Sunday 9 October 2011

Birmingham!

 On Saturday I boldly got up early and caught a coach up to Birmingham for a day out with some rather lovely (and accomplished) ladies who sew and blog. After finding each other at New Street Station we descended on the Rag Market with glee, fondling every fabric in sight. There were bobbles and sparkles and lace trims, fabrics at £1 a metre and too many beautiful sari-type ribbons to choose from.
Lists were ticked off and extras added, but I think we were relatively restrained. There was some stash busting in the form of a lunchtime fabric & notions swap, I came home with a really pretty brooch made by Scruffy Badger herself.
Time flew by and before we knew it it was time to compare our purchases over a reviving coffee before trekking back to our various corners of the world. I think it'd be fair to say that a good time was had by all, we certainly bought enough materials to keep us all busy for a while!
Ms Badger has written a far superior account of the day over here so I'll just show you a few pictures I took along the way : )

I'm not sure what was going on over there...
A beady-eyed badger and magpie have spotted a stash of stripey jersey
Rik-rak and lace and sequins, oh my!
£1 a metre!  (and a Colette Rooibos too!)
Magpies love purple as well as shiny things don'tcha know?
The whole haul!
I myself was relatively restrained, I often find myself lusting after pretty things with no real idea of what to do with them, or starting off with good intentions but not finding the time do them justice. I have an enormous amount of ribbon yet I still seem to buy more!
Well, I allowed myself a few purchases:

Hibiscus tea - How could I not for 80p and such a lovely colour?
Strawberry polycotton - 1m at £2 a metre, I'm thinking of a strawberry Sorbetto
More polycotton from the same stall, another metre at £2. Destiny unknown.
Beautiful metallic ribbon/trim - £1/metre
Some for my Mum too :)
All my treasures together
  Thankyou everyone for such a nice day, and to Debbie and Winnie for organising everything. It was lovely to meet you all and see how serious seamstresses shop! Hopefully I'll be able to report some Sorbetto progress in the not-too-distant future, even if it is just that I've printed the pattern!

4 comments:

  1. Hello!! Nice write up and good to see more pics!! I like the blue braid with the blue floral fabric.... Was that deliberate? Good luck getting sorbetto printed! Well be watching!!lovely to meet you and glad that you also enjoyed the trip!

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  2. Hello, it was a good day wasn't it? It was great to meet you. Good to see your purchases here as all that fabric buying is a bit of a blur in my mind now! Look forward to seeing your sorbetto.

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  3. Have you tried your tea yet? I've used one bay leaf so far! A sorbetto would make a great layering piece for the autumn so get printing that pattern :)

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  4. Thanks all :)
    The Sorbetto pattern has now been printed, 75p off my print credits without the instructions. Not too bad I think! I'll probably make a duvet cover muslin though, don't want to waste strawberries and effort.
    I haven't tried the tea yet, I seem to have been monsterously busy this week but I think chilled out homework time this weekend will be the time to try it.
    And if I get the work done quickly enough there'll be some blog reading time too...

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Yay :)