Simply Supreme!

As I've mentioned before, the Victoria & Albert museum is currently hosting the exhibition "Fashion V Sport", and I thought I should check that one out. First, there was an entrance fee of GBP 5 for this exhibition - I'm not used to paying because practically all museums here are free - and then the lady at the counter was friendly enough to also point out the "Supremes" exhibition that is currently showing (for another 5). Oh what the hey, let's do them both!

Fashion V Sport did not give a lot of background information, and although (some) the models on show were interesting, there's only a certain amount of time I can look at a pair of sweatpants with only the designer's name and "jersey" on the descripion panel, when there must be so much more to tell about the actual design. I think in total there were 30 to 40 outfits on show in quite a small area, but I was not allowed to take pictures (I did manage to snap one), so you're just going to have to see for yourself. I then went on to the Supremes exhibition. Oh! The sparkles! The sequins! Sleeves so long you could trip over them, great music in the background, and: a bit of information about politics and racism in the 60s to put the success these ladies had in perspective. All in all a more interesting exhibition (in my eyes), and: I was allowed to take pictures!


After seeing that next door at the Natural History Museum they're getting ready for London Fashion Week, I went on a walk to Chelsea Harbour to have a look at the shops in the Design Centre. According to the online phone book that I used to create my map of London fabric shops, there should be loads of fabric shops there. And there were! All interior design though, and all of them only showrooms, so no chance of bringing anything home. I did see some beautiful fabrics and got a few ideas for future use, but was afraid to ask how much they would cost me...

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.