Monthly Archives: August 2016

Time To Take Up Embroidery!

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embroidery

Give Your Wardrobe a New Lease of Life

With embroidery one of the hottest fashion trends of 2016, there’s never been a better time to learn the skill.

If there’s one trend that’s making a comeback right now, it’s embroidery! At the start of the year fashion journalists were telling us that we’d be seeing plenty of embroidered garments in the shops – and boy were they right! From jeans to dresses, the more embellishment the better. So there’s never been a better time to take up embroidery than now. With the right skills, tools and knowledge, you’ll quickly be able to add some beautiful embroidery to your own clothes.

Do your research

That’s not to say that books can’t help you out – there are some fantastic ones out there. Have a look online and in your favourite bookshops for some beginner’s level books. If you see a book that’s full of beautiful projects but they’re a little advanced, pick it up! After all, if you’re going to improve you’ll want to have more challenging projects to get started on. Subscribing to a magazine is a great option too, as you’ll be inspired every month to create something new. With the right written advice and the support of your classmates and teachers, you’ll be an expert in no time at all!

Buy the right machine

Of course, all the knowledge in the world isn’t enough if you don’t have the right tools. While it’s incredibly easy to embroider by hand, machines allow you to embark on more ambitious projects and help you to build on your existing skills. Shopping for embroidery machines can be pretty daunting – there are just so many out there! Brother embroidery machines are a great choice for those starting out. The controls are easy to get to grips with, and they come with an array of built-in embroidery designs. As your skill level grows, you’ll find that the familiar comfort of a Brother machine means that you’ll be unafraid to tackle any project.

Take a class

There are many ways to familiarise yourself with embroidery. Firstly, see if there are any classes going on near you. Even if you’re shy, it’s a really good idea to get yourself out there and meet fellow embroidery enthusiasts. You’ll be able to learn not only from an experienced teacher, but your fellow classmates too. After all, some of the best tips come from years of practise rather than the pages of a book!

Some exciting projects

So which projects should you be tackling first? Well, if you want to transform some of your clothes, there are plenty of great ways to get started. Have you got lots of old t-shirts that are past their best? Brilliant – they’re fantastic blank canvases for embroidery designs. Start small, perhaps with a small detail on a pocket or sleeve, and work your way up to designs on the neckline, hem or right in the middle of the shirt. Jeans are great to unleash your creativity onto as well – and the built-in designs on your machine will work wonders. Of course, you can embroider many other things too – from pillowcases and duvets to bags. So why not give your home and accessories a facelift too?

You’ve got nothing to lose by trying

Don’t hold back once you’ve got the embroidery bug – practice makes perfect and the more things you make, the more confident you’ll grow! Once you’ve started to transform your clothes with embroidery, you’ll be the envy of all your friends. Who knows, they may even want to take it up too! With so much inspiration out there, we wouldn’t be surprised.

Do You Need Excess Insurance?

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Do You Need Excess Insurance

If you have ever hired a car before – in this country or anywhere else in the world – you are going to be aware of the often very high excess typically incorporated into the rental company’s car hire insurance package.

In their publication entitled “What you should know about renting a car in Europe in 2016”, car rental agents for Germany, Switzerland and Austria, Gemut.com issue a two-fold warning:

  • the amount of the excess (or “deductible” in US parlance) may be very high indeed, usually between US$1,000 and US$3,000; and
  • the cost of protecting that liability with many car rental companies’ excess insurance packages adds a significant daily charge to the cost of hiring your car.

The awkward conclusion you might draw, therefore, is that yes you probably do need hire car excess insurance (as a defence against a possible US$3,000 or more than £2,000 liability), but still have to pay a hefty price for that necessary protection.

There is a solution

Having recognised that you might do well to arrange excess insurance protection, the good news is that the cover is available at a considerably more competitive rate from independent, UK-based providers, such as Bettersafe, who are able to offer potentially more comprehensive cover with greater value for money – research conducted by Bettersafe, for example, suggests that you might need to pay more than £30 a day for excess protection sold by some of the leading car rental chains.

This may be purchased simply and quickly online by payment of a single premium, providing excess protection throughout your car hire period abroad. The price of those premiums reflects the different risks likely to be faced in various parts of the world, so that you pay choose the region to which you are travelling and pay the appropriate rate for those countries only.

If you have an accident or the car is stolen and you are then charged an excess, you simply claim reimbursement of that cost once you have arrived back home – so you need to remember to bring the supporting document relating to the incident home with you.

Standalone excess insurance from these independent providers is also likely to offer more extensive cover, which, unlike many of the products sold by the car rental companies themselves, does not exclude damage to areas of the vehicle such as the undercarriage, wheel, tyres, windows and roof.

Provided that the drivers are aged between 21 and 85 years, it is also generally possible to include these additional drivers under the same excess insurance protection policy.

If you are a frequent traveller, you might make even further savings by arranging annual, multi-trip excess insurance protection. On a trip by trip basis, this is likely to prove still more economical that arranging cover for just one period of car hire and, of course, you then have the peace of mind in knowing that any liability for paying high excess charges is safely protected however often you go abroad and need to hire a car.