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.