a grand day out…

Tags

antwerp, bloggers, blogging, cowl, fabric, jersey, meet up, scarf, sewing, shopping, swap

… Saturday morning, Antwerp, running slightly late, Margot and I found Viggo’s coffee bar and a whole crowd of sewers…

… the lady at the next table, apparently a local politician, asked me curiously “what is the event? a school reunion? an association? I have never seen so many people in this café?” I had to explain further when I answered “a sewing blogger’s meetup, and no, most of us don’t actually know each other…”

… from the coffee bar we headed out to explore the local fabric shops, a small place with a good selection of African wax, on to the incredibly organised and well stocked Moens, passing via an intriguing looking haberdashery that was unfortunately closed. I think most of us left Moens with something, I bought a couple of things, but even 25 enthusiastic customers didn’t make the sales lady smile…

… next stop. Madame Tirette, shop, atelier and where we met Hanne. Once we had all succumbed to some of the lovely bright and beautiful jersey they had to offer, the bolts of fabric were put away and we took over the atelier’s cutting table for the much anticipated fabric swap. It is never clear whether people are more excited to be getting rid of their extra fabric, or about the new pieces they are picking up… either way, it is a win win!

… all swapped out, we packed up our bags, put back on our coats and headed to an Indian restaurant for lunch. What a fabulous place, really genuine, full of Indians, delicious food and amazing mango lassis! I think we all ate too much!

… once we rolled out the restaurant, we propped ourselves up in front of a couple of garage doors for the group photo, and then continued on with the program, to the fashion museum. Here the group split with half deciding they would rather keep shopping and visit a couple more fabric shops, while the rest of us went to learn about the rise of Antwerp as a fashion capital…

… I came home with 7 pieces of fabric: 3 bought, 4 swapped. I had taken 3 pieces to the swap that all went to new homes. I had planned on buying a piece of jersey for another self drafted cardigan, which is the green jersey I found at Moens. I also couldn’t resist a beautiful grey broderie anglaise cotton, I expect this will become another scout tee. I have a thing for jersey scarves, wearing them almost daily to work, so I snatched up a lovely piece of floral jersey at Madame Tirette, and another small piece of blue floral in the swap. The other pieces I picked up in the swap were some blue/grey jersey that will be great for a t-shirt or some other knit top; a lovely light weight brown knit that I think will make a wonderful summer weight cardigan or sweater for travelling; and a huge piece of modern geometric floral green knit, that I have no idea what I will do with, but no one wanted it, and I am sure I will find a good use for…

… home and waiting for friends to go out for the evening… I have 30 minutes, my sewing machine is out, so I quickly sew up one scarf, then the next… two down, five projects to go!

… the (possibly in)complete list of bloggers that met: the fantastic organising committee – Anneke, Lieke, Hanne and Ilse; and the rest – Heidi, Karolien, Ivy, Annie, Sofie, Lieselot, Lieve, Lindsy, Regina, Riet, Caroline, Emily, Eline, Jo, Joost, Kim, Laura… and Erika and Margot who don’t blog…

and we are doing it again…

Tags

antwerp, belgium, bloggers, fashion museum, meet up, sewing

… after the great summer Belgian sewing bloggers‘ meet up, the lovely girls from Antwerp are organising a second edition. We will be spending Saturday 18th January drinking coffee, visiting shops, lunching, going to the fashion museum, swapping fabric and notions, and catching up on the past 6 months makes and adventures…

… if you would like to join us, give Anneke a shout, then jump on a train, in your car, on a boat and see you 10 am, Viggo’s coffeebar, in Antwerp in a few weeks! Everyone is welcome, as long as you sew, like to talk about sewing, or like to listen to people talking about sewing!

… I am certainly looking forward to it – and I am sure there will be more laughs than this serious bunch!

printer overdrive…

Tags

bloggers, fabric, meet up, sewing, shopping, swap

… a fabulous Belgian/Dutch sewing blogger meet up yesterday, a chance to meet some lovely fellow sewers, put faces to blog names and discover new blogs too…

… over lunch, after visiting a couple of fabric shops, where I picked up a soft, drapey piece of turquoise viscose for another 3/4 sleeve Renfrew – my first one seems to be in the wash every week, I must be wearing it plenty – came the much anticipated fabric swap. I came poorly supplied, I don’t have a stash as such, just a few pieces of fabric earmarked for specific projects, I don’t have many patterns either, I mainly use the same few over and over, or adapt and self draft patterns based on items of clothing I like. Others had plenty to offer, the table piled high, much to the bewilderment of the waitresses and the amusement of other patrons of the wonderful Houtsiplou terrace…

… While everyone went through the offerings I kept my eyes on a couple of pieces – a green on green striped jersey and a brown and yellow patterned jersey, no one else seemed as interested in them as I was, so I brought them home. I also picked up a turquoise and green jersey baby blanket that I am sure will be perfect for a t-shirt. Kamila took a magazine of Japanese patterns I had brought and insisted I chose a couple of pieces from her pile. I went for some green (see a trend here?!) waterproof fabric and, at her insistence,some burgundy red fleecy wool fabric.

… it was also a chance to meet the lovely Lelie of a bouquet of buttons and she brought me a bunch of fabric I had won in a giveaway she ran a few weeks ago…

… after lunch we went to a couple more shops, we tried to visit Le Mercerie de Bruxelles, a tiny, absurdly well stocked and reasonably priced haberdashery, but they, like so many Belgian businesses, were on annual holiday. We went to the huge warehouses of the Chien Vert, it seems appropriate that I bought some emerald green webbing here for a new dog lead…

… home, dog walked, and I started looking at my pile of new acquisitions, planning what I could make with some of them…

… I already have a grainline scout planned with my failed pyjama fabric, I decided the yellow and brown fabric would probably work well for this empire waist top from crafthabits.com and I will make Maria Denmark’s kirsten kimono tee from the baby blanket… so printer was loaded up with paper, and patterns were printed…

… I also printed up the pattern for Madalynne’s Amerson undies while I was at it, I have been meaning to give making them a go for ages, and it isn’t like I don’t have enough scraps!

… I now have a pile of paper that needs laying out, taping then cutting, so I can start sewing…

… but first a few more days of wallpaper peeling…

vive la Belgique…

Tags

belgium, bloggers, brussels, meet up, sewing

… long live the King…

… this weekend is pretty special in Belgium, it is national day on Sunday and we are getting a new King…

… but even more importantly a bunch of Belgian and Dutch sewing bloggers are meeting up in Brussels, organised by Anneke, following the international examples from around the blog-o-sphere, and going for a fabric-shop crawl! The program includes two of my regular shopping havens Berger and les tissus du Chien Vert, but we will also be going to a few places I don’t know including Atchoum and De Banier. There are refreshments on the program too: lunch at Au Soleil and after shopping drinks and a swap at Walvis…

… I think it is going to be a lot of fun!