Goldhawk Road meet up with Lladybird

No finished item for you today -I’ve actually been quite productive with my sewing recently and I have a backlog of things to show you all, but the weather is so dark and miserable that I’m having a hard time managing to get photos of them!

I’m quite pleased with my recent productivity though – for the first time, I’ve managed to actually get some decent sewing done when I’ve only had smaller blocks of time. I always mean to, but I find it hard when I only have an hour or two, but the last week or so I have managed to make use of the shorter periods of time I’ve had, and not needed at least one longer spell of sewing to get things done, so I’m hoping I can keep that up!

So what I do have for you today is a few pics from the meet up in Goldhawk Road on Saturday, in honour of Lauren being over here. Unfortunately I don’t have as many pics as I should have had as I accidentally wiped my memory card after taking a few! Oops!

I had an awesome weekend this weekend – the meet up on Saturday was wonderful, it made me so happy! I love hanging out with sewing people – everyone is so nice, and it’s always nice to meet new people. I really enjoyed Rachel’s NYLon meetup in May, but with about 80 of us, it was a little overwhelming and I didn’t get the chance to talk to everyone. There were about 15-20 of us this time, which meant that we could still go round the shops as a group, and we all got a chance to chat to everyone. Straight after the meet up, I got the train up to Lincoln to watch my roller derby team play on Sunday, and as I was sitting on the train, I actually felt like I was going to burst with happiness after such an awesome day – that is what hanging out with sewing people does to me!

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, I did also buy some fabric, but due to various reasons, none of of it is currently in my possession, so no photos yet! I got some lovely wool melton to make a Hollyburn skirt, some jersey for another Coco, and some denim in preparation of giving the Ginger jeans a go…

The bout my roller derby team were playing was in the finals of a tournament that has been running this year. The first game they played was against our sister league, Big Bucks High Rollers, who we are good friends with and train with quite a bit, so it was always going to be an interesting game. It turned out to be probably the most tense game of anything I have ever watched – the lead kept switching all the way through, but when we were 18 points up going into the last jam, we thought we had it…until our jammer got sent to the penalty box and the other team managed to score enough points to beat us by three points! It was so stressful, and I was only watching! But I’m so proud of all my team mates for playing such a great game, and we then went on to cheer on Big Bucks for the rest of the day :) Here is a photo of them being awesome. You will have to excuse the slightly dubious fashion choice of shiny blue leggings and a multi-coloured thong…I really do need to get on and make team leggings! Those awesome green and black lightening blot ones that Big Bucks are sporting are made by a member of their team.

So, all in all, a totally awesome weekend filled with lots of wonderful people :)

Here’s a list of people who attended the meet up, along with their blogs. Thanks to Grazia for being proactive on the day and putting the list together! I know there are a few people missing from it who’s names I can’t remember, so if you were there and you’re missing from the list, please let me know and I’ll add you in!

Alex
@sewrendipity

Birgitte
http://www.indigorchid.com/

Charly
http://thisblogisnotforyou.com/
@tbinfy

Claire
http://sew-incidentally.blogspot.co.uk/
@ClaireSews

Claire
http://www.iwanttobeaturtle.com/
@iwanttobeturtle

Fiona
http://chainstitcher.blogspot.co.uk/
@FionaParker17

Freya
http://thedressmakingdiaries.blogspot.co.uk/
@freyamaymakes

Grazia
No blog yet!

Janet
Not sure if Janet has a blog?

Julia
http://juliacroyden.blogspot.co.uk/
@sljuls

Kelly
https://makesewdo.wordpress.com
@makesewdo

Lauren
http://lladybird.com/
@LLLLADYBIRD

Mandy
No blog

Rachel
http://sewsouthlondon.wordpress.com/

Rachel
No blog (but a lovely Minoru!)

