Diary of a Chain Stitcher

Just a quick post today to let you all know that after a little twitter chat the other day myself and some of the London Spoolettes have arranged a bit of an impromptu meet up next weekend. The plan is for Saturday 18th January and involves some fabric shopping (or browsing for those who are on a strict 'no adding to the stash' diet!) on the wonderful Goldhawk Road and a chat over some coffee and/or lunch. Short notice I know but if any of you readers are in London and available it would be very lovely to see you there! If you haven't been to Goldhawk Road before you'll be in for a treat I promise. In my opinion it's one of the best, if not THE best place in London to buy fabrics. There's a huge variety and all for a great price! I once found the same fabric I'd seen the day before on Berwick Street at a tenth of the cost. No exaggeration. If you do fancy joining us let me know your email address in the comments and I'll send the details o...

I've been sewing up a storm recently so got quite a bit of catching up to do here on the blog! It's feeling surprisingly like summer in these parts at the moment so I've been making the most of it and not only do I have a very summery Lonsdale Dress to show you today but we've finally sorted out our garden so I've got a slightly picture backdrop for you...plus I think the sun's got to my head and I've had my hair cut shorter than it's ever been before! I got this fabric in my local market in Bromley where there are a couple of fabric stalls once a week. It's totally worth the wait for them as they are ridiculously cheap and get beautiful quality fabrics. Last week there were John Kaldor knits and Henry Bertrand silks. This Hawaiian print I picked up before I really knew what treasures these stalls had hiding. The beautiful texture of it was actually what grabbed me first before the print. I had an inkling that it might be some kind of sandwash...

Kat from Modern Vintage Cupcakes came up with the brilliant idea of 'Indie Pattern Month', a chance for us sewing bloggers to celebrate the talents of the ever increasing number of independent sewing pattern designers across the globe. If you read my post last week about my experience sewing up Simplicity 2444 you'll know that making that dress was the very first time I'd used a pattern from the 'Big Four' pattern companies (Simplicity, Butterick, McCalls and Vogue). Considering I started sewing around 18 months ago and also the range and number of patterns available from these companies is probably quite surprising. Though when I think about it, it shouldn't have been to me as I love indie patterns so much! It may be the illustrations or styling on the envelopes of the big 4 patterns but I find it much easier to get excited by the more contemporary indie label designs. My second Sewaholic Lonsdale I think I've stuck with using indie patte...

So I've got quite a few very deserved thank you's to be saying to you lovely sewing ladies (and gentlemen if there are any reading!). Reading your blogs and comments and just being involved in this wonderful sewing community generally puts a smile on my face but there's four things in particular to do with you lot that have put an extra big smile on my face recently! First up I'd like to say thank you for all your lovely comments on my last post about my first experiment with the Elisalex pattern. I had a bit of a rough time with the fabric when making it and as a result was NOT loving the outcome and not feeling particularly great in it. Your kind and supportive comments have completely reversed my opinion and rid me of my doubt about whether this pattern was for me or not, so much so I've planned another one! Secondly I was delighted to discover I had won Catja's Wellington Pattern Pyramid Giveaway over on her blog Gjeometry ! Catja's sews up som...