Goldhawk Road 'n' Golden Girls!

Well this post is a little over a week late in coming LOL! But I really need to document and record all the fun that was had... 2 Saturdays ago on the 20th April Rachel of House of Pinheiro organised a great get together of sewists (do check out her post for a full list of the attendees). We met up at the V & A Museum first for tea and for some great photos that Rachel had arranged for Digpal Singh (a professional photographer) to take. We had non-stop shots of 3/4 people, and then a fab huge group picture too. We were very fortunate to have such a lovely and beautiful backdrop of the 'The John Madejski Garden' with it's lush green grass and beautiful brickwork.

 

Photos by Digpal Singh

          Left:  Massive group photo                                  Right: L-R Camilla, Me & Fiona

I'm wearing a black jersey maxi skirt I finished making on the actual day! I cut down the hem to the right-length 5 minutes before rushing out the door (I'd finished sewing it up a 12.15am in the morning LOL!).

After that we all decamped and made our way across to Goldhawk Road baby!!! 

 

Somehow at South Kensington tube half our group went one route, and the other half (the one I was in with Rachel too) went the other route via the Piccadilly Line. Spookily though, we met up with our other halves on the train we caught at Hammersmith station - and one stop later we had arrived at our destination. 

 

Look at the sun in that sky! There wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was a truly gorgeous, golden day. There were a lot of sunglasses worn fir the first time thus year I'll wager LOL!

 

The plan for the day was to visit the great fabric shops under our own steam in smaller sized groups (the shops aren't huge inside so the 40-50 sewists that Rachel had gathered would certainly not have fitted inside otherwise, hehe!). Then, we all met back up at the Costa Coffee shop next to the station at 2.30pm - where we then trotted off down the road to Cedar Village. Where another kind blogger had booked us the entire place for a fab Lebanese lunch.

Look at the amazing colour on these pickled beetroot pieces (wow!). 

 

Then we descended downstairs to the comfy sofas below to commence the biggest swap I have ever seen! I'd brought only a few bits with me this time, as I was concerned that my infamous pink-trolley might not be permitted inside of the V & A. 

   

We arranged everything we'd brought with us along one side of the room (see video + pics below). Left to right we had fabric + notions + patterns/magazines/books. Here's a video I grabbed below (sorry for the poor quality!)

Then, ladies went up in groups in turns to pick out the items they wanted to take home, and when the dust had cleared everyone had found something new-to-them to take home :)

I know for sure that Miss. Dibs made a bee-line for the striped jersey I brought with me (hehe she sure loves my jersey fabric donations ;) !). 

2 pieces of fabric I brought to the swap, I also brought
a copy of CLOTH Magazine, some buttons, and zips along too.

I reckon that the "patterns" section was the most popular one - with Lizzy from Sew Busy Lizzy bringing a tonne of them with her. Lizzy and Silvia made it an international affair! Plus, check out Karen's funny story about randomly bumping into Silvia (Sewing Princess) and Evie (Pendle Stitches) in Costa Coffee and the 2 ladies then joined us all for lunch.

I brought home these bits some floral cotton fabric (approx. 80cm), a piece of deep-purple silk fabric, a jeans-zip, some buttons and some patterns. Plus, we all got a great goodie-bag from Minerva Crafts. Mine had quilting/patchwork goodies inside. 

 

I picked up a few patterns too... 2 copies of Simplicity 2497 dress. A (Men's ?) Jacket Pattern - Simplicity 2480.

 

Plus, this vintage trouser pattern (Modes des Paris 1282 01) that looks like it's from the 70's. Now either they hadn't discovered Lycra/Elastane as yet - or those trousers look d*mn tight to me (check out the tight wrinkles/lines in the fabric)...

I brought a few wee gifts for our super-hostess as a thank you for organising our brilliant day (pic below): Claire Shaeffer's book: 'The Complete Book of Sewing Shortcuts' (that Rachel had admired from the February 2013 meet-up in Walthamstow), a unused/sealed vintage Dritz Tailor Tacker packet (complete with little replacement chalks), a Magnetic Telescopic Rod (again another item Rachel had admired... don't say I don't ever remember and make a note of these things fold LOL!).