Sally
http://charityshopchic.net/
@charity_chic

Stevie
@bbhandmadedress

Tamsin
http://pimpmycurtains.blogspot.co.uk/

Tilly
http://www.tillyandthebuttons.com/
@TillyButtons

I’m missing the three lovely ladies in the right of the group photo at the top of the page. I did spend quite a while admiring the Minoru of one of them, but rather ashamedly can’t remember her name! Once I find out, I’ll add them in to the list. Just the lady in red missing now, and someone else who was wearing a lovely red Minoru, but didn’t make it to the pub. Talking of Minorus, I saw not one but four gorgeous Minorus in person on Saturday, and it’s spurred me to hurry up and make mine. I made a toile for it the other weekend, but couldn’t actually decide if the size was right of if I needed to make the next size up. I think I probably need to go up, and I couldn’t bring myself to trace the pattern again, so it got put on hold! I was hoping to get it done in time for going to Paris this week (eeeee!), but decided that I could either make one coat, or a few other things that I wanted to make, so I went for the few other things. Minoru is high on my list to get back to though.

Talking of Paris – I’M GOING TO PARIS TOMORROW!! I am so excited! I’ve never been to Paris before, so I’m really looking forward to it, and it’s going to be especially great being there with sewing people (see my notes about awesomeness and happy feelings above!). After a couple of days hanging out with sewing folk, Marcus is then coming out on Friday evening to join me and we’re going to spend the weekend out there. If anyone has any recommendations for must-see things in Paris, please do let me know!

Exploring Goldhawk Road

Image source: Google maps

Hola! I hope you are all having a good Friday. I am currently sitting in the sunshine in our garden, enjoying my last bonus day off before starting a new job on Monday. Eek! The new job is a pretty big change from what I was doing before, but it’s an exciting change. I said a very emotional goodbye to my wonderful (former) colleagues at my old job last Friday, who gave me this lovely sewing box and accessories as a leaving present. They know me so well. Or, I just talk about sewing a lot. And a cuddly sloth :) because, well, who doesn’t need a cuddly sloth?! I have a bit of an obsession with them recently, and they agreed with me that Marcus was being unreasonable in saying I couldn’t have a real one ;)

I am now enjoying a week off just to chill out a bit at home before I start the new one. I will now be working half a mile from my house – I’m swapping my hour’s drive to work for a 10 minute walk, and I can’t wait to get that time back! I’m going to spend at least some of that extra time sewing – yay, more sewing time!

I have spent most of this week doing admin-y chores at home that I had been putting off, and needed to be done, but I did manage to get a bit of sewing in as well. On Wednesday evening my lovely friend Kate came over to do some sewing. I showed her how to use my overlocker and she knocked up a gorgeous infinity dress. So speedy! I managed to trace and cut out the pattern for a Renfrew. I made the top up yesterday (my first garment that I’ve ever finished in one day!), and I’ll do a blog post on that shortly. For now I am going to talk about one of our favourite topics – fabric shopping!

The fabric for my Renfrew came from a shopping trip to Goldhawk Road in March with Claire, Daniela, Jenny, and my friends Clare and Laura. Having been to one of London’s fabric meccas, Walthamstow market, I’d been meaning for ages to take a trip to Goldhawk Road. I did manage a very fleeting visit a few months ago, when I had to go to London for a work training course, and went down a bit earlier so that I could call into Goldhawk Road on my way, but I literally had 40 minutes there, and only managed to visit two shops. That didn’t stop me from buying a fair amount of fabric (mainly gorgeous lawns from Classic textiles), but I wanted the chance to have a proper explore.

For this trip I went armed with my colour wallet from my House of Colour colour analysis, and a list of exactly what I was looking for. Admittedly it was a pretty long list, but I wanted to make sure that I only bought fabric with projects in mind, to try to exert some control on my ever-growing fabric stash.

We started in A to Z fabrics at one end of the road, where I got some gorgeous stretch cotton sateens, which were one of the things high on my list of things to buy. I’ve got the By Hand London Charlotte skirt pattern waiting to be made, but didn’t have any suitable stretch woven fabrics to make it out of, I also want to make some Anna/Charlotte and Elisalex/Charlotte mash-ups, and I want to try making the Stella blouse in a stretch woven – I think it would allow a tighter fit, especially round the sleeves, while still being able to move! And so the first purchase of the day was made!

