Diary of a Chain Stitcher

O my goodness. I cannot believe I have not been to Walthamstow Market before! After picking up from various sewing blogs that this was THE place to go for fabrics in London I decided to make the trek up there this Saturday. Well I actually decided to go two months ago but something got in the way every Saturday until it became this one. So as it had taken such a long time to get there and probably would be a long time before I did again I decided to really go for it and went armed with my spreadsheet of upcoming projects I am looking for fabrics for and a bundle of cash! Well let me tell you on my return that bundle of cash was not as depleted as I expected but I had bundles of fabric as planned! I could not get over the prices for the quality and variety of fabrics available. I came back with enough fabric for 4 dresses and 2 tops as well as a bulk buy of both black and white fusible interfacing for just over £30! £30! Even on Goldhawk Road I'm used to fingering fabrics wist...

Aaaah! It makes me so happy to finally have a proper place to sew. My lovely wonderful man set up this little area for me as one of the first things we sorted out when we moved in and I can’t stop just sitting here and looking at all my lovely things around me and looking out the lovely big sash window which is perfect for letting in lots of light for me to sew in. I seriously need to get on with some sewing rather than just wallowing in my new found space and daydreaming. One of the biggest challenges I’ve faced when trying to be more productive with my sewing is the act of PREPARING to sew. It’s so easy when you’re sitting in front of the telly on a Saturday afternoon (yes it’s Soccer Saturday, don’t judge) thinking ‘I should really do some of this project or that project’ but then the thought of actually digging out all the tools and bits of fabric and notions and the right thread and setting up the machine before the satisfaction of actually achieving some...

I’ve actually managed to be quite productive throughout the move period, mainly because I’m so excited about my new sewing area I keep sorting through fabrics and patterns rather than actually sorting out the flat! When packing I also managed to find my reel of bias tape, which went walkabouts and was preventing me finishing my pillowcase dresses project (I was in desperate need of a designated sewing area to prevent things like this happening!). But voila! The three completed dresses which will soon be winging their way to Dress a Girl Around the World in America and then on to hopefully put a smile on a few little girls faces somewhere else in the world. I have the combined pride of making something from scratch and the good feeling that it’s not another something to add to my ever growing collection of pretty things but is to go to someone who doesn’t have a single pretty thing and may not again. The dresses were very easy to make, even when constructing the dress...

Hello again world! So there’s been a fairly huge gap in between posts (just as I was getting in to the swing of posting regularly!) because I have recently moved flats and the chaos having my things everywhere but where I need them and trying to find furniture and being without internet for almost three weeks (well done there Sky!) has resulted in me falling off the planet! But I am now very settled in the lovely Bromley, where the temptation is to go shopping every five minutes with the Glades shopping centre just around the corner…or should I say to go browsing for ideas for sewing projects?! I have spotted quite a few details in new trends recently which I’m feeling very inspired by and I’m determined to make not buy my way into a whole new wardrobe which I love. I’ve got some kind of new found sewing creativity going on at the moment; I’m sure where this has materialised from but I’m thinking perhaps a combination of the lack of creative production over the last few weeks, the pr...