Stitch and bitch #7. Hanging by a thread

There’s bags and bags though @NutellaEllaElla and you’ve certainly built the skills to tackle one.

Bags have never been on my to do list although I have made a drawstring bag for tent poles. I’m not drawn to small items generally in sewing although the only thing I’ll knit nowadays are socks so it doesn’t translate to other crafts. I’m only really interested in making clothes.

Fabric buying is a separate hobby.

Oh dear, rumbled ! (I've NC since last thread) Despite an attic FULL of 3 m lengths of fabric, 2 weeks ago I was in London for the weekend, and thought I'd stroll over to Dalston Mill Fabrics, as their Insta is so good.

Has anyone been there? It is a very unassuming shop front - looks like a bomb site really, on the Dalston market. Inside is a treasure trove - even I (fabric purchaser all over the world) was a bit daunted. But it wasn't the sort of place you could wander and feel fabric, unfortunately.

But I was looking for a solid white linen to make summer trousers (well next summer, I suspect ) so I asked, and was shown about 5 different weights & transparencies, all at £13.50 pm (the bargain aspect is part of the pleasure for me) so I bought 3 m of lovely solid Irish linen, then was shown some other colours (all at 13.50), and came away with 2m of a beautiful periwinkle blue & white stripe, but a soft stripe so from a distance will look like a lovely blue. A dress for next summer.

But I thoroughly recommend going there. Just have an idea about what you're looking for. THeir prices are excellent, as you can see from my linen splurge.

Ahhhhhh

Also - the Maven pattern for the French Dart Dress keeps coming up on my Pinterest suggestions - it looks nice. Has anyone sewn it? What's the fit & quality like?

I 'd like to have a quick make trapeze style dress for the rest of the summer.

Now working my way through the thread - gorgeous needlecord @pastabest

Also, I'm in the market for some new cutting out scissors, which can be sharpened at home. I have some lovely ones, but they need a shop to sharpen them, and it's hard to find a place that will do it.

What brands do you all use & recommend?

I buy online from Dalston Mills sometimes. I've never been in person but I'm tempted to have a look next time I'm in London.

I also really want to go and have a look at this place https://dovetailed.co.uk which is walking distance from where I stay in London.

I follow Dovetailed on Instagram, she has some beautiful fabrics. I've sewed with Ankara fabric a couple of times and really liked it, but the polycotton ones fray like nobody's business so I'd always choose 100% cotton in future.

I'm on the lookout for Breton jersey but with cornflower blue/royal blue stripes. Saw some on a french company's Instagram but hopefully I can find some in the UK.

Oh those are glorious @BlackAmericanoNoSugar

I was in Manchester a while back (I travel a lot for work) and took my lunchbreak rummaging in Abakhan's in the Northern Quarter. The first gondola of fabric as I walked in was full of lengths of African wax patterned fabrics. A lady was rummaging & I joined her (after first having picked up exactly the piece she had set aside to buy ) after apologising for that, we chatted as we rummaged. I was ooohing anfd ahhhing, and she said, "You should buy this one" (it was a lovely piece) and I said "Oh, but I'm white as white. I"m not sure it's appropriate" and she laughed and said "Don't you worry about that, love"

We then both tried to find some matching pieces for the piece she'd pulled out, for a dress for her DD. But I'm still not sure about wearing obviously ethnic African fabric ... although I type this wearing a dress I made 2 years ago in some gorgeous soft block print cotton I bought in India about 6 years ago ...

@dubyalass try Croft Mills. They have a great range and a whole stack of new cotton jersey (according to an email I got yesterday). I haven't looked yet, as I've bought my allowance of fabric this month!

https://www.croftmill.co.uk/cotton-jersey-material

Here you go

https://www.croftmill.co.uk/st-anne

Fantastic, thank you!

The people who started Ankara appreciation week on Instagram have always said that anyone can wear Ankara, it looks great on different skin tones.