Image source: google maps

I got a 5m length of this gorgeous turquoise stretch cotton for £30, and got 3m of the pink for £6/m as it was the end of the bolt.

From A to Z, we worked our way along that side of the road, visiting every shop along the way! Of course, I cannot now remember exactly which shop I got each piece of fabric in, but I did get a few pieces in another shop along this side – but I really can’t remember which one!

Whichever one it was (it was the same one Claire got the lace for this lovely Laurel), I got 2m each of these beautifully drapey poly viscoses, for £2/m.

I’m going to use at least one of these to try making a draped top, following Tania’s tutorial. The mustard yellow one is not within my palette of allowed colours, but I am going to use that to make something for my sister. I’m thinking that the pink might make a great lining for a Flora dress I’m planning to make, so I might need to pick up some more of that. In the same shop, I also got some lovely silky grey fabric (again, to make something drapey), and 1 m of this printed grey silk. That was my most expensive fabric of the day, at £10/m, but I loved it so much I couldn’t resist. With just a metre of this, it’s destined to become a gorgeous top.

It was also in this shop that I bought fabric for a Zinnia skirt (which has been made, but needs some tweaking to the pleats, which won’t behave themselves), and that I also used to make the tie for my Grandad. It’s a Chinese brocade, which was £5/m. I wanted 2.5, but the owner refused to sell me less than the 4m that were left on the bolt. We compromised on me paying for 3.5m, and I’ve still got a little left after the skirt and tie.

Once we’d visited every shop on that side of the road, we stopped for a bite to eat before continuing onto the other side.

As last time I visited, I did very well in Classic Textiles. I got a selection of lining fabrics, which is one of the big things I was in need of. I think theses were £3.50/m, and they’re a much nicer fabric that the cheaper poly lining. I’m not sure exactly what the fabric is, but they’re lovely and silky.

I also got some cotton silk, which I am going to use to line bodices, and Claire, Daniela and I each got 1.5m of this pretty bird print cotton silk. It’s going to be interesting to see what we each come up with to make from it. I’m thinking a blouse of some sort, as it’s quite sheer, so would work well for a looser blouse worn with a vest top underneath, but I haven’t decided on a pattern yet. If you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them!

Classic textiles was also where I got the cotton lawn for my Sew Dolly Clackett Anna dress. At £7/m, this was again one of my more expensive fabrics of the day, but I used less than 2m to make it, so still only £14 (plus a couple of pounds for the zip)  for the dress – not bad!

And just as the shop assistant was cutting my last piece of fabric for me, I saw this fabric on a bolt just outside the door. This just screamed Sew Dolly Clackett to me. Probably helped by the fact that it was standing next to the swimmers fabric that Roisin has made some famous. This was a polycotton, and only £1.50/m, so I got 3m of it. I’m planning on making Simplicity 2444 with it, but probably with a gather skirt instead of the pleats. I can really see this as a dress with a fitted bodice and full skirt, great for dancing in – much like the lady on the fabric – the one in the middle there, dancing on her own, all in white, with a belt on! As you may have guessed, I did not get this made in time for the Sew Dolly Clackett competition, but I am definitely still planning on making it up, I think it will make a wonderful dress.

In A one fabrics I got this owl print, to make Simplicity 2451, which was the winner of my Miss Bossy Patterns March challenge. Unfortunately, with a couple of sewalong deadlines, I didn’t manage to find time to get this made in March, but it will be made soon! I’m going to use the purple to pipe the seams.

I can’t remember which shops they came from, but I got a couple of jerseys for making Renfrews – the pink one at the top of the page, which is the one I made yesterday, and this purple and grey flower print one. They were each £3.50/m.

