Favourite online fabric shops

I only ever seem to shop for fabric online, all the fabric shops near me are full of outdated and cheap fabric. In fact I don't tend to do much shopping in person, most of it is done online, mainly due to the ease but also you get double the thrill, once when you've ordered and again when it arrives!
Some of my absolute favourite shops are based online and I thought I'd share them with you:

eBay - best for sewing notions like embroidery hoops or quilting safety pins (two things I bought recently) because their prices beat any shop around and usually have free postage. Most of the fabric I've bought from eBay has been of rubbish quality so I wouldn't recommend it unless they were branded.

Merchant & Mills - best for linens and gorgeous dressmaking fabric (best have the budget to suit though, most fabric is £15+ pm)

The Village Haberdashery - great for dressmaking patterns and modern fabric

The Homemakery - best for Tilda/quilting cotton/fast delivery

Dragonfly fabrics - best for good quality stretch jersey

Minerva Crafts - best for really inexpensive fabric, I bought some gorgeous seersucker plaid for £4.99 a metre here!

M is for Make - I love browsing this website but as yet have not ordered anything.

Cabbages and Roses - I love their clothes but they also do absolutely gorgeous fabric

Peony and Sage - beautiful fabrics for the home

I hope you've enjoyed some of my recommendations - none of these are sponsored they're all places I visit frequently to window shop - where do you buy fabric from?

Amy

Summer adventures

I've mentioned before how one of the things I absolutely love doing is going on 'adventures' and travelling around England revisiting places I used to go when I was younger and finding new places to visit as a family in the future.

Some of the places we have visited recently have included a car vintage fair;

 

Our weekend ritual involves going out for breakfast, I pick a homemade outfit or something Cabbage & Roses inspired and slap on the red lipstick. Lots of car poses happen during this time - hey car journeys are boring okay?! Red lipstick makes me feel uber glamorous. This was on our way to the Lake District.

Picture now with added thumb. I really would love to learn some decent photography skills!


This was the hotel we stayed in near Cockermouth (yup it's ACTUALLY called that, major props to us for not slipping up and renaming it!).

Beach walk with a gorgeous sunset. It was absolutely freezing here but so beautiful.


The beautiful Grasmere.

With added Cabbages and Roses inspired outfit:

When we're not gallivanting round the country we like to go out for breakfast and pretend to be old grandparents by getting fish and chips and eating them in the car. I'm old past my time!

This breakfast was the best thing I have ever eaten. No lie. All visit Nick's in Holmfirth!

We live in Holmfirth near Huddersfield, which is in such a beautiful part of Yorkshire. It's a pleasure to drive 5 mins from our house and be surrounding by gorgeous scenery.

And finally a bad picture of me wearing my Lilou dress. I really need to take some better pictures, but we all know making and sewing is much easier than blogging and photography!
What do you like to do in your spare time? Any places to recommend visiting?

Amy

Sew body positive

A lady on Instagram was talking about how sewing made her more body positive and I can definitely say I've noticed a shift in how I think about my body since starting dressmaking.

Now I make clothes to fit my body, not my body to fit in clothes. 

I went into topshop the other day for some new jeans, I don't really shop in there much due to not being fashionable (I've always done my own thing when it comes to clothes). Anyway I tried on some jeans that are my size and surprise surprise they're too small. The next size up was a size bigger (obviously) but it was the next dress size up and it upset me that I had to go up a size. 

I ended up going to Levi's and buying some jeans that were my actual size and that fit well. 

This fiddling around that high street shops do with the sizes is really messing with girls' self esteem. It's upsetting when you think you're one size and buy something without trying it on and finding it doesn't fit. 

This is where sewing comes in. In most patterns there aren't the traditional sizes (for example Tilly uses 1,2,3,4) and you have to go by the measurements rather than the size you think you are. There's no going home and finding the garment doesn't fit. It will fit because you made it to fit. 

I've never been one to obsess about weight but I have noticed a shift in how I think about the way I look since dressmaking and I love it! Has dressmaking changed your perspective?

Sunday afternoon

I've spent the last two Sunday afternoons sewing my Lilou dress.

I found the instructions quite confusing, especially considering the book is aimed at absolute beginners and I would not class myself as a beginner, more advanced beginner I think.

