The Knitting and Stitching Show

On Friday I went to The Knitting and Stitching Show here in Dublin. (Yes, Dublin is where I now live) It was my first time ever on a craft and sewing related trade show. The average age of visitors was well over 50 and when I come to think of it I did not see one single man visiting the show. Also a lot of them seemed to be regulars, travelling from far to all of these shows.

The show is originally English and exhibits in several places in England every year. So most of the sellers were English, except for a couple of Irish businesses thrown in for good measure. I particularly enjoyed the book stalls, which were jam-packed with sewing and craft related books I can normally only browse through on amazon. Unfortunately the show was mainly geared towards knitters, crocheters, quilters and card-makers with only one stall selling sewing patterns, none selling tools and accessories specifically for dressmakers (disappointing!) and only two stalls selling fashion fabrics. The show was still a good laugh and I loved browsing books and looking at some of the art exhibits they had on. I even got to try out a variety of sergers! Oh, I soooo want a serger...

The only thing I ended up buying was one meter of a lovely yellow wool and poly blend, which I plan to make into a pencil skirt and a meter and a half of a wool and poly brown fishbone fabric for pants.

I bought both from M. Rosenberg & Sons, a family fabric business. The son of the original founder and his son and daughter were running the stall and I have never seen such impeccable customer service before. They knew everything about the fabric they were selling, were very helpful and friendly and gave you advice on how to treat and sew your fabric. If you want to buy from them too you can find their travelling fabric show timetable here. They will be at lots of shows this autumn all over England.

Other than visitng The Knitting and Stitching Show this week I have been sewing a pair of pants to wear in my new job, which I'm starting tomorrow. I just have to sew on some buttons tonight and I'm good to go. Pictures to come soon!

Curduroy Kasia

Thank you all for welcoming me back! I really appreciate it. In my absence I have – as frk.bustad spotted correctly – made my own version of the popular Kasia skirt. I have wanted to sew a Kasia skirt for a long, long time but was never quite sure what fabric to use. In the end I decided on a versatile black corduroy paired with large, metallic buttons. The skirt is elegant but can still be dressed down because it is made of corduroy and goes with a lot of tops and blouses.

 For the photoshoot earlier this summer we went to see a friend who had just moved to very interesting looking apartment buildings, called Wohnpark Alterlaa, in Vienna. I love the sort of retro sci-fi feel these buildings have despite their ugliness. This is the way futuristic and modern was imagined in the late 70s and 80s and I absolutely wanted these buildings in the background paired with my retro-looking Kasia skirt. For a full view of these spaced-out buildings look at