@SideWonder I’m a frequent Dalston mill customer online but I’ve never been in person. Probably for the best, my stash is out of control!
I lived in Manchester when I started sewing, so I was also a frequent abakhan customer 😊 I loved the ‘by weight’ section downstairs, then the rolls of clearance over at the other side and then after a while I got brave enough to go upstairs to the ‘proper’ fabric.

I’ve downsized my stash over the last week or so. I’m never going to use the lengths I rescued from MIL so I’ve overlocked and washed them and given them away on our local FB group. I’ve sorted the old sheets and duvet covers into a box for toile fabric. I’ve put the small pieces that I’ve kept for pockets 🤦‍♀️into a bag for my quilter friend who has a contact for ragging scraps. I’ve looked good and hard at the rest and have separated a box full of jersey out to either use or sell.

I’m still short of space but I’m well behind on sewing projects this year so as long as I resist buying too much I should cope

@SideWonder most of my stash is from Abakhan Manchester but I rarely go upstairs. I tend to walk round downstairs feeling all the fabrics until there's a nice one, then I get as much of nice colour of that as I can and think of what to do with it on the way home.
Then I get home and do something entirely different with it.
I like the massive bags of random remnants, they're great for story props and patches.

For me sewing is all about the fabric. I have a lovely piece of fabric printed with old fashioned sewing related adverts. One day it will line something. I just haven't decided what yet.

I was looking on the Dalston Mills website and saw a lovely Kew Gardens cotton rich tapestry fabric. I would live to make a coat out of it but suspect I would look like a sofa!

Sewing Bee was brutal tonight! No spoilers but oof.

@GnomeDePlume a sofa perhaps, but a very stylish one!

Its the amount of time with the sewing bee that rankles with me . Or maybe its because I am very slow ? I tend to cut out one day - faffing with pattern placement , matching up the pattern etc . Then I need a lie down and a rest for the rest of the day !
I have much too much material . I mostly make clothes for my family - particularly the grandchildren , so I cannot resist buying stretch in designs I think they will love . But I have boxes and boxes of material that has been donated to me , as I make stuff for charity .
I did manage to give away a lot of cotton material scraps to someone learning to quilt at least !

Yes, agreed. No home sewist would be attempting those deadlines - for instance I've started my Bob pants this evening but only the pockets and understitching, the rest can wait until the weekend.

I also don't understand why they wear the same clothes for both days, or is it actually filmed over one horribly long day?

Can't sew at the moment due to family commitments. Role on this time next week!
I can start planning what to make next 😀

They wear the clothes for both days so they can film all the angsty bits whenever and insert them into the edit as appropriate.

The time they get is so tight, even for a fast sewer. The fact that they got to cut some pieces out in advance, today, didn't really help because that meant they were stuffed if anything turned out too small.

This is the fabric @dubyalass

https://www.dalstonmillfabrics.co.uk/grouped/cotton-rich-woven-tapestry-kew-gardens.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjwnrmlBhDHARIsADJ5b_lDxZrxWbve0WLIgRYsGVOVKLPvjd7TN4K1v71fX_kyLhCGoFS2jFQaAv6OEALw_wcB

That's beautiful. Would look lovely as a coat, perhaps a short jacket if you weren't feeling brave enough for a full-length coat.

I love the tapestry print in that fabric! Have realised Dalston Mills isn’t at all far from me on the London Overground …
Meanwhile it’s taken me an age to trace off the Sauvie dress pattern. I have to say I find tracing off easily the most tedious of all dressmaking activity. Nevertheless, have found a couple of old pillow cases to use for the toile so will crack on in my rather slow, hesitant fashion.

Grrrr, I’m annoyed after receiving my latest order of some fabric that was described as “teal” on the website...it turns out to be grey-blue, which is not a good colour for me at all 😒 I really wish fabric sellers would put a bit more effort into advertising their wares properly!