And last but not least, I got this cotton, for making up Tilly’s Mathilde blouse. I wanted something with a bit of drape for this blouse, so it doesn’t look too boxy, and this cotton isn’t too stiff. It’s also quite sheer, as you can see, which I think will help with the pattern.

I have probably bored you with all my fabric now, sorry! Although I bought a fair amount of fabric, pretty much all of it was bought with a pattern that I already have in mind, which was my aim. Three of them have already been made up, and hopefully the new job will allow me a bit more time to get some more of them sewn up in the next few weeks.

And it’s off to Goldhawk Road again tomorrow for Rachel’s NYLon meet up – I’m sure I’ll see some of you there! Again, I have a very specific list of things to buy, but it’s much shorter this time! One thing I would love to find is some suitable fabric for a Robson coat. After seeing Fiona’s (two!) and Claire’s lovely versions, I am desperate to get this sewn up. I am lacking a decent spring coat – I have thick winter coats, waterproof coats, or short jackets – and Robson will be perfect. I have the pattern, but have yet to find the right fabric.

I think Goldhawk Road is my new favourite fabric shopping location – the choice of shops is brilliant (I think there are about 15 on a short stretch of road), and the prices are great, but so is the quality. While Walthamstow market was super cheap, the quality just didn’t seem to be quite as good. However, I did go there early on in my sewing days, so it could just be that I didn’t really know what I was looking for. Ah, I’ll just have to go back! What I think Walthamstow wins on though, hands down, is notions. I got loads of nice trims when I went there, and zips! Ah, the zips! I got invisible zips there 4 for a £1 for shorter (skirt) zips, 3 for £1 for longer dress zips. Unfortunately I didn’t get enough though, and have had to resort since to buying them elsewhere for £2 each. I must go back at some point and seriously stock up on zips!

I’d better migrate inside now, before my laptop overheats (it’s started whirring quite loudly!), or I get sunburnt (oops, seemingly it’s too late for my stomach!), and get on with the more boring jobs I have to do today, such as sorting out car insurance. Ugh. But I’m looking forward to seeing lots of you tomorrow!

What do you use to line your dresses?

Thank you to all of you who have voted on which pattern I should sew up in March – there’s still time to weigh in with your opinion if you fancy telling me what to do! At the moment, it looks like I’m going to be sewing Simplicity 2451, which brings me on to today’s post…

Today I have a question for you all – what fabric do you use to line your dresses and skirts, and where do you get it from?!

I have never actually lined a dress or skirt before, but I have some makes planned when I am going to need to. And I’m really not sure what to do it with. I know you can get the standard anti-static polyester lining fabric, but I’d quite like something a bit nicer, certainly for some things.

When I took a (very fleeting, on the way to a training course!) trip to Goldhawk Road a few months ago, I had a look in one of the shops there (I think it was Classis Textiles, although I’m not entirely sure!), having read on various blogs (including Daniela’s, I can’t remember which others) that they had managed to get cotton silk to use as lining in there for £4/m. I couldn’t see any, other than a couple of patterned ones (which of course I did get some of), and when I asked, they just looked at me blankly!

Lots of blogs talk about using Bemberg rayon lining, which sounds great, but seems to be something that’s easy (and cheap) to come by in the US (Mood sell a huge selection for $6/yd), and not so freely available over here – I’ve only managed to find it in a couple of places online, always at about £10-15/m, so that doesn’t seem to be an option. If only shipping from the US wasn’t ruinously expensive!

Source: Mood fabrics. Gah, I’m so jealous!

So, my questions to you:
– What is your go-to lining for dresses and skirts? Is it one of the above, or something else that I am totally unaware of?
– Where do you tend to get it from?

This one will make a lovely lining for a jacket

Ideally I want something that I can get hold of for £4ish a metre. It’s something I’ll probably stock up on a bit when I come across it/take a fabric shopping trip/do an order online, so I don’t want it to break the bank if I buy a few metres at once! I think a trip to Goldhawk Road or another fabric shopping destination might be on the cards in the next couple of weeks…