The Knitting and Stitching Show, Harrogate November 2017

Several years ago, when I was in my dressmaking dormancy but knitting and crossstitching regularly, I visited the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate. I lived a bit closer to Harrogate at that time so it felt a reasonable day trip.  When I started to think about going this year to my delight I discovered that whilst I live a bit further away; the total journey time is much the same.  I was lucky to have been given a press-pass and so I enlisted my crocheting daughter as company for the day and we set off relatively early on the Sunday morning.

We arrived in Harrogate just in time to the show’s opening time.  My trusty sat nav helped us find where to park and we excitedly made our way to the venue.  As we got closer we just followed the steady stream of crafty looking people to the entrance.  It is a fascinating building, it looks very modern from the outside, but inside we discovered there is a wonderful old theatre.

Where we found a seat to drink tea and eat cake.  Energy was going to be needed for the day ahead.

It is a place with a lot of history and I loved that so much of the original building was kept intact.

My memory of the event was that is was large, I need to correct this, it is huge!  I think there were five large halls full or stalls and workshops. I say I think there were five as I am pretty sure that we actually didn’t find one of them. This is despite the plentiful extremely helpful staff on hand and lots of large maps and a Show programme. We had run out of oomph when we realised there was still a hall to find and decided that next time we would find that hall first. 

It is the most eclectic show you can imagine. There was plenty for me as a sewist and knitter, my daughter was in crochet heaven and I managed, just, not to buy any crossstitch, but only just.

One thing we did both buy was a guide dog.  Ok, we didn’t actually buy a dog, but we did both sign up to sponsor a puppy.  The man who was trying to convince us to do this convinced us both with one sentence, that they receive absolutely no government or lottery funding.  Think about that, think about the job that these dogs do - we were shocked and signed up straight away.

I went with a set budget.  I took the amount of money I wanted to spend and in a very disciplined way managed not to resort to card payments.  I felt a little proud of myself.  So what did I buy?

Well:

I came away with a rather good haul.

Firstly I bought some thread.  It might not sound the most exciting thing in the world, but I needed some this colour and it was a good opportunity to buy it.

I also bought these bargain buttons, I think you can never have too many buttons.

I had to buy these ones with poppies on.  Readers who follow my gardening exploits know that poppies are a very favourite flower of mine.

These kits from Til the Sun Goes Down were at a bargain price.  I love their patterns so I had to buy a couple, it was rude not to.

The fabric for these kits is perfect, I am in a paisley mood at the moment so I am really looking forward to making up the dress in particular.

I also bought these wonderful fabrics, I am thinking of using them for linings.  I am having a bit of a thing at the moment about lining in general and being more adventurous when lining.

Yes this is exploding Tardis fabric, how exciting is that?!

I also bought this amazing birdy fabric, which is already being made up into the lining of a jacket.  The birds are clearly very realistic as Esme was happy to help me when I was trying to cut out the pieces.

I do enjoy a good knitting pattern, and I love a good vintage knitting pattern.  So this little booklet had to be bought.

I really want to knit this suit soon. Isn't it fantastic?

I also bought this large ball of wool, no this is not to knit the suit from, but I will enjoy finding something exciting to make from it.

Finally I bought these very pretty little scissors.  Perfect for snipping threads.

We made our way homewards, tired, but very happy.  I think I probably have enough sewing projects now to keep me going until the next Knitting and Stitching Show in spring, which is at Olympia 1 - 4 March 2018.  The show returns to Harrogate in 22nd -25th  November 2018.  The show also takes place in Dublin and Alexander Palace, see their website for more details.

When I got home I found my daughter had left her trademark reminder of her presence, did I mention she crochets all the time?

A peacock dress and a new sewing machine

Whilst at the Great British Sewing Bee I bought some rather lovely peacock print material.  It was love at first sight and I knew exactly which pattern I was going to make with it.

I had recently bought this pattern from the Avid Seamstress, the A-line dress.

I really like the shape of this dress, the a-line form is generally quite a flattering one and I thought that the pattern looked quite straightforward to put together.

It was indeed a nice dress to put together though I did struggle with getting the 'V' of the neckline perfect.  I need to practice this sort of neckline more.

The dress itself did not take too long to put together.  I had some angst as to whether the peacock feathers should be facing upwards or downwards.  I decided it did not really matter as long as I was consistent.  I chose downwards.  Once completed I was very happy with the dress and went to try it on.

Oh dear,

It was just a fraction too tight around the stomach area, my general tricky bit of body.  I had measured myself whilst the chest and hips were fine, the 'apple shape' middle let me down again.  I chided myself for not measuring properly, it is such an easy error to make but so so annoying.  The dress is now hanging in the wardrobe and I am determined to fit into it hopefully soon.  So it was all a bit of a disappointment really.  Not the pattern's fault but my own.  I feel like I got carried away with myself, over-confident in fact.  Now I need to regroup and be more careful in future.

The plus-side of this project is that it was the first one I made with my new sewing machine, a Singer 9100.  I bought this after considerable thought and research.  I bought another Singer as I hoped that it would be more familiar to me and also hoped that any accessories would be interchangeable.  I spent weeks deciding which one to buy.  I got totally confused by quilting or not quilting and computerised vs mechanical.  I worked out fairly quickly that there was little point in changing my mechanical machine for another one as I would be gaining very little.  I also finally worked out that if I bought a machine that did more that I might use it for more.  The quilting vs non-quilting bit became less of a concern after having a discussion with some sales-people at the Great British Sewing Bee.  A key reason for going was to research sewing machines and whilst I am a huge fan of online-buying, sometimes you need to talk to someone.

I practiced on some scraps of fabric to begin with.  I struggled getting the tension right and I began to get that 'oh no what have I done, I have bought a machine I cannot work' moment.  I resorted to googling the problem, but that did not help me very much.  I seemed to find people panicking not unlike myself but few helpful answers.  Finally, deep in the pit of despair, I decided to try changing the bobbin from the plastic one supplied with the machine, to one of my existing metal ones.  It did the trick, the tension was sorted immediately.  Relief washed over me and sewing could commence.

There are things that I decided I loved quite quickly about the new machine.  I like the needle up/down button, it is very handy.  I love the top-loading bobbin that I can see through the clear window and check how much thread is left on it.  My favourite favourite thing though is the speed-limiter.  It has transformed how I sew.  No longer does my heavy foot make the machine run away with me; now I can do careful and steady sewing.

As time goes on I will learn how to use more of this machine, but I am really happy with it and expect to be using it for quite a while.