The Fabulous 40+ Sewists

Hi All,

Feel the need to gush about last Saturday. For those of you not in the know, Saturday the 20th of April was The London Sewing Meetup, one of the best days I've ever had. 

This was my very first meetup. I woke up that morning with that sort of nervous nauseous feeling, when you're doing something out of your comfort zone. But I also knew that it was going to be the best day since... well ever. 

The meetup was organised by the beautiful and fantastic Rachel from House of Pinheiro. Who I now find out lives a stones throw away from me! I think I always assume everyone is in London, cause that's where all the cool kids are. That's clearly not true at all!

Her powers of organisation were amazing, and she herded us around London with ease! 

We started off in the V&A, where we all met and had a coffee and introduced ourselves. I met the lovely Katrina from MuffintopVintage in the Tube station, and we strolled down together (and found out that the difference between level 0 and level 1 in the V&A is a mere few steps!). As a sewing beginner, I was shocked and amazed when I saw people arriving with cute little shopping pull-along trolleys and suitcases. I clearly needed to up my game!

Once we had gathered, we headed into the coffee shop, where I ended (by awesome chance) to end up sitting between the amazing Charlotte and Elizalex of By Hand London. That was a wonderful luck of the draw. After seeing Charlotte's beautiful Elizalex skirt (and of course the other lovely Elizalex dresses wandering about) I now have to have the pattern immediately!

       Look, pure joy on my face!

Then we had our photoshoot with Digpal Singh, where we were all shoot in small groups and in our massive group photo!

Look at us! Everyone looked awesome. I was taking sneaky (jealous) glances at what everyone else had made and couldn't stop myself going up to people being all like "I love your dress!". And I think everyone else was doing the same!

The beautiful Elizalex and Charlotte!

It was at this point I got to meet the lady of the hour - Lizzy from SewBusyLizzy, where we finally gave each other our craft swap goodies! But more on that in another post (this one is already too long!)

We then took a sunny journey to Goldhawk Road, and I'm sure we were getting strange looks off the other passengers for being so cheery and chatty. This was when I got talking to the lovely Katy from Sleek Silhouette. We then arrived and sharpishly started our search for the perfect fabrics. 

My usual haunt is A-One Fabrics, near to Goldhawk road station. I was perusing for a while, and then picked a few bits out that I especially loved. I even bought a matching zip for a possible Elizalex dress, and it was handy to have Elizalex there to ask what length to buy!

I was shopping alongside Katy quite a bit of the time, and Tara from The Amazing Taracat, where we convinced Katy that she needed chiffon in her life, and myself and Tara got some turquoise and black fabric at a steal in an offcuts bin. And yes Tara, everyone needs sparkly denim too.

At this point I asked the time, and was shocked when I realised how little time was left before lunch! I speed shopped the last bit and rushed back to A-One to impulse buy the last few bits I had had my eye on. But I did leave one behind (till next time!).

Then it was onto the Lunch. We had it in a Lebanese restaurant, Cedar Village, chosen by Janene of OooBop!

And man it was good.

For a minute we thought we wouldn't fit everyone in, but as if by magic more tables and chair materialised and all was well again. 

And then the plates started coming.

And coming.

And coming.

And then, when we were all stuffed, the manager asks "So do you girls want to wait a bit, or do you want the main course now?"

Main course?????

We were all very shocked by this, but we all managed to shove down some beautifully cooked meat and rice. That was my only meal of the day for sure after that announcement. 

We were an impressive group! Photo borrowed from Rachel at HouseofPinheiro.

After lunch was the craft swap. The likes of one had never been seen. 

I have some dodgy photo's of what lay before us (it was extremely dark down there so you'll have to excuse them)

Mountains of patterns, fabric, thread, ribbons and other various notions! And on top of this, we had goodie bags! They were supplied by Minerva Crafts and Abakhan Fabric. And they were so generous. I got some lovely fabric in mine, and am dreaming of what I could make it into. 

 I got a couple of things from the swap, a piece of fabric and a few scraps that were left behind! I felt so bad that they didn't have a home!

Then we said goodbye to a few people, including Rachel and Lizzy :( But happy goodbyes as you can see.

Then the rest of us hot-footed it to the pub! Wine and cider all round! After a few drinks we all went our separate ways, most home, and some I persuaded to join me in Camden to continue the festivities!

And here are the happy Tube pics! 

And look we have my happy new friends Sally from Charity Shop Chic and Clare from Sew Dixie Lou


And here we all are in The Boom Boom Room in Camden! Also in the pics are the flawless Nicole from Nicole Needles, and my friend Dee from Twitter.

I had to run for the last train, and was nodding off the whole way home!

I can't wait to see everyone again. Am not sure if I can make the Brighton meetup yet (other plans TBC), but am looking at train tickets for the Birmingham one in June! And of course London in August!

Am definitely gonna have to step my game up and step into the unknown world of the solo sewn dress.

Ahhhh!





I know this was a mammoth post, but I will just leave you with a few photo's of some of the fabric that broke my arms and back! But it was worth it!