The UK Sew Weekly Meet-Up
Thanks to Debi for writing up up this account of The UK Sew Weekly meet-up! Wish I could have been there! -Mena
The Facts:
- 14 fabulous Sew Weekly Sewing Circle Ladies
- Over 100 hours collectively spent sewing our Sew Weekly outfits
- Over 2,000 kilometres collectively travelled to London
- 1 museum
- 12 fabric stores
- 1 pub
Meeting each other in person… priceless
On Saturday, 14 of the Sew Weekly Sewing Circle Ladies and one mum met-up in London for a super fun day filled with fashion, fabric, patterns, laughter and lots of conversation!
Here's a photo of us all in our red, white and blue handmade outfits to fit this week's them of Rule! Brittania. From left to right is: Mimi, Diane, Marie, Steph, Sofia, Charlotte T., Charlotte P., Kirsty, Stevie, Debi, Lauren, Rachel, Amy and Victoria (and front row is Ms. Pigeon) against the backdrop of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. We were also delighted to be joined by Charlotte P's mum who kindly played photographer for the first part of our day!
It was so much fun meeting each other and sharing our love of sewing! It all started when Charlotte posted a discussion on the sewing circle about potentially meeting up. Over 400 replies later and the day had actually come!
Here's some close-ups of our outfits:
In the first photo is Marie with the great cherry print dress and matching red leopard print shoes! Mimi's fabulous Burdastyle print separates and a handmade flower in her hair–that was made by Rachel, her world-travelling lace swap partner! And Stevie's fabulous white print dress that is actually separates! The second photo has Diane's crepe dress and handmade jacket (with really neat facings); Kirsty's New Look 6699 dress and Charlotte's fabulous top and pants.
More fabulous outfits, from left to right: Steph's polka dot dress from Vogue 8615; Charlotte's Horrockses dress which is available for download from the V&A website (we all think Charlotte's dress was much better made than any of the Horrockses dresses available in the gift shop for £98 each); Amy's bank holiday hearts top and roses skirt;Victoria's dress fabulous dress and matching shrug; and my 1940 hooded dress (more pictures coming later this week).
In the last photo is Rachel and her fantastic one shoulder blouse; Lauren who sheepishly admitted that she didn't make her outfit—you still look fabulous, dear!; and Sofia's Wills and Kate dress and amazing shoes!
After photos, we started out our day at the Victoria and Albert Museum with some tea and cakes at their lovely cafe:
We had a great time getting to know each other and chatting about everything from sewing with vintage patterns, to serging and grading. Can I tell you how much fun it is to chat nonstop about sewing with other people that are just as interested? Super fabulous.
We visited the Yohji Yamamoto design exhibit currently running at the V & A. It was really fascinating to see the complexity of some of his designs. He used a lot of unfinished seams (which drove some of us crazy). It was really fascinating to see his designs–lots of pleats and crazy draping!
After the exhibit we all headed down to Goldhawk Road to join another sewing blogger meet-up organised by Karen of Did you Make That for some fabric shopping!
We actually ran into the other group at the Goldhawk Road tube stop! It was so much fun meeting everyone:
We then headed to a local bar where set up to do our pattern and fabric swap.
There were lots of patterns, a vintage sewing book and fabric! We chose names and took turns picking out our favourite patterns! As an added bonus, the lovely Judy from the Sew Weekly Sewing Circle sent us a care package of notions and fabric to include in the swap!
We took home lots of goodies!
After the fabric and pattern swap, we headed back out onto Goldhawk Road for the 12 different fabric shops within two streets!! It was great. In every fabric shop we ran into other sewing bloggers. Overall a fabulous time and there's already talk about another UK sew weekly meet-up for sometime soon (Autumn?).
If you are in the UK or Europe, we hope to see you there!
I have just found this and already am so sorry I have missed it. However I had a great weekend, not sewing this time but machine knitting. I hope I can mkae it to the next meeting!
Great article, Debi. You guys are so lucky! I wish there were more sewists near me.
so awesome to read about the whole day, i’ve been smiling at the pictures in the community this weekend! (and charlotte’s drink looks yumalicious…)
How amazing!! What a fantastic day. To be able to talk non-stop about sewing with people equally as enthusiastic?? Ah-may-zing!!!
Great article Debi, I am reliving the day reading it, how lovely…
@Oona, cheers! hic!
Brilliant write up Debi. I had the best time and my mum was very inspired.
Wish I could have been there – definitely next time!
Great Post Debi, Amazing details in there too :)
Loved it all – still thinking about it and looking at the photos …
Fabulous article – you ladies all look fantastic!
So wonderful! I wish I lived closer or could have escaped Texas long enough to come to this- you guys look fantastic and it’s obvious a great time was had by all!
WOW – looks like you guys had a great time – am very jealous!!