an extravaganza of fabrics…

Tags

burda, challenge, fabric, madness, market, sewing

… a couple of weeks ago, I read about the “Stoffen Spektakel” market on Beata’s blog Red Point Tailor. She had found some lovely looking fabric, I was curious about the market, I checked their website, who can resist an event that brands itself as a “fabric extravaganza”?

… I saw they hold markets all over the Netherlands, Belgium, the north of France and Germany, I saw a bunch of photos, it really looked like an extravaganza.

… I emailed a few sewing friends, “anyone up for a day trip?”, one friend replied “yes!”.

… Sunday lunch time, the sun was shining, we pointed the car north east and headed to Kortrijk, neither of us knew the town, so the plan was fabric extravaganza followed by a bit of tourism…

… the market was easy to find, the car park wasn’t too crowded, we ventured into the exhibition hall… and took a deep breath! There was a lot of fabric! We started off cautiously, spotting “possibles”, checking prices, noting things to come back to (that we never made it back to!), then I made the first purchase.

… it wasn’t on my list, but how could I resist fish and polka dots together on the same fabric, on jersey? It will be a t-shirt…

… once the ice had been broken, spending became easier, unfortunately we found the discount stalls a bit late in our visit, we were both running out of cash, had crossed most the projects off our lists, we managed to negotiate a discount for the last buy, when we had to pool our coins so my friend could buy some mustard fabric for trousers!

… then when we wanted to leave we discovered we needed to pay for parking, and we didn’t have any money left! Whoops. A frantic search for a cash machine and then a hasty departure before we were tempted by more!

… so what did I find?

… apart from the dotty fish, I picked up some charcoal jersey for a renfrew hack I have been planning for a while; some flowery jersey and some turquoise knit for the two tops I want to make as part of the burda sew-along (10/2012 118 and 119); a piece of emerald green denim for another pair of cargo pants (this is really pushing myself to new limits, I only ever wear jeans or grey trousers!) and a piece of denim for a pair of jeans! I also couldn’t resist some neon yellow webbing for a belt.

… now where do I start?

new best friend…

Tags

carcavelos market, double pointed needle, jersey, market, portugal, refashion, sewing, top

… Thursday mornings were market mornings, Carcavelos, just a short train ride from Lisbon, the streets taken over by stalls and stalls and stalls of clothes and pottery and towels and sheets from the factories in the north of Portugal. In recent years things have been tidied up somewhat, the market is contained in a compound, more sellers have appeared with “made in china” wheelie cases and the such, but it is still a great place to find some great things that didn’t make their original outlet, surplus stock, seconds…

… clothes are piled in mountains, usually with the gypsy hawker sat on a stool in the middle of the table, crying out her rates “é mil, é mil…”. Most things seemed to be 1000 escudos before the euro arrived, now they are 5 or 10€. The only way to shop was to dive into the pile, and scrabble your way through, the good stalls were always crowded, you had to elbow your way to get a spot by the table, colours and fabrics catching your eye, tugging, pulling, up comes the item, yes, no, maybe…

… for many years this was where I equipped my house, and picked up all my basics, t-shirts, sports wear, sometimes shoes… it has been a long time since I last went there.

… spring cleaning, sorting through my wardrobe, getting rid of the things I haven’t worn for the past year or so, making space for some of my latest sewing projects… I am pretty good at this, I do it every year and I am fairly ruthless.

… so how did this little black dress, a children’s towelling dress I remember buying on the market soon after I arrived in Portugal in 1996 or 1997, and that I think I last wore on holiday in Cape Verde in 2000, manage to hang on, clinging to its hanger, and never being donated or passed on? It is such a perfect fit, such a lovely material, but my lifestyle has changed from all those years ago. I live in a cold country, 150 km from the beach, holidays are usually spent on a bike, but still, I cling onto the dress.

… finally, purging a couple of weeks ago, clothes piled on the bed, each and everyone examined before it is allowed back in the wardrobe, the black dress was put in the “let me think some more” pile… I pulled it on, over my jeans, it still fits just as well, but am I ever going to wear it? No! I go to pull it off, destined for the donate pile, when I have a brain wave. I grab a pin, fold the hem over and off came the dress, and it was added to my “to fix or refashion pile”. Phew!

… this morning, between projects, I decide to attack the dress. I measure the pin mark, cut off 19cm, and fold over the bottom to hem. Then I went to youtube and checked out how to use the double pointed needle that has been in my sewing machine’s accessory drawer since I inherited the machine from my grandmother. Why was I so nervous, I seem to remember my mother telling me of the troubles she had had with a double pointed needle (trying to sew a denim jumpsuit in the 70s!), in fact it was so straight forward. I followed the tip of aligning the cotton reels in opposite directions to avoid tangles, threaded the machine, did a few test stitches on the cut off bottom of the dress and then sewed up the hem of my brand new top.

… I dare say I will be using the double pointed needle a lot more!