After all the swapping was over we all made our separate ways home - happy, tired and extremely contented. We all made new friends, shopped our little hearts out and spent the day talking sewing-talk with kindred souls :)

As I live in London I decided to quickly sneak into Shepherds Bush Market before it closed for the day as it's opposite Goldhawk Road station. I picked up these few bits below buttons, blue thread (the lightweight denim fabric is 4metres for £6.50/metre that I picked up before lunch at 'A-One Fabrics').

Including my favourite bias binding (which near as darn-it matches my skin-tone) for finishing necklines etc. like on my Scout Woven Tee top. I got 20 metres, which at 30p per metre came only to £6.00 - not too shabby in my book when it costs around £2.45 for 2.5m in John Lewis (eek!), so my bargain market-buy comes in at 70% cheaper than JL LOL!

Plus, look at this cute trolley I spotted on a market stall on my way home... "fabrek" sounds very like "fabric" to me, and the Union Jack flag design made it feel very British 'n' patriotic too... perhaps if my pink one ever gives up the ghost on me I should pop back and buy that one instead eh ;) ?

 

Here's hoping that meet-up in Brighton next month, and Birmingham in June are just as much fun! I've already got some fabric and patterns put a side to bring to the swaps (yay!).

(More photos from this day in my Flickr photostream here.)

Just Booked My Train Tickets...

I've just booked my train tickets for my trips from London to Brighton (only 18 days to go), and for Birmingham (7 weeks to go)... have you booked yours ;) ? 

Click on the links above and follow the instructions to sign-up for these meet-ups :)

Will It Be Any Good?... FREE 'Start Sewing' Magazine + 8 Patterns to Collect

Image Source: Advert from UK Commercial TV

Hmmm... seems that The Daily Mail (UK newspaper) is jumping on the bandwagon of the success of the BBC TV's The Great British Sewing Bee and in tomorrow's issue they are giving away a FREE 32-page sewing magazine (to be found inside of their usual "WEEKEND" Saturday-only supplement). I just spotted a telly advert for it. And, advertising like that is not cheap: either to make or pay for the airtime. So, maybe the publishers feel it will generate enough newspaper sales and interest from the general public that it warranted the production of this sewing-mag to increase their newspaper's sales?

This is the link to their webpage about the free mag: Start Sewing with The Mail!

It comes out in the Saturday 27th April 2013 issue.

Quote from their webpage:

"Free with this Saturday's Weekend magazine you’ll find a brilliant 32-page, step-by-step guide to sewing, with everything you need to know to become well and truly hooked.

Creative, money-saving and immensely satisfying - once you’ve mastered the basics, you can be endlessly inventive.

Whether you’re making a feminine frock, a costume for a school play or some cushion covers for your sofa. If you’re longing to try, then our brilliant booklet will show you how to do it!"

I hope that the pencil skirt in this picture is one of those patterns... it doesn't look half bad!

Image Source: The Dail Mail website

Then next week you can collect coupons to send off for 8 full size patterns... I'll be intrigued to see how they turn out!

Another quote from their webpage:

"Plus, starting with Monday's Daily Mail is the first of eight full size sewing patterns – fabulous projects which you can create with ease. Monday’s easy-to-follow full size pattern shows you how to create a pretty vintage tea dress – ultimately flattering and perfect for a sunny summers day.

    MONDAY: Pretty Vintage Tea Dress
    TUESDAY:  Classic chef's apron
    WEDNESDAY: Stylish everyday jacket
    THURSDAY: Summery circular skirt

And you can look forward to learning how to create a Classic chef’s apron – an easy project for a starter sewer which will be featured in Tuesday’s Daily Mail.

There will be eight patterns in total - including stylish every day jacket, summery circular skirt and the projects featured in your start Sewing Magazine – Tunic Top,  Girl’s Dress, Pencil Skirt and Pyjama Trousers.

How to Claim:
To claim your FREE Patterns, fill in the relevant coupon printed in the Daily Mail everyday next week and send it with a cheque for the correct amount along with 3 differently dated pattern specific tokens to the address given."

Hopefully, this will inspire more Great Britons to take up sewing! :)

Gimme An "F"... For (Fabric) Face!!

