Matilda Rose "Tilly" Walnes (born January 1980) is an English fashion designer, author and educator. Based in South London, she designs plain language sewing patterns and hosts online workshops. Walnes studied at the

London College of Fashion The London College of Fashion is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, in London, England. It offers undergraduate, postgraduate, short courses, study abroad courses and business-training in fashion, make-up, beauty-therap ...

after taking and enjoying an introduction to sewing class. Inspired by late 1960s fashion and the

French New Wave French New Wave (french: La Nouvelle Vague) is a French art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentation and a spirit of iconocla ...

, she began sewing her own clothes in 2010 and launched ''Tilly and the Buttons'' as a way to share her makes and connect with other sewers. The success of the blog resulted in a career change so that she could focus full-time on dressmaking, pattern design and sewing related teaching and writing, putting to use more than a decade of experience designing educational resources. She was motivated to create sewing resources that prioritize visual, plain language instructions after finding that the books she relied on while learning how to sew often relied on hard to follow

jargon Jargon is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular Context (language use), communicative context and may not be well understood outside that context. The conte ...

. In 2013, Walnes appeared on the first series of ''

The Great British Sewing Bee ''The Great British Sewing Bee'' is a BBC reality show that began airing on BBC Two on 2 April 2013. In the show, talented amateur sewers compete to be named "Britain's best home sewer". A spin-off of the format of ''The Great British Bake Off ...

''. She was eliminated during the second week after struggling with a self-drafted trouser pattern. Walnes identified the garments she made on the show as some of the hardest she's done in a 2014 interview with ''PatternReview.com'' explaining: "On the show, you are working to a tight deadline, under hot lights, while being interviewed by camera crews the whole time. It's so easy to forget the basics and mess things up under that kind of pressure!" Walnes' work has been recognized multiple times by Sew Magazine's British Sewing Awards, including Best Sewing Blog and Favourite Sewing Personality. In 2018 she discussed her career, personal style and balancing a business as a new mother on the Canadian podcast ''

Love To Sew ''Love To Sew'' is a Canadian sewing podcast hosted by Helen Wilkinson and Caroline Somos focused on handmade clothing. In 2019, ''Love To Sew'' was included on ''Simply Sewings list of best sewing podcasts. Description Based in Vancouver, Br ...

''.

Books

* * *''Make it Simple: Easy, Speedy Sewing Projects to Whip up in an Afternoon''. 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walnes, Tilly Living people 1980 births People from Poole Fashion educators English fashion designers British women fashion designers Alumni of the London College of Fashion