My Haul - Walthamstow, Saturday 3rd October 2015

I had the pleasure of visiting the bargain fabric-centre that is Walthamstow last Saturday in a great meet-up organised by the lovely Marilla.

Needless to say I was helpless to resist the wares and came away with quite a few purchases :-)!

There was a fair sized group of ladies in attendance - including Rachel & Kate from the new sewing community site thefoldline.com! If you haven't checked it out yet, then please do.

Here's my haul from the day -->

Saeed's Fabrics: Grey Rib-Knit 1.5m (£6.00/m).

Fabric Store (No. 80 High Street): Dark-Grey Cotton/Lycra Jersey 1.5m (£2.00/m), 3m each of Moss-Green and Navy light-weight woven cotton 3m (£1.00/m), and Navy & White Striped Ponte 1.5m (£2.00/m).

Market Stall: 4x Standard Zips (Blue, Green & Yellow, £1 for 4), and 1x Coral Thread spool (40p).

Beads & Buttons (No. 138): 4x 10" Beige Standard Zips (4 for £1), 3x 14" Beige Standard Zips (3 for £1), and Coral Thread spool 50p.

Fabric Market (shop at No. 134): Medium-weight, dark stretch Denim 6m (£5.00/m).

 

The Textile Centre (No. 223-225): 
Lots of light-weight printed Viscose's, all £2.20/m - 1.5m each of: Blue & Hearts, Black & Birds, Blue & Birds and *Aqua Blue Cameras. (*I also picked up 3m on behalf of Vicki too.)

I also got a quick pic in of me, my infamous pink-trolley and Saeed (of 'Saeed Fabrics' shop no less).

On the day I wore one of my latest me-mades, my 6th version of the 'Deer and Doe' FREE 'Plantain' T-Shirt pattern. And, yes I know - I've been a bad, bad blogger - I should've posted about the 5x other Plantain tee that I've made already (and the 7th & 8th that I finished earlier this week too haha!). I love this pattern it's definitely a TNT (tried 'n' true) one for me now!

Happy sewing peops!

Goldhawk Road Meet-Up: Saturday 3rd August 2013

One of the name-badges I printed off for us :)!

Well, what a wonderful, friendly and happy bunch of people everybody was today! I think it was more than simply the lovely sunshine we've been blessed with recently in the UK that made us all smile. And, perhaps it was the allure of the fabric lovelieness to be had in the stores of Goldhawk Road, but the meet-up that I'd originally announced back in April was a definite success. And, it's all down to you guys who attended and made it such a fun day to be on. I always hold fast that it is the people that make the meet-up, and I loved meeting everyone today (I hope that you did too?) :).

Sewing fans gathering outside of Goldhawk tube station

Here's the list of our splendid attendees... we had 37 folks in total - including a lovely young lady (a Niece joining her Auntie) who picked up some goodies to enjoy her new sewing skills on. We also had x1 bloke... who I have now officially changed his moniker to "Roisin's Boyfriend" (aka the artist formerly known as "Nic"). Plus, some visitors from abroad... we had Wendy who came over from Luxembourg just for this meet-up, and Rachel from Australia who's been over in the UK for several weeks. Special thanks to Kat for being Vice-President in charge of issuing the name-stickers :) 

Alison – Another Little Crafty Creation	Ally – London Calling	Amy – Almond Rock
Carys	Charlie – This Blog Is Not For You	Daniela – Ela Sews and Doesn't Sleep
Diane – Marguerite Designs	Dibs – Dibs and the Machine	Emma – My Oh Sew Vintage Life
Iris	Jamila	Jenny
Jo - Sew Much Choice	Kat – KraftyKat	Kat – Chasing Wool
Katy – Sleek Silhouette	Katy – I, of the needle	Lorna
Melissa – Fehr Trade	Mellie – Mellie's Workroom	Penelope – GreenPea
Rachel – My Messings	Rachel – A Study In Stitching	Roisin But it can't be from Dolly Clackett. She gave me an Easter egg!
So-Ha – unlabelled clothes	Susan – starryfishathome	Thread Carefully (2-ladies – a joint blog: Aileen & Louise)
Tania - Feel the fear… and sew it anyway	Tanya	Thea – Thea's adventures in Sewingland
Vicki - Vicki Kate Makes	Wendy	Zora - Seeds, seams and upcycling

In fact another special thanks goes out to Wendy - for bringing this cute little gift of some very yummy looking Petit Fours by Oberweis all the way from Luxembourg just for little 'ol me! (I was under strict instructions not to open it until I got home hehe! They're now chilling in my fridge waiting for me to enjoy tomorrow - thank you so much Wendy!!!)

  

We started off by meeting up at the tube station just before mid-day, we then headed off for around and hour's worth of fabric-hunting in the shops before reconvening to head down the road for lunch.

