Sunday 10 November 2013

Guthrie & Ghani Sewing Workshop and a Bloggy Meet Up.



Are you all enjoying the weekend? I'm back today to tell you about the sewing workshop at Guthrie and Ghani. When I walked into the shop, I was like a kid in a sweet shop, I didn't know where to look first!!!!


The shop interior was an amazing Aladdin's Cave, full of pretty bits and bobs from buttons to ribbons, yarn and fabric and everything you could wish for from an Haberdashery store.



I didn't get chance to take many photo's of the shop as Lauren Guthrie (one of the Sewing Bee finalists) was there to greet us and asked us to chose a fabric that we would like to make our Tote bag with. I was very impressed with the quality of the fabric and that we had so many to chose from.


We went upstairs to the bright and airy workshop, where Lauren got us started, the majority of us were beginners and some who had never used a sewing machine apart from school, many years ago. We were shown how to pin and cut a pattern out, this was something I'd never done before and learnt some great tips.


I've got a sewing machine at home which is very basic, these sewing machines were fantastic, with lots of features but it did take a while for me to get use to using it, it even threaded your needle!!!!! The one thing that I was especially pleased with, was how to make a button hole, my machine has the accessory to make button holes but I've never known how to use it. Lauren was such a good teacher and very patient with us all, I came away a lot more confident in giving more sewing projects a go.


Here's my finished Tote bag with front pocket, can you see how the pocket matches the front perfectly, well that was a total fluke and really don't know how I managed it, lol.


When I choose my fabric, I didn't realise it matched my knitting bag, that my friend, Kerry, bought me.


Of course I couldn't leave without buying something, I bought these beautiful fabrics..........


and pretty zips, I would love to make a little zipper case to keep my notions in so that might be my next project.

Yesterday, I had great afternoon with fabulous food and great company, Gilly from Gilly Makes, invited me to a Midlands Bloggy meet-up. My friend Sarah had been to the first one and said what a lovely time that she'd had and how nice all the ladies were, so I was looking forward to meeting everyone.

Gilly made a gorgeous lunch with the choice of two soups, I had the mushroom soup with homemade bread which was delicious!!!! Gilly said she would put the bread recipe up on her blog soon, it's apparently a very easy bread mixture with no proving. We then had a gorgeous roasted vegetable and goats cheese tart, wow, it was a treat for my taste buds.


Here we are very full and contented after our delicious lunch, we then went to the lounge and settled down. Gilly said to bring my crochet with me, but that they didn't end up doing any the last time as they were all chatting away and getting to know each other. Well. that's exactly  what happened yesterday, I only knew Sarah but you would have thought we'd all knew each other for ages, we spent the whole afternoon, chattering away. While we were nattering away, Gilly brought us some some tea and coffee and the most delicious cheesecake with dark chocolate drizzled on the top, it was the best cheesecake I've tasted.

Here's a photo of us all including Gilly on this one.


Me and finally our lovely hostess 

Thank you Gilly for a great afternoon, it was so good to meet everybody, it's always nice to out a face to the name.

Thanks for stopping by, enjoy the rest of your weekend.
xxxxDebxxx


14 comments:

Julie Tucker-Wolek said...

Looks like a GREAT day! LOVING the photos!!!!!

Amy at love made my home said...

You bag is beautiful Deb, you did a great job. The shop looks amazing, I would have had a hard time deciding what to buy. Looks as though you had a great time at your meet up, what a nice thing to do! xx

Jo said...

Hi Deb, it was great to meet you yesterday, glad you enjoyed sewing your bag it is brilliant. Buttonholes??!! Get you. It took me ages to master it and I still do a test one before I put any on a garment. Jo x

Unknown said...

Oh I'm so envious! A sewing workshop at Guthrie & Ghani plus a bloggy friends get together - what a dream! So glad you all had fun, I'm going to check out some of those blogs that I'm not familiar with...and your bag and fabrics are beautiful! Chrissie x

Stefanie said...

What a cute shop! Why can't we have anything like here? I love your description of how it was like Aladdin's cave. Your bag is lovely.

Unknown said...

Hi Deb what a wonderful post - you bought back many happy memories as I have been a few times to Lauren's workshops and loved them. I was hoping to get to one before Christmas but cannot get the time off work - boo hoo. It was lovely to see photographs of all of you - follow you and Jo on your wonderful blogs. It must have been great actually meeting up - fab. Lovely post Deb as always. Big hugs
Dorothy
:-)xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Anonymous said...

I spotted your bag yesterday and thought how lovely it was. The pictures are great :) I'll have to ask Gilly to email me a copy... it was lovely to meet you and I look forward to reading your blog!

Ladybird Diaries said...

The workshop sounds as if it was fantastic...I adore your bag and the fabric you chose is just lovely. Looks like you all had a great time at the blog meet up too!
Marianne x

gilly said...

LOVE your bag - well done you! And those fabrics & zips are fab too. It was lovely to meet you yesterday and I promise to post the bread recipe soon ;-)
Have a good week,
Xx

Joy said...

Great post full of goodies Deb! I love your bag, and your other fabrics too. What a great experience to take part in that workshop - and those zips, wow, I haven't seen zips like that anywhere - I must be behind the times!
How lovely to be part of the get-together and thanks so much for posting the pics - great company, fab food and lots of crafty chatter: what more could you ask! I hope your week is wonderful too! Hugs, Joy xo

Lynnda said...

Looks like a wonderful time Deb... lovely photos too... hugs...x

Ros Crawford said...

Great photos! So glad you had fun!

Clare said...

How wondeful a sewing workshop and bloggy meet up, I love the fabric your choose for the bag, and the bits and bobs you purchased to. Looks like a great get together
Clare x

Hannapat said...

Lucky you to go and spend a day at Guthrie and Ghani, definitely a dream of mine. Your bag is gorgeous and I love the fabrics you bought to, very pretty! Yes, it is amazing what a proper sewing machine can do, worth every penny. It looks like you all had heaps of fun at Gilly's, what a lovely way to spend some time with bloggy friends. xoxo

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