We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue!

Last weekend I managed to "inspire" my friend Vanessa to join me in a ridiculous weekend plan. Friday night: Dinner and a few drinks, Saturday: go to New Covent Garden Market very early in the morning, and then see what else we want to do later on in the day (maybe check out the new exhibitions at the V&A?). The market's website stated they were open from 3am until 10am, so we were smart and went to sleep reasonable early to be able to get up at 7 and be at the market on time. Normally I'm not one to get up early if I don't have to, but the prospect of visiting the largest fresh produce market in the UK somehow got me excited (I miss the farmer's markets from home). After drinking quite a lot of coffee (and me finally realising that Vanessa's clock was 20 minutes early, not just 2), we walked to the market. When we got there it was around 8 and very quiet; a few people were cleaning up...and one of them told us they had finished "half an hour ago". The market starts at 1 am and finishes at 8 (!!). This obviously hadn't been altered on their website yet. Duh! And a good morning to you too!

We decided to make the most of the fact that we had got up so early, and went home for another coffee before setting off to Brixton Market: Meat and fish stalls, fruits and vegetables like I'd never seen before (I actually had to ask what some of the stuff on display was!). In Electric Avenue and Atlantic Road we found not only the market stalls, but also a few fabric shops (see my map here). Of course I couldn't resist to go in, and in the second shop, S&S Textiles, I found some gorgeous suiting: a wool navy pinstripe, and a brown cashmere. Yes I did. And at £10,00 per meter I couldn't leave it there, now could I? Now all I have to do is finish the Irish linen set (trousers done, jacket almost done, skirt cut), and I'll be ready for some Autumn sewing. That is, if I completely overlook the two tops I still have to make that will go with the linen set, but who would blame me for wanting to get my scissors into that cashmere?

Purple rain!

Wow, I finally managed to not only create the correct link, but also post it! So, without further ado, here is my map of the London Fabric Shops!

As I mentioned yesterday; Please have a look, and let me know if you would like to see anything added or removed. I have not had the chance to visit all of the shops of course, so your help will be greatly appreciated. Also, please note that the list of shops is not yet correctly alphabetised, so it may be easier to try and find your shops by location on the map than by name on the list. I'm hoping to sort that soon, but that feature of Google Maps is very slow, so it will take quite a bit of time.

I've tried to organise the mess by creating:
purple place markers for fabric shops,
yellow place markers for haberdashery shops, and
blue place markers for "other" shops (such as fashion magazine shop, museum)

Oh, and I've added "NTS" to the address descriptions of the shops, meaning "Nearest Transport Station". This could mean either train or underground. So there. Go shopping!

Take them to the cleaners!

Last (UK Bank Holiday) weekend I finally got some real sewing done: The KNIPmode trousers are done! Pictures to follow; I want to have them drycleaned first. I did not pretreat the fabric (linen, call me silly), because it frays so easily and I couldn't fit all of it in my washing machine in one go, so I will only dryclean this set of clothes. I'm hoping the drycleaning will get rid of the stiffness of the fabric, so that I can wear the trousers and not look pregnant (coz I'm not, but that's what it looked like to me). Anyway, next project: the jacket.

For the last few days I have also been working on creating an updated map of fabric stores in London (thanks to Melissa letting me know how to use Google Maps) , and a printable list of those same stores. The map and list will be updated from time to time with short reviews, and as soon as I find out how to publish them on my blog, please have a look. Should you know of any shops, markets or other information that you think would be useful to others, please let me know and I'll add them.

Spilling the beans

My WM decided that -even though I said I'd use the table in the front room- I do really need a drawing and cutting table, so he bought me one! It's huge. I mean, it's really, really big. And it's green. And it has white lines on the table top. And it has wheels, so I can move it around. Any guesses yet? Right, a table tennis table! But it's a great table, really. I can't wait to get started. Even though it will have to be in the garden, because the thing is just too big for my sewing room. Good thing I'm in the luxury position of having the garden right outside of it!

After the initial excitement about my table subsided, we went to Pentonville Rubber on Saturday to buy some bean bag filling, a foam roll, and maybe some other soft materials for me to cover, so that our garden will almost be like little Morocco for the BBQ party. We found loads of different foam matresses, bean bag refills, rubber mats, fiberfill and lots more, and the Pentonville staff were very helpful. In the end we only bought a bean bag refill, and the salesman told us to go to Chapel Market market around the corner if we wanted cushions, which is exactly what we did. Behind the market stalls I found a little shop called the Sewing Center (17 Chapel Market), where they sell all kinds of cheap haberdashery, as well as second hand sewing machines and sergers. We then went on to visit a few fabric shops in the area, and first went to Bargain Center on 93 Upper Street. In my mind this would be a large shop full of very cheap fabrics, but it turned out to be quite a small shop, chockful of gorgeous suit fabrics and lining. I will definitely go back in the fall (it's just too hot to think about suits now) and check out the bargains. From there I went on to Sew Fantastic on 107 Essex Road, which I really didn't find so fantastic; mostly fake fur and fleece, very colourful, but just not for me. I did however buy some curtain lining, which was cheaper than unbleached calico. I have to say I'm getting a bit discouraged about finding fabrics that I can use for clothes, and I'm starting to think I may have to resort to the internet.

Oh, and we have ordered our camera, it just hasn't been delivered yet. Picture mania to follow as soon as it has arrived!!