Lunch... is another story LOL! When I'd selected the 3rd August for the meet-up date, it was to coincide with Rachel's travel dates. However, as the football fixture dates had not as yet been announced I was blissfully unware that QPR (the local football team for the Shepherd's Bush area) were holding their 1st major home game of the season on the same date (epp!). I'd visited the area in person earlier this week on Wednesday to scout out potential lunch venues... but I was having no luck (what with everywhere expecting to be overrun with beer-swilling football-mad blokes LOL!). The last place I tried was the LIZ CAFE (at 7 Goldhawk Road, Shepherd's Bush, London W12 8QQ), it was last on my list as it was a brand-new place and I've never visited there before. I spoke with the nice young man behind the counter and left my details. They were very diligent and called me back the same day. Thursday I popped back-in to meet the lady Manageress to discus the details... and bingo - our lunch venue was reserved & sorted (yes - I'd stressed myself a bit over that one ;)!!).

LIZ CAFE (at 7 Goldhawk Road, Shepherd's Bush, London W12 8QQ

Summer dresses galore!  From: Thread Carefully, and VickiKateMakes

Well, we all had a really great lunch at LIZ CAFE today. They were brilliantly helpful and accommodating to our happy (but noisy) gathering of friends (which is great when you consider that I'd only made the reservation for our large group at such short-notice 2 days beforehand). We were all very happy with the food (excellent), and the family team made us very welcome indeed. I for one will definitely be back for more, and I can see it as a great place for future sewing meet-ups (or meet-ups of any kind). In fact I'd 100% recommend them to anyone visiting the fabric shops in Goldhawk Road; or for anyone in the Shepherd's Bush area. The warm atmosphere, and great experience would make you believe that this little gem has been here forever, but it has only been open less than 2 months - the fact that they have built such a great cafe and lovely service in that short time-period shows that hard work and customer-service is paramount to the family at Liz Cafe. (This may sound like a sugar-coated review to some - but I genuinely think that they are great, and a fab alternative to all the "big-chain" coffee/food places out there... so I say visit them if you can if you're in the area.)

After we'd munched down on out tasty treats, it was time to clear the tables - and get out the goodies we're brought along to swap with everyone else. With 37 people, that a helluva lotta stuff (LOL!). So, as per the previously established process back in April and June - we laid out all of our swap items out on the tables. 1 for fabric, 1 for patterns, and 1 for notions/wool/etc.

Then on the count-down of 3-2-1, everyone gets to mingle freely and take home some lovely new-to-them items (yay - what's not to love!!?). 

The fabric swapping table!

Melissa brought a HUGE box of patterns with her to giveaway (see the 1st photo in her post here). I had 7 pieces of fabric with me, some Machine Embroidery thread spools and one solitary little dress pattern. One piece of mine was 9+ metres of chocolate brown Viscose jersey which got divided up into 4 pieces for different ladies to enjoy ;)!

The pattern & notions swapping table!

The only rules for the swapping (apart from no-elbowing allowed hehe!) were that at the end of le-grande swap that anything we'd personally brought along with us that was not claimed by a new owner either got taken home by the bring-ee, or it got donated to the charity shop. In this case the nearby FARA Charity Shop on Uxbridge Road in Shepherd's Bush (my thanks to Jenny and Zora for their help in carrying the donations over to FARA with me).

I picked up 2 pieces of cotton fabric at the swap: some red with multi-coloured polka dots, and some navy blue with large white stars.

And this morning I made another Pressing Ham (can you tell... I've not finished sewing my label on LOL!), plus an extra-large one I'd made a few weeks back - so show 'n' share with a few ladies :). I wanted to get some opinions on the size and shape from my fellow sewists.

More homemade Pressing Hams :)

I felt positively virtuous purchase-wise, as below are the only bits I actually paid for today: some white 100% cotton with black polka-dots, that I plan to re-make my top with, a bunch of zips (from 30p - 50p each), and some yellow polycotton bias-binding for 50p/metre.

My only bought items: Zips, Polka Dot Cotton Fabric, Bias Binding

Saving Goldhawk Road...

Whilst today our merry band has enjoyed the fabric-fruits of the stores on Goldhawk Road - this pleasure may not last very much longer. Half the shops are under threat from developers - see the campaign against this at their Facebook page 'SAVE 30-52 GOLDHAWK ROAD FROM DEMOLITION', plus this article in the Fulham & Chronicle - 'Inquiry to scrutinise compulsory purchase of Shepherd's Bush Market' (and also Melissa's great post here).

Goldhawk Road Meet-Up... Will You Be Grabbing One of These Later Today?

Just a quick coupla pics of the goodies I've packed into my trusty pink-trolley for the meet-up later this morning in Goldhawk Road :) See ya there!!!

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.)

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-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.