Okay, so I have a day-off of work and I'm at home by myself - and I think "I know I'll throw some fabric in the washing machine to pre-wash it whilst I remember and I have the time." And, I don't know about you guys, but if I have the chance I much prefer that all my fabrics are washed, dried (I air-dry naturally folks = as there's no room for a tumble-drier in my house LOL!) and pressed before I decide to start a project. I find it rather off-putting when the passion and impulse to start something new turns into a damp squib because I haven't pre-washed my fabric yet :(  

Washing = 1 or 2 hours + Drying = another couple of hours + Pressing = Time wasted twiddling my thumbs.

So, now whenever I remember I wash new pieces of fabric as they join my stash + if there are some other similarly coloured as yet unwashed pieces they get thrown in to the machine too.

And that's just what I've done today.

But, before I wash 'em I have now adopted the following as best-practice for me...

    TIPS when you PRE-WASH YOUR FABRIC

    Overlock (Serge) Cut-Ends = prevents fraying, and reduces loose threads from clogging up
    your washing machine's waste pipe.

    Mark the Fabric “Face” - Any paper labels would dissolve in the wash - so,
    an embroidered “F” will identify the correct side (face) of your fabric.
.

If you like this tip you can Pin-It here on Pinterest :) !

I was finding that I was constantly unclogging the waste-water drainage pipe on my washing machine on the next "normal" wash-load after I'd washed some fabric. And, each time the debris I removed was made-up of threads that I was tediously pulling out with some fiddly tweezers. All those threads were the same colour as the fabric I'd just washed... and it didn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out the source LOL! Hence, now I overlock the cut-edges (no need on the selvedges of course!) before washing the fabric.

Different sides... And, it doesn't apply to all fabrics - as 99.99999% in my own stash have easily discernible face (front) from back/reverse sides - printed fabrics being an obvious example. However, some fabrics are soooo hard to tell - and if you were to accidentally mis-match pattern pieces it could affect the look of the garment as even a subtle difference in the reflected-light/colour/nap between 2 adjacent pieces could make a finished garment look "off". This happened today - I had a couple of pieces to wash that came to me with some handy green paper labels saying "FACE" stapled to the correct side of the fabric. Now, clearly paper is going to dissolve and fall off with the water in the washing machine. So, I quickly stitched a letter "F" into the selvedge on each piece = all sorted!

Novum Model IX - Sewing Machine Instruction Book

My own Novum New Mark IX - Sewing Machine + my Instruction Book

The other day a reader of my 'ickle blog called Julie emailed me to ask if I would be able to share  a copy of my manual / guide book with her. She'd been reunited with her Mother's sewing machine after 29 years and she's lacking a manual - and needed some help with the oiling.

So, a little bit of scanning of the A5 pages - and here we are :)

My machine is a heavy vintage model - just a basic zig-zag machine. It's labelled on the book as a 'Novum New Mark IX' but I believe that it is sometimes also known as a 'Deluxe IX'.

I have scanned and uploaded a copy of the Instruction Book to my Google Drive - which you can download from here.

Screenshot from PDF reader of pages from inside of the
Novum New Mark IX Sewing Machine Manual

So anyone who's after after copy feel free to have a copy on me - free, gratis (no need to hunt the web and buy a copy ;) LOL!)


Janome - Manuals 'n' Models Numbers
On a separate but related note - Fiona of Diary of a Chain Stitcher (a lovely lady - I met her at Rachel's fabulous meet-up this Saturday just gone) was searching for a manual for her Janome 7021 machine. I'd originally suggested she try doing a search for it as a PDF file on Google. But, having done that myself I couldn't find a copy anywhere... so I went to the Janome UK website and dropped an email to them (info@janome.co.uk). A lovely lady called Helen sent me the manual file. But, get this... the file was for a model 521(E). So, I quickly dropped her an email back - as I thought she'd made an error. It turns out that the 7021 (sold in John Lewis) is the same as the 521(E)... and having Googled some images online it seems that the 521 has blue trim to it - whereas the 7021 has white.

So, it would seem that some (maybe all?) Janome sewing machine models sold in John Lewis branches are re-numbered and differently coloured to their usual products. I have no idea if the same differences apply to the overlocker models (sergers) too. But, I'm wondering and guessing if the numbering system is that perhaps you take off the "70" from the front of the JL number and add a "5" instead ???

