Birmingham Bloggers Meet Up

"What?? " shrieked my friend on the phone "I can't believe you are six months pregnant and went running round the Ragmarket on Saturday".

Yes, instead of spending saturday lying on a couch being fed grapes as befits a woman in my position, I went off to Birmingham and met up with five lovely bloggers. You have probably already seen Scruffybadger's superior account. (If not, go and have a read).

This was my first blogger meet-up and I was a little nervous. ("What if they are, like, really old?" said my sister when I first mentioned a blogger meet- up to her last summer. Hmmm, she is in her forties, not fourteen by the way).

Well they were lovely, and very good company. As for the Ragmarket...I thought it was great and am ashamed to say I have lived 45 minutes away for 8 years and have never been before. We had a good look round the inside and outside stalls, trying not to get too muddled in my case. Then a late lunch. Cafe Soya looks like not very much from the outside but the food was fab, especially for a vegetarian like me, and generous portions. Rachel had the never-ending bowl of soup. I wish had taken a food blogger type photo now.

Then back to shopping:

Lots of prints

So many trims, with so many colours - even the zips were embellished.

And onto my haul, some looky-likey swiss dotted cotton in white, £2 a metre, for a top. Some dark denim with a bit of stretch. I bought this thinking of trousers but I am not so sure now - I think it would make a better skirt. A darkish blue mystery blend that looks like linen but isn't. Probably trousers. A yellowey green, I think this was £1 a metre. It has a silky feeling reverse so won't need any lining. Some stripey cotton jersey knit. I was very happy to find this as knits were high on my shopping list.

You can read Melizza's account of our day over at
pincushion treats

and Sarah's is here at Not Found

Their blogs are both new to me so an added bonus was to discover them and be able to add them to my reading list.

You can see a better picture of the green fabric hanging on the line.

If you live near to Birmingham I would definitely recommend a trip to the Ragmarket (a return trip next year has already been suggested) but a word of caution - check what days the markets are open - I am not certain if all the outdoor stalls we visited on saturday are there every day.

Flowery dress

I had a large piece of this flowery cotton fabric that I bought about four years ago at a second hand stall at a church fete. What better place to buy stuff than summer fetes? I am a great lover of these events as I think they are something quintessentially British but in a good way (I am not really a very patriotic person). Anyway, I digress, so I pulled the fabric out of the storage box as part of the Stash bustin project and made this little dress for my daughter. I used an old Simplicity pattern that I had found in a charity shop. It was for age 1 to 18 months and my daughter is nearly three so I had a go at resizing the pattern. You could almost hear the rusty cogs in my brain whirring as I tried to work out the pattern dimensions. I used Cal Patch's book on making your own clothes for guidance in how to resize a pattern. It is a fairly short-ish dress as I have found dresses below the knee may look very sweet but they tend to trip up a girl who wants to run around.

The original pattern pistured below, ( I made the pink dress/pinafore in the picture) has a vertical lace trim and a ribbon round the bodice - both of which I left out. I also bound the armholes with bias binding made from the same fabric. I have a big pile of this binding to use now in some more projects and also some more of the fabric to use - enough I think for another child's dress. I am thinking of trying a different pattern, though I like the look of the bloomers in this pattern picture.

Stash bustin' - some random thoughts

I added Zoe's button to my side bar for Stash bustin' then caught stomach flu and was unable to get to write my reasons for being interested in this project. I stumbled across Zoe's blog on sewing a couple of months ago. I like the way her sense of humour and character comes across through her sewing posts and of course she makes some fab clothes! I was attracted initially to the Stash bustin as I like many others am trying to cut back on spending, trying to buy more second hand goods and also I am addicted to having clear outs and getting rid of stuff. I do not have a sewing room and have to store my things where ever I can!

I am also aware of my mental list of sewing projects and the fabric waiting to be used. I do also have a bag of small bits of fabric saved from sewing projects that I usually use in applique - in this instance I LOVE having a stash. It has saved me from many a trip to buy fabric for small projects such as cushions or bags. I love the smug feeling of making something without having to go and buy any extra materials! During the recent snow I was able to make the pointy cat from Wee wonderfuls as described in an earlier post entirely from my small scraps stash. Lots of those scraps come from my mum whose stash of fabric is amazing - over 30 years of collecting there! I will have to take some pics next time I visit.

Anyway, after reading about the stash bustin' I crawled under my bed and pulled out a plastic box - one of a pair I may add! Looking through some of the fabric I can see patterns emerging (in my behaviour, not the fabric). I don't think I spend lots of money on fabric and I don't often visit fabric shops - the nearest decent ones are 15 miles away in another town which for me and my toddler necessitates a Planned Outing. The fabrics are either a "Bargain", a Gift or bought for a project and awaiting their use. The green and orange in the photo here were bought to make a bag my son has designed. The Ikea bird fabric I bought to make some new cushions - though I was temporarily sidetracked by the thought of making into a skirt. Do other people do this I wonder? I visualise almost all fabrics I like initially as skirts.

The Amy Butler fabric here I bought when at the Quilts UK at the NEC last summer and I fully intend to make a dress/tunic from it to wear this summer. It is on my list....

Some of the other fabrics I pulled out seem to have a common theme of being a bargain find in a charity shop or remnant bin - I love a bargain, and I love buying second hand. BUT, the seaside fabric? It is a big piece of fabric and this is just one bit. It is a good quality furnishing fabric found in my local charity shop.

I am not even sure I like it....I am toying with idea of putting it on Ebay.. I thought about making beach bags with it or towelling lined swimming bags for birthday presents for evey child I know....but well, life is short, time is precious and when you have two young children, a partner, a house to rebuild (yep, with my bare hands), then I think I will prioritise, keep the fabric I like for the projects I really want to do and get rid of stuff I don't particularly like.

PS: There's another stash I have to confess to... I need to photograph it first though. It involves vintage lace. I will confess all soon.