Make your party kit

Fancy making your own Christmas party skirt this season? With cash-strapped festive divas in mind, Murphy Sheehy will be running dressmaking classes in the Castle Market fabric shop in Dublin 2, starting with a workshop next Saturday, December 4th. It will be run by Violet Walsh, a highly experienced seamstress who keeps up to speed doing a variety of Liberty of London courses.

Participants will be asked to bring a Vogue Easy Pattern for a skirt (half price at Hickey’s until December 3rd), with the aim being to end the session with a finished item. The cost is €85 (including €15 worth of fabric from the shop), and it will run from 10.30am-4.30pm. This could be a starting block for the eight-week course Murphy Sheehy is running every second Thursday, from January 6th, 6.30pm-8.30pm. The cost is €260, which includes fabric to the value of €30. Tel: 01-6770316, or see murphysheehy.com.