PRIMA Pattern - April 2013, Classic Tea Dress

The pattern from the April 2013 PRIMA Magazine issue is still available to order by phone until the end of this month.

 

The pattern is for a Classic Tea Dress. A simple-to-make semi-fitted A-line dress has waist darts for a flattering fit, a scoop neckline, above-elbow-length sleeves and fastens with a centre back zip. Sizes 10 - 20 (UK).

See my old post here on tips for ordering their patterns: PRIMA Magazine: How to Order Their Sewing Patterns.

Sewing Meet-Up: London, Goldhawk Road - Saturday 3rd August 2013

EDIT: 01/08/2013... I've closed any further new comments on this blog-post folks. We're up to 35+ definite & confirmed-in attendees to this meet-up and, regrettably I cannot accept any more additions to our numbers (there's just not any lunch/food venues big enough to cater for our size... I was pleasantly surprised and overwhelmed by just how popular this meet-up has become - thank you to everyone who has replied so far, and do please watch out for further dates from me :)!).

If your sew-jo is low because you have missed out on your chance to join in with Rachel from House of Pinheiro's meet-up on the 20th April 2013, then fret-ye-not folks, and turn that frown upside down! As now you have another opportunity to enjoy the lovely fabric shops of Goldhawk Road/Shepherd's Bush Market! 

Yup, I'm holding a meet-up this Summer (hopefully sunshine will have finally graced us with it's presence by then LOL!).

So, save the date below in your social diary!

Nearer to the actual date I will gauge the confirmed number of attendees and book us somewhere nearby for lunch (probably The Melrose - scene of Dibs's excellent camera work last year!).

                   LONDON MEET-UP

                   Place: Goldhawk Road Station (in the ticket hall inside)

                   Date: Saturday 3rd August 2013

                   Time: Meet-up from 11.15am till 11.45am
                1st Shopping: 11.45am - 12.50pm

                   Swap-a-thon + Lunch: 1pm - 3.00/3.30pm
                   2nd Shopping / Market: 3.30pm onwards!                      
                   Home Time: 5.00pm - 5.30pm

.

We'll meet up from 11.15am at the ticket hall inside of Goldhawk Road station. Then, we'll aim to walk to a nearby cafe/bar (venue as yet to be announced) to start eating an early lunch at roughly 12pm (it won't take too long to walk there I promise!). There, we'll swap, de-stash, chat, eat lunch and make merry until 2.00-2.30pm. Afterwards there'll be plenty of time to visit the amazing array of Goldhawk Road shops, and also Shepherd's Bush Market next door too.

                      Wanna join in the fun?...

                       If you fancy coming along to this meet-up please email me at:   

                       sew[dot]incidentally[at]yahoo[dot]com 

                       (please mention London Meet-Up in the email subject line). .
.

Swapping.... Please, please do not worry about what to bring with you to swap with the other sewists on the day! No one is obliged to bring anything at all with them. It's all about de-stashing and having fun! The idea is to pass-on any un-loved sewing / knitting / crochet stuff... ranging from fabric, patterns, notions, books, threads, buttons or magazines etc. etc... Nobody leaves empty handed - and you always find something new, exciting and surprising in amoungst the piles of yummy stuff on the tables :)

Maps and mobile phone numbers for contacts on the day itself will be emailed to attendees nearer the time once a list of names has been confirmed.

For transportation, map 'n' directions to Goldhawk Road:

Here's a handy link to a download page for a PDF of the local area map of the Goldhawk Road / Shepherd's Bush Market from TFL.

http://www.journeyplanner.org/Download/EnvMaps/tfl/TK_GoldhawkRoad_spdr.pdf

It might be useful for anyone travelling via public transport to the meet-up :)

Plus: Transport for London's Journey Planner and National Rail Enquiries Journey Planner, and one more.... walking directions for London WalkIt.com

Is London not so easy for you to travel to? Then check out the Brighton or Birmingham meet-ups too!

Sewing Meet-Up: Birmingham - Saturday 15th June 2013

Image Source: http://www.ragmarket.com/

Okay... sewing-fans Kat, Marie 'n' me reckon that the time is ripe for another Birmingham Meet-Up!

