Weekend in Review Pt 1

I know I said in this post that I will reveal what I have been working on, on sunday, but I can't do that. The project is unfinished. I was too busy having fun.

This weekend has been quite an interesting one for me. First, my friend from Portsmouth came to spend the weekend with me, then we got to hang out with Claire on Saturday, and then on Sunday, we met up with some cool chicas, ate some cake ( LOADS), and downed some cocktails. Details of sunday's meet-up will be in part two of my weekend review.  Sadly, all good things come to an end, and my friend has returned to Portsmouth, and once again, I'm back to living my life through your blogs....yes I know, I am a stalker.....I'm getting help from the NHS, so fear not, I will not be doing anything drastic soon.

Online Fabric Shopping

For someone who loves sewing, fabric shopping is one of the things you look forward. In my case, entering a fabric shop is similar to a kid entering a candy shop. I get all excited, oohhing and ahhing when I see something nice. When I went to Berwick street (off Oxford Street, London), I oohed and ahhd in the first shop I entered, but that quickly turned to "huh?", and "oh dear", when I was told the price of a metre of a gorgeous cotton print. I quickly ushered myself out of the shop. Needless to say, I have never gone back.

Fabric shopping in London is quite interesting, but stressful, because London is so big, and you spend most of the day travelling from one end of town to the other. Sometimes its not worth it. I'm fortunate that I have my beloved Goldhawk road close to my house, but its really difficult discovering new places if you don't venture out of your area.

Cue in online fabric shopping.

Though I love fabric shopping, I have never bought fabric online. Well I did buy a lace trimming once, but I don't technically class that as fabric shopping. I think I'm much too scared that what I ordered might not come through, or that I won't love it when I see how it really is. Plus I always like to touch fabric and make a connection with it before buying. Also it does not help that some of the online fabric shops do nothing to really promote the fabric they sell, and sometimes the information provided is so confusing and the sites are so headache inducing that I'd rather not go there.

I've discovered one online shop though, which is really tempting me into buying some fabric. Its called My Fabrics. Its a German company I think, because they have their outlet store in Germany, and the prices are quoted in Euros.The site is well organised. They give care instructions for each fabric, as well as pictures of items you can make with the fabric.

Their sale prices are also very good. With prices going down to £2/metre on all sorts of fabric, like this pure 100% pure Italian cotton fabric, which went from 16.95 euros to 3.26 (£2.76).

Their shipping rates are not bad either. Anything up to 100 euros is shipped through DHL at 5.95 euros, and anything over that is free. Very tempting.

They also welcome visitors to their fabric outlet store in Halstenbek, near Hamburg. Which is good to know, especially if you find yourself in Germany. I wonder if it will be mad to plan a trip to Germany purely to visit this factory. Come to think of it, it might not be that bad, especially with cheap flights from EasyJet ( yes I know, my husband says I'm crazy too)

Ohh, so much to see, and touch.

Right, I better get off and start looking at possible targets for my sewing projects. Its a good thing there is the Goldhawk Rd. meet-up on the 14th of May. That way, I won't go wild on the My Fabrics website.

Take care everyone.

Xoxo

Dibs

Goldhawk Road treasures

As you may have noticed, I am obsessed with Goldhawk Road. "Obsessed" being an understatement. So imagine my delight when I came to know that Karen, of didyoumakethat  fame, is organising a shopping trip to Goldhawk Road for the London peeps.

She organised one earlier this year to Walthamstow market, which unfortunately I could not attend. I can't remember why I missed it as I definitely had it marked down as one of the things to do. She also has guides to other fabric hotspots, and even has one for Paris. Blimey!! talk about dedicationJ. So if you are planning on going to Paris un de ces jours, and would like to buy some fabric, I'd suggest you go to her blog.

So, knowing that in a couple of weeks, masses of sewing enthusiasts will be flocking to Goldhawk road from London and beyond, I decided to show some of the treasures I bought on my last visit to that famous road. I remember I was going there to get just some yellow silk fabric, and promised myself I would not spend more than £20. I ended up spending about £60. I could not resist the temptations. Lol.

So, here are a couple. The ones I am showing are ones I prewashed. The rest will be prewashed later, when I have decided on what to sew.

 The black one in the middle is actually from Ikea, but I washed it along with the rest.

 My husband's shirts were relegated to the back of the line because, lets face it, they are not as important as my fabric!!

 These treasures, and more, await the brave. So if like Aladdin, you are desperate for some treasure, head along to Goldhawk road with Karen, on Saturday, May 14th. However, unlike Aladin who only had two words to say, there will be no Sesame opening for you unless you punch in those digits on your card.