It had been 12 years since I have last been in London - oh how much I love London <3 When we decided we would stay a few days in London after our ski holiday in Austria, I knew that I wanted to go fabric shopping (of course!).
By the way, I wore at least one handmade garment daily on our ski trip. The Grainline Lark Tee is a great for skiing, even wearing it over your thermals.
For the London fabric shopping day(s), I had a few shops in mind and started looking them up on Google Maps. Unfortunately some where located far from one another, so I narrowed it down to just a few: Ray Stitch & Sew Over It (both located on the same road), Liberty of London and Goldhawk Road.
Liberty of London has some stunning fabrics, although I am not a great fan of small prints (on me) but I still like to look at and stroke them. As I recently discovered that blue, in particular dark blue shades, is my color. I found this beautiful blue with white, mustard and navy florals. The colors are just amazing and the fabric is so soft - a dream. I am thinking to make a shirt dress, like the Alex Shirt Dress from Sew Over it. What do you think? Do you pre-wash your Liberty Tana Lawn or dry clean it? Be great to get some recommendations how to treat the fabric as it was more expensive than usual.
It's a weird feeling when you have seen a shop like Sew Over It so many times online and then you find yourself in it in person. It looks bigger online than in person but it is well-organized and has plenty of beautiful fabrics stocked. I spent quite a long time looking at all the fabrics, especially fabrics I wasn't sure how they felt and draped, for instance luxury crepe or crepe de chine.
Of course I picked up one of Lisa Comforts pretty fabrics. I chose the navy Busy Blossom and intend to make a Vintage Shirt Dress. The shop shows of the fabrics in all kinds of Sew Over It patterns to get a good idea how the print would look on a finished garment. The cotton lawn is very soft and I can't wait to get started on it. I also bought some dreamy soft Rayon fabrics in two different prints for two more Deer & Doe Hoya Blouses.
Before I went to Sew Over It, I also stopped at Ray Stitch and picked up some haberdashery bits, a pattern and finally the beautiful Lady McElroy Watercolours fabric - I have been looking for this fabric for a very long time. This is going to be a dress for the #alittlelawnparty.
I was also looking for some wool for the Albion Coat by Walden Colette Pattern and saw some nice ones at Ray Stitch. But my boyfriend wasn't with me during the fabric shopping and I was unsure if he would like the colors especially since wool is so expensive.
We then went to Goldhawk Road on our last day (in the morning before our flight). This time my boyfriend came with me, so we found some fantastic wool blends for a reasonable price. It is one of the first shops when you come out of the station, Classic Textiles. While he picked his lining fabric (which is still a surprise to me but as long as he likes it that's most important), I browsed around and spotted a green wool blend. Once I saw it, I immediately saw the Ellsworth Coat by Christine Haynes and I said "I will look like a Granny Smith Apple" and bought it.
I must admit since I started sewing, I more adventures with colors and prints, how about you? Has your wardrobe changed in color and prints too?
Thanks for hanging out with me.
Maria xxx