Marie + Kat at November 2012's Birmingham Meet-Up

Yes, come and join our us for a spot of lunch - with lots of stash swapping, a persue around the fantastic stalls at The Birmingham Rag Market, then some retail therapy at Fancy Silk Store, and if there's time hop on over to Barry's Fabrics before heading on home happy & tired!

Swapping.... Please, please do not worry about what to bring with you to swap with the other sewists on the day! No one is obliged to bring anything at all with them. It's all about de-stashing and having fun! The idea is to pass-on any un-loved sewing / knitting / crochet stuff... ranging from fabric, patterns, notions, books, threads, buttons or magazines etc. etc... Nobody leaves empty handed - and you always find something new, exciting and surprising in amoungst the piles of yummy stuff on the tables :)

                   BIRMINGHAM MEET-UP

                   Place: Birmingham New Street Station (just after the ticket-barriers)

                   Date: Saturday 15th June 2013

                   Time: Meet-up from 10.30am till 11.00am
                   Rag Market Stalls: 11.00am - 12.30pm

                   Swap-a-thon + Lunch: 12.30pm - 2.00/2.30pm
                   More Market / Shopping: 2.30pm onwards!                 
                   Home Time: 4.00 - 4.30pm           

.

We'll meet up from 10.30am inside of the station (just after the ticket-barriers). Then, at 11am well depart the station. We'll aim to visit the World Famous Rag Market, before a very short walk to a nearby cafe/bar (venue as yet to be announced) to start eating an early lunch at roughly 12.30pm (it won't take too long to walk there we promise!). There, we'll swap, de-stash, chat, eat lunch and make merry until 2.00-2.30pm. Afterwards there'll be plenty of time to visit the lovely market stalls again and then onto a couple of fabric-shops.

                      Wanna join in the fun?...

                       If you fancy coming along to this meet-up please email me at:   

                       sew[dot]incidentally[at]yahoo[dot]com 

                       (please mention Birmingham Meet-Up in the email subject line). .
.

Maps and mobile phone numbers for contacts on the day itself will be emailed to attendees nearer the time once a final-list of names has been confirmed.

For transportation, map 'n' directions to Birmingham:

Here's a link to a download page for a PDF of the Birmingham Shopping Map from the Visit Birmingham website:

http://www.shoppinginbirmingham.com/wp-content/uploads/map/shoppingbham-map.pdf

It handily shows the Rag Market location, and the Birmingham New Street train station.

Plus: The National Rail Enquiries Journey Planner, and one more.... walking directions for Birmingham WalkIt.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the meantime, to whet your sewing-appetites please take a look at some of the photos below from the excellent day we had last year in November that Marie and Kat did an amazing job organising!!

Last year's swapping fun inside Cafe Soya!

Fancy Silk Store

Barry's Fabrics

Is Birmingham not so easy for you to travel to? Then check out the Brighton or London meet-ups too!

Sewing Meet-Up: Brighton - Saturday 18th May 2013

Okay Ladies Spring is already offically upon us (even if Mother Nature has decided not to notice weather-wise!). And, it's a great time to Spring-Clean the decks and start as we mean to go on. With this in mind I'd like to host a meeting up in mid-May for sewists looking to de-stash their fabrics, patterns, notions etc. Come and join me to clear your unwanted items - give that book / magazine a new loving home, donate some thread that doesn't match your fabric, and find some lovely new & FREE treasures to your Springtime sewing with some fun! 

Image Source: Sewing Supplies, MP900439249 
http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/images/

If like many (most?!) sewists you find that you spend too much time wading repeatedly through the same piles of fabric and patterns in your stash. Or, that you're always purchasing more fabric even though you've a box / cupboard / room full already (delete as appropriate!). Perhaps, when it comes to your sewing supplies you often find yourself feeling like you've "Too many clothes fabrics, and nothing to wear sew?" then maybe you've fallen out of love with some of your purchases. Let's share some of the sew-jo around and come along to Brighton to swap your old stuff for new-to-you stuff. That 'ol thing you no longer like may turn out to be someone else's treasure :)

                   Place: Brighton Rail Station - outside the WHSmith shop, next to the ticket-barriers

                   Date: Saturday 18th May 2013

                   Time: Meet-up from 11.30am till 12pm

                   Swap-a-thon: 12pm onwards!

