When a historic tour turns into a shopping trip

Rachel, smiling in spite of the cold.

The lovely Rachel was super kind to guide me around the gorgeous historical city of Rochester. We started at the high street before making our way to the cathedral and castle, with some tasty breaks in between.

Mostly independent shops make up Rochester’s high street. We had a great time browsing (ahem, shopping) at all of them and escaping the cold (y’all, it was cold). There were so many charity shops and niche boutiques that I’d love to go back and explore again. After much walking and wandering about we took the necessary breaks to replenish ourselves. The heated indoors and warm food were extremely welcomed. We had a bit of this…

Coffee and cake break at the Deaf Cat coffee shop.

And later a bit of that…

Lunch break!

The purpose behind my trip was to visit with Rachel and geek out over all the beautiful architecture and history. And I did. Loved it all! But I also managed to squeeze in a few really good sewing related buys. Of course I would! Not sure why I am so surprised with myself. I got some cards that will one day decorate my future sewing room, some pretty vintage buttons, fun craft buttons, and a handy bendable ruler.

I just can't walk away from good, inexpensive finds.

At a charity shop I found a sweet knitting bag. I was so glad because I wasn’t looking forward to making one myself.

Knitting bag bought at a charity shop.

I also snapped up these useful books. Can I just say I love making macarons. Love it! But I’ve been in a chocolate/strawberry flavored rut. I want to make new ones and the recipe book I found should help. And the knitting book has some very sweet jumpers in it; that one day I will tackle.

Yummy books. Yummy for different reasons.

Now, on to sewing news…

I planned to finish my Darling Ranges Dress last month. And I so could have. I had the muslin cut out and sitting on the table, not being put together for about a week. I just wasn’t feeling very sew-y. And when I finally did put it together it was to find that I hadn’t graded the pattern correctly. Correctly as in, not at all! Well, to be fair I did add inches to the waistline but that’s it. Why I hadn’t thought to add to the bust is beyond me. I mean, I had written the measurements on the pattern book! Oy.

Not looking so darling. Whomp whomp.

Skirt sits too high, armhole is tight and I have a pointy boob dart. Yikes!

I hate when I make such obvious dumb mistakes. Makes me wonder if I should sew at all. But it’s a growing pain so I will know better next time (measure, measure, measure!). As of yesterday I finished cutting the newly graded pattern pieces. By the end of the week I should have another workable muslin.

Whoa Nelly! What a difference!

Today I traced and cut all the pieces for my Colette Pastille dress. My waist measures 1/2 in (1.27 cm) bigger than the biggest pattern pieces. It seems like such a small measurement to fuss over. Or am I being silly in thinking that? Maybe adjusting the pattern isn’t a bad idea?

Hope all in well in your sewing and non-sewing worlds.

Show me your space!

I got really inspired to tidy my space after reading this post about sewists and their sewing space. Prepare to get a bit jel (any TOWIE fans out there?) before reading it. The bright light, great organization and neat stacks of luscious fabric. I love when everything has a home and maybe one day I can have my very own craft room. There is so much inspiration out there! Just look here!

Well that post got me thinking…I’ll show you mine if you show me yours? Yes? Well, I’m going for it. Here’s my space…but do note that it’s very much still a work in progress. And it was a dark day in London (surprised?) so a dark day inside.

 I work in the dining room/living room.  I wish I had a room dedicated just for crafting but in London space is precious and hard to come by. So I do what I can with the help of the glass table that came with the flat. Here’s just a small list of the things I use every time I sew.

1. My ‘vintage’ three tier sewing box. Is it really vintage? I don’t really know. It definitely looks it. I bought this precious little thing off of ebay. I know I could have settled for a tackle box for £5 but it wouldn’t have been as cute. And cute things matter. I think, anyway. Sadly, I am already growing out of my box. Will need some more storage in the next coming months. For now, living in the box are my 30+ thread spools, seam ripper, tape measure, pinking shears, bias binding, etc.

2. My iron. It’s not the best but it’s hot and that’s all that matters for now.

3. My dress patterns (although few) provide me inspiration. The one on top is my ‘goal’ pattern. It’s the dress I would love to make and wear for the Royal Ascot next month. *Sigh* I can dream.

4. My bag of strips. I keep all my strips, for now anyway. Hoping to make one a fabric pomander.

5. A sewing calendar. Experiencing sewing block? This calendar with daily projects can help.

6. Sewing machine. Or Dorothy, as I like to call her. Mrs. Zbornak if you’re nasty.

7. Sewing books and sewing machine handbook. I often look something up so I can make sure I am doing things correctly. Or not as bad.

8. Self-healing cutting mat. Can’t go and ruin the landlord’s pretty glass table, can I?

9. Craptastic ruler. One day I will get a nice big one. But for now this one will have to do.

10. A knitting needle. Got a set at a charity shops for 50p. Bargain. Helpful to turn things inside out, especially corners.

11. My pincushion. Or pin cushion? Pincushion for me because I LOVE compound words. We need to bring them back, use more of them, I say.

12. Scissors. Okay scissors. Wouldn’t call them shears. Definitely wouldn’t cut paper with them. That would be a big no-no.

13. Water soluble pen. I am partial to these more than tailor’s chalk. I like to really see the marks I make.

14. Rotary cutter. Great for cutting up your fabric fast and in straight lines (when using a ruler).

Close-ups of things:

So there’s my space. If you’ve blogged about yours please comment and leave a link. I’d love to check it out…I’m nosy. If you haven’t blogged about it yet…well, get on with it. Show me what you got!