A World of Imagination: Sewing Workshop

Monday, 24 March 2014

A Day at Sewing for Pleasure.......a couple of makes and new stash.

Hello, how is everyone? I hope you all had a good weekend!!!!!! I'm back today to share my day out at the NEC, with you. My friend, Lyn and I caught the train, early on Thursday morning (well, early for me) to the Sewing for Pleasure show at the NEC in Birmingham. The train was full, so standing room only, full of people commuting to work and fellow crafters on the way to the NEC. Perhaps you are wondering how I know they were on their way to the craft show, well, they'd all got trollies or large bags, in anticipation of filling them by the end of the day, with all the wonderful treats on sale over the four days!!!!!

We grabbed ourselves a cup of coffee to take on the train, to keep our energy levels up through the day and arrived at Birmingham International at about 8.50am. We then trekked from the station to Halls 11-12, it seems to get further away each year and takes about 15 minutes to get there or maybe I'm just getting older!!!

When we reached the halls, people had already started queuing so we joined in line with them, we all got talking to each other, finding out what people were interested in. One lady had travelled all the way down from Carlise for the show. There were workshops to attend over the day but it was on a first come, first serve basis.

There were two free workshops, that we wanted to attend, so when the doors opened at 9.30am, our plan of action was set in motion!!!!! Lyn went one way to book a workshop and I went the other way to book the other one!!!!!

The first workshop we attended was at the Sizzix stand, where we got to sew this beautiful needlecase as Sizzix now sell dies for quilting. The needlecase was a very simple construction, great for a beginner like myself. The large butterfly that we appliquéd onto the front is one of the Sizzix dies, especially for appliquéing.

One of my first purchases were some Sizzix Hexagon dies, I've been wanting to do some English Paper Piecing (EPP) for some time now, but have put it off as I haven't had the time to start all the cutting out. These Sizzix dies have different sized hexagons, just for this purpose, so you buy one to cut the fabric, which gives you a seam allowance and one to cut out the papers. It is so much quicker, you can cut out up to 32 hexagons in one go, depending on the fabric plus they have different sizes that you can mix and match, I went for the 1 1/4" and 1", giving me a 1/4" seam.

After the first workshop, we started looking around the stands, there was so much prettiness in one place and was spoilt for choice. I picked up these gorgeous fabrics at only £2 per fat quarter, I thought these were great value for money and great for Patchwork or EPP.

One of my larger purchses was a large self healing mat, a grid ruler and a rotary cutter as I want to get more into sewing. I've been collecting bits of fabric over the years and I'm going to be taking a Patchwork Quilt workshop, next month, so hopefully will get to use my fabric, over the next few months.

By this time, it was time for my second class, Lyn chose to do a different class to me but I chose to make a baby's bib. The reason, I decided to do this class, is I've recently found out, I'm going to be a Nanny, for the first time!!!!!

This class was sponsored by Vilene but the tutor was Laura from Made Peachy, she was a great teacher and I believe she's going to put all the patterns and instructions for her workshops, on her blog soon. So here's baby's first bib, keeping in mind this was a free class, we were each given a goody bag with a fabric marker, a vintage style mini sewing kit and some iron cleaner!!!!

Speaking of irons, I also bought this table top ironing board and travel iron, the bit of sewing I have done, when I come to iron seams, I have to get the full size board out from downstairs, so spend half my time running up and down. I thought this was a great idea, it tucks down the side of my desk, when it's not in use.

The only yarn I bought was from New Forest Mohair, it is so soft to the touch. They are a lovely couple who keep Angora goats on their small homestead. Last year I bought a skein of 4ply, so this time, I went for a DK weight, I love the colour and can't wait to cast on a project. They also had some mini skeins, all about 20g and at 50p for each one, I couldn't resist, you can see what I picked up in my lace bowl. They will be perfect for co-ordinating borders.

It was a long tiring day, we didn't even sit down for lunch, there was just too much to look at and I ached when I got home but it was a fun day out, I learnt lots and can't wait for the next one!!!!

Have a good week, my friends and thanks for stopping by.

xxxxDebxxxx

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.