                   Shopping (Optional): 2.30pm - 3.30pm

                   Home-Time: 4.00pm - 4.30pm

We'll meet up from 11.30am outside of the WHSmiths inside of the station, then aim to walk to the cafe/bar (venue as yet to be announced) around 12pm. There, we'll swap and de-stash, chat, eat lunch and make merry. Afterwards they'll be plenty of time to visit some of the lovely sewing hot-spots 'n' shops that Brighton has to offer... after all you may just need some new buttons to go with your newly acquired pattern and fabric!

                      Wanna join in the fun?...

                      If you fancy coming along to this meet-up please email me at:   

                      sew[dot]incidentally[at]yahoo[dot]com 

                      (please mention Brighton Meet-Up in the email subject line). .
.

Maps and mobile phone numbers for contacts on the day itself will be emailed to attendees nearer the time once a list of names has been confirmed.

Nearer to the actual date I will gauge the confirmed number of attendees and book us somewhere nearby for lunch (probably All-Bar-One as they seem to have a good size space to fit us in).

For transportation, map 'n' directions to Brighton:

Here's a handy link to a download page for a PDF of the Brighton City Centre Walking Map from http://www.visitbrighton.com/dbimgs/Brighton_citycentre_walking_map2012.pdf

(from Visit Brighton website). It might be useful for anyone travelling via public transport to the meet-up :)

Plus: The National Rail Enquiries Journey Planner too.

Is Brighton not so easy for you to travel to? Then check out the London or Birmingham meet-ups too!

Sewing Meet-Ups! ... Good Things Come in Threes

Okay... good things do come in 3's folks! A few weeks back I was emailing back and forth with the delightful Kat and the lovely Marie about how much we all enjoyed sewing meet-ups; but that sometimes a few people missed-out on the sewing-joy because they needed time to plan their travel and book the best train ticket fares etc. So, we thought we'd plan out a few dates and share them with you guys :)

             (1) Brighton:  Saturday 18th May 2013

                     Hosted by Claire (me!)    CLICK HERE to join us! 
. 

              (2) Birmingham: Saturday 15th June 2013
                     Hosted by: Kat, Marie, and Claire (me)    CLICK HERE to join us! 
 

              (3) London - Goldhawk Road: Saturday 3rd August 2013
                     Hosted by Claire (me!)    CLICK HERE to join us! 
 

So... if you wanna join in the fun - click on the different links above and let us know if you can make it!

(NB: I've turned Commenting OFF on this particular blog-post peops... if you want to come-along to one of the above meet-ups please click on the appropriate link above and follow the instructions on the new web-page it takes you too - many thanks!)

London Sewing Fans: Buy A Few Vintage Patterns and Help a Sewist In Need

Tracy is helping out a fellow sewist in need. She's helping by selling over 200 vintage sewing patterns at the Vintage Fashions Fair London.

I'll let Tracy's own words explain...

"My friend’s aunt had to go into residential care last year as she has dementia.  She was a dressmaker all her life and my friend has inherited her fantastic collection of sewing patterns (about 200), along with some fabrics and her handmade dresses.  The patterns are mostly from the 1950s and 1960s and include Vogue Couture, Vogue Paris,  “ordinary” Vogue, Simplicity, Style, Maudella - mostly unused. It’s mostly women’s but also some children’s and a few men’s patterns. I did post on my blog about them a while back with some photos – which show the quality of the stuff she had.

Every penny, after we pay for the stall, will go towards her residential care – so if anyone fancies some guilt-free adding to their pattern and fabric stash we’d appreciate it. I’d also like to think she would be happy knowing that her collection would go on to be used by a new generation of sewers."

Any unsold patterns Tracy will list on Etsy and eBay afterwards.

The stall will be on Sunday 14th April 2013 - doors are open 11am - 5pm, at this Primrose Hill address (entry is £3 on the door): 

The Vintage Fashion Fair

Cecil Sharp House

Primrose Hill

London

NW1 7AY

More details about it at www.vintagefashionfairlondon.co.uk.