Wednesday 8 April 2015

Sunny days and crafty ways

What's that? I hear you say.  Two posts in the space of a few days, it must be the school holidays!  Indeed it is and I'm already thinking that they are speeding through much too quickly. 
The new quilt is nearing completion, and I am loving these binding clips that were free in my quilting magazine a couple of months ago, far easier than pins and less likely to be lost on the floor and end up in a dog's paw!  There was a moment this afternoon where I was sitting in the garden, new quilt on my lap, hand sewing the binding, dog snoring gently beside me on the settee, sun shining down, bees buzzing in the daffodils, a couple of geese flew overheard calling to each other and I thought 'why on earth don't I spend all days doing this?'  Well, basically the good old British weather doesn't always co-operate, and going to work gets in the way.  I can tell you though, if I could have bottled that moment to open up and experience again and again, I would have!
A couple of days ago I saw that my nephew's wife had 'liked' a Facebook page for a local shop which I had never heard of before. Sew Contemporary.  It sounded like my kind of shop!  So this morning I set out on a mission to find it.  It was at an end of town I don't normally venture into, but now I've found it I can tell you that I will be returning.  There's fabrics and threads, wools and zips, patterns and gadgets.  I spoke to the owner as I went around looking longingly and stroking the fabrics and she is planning to start doing workshops either to learn a specific item or practice something that you haven't tried before.  There may even be a quilting class.  Oh my. 
Of course I was tempted to buy something there and then and I saw the pattern that Abi has just made but I thought I would ease myself back into dressmaking with something simple and something that I had actually been thinking about buying.  I thought I would make a shell top for work.  Our old building can get mighty warm in the summer and it's hard to find something that is cool to wear yet smart enough for an office environment.  T Shirts are not allowed!  Sadly there were no patterns of that type there but the owner told me about a good website where you could download free patterns and she happened to know that there was a nice shell top pattern there.  Can you guess what I did as soon as I got home?  Here's a clue ...

 
I nearly fell at the first hurdle though, it's an American website and obviously American sizes are VERY different to English ones!  It's going to seem weird making something in a size 6! 
Am I enjoying my Easter break so far?  I don't think I need to tell you the answer to that do I?



11 comments:

Cheri said...

When you figure out how to bottle that moment, send some my way... still gray and rainy here.

alexa said...

You've brought us so eloquently into your lovely moment ... and I'm enjoying hearing how upbeat you are, now that you have a bit of time to yourself.

Sian said...

Oh your sewing looks beautiful!

I know exactly what you mean about the weather..as soon as the sun came out the other day I thought how life would be different if it shone every day. They laugh at me here because I say I'd like to live in Norway. They say I'd never manage it.

That shop sounds just my kind of thing

scrappyjacky said...

Sounds like a near perfect day to me as well.

Ruth said...

Your quilt looks beautiful, the colours are fabulous together!

Abi said...

There is so much I love in this post Deb, your sewing, the sunshine, the fabric shop! It sounds like bliss!
I know what you mean about dress patterns. In the 'big four' patterns like vogue, simplicity etc, I am a size 12-14 (I normally take an 8-10) in shops, and then in american sizes I am a size 4 or 6 and then Tilly and the Buttons patterns are done entirely differently again and I am a size 3! I have just resorted to measuring myself time and again!

Fiona@Staring at the Sea said...

Sounds like just my sort of shop. Your quilting looks wonderful. Those clips are so handy for all sorts of things. I know of a couple of free patterns for those kind of tops. One being the Sorbetto from Colette and the other is the Polly top from By Hand London. If you're after something with sleeves, a great pattern for wovens is the Belcarra top from Sewaholic. That's not free but it is downloadable for instant gratification! My friend Kerry has made several in lovely lightweight cottons.

Anonymous said...

So glad you had the chance to enjoy the beautiful afternoon sunshine. I know the manic period will start when you get back with the dreaded exams. It made me smile to see your paper trimmer being used x

Alison said...

You are 'sew' obviously enjoying your Easter break! It's been lovely to see the sunshine in so many UK blog posts these last few days, but I am STILL packing for winter for my upcoming Scottish trip- mum said they had SNOW yesterday! Xx

Maria Ontiveros said...

Sew on!
Rinda

Rachel Brett said...

How lovely, it is always exciting finding new shops. Can't wait to see your new top :)