I had to ask for some help on IG from another lady who found them also equally confusing, she helped me out and I managed to construct the bodice in that magically lined way which if you've never tried it, is amazing. It's really hard to explain but this blog does an excellent job (better than Tilly's book - sorry!) of showing you how it works. Except that I then sewed the rest of the dress as if there was no lining at all?! All that time spent sewing the lining for the inside to be a mess - at least it looks better than facing though. I'm not going to subject you to a picture of the inside, trust me it's a mess. Also buying cheap cotton lawn from eBay is not a good idea, when lining garments don't choose a really flimsy see-through fabric like me, choose something pretty so it looks awesome inside.

I look at the last few dresses I've made (especially the ones that are only faced) and think I can do so much better. I used to read sewing blogs and think why?! All that time, energy spent making the inside look pretty and for what? And then I realised. We're not sewing fast fashion, we're spending time, effort and a lot of money making beautiful garments and it really pays off to be 100% happy with the way it looks (not that I'd know about that, I sort of imagine it's really nice to be 100% happy with something you've made).

I wore my Tessuti Lily dress to work and got ALL the compliments. I was really blushing by the end of the day. Then I wore my Merchant and Mills Dress Shirt and felt like a rock star. I'm really addicted to sewing my own clothes. It's such a satisfying feeling!

Up next is a plaid Emery dress with a white collar and a chambray Clemence skirt and then maybe even a white linen dress shirt. Although I do need to get started on my Cambie dress for the December wedding. Oh! So little time, what are you sewing up?

September

The first half term in the academic year is always the hardest.

We've just move into a new building and then you've got new students to contend with. Striking that balance between supportive and strict. We also had an ofsted visit on the third week of term which took 90% of my time with the rest spent sleeping.

I haven't done anything creative in 5 weeks and my little brain is going a little mad. I'm missing sewing, dressmaking in particular. I haven't bought any new clothes in months and I would really like a new outfit! Unfortunately nipping to Primark is far easier than sewing your own clothes but also not as satisfying. 

I recently bought this seersucker cotton and patterns from Minerva Craft to turn into a winter dress. 

I'm still trying to learn to knit but I am very slow. I have mastered the basic stitches but am yet to complete a project. Also buying a skein of yarn and tangling the whole 100g ball into a knotty mess did little for my knitting motivation. 6 hours later and it's very nearly a ball of yarn.

I had some very sad and devastating news this week and I am finding it tough to deal with. My family live 4000 miles away and as I get older I realise how much I rely on them for support. When you're young you think you don't need your parents and then you see that they in fact know more than you and can give very solid advice. I wish nothing more to grieve with my family but instead I will grieve alone, for the nephew I will never meet, or cuddle or see grow old. 

Shortly after he was born I left my house to see the biggest, brightest rainbow outside my front door and I like to think it was him saying hello. I will always think of him and other babies born sleeping whenever I see a rainbow. It also reminds me that rainbows cannot exist without a little rain. 

Amy 

Back to School

I survived the first week of teaching! The first week of term is always the hardest and usually my crafty mojo disappears. I'm trying to keep my craft passion alive and keep up to my work in projects.
I had a brainwave earlier for a Christmas present for my parents and now I'm panicking trying to figure out whether I have enough time to fit everything in!
I'm a really slow knitting and crocheter so I'm trying to limit my presents to sewing, currently I've got one hexie quilt, one chevron crochet blanket, a homespun quilt and a knitted hat. Phew! Not to mention all the extra little things I want to make for myself too. I think any future dressmaking plans I have will be put on the back burner for a while.
Fingers crossed I can get everything done in time!
How are you planning on getting everything done in time?

Confessions of a craftoholic

Uh, guys, I have a confession.
After spending hours, weeks learning to crochet I realised that I don't like it.
I am so fickle.

I enjoy the process (ish) but the outcome? It's too brightly coloured for my liking and dull coloured wool is not exciting to work with.

I'm currently in the middle of making Christmas presents (I know, I'm organised but if you're going me-made you need to be!) and I forgot how bad my carpal tunnel gets when I crochet.

Anyway I digress, I dislike crochet mainly because of how long it takes, the last baby blanket took me on and off 6 months. In that time I've made 7 pieces of clothing (mostly dresses).
I'm the same when it comes to knitting. Learning to knit was so horrendously painstaking compared to sewing which I picked up easily and now I look at the hat I'm knitting (currently 2 inches long) and I just don't have the patience!

I love quick, easy makes far too much which I think says a lot about my personality. Instant gratification rather than being patient and being rewarded for it. Explains the lack of self control and the ever growing fabric stash too *looks shifty*.

I think I like to learn how to do these things as a personal achievement, like hey! look! I learned a new skill that I'm never going to learn. Kinda like Pythagoras.

I'm definitely coming to accept sewing is way more my thing.