Knitting & Stitching Show 2017

First up, I'd like to say an enormous THANK YOU to everybody who commented or sent me messages of support following my last post. I appreciated each and every one of them and they really did make me feel better. I'm not quite sewing and blogging on full steam yet, but I've been back at the sewing machine (and the computer), so it's a start. In the meantime, what better way to cheer yourself up and forget about the stresses of everyday life than to visit a stitching show?! 

A few weeks ago I hot footed it over to Olympia with sewing pal Winnie to the Spring Knitting & Stitching Show. This year, I did what I always forget to do and booked myself into a workshop - Altering Patterns for a Fuller Bust - rock and roll! Whilst I was immersed in full bust adjustments (details below), Winnie somehow managed to make a leather clutch bag in an hour! After our workshop delights, the rest of the day was spent visiting stands and stuffing our faces with cake. Sadly there were too many cheap market stalls selling tat or blatantly non-crafty items for my liking. I counted no fewer than three separate stands for the Cats Protection League??? What's that all about?! Despite this we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and still managed to walk around for hours until our feet nearly dropped off. Here's a mini round up based on the abysmal number of random photos I remembered to take....

For my workshop, tutor Clare Tyler showed us everything we needed to know about adjusting patterns for busty types. This included moving darts and adjusting patterns for a no dart bodice, side dart bodice and princess seamed bodice. I'd done most of the alterations before, but it was still really interesting and the 1.5 hours positively flew by. After demonstrating each step we were let loose with paper and sellotape.

Chatting with Lauren from Guthrie Ghani. Lauren was wearing a Tilly and the Buttons Zadie dress in the most beautiful textured jersey fabric (Winnie bought some).

Vintage lovelies from Simply Vintage Designs

Liberty fabric heaven at Sewbox. I was on the lookout for some smaller pieces for my quilt and found a perfect little pack for £5. I've already managed to squeeze out 20 patchwork squares from the pieces, bargain!

This year I bought just three pieces of fabric, all destined for simple garments. 

From the top:

Teal striped T-shirt jersey from Girl Charlee. 

Small striped jersey from Fabrics Galore. I'd never paid much attention to their jerseys before, but having examined them up close, I have to say the quality is amazing. This will become a short sleeved Molly Top from Sew Over It.

Lovely, bright blue denim (much brighter in real life than the photo) from Guthrie Ghani. I'll probably make some kind of seventies-style skirt with it. 

The combination of fabric purchases, meeting sewing pals (old and new) and spending the day with Winnie was the perfect tonic for my frazzled nerves - I'm glad I visited! Next up, some actual sewing... x