approachable and ensures that you are understanding the various steps and the whole process as you go along. I would definitely recommend Helen's classes to anyone from the first time sewist to those who have been sewing for a while and want to challenge themselves further in their projects.

I had the best time with you on this course, thank you so much!! I learnt so much about patterns and garment construction, and also just had an overall nice time chatting about sewing, thank you so much! I will definitely be booking onto another course soon!

This was my second course with Helen, consisting of four 3 hour sessions creating a personalised clothes block. It was great fun working with other enthusiastic sewers and I ended up with exactly what I had hoped for: a pattern from which I can create a host of new projects. I also learned that I needed to up my game and be a more accurate seamstress - all brilliant lessons! I would recommend this course as a foundation for anyone interested in creating their own sewing patterns.

Really enjoyable four week class creating a pattern block. Helen is super helpful and explains everything in a very easy to understand way. I am delighted with the final toile produced from my block and can’t wait to join Helen for another course soon.

I've done a 'shared course' and some one to one sessions with Helen at Dot and Cross. Really improved my understanding of how dressmaking happens. It is a technical subject, but so important. The knowledge I gained has had a great effect on the fit and style of my hand-made clothes. I've been able to alter commercial patterns, to measure myself and interpret those measurements to my dressmaking. Excellent teaching, and 'team work' Helen teaches, listens, explains and discusses options in a lovely way. I wanted/needed to improve to prevent frustrating waste. Excellent. Worth it and so so satisfying. Lovely garden studio room. To be recommended.

The Full Bust Adjustment Course was a birthday gift for my wife Clare. She arrived home from the course bubbling with excitement and enthusing about the course content, the teaching, everything.
Friendly and engaging, Helen is clearly knowledgable and has a great teaching method.
Highly recommended.

I attended the 1-1 garment mending workshop. It was absolutely excellent. I learnt multiple mending techniques and we even shortened some trousers that were too long for me and reused the "harvested" fabric to mend some other pieces. My favourite was learning about (and trying) the Japanese mending style, Sashiko. Will definitely be using this technique in the near future, it's very pretty. I was very impressed with the class and intend to book more. Helen is great and super friendly. The studio is cool.

Sometimes, going on a course whilst on holiday is a wonderful way to spend your time, especially if you go home with a new skill or hobby that enriches your life. With the idea of Cottagecore, the Great British Sewing Bee and ‘make do and mend’ being very much in the limelight now, what better way than to learn how to sew using a sewing machine?

I was greeted warmly by one of the shop proprietors, Jane, who welcomed me into her Aladdin’s cave of crafting goodies. Helen, our teacher for the day, also greeted me as we made our way to our desks. Helen is the founder of Dot N Cross, who hosts sewing and pattern cutting workshops across Cornwall. Having worked for the likes of Karen Millen and Victoria Beckham, she has spent 10 years working as a pattern cutter in the London fashion industry before relocating down to Cornwall. Safe to say, she knows a thing or two about sewing!

A course with Helen is a wonderful way to spend a day. Running an assortment of courses for beginners to experienced alike, from making a shift dress to mending existing clothes and crochet to knitting, there are a lot of courses to choose from, whilst there’s also flexibility to arrange your own private classes focussing on something specific, should you want to.

See the full review here

I attended a one-to-one dressmaking session from Dot N Cross. I realised the wrap dress pattern I chose was a bit challenging for a beginner like me but Helen is a great teacher, she took the time to explain things step by step and went the extra mile so we would finish the dress on the day. I also appreciated that she made sure I understood the key concepts and techniques we learned together so I can use them again autonomously in the future. I really enjoyed the session and it brought me the confidence to start sewing, I am looking forward to starting my next pattern, thanks Helen!

Hi Helen

I just wanted to let you know that I have already put loads of the things I learnt at the repair class into good use.

I rehemmed the vintage skirt, repaired a hole in some leggings, a seam hole in a dress, added a button to an apron that was missing.

I also got a couple of my vintage dresses that I needed to change, so I've begun working on those. 

The biggest thing is I got out my sewing machine which I have not used since I bought it, and I've been winding bobbins, and using it. 

I feel like the course has totally given me my sewing confidence back and ive already started to ask family if they have anything that needs repairing so I can keep using the skills

Thanks again

Samantha x

Yesterday I attended a 1-to-1 Beginners Sewing course with Helen and I am absolutely delighted with the result. I bought along the sewing machine that I had inherited from a relative and Helen figured out how it worked and then proceeded to teach me how to use it. The objective of the day was to learn some of the basics and to make a tote bag. You can see the result yourself in the photo. I keep examining it and am so surprised how good it looks! Helen is an incredible professional with amazing skills and experience. She's also a lovely and accommodating person and I enjoyed her company as well as all the learning. I feel very lucky to have had her as a teacher. It is definitely my intention to return to continue to my journey of discovery.

I really enjoyed learning how to pivot darts and how to think about how a pattern is made. I will try to book on to one of your block drafting courses. I loved the size of the class, the booklet, and how well prepared it was. Thanks so much!

I learned how to manipulate a basic pattern to create a new look using dart placement.

I learned how to adapt a pattern block to fit me. We worked on adjusting darts and we had time to look through various pattern cutting books. I loved how technical and personal it was, and the tea and biscuits!

Thanks for the great hints and tips, I enjoyed learning how to sew in an invisible zip best. I loved the small class size and the great hand outs. I hope to do more classes with you as dates/annual leave allow.

I learned about the possibilities of using a dress block. How to move darts and make adjustments when things don’t fit. I learnt more than expected and I loved that this was a face to face class. You are such a great teacher Helen and put me completely at ease, thank you so much.

The best thing I learned on the Introduction to Machines Sewing class is that I can sew!! After years of thinking I can’t. The lesson was very thorough, and I really enjoyed the day. Thank you.

I attended the Introduction to Machine Sewing class, I was just curious to give it a try and I had a really good day. I had a finished item to show for it at the end and I learned a lot. In future I’d like to learn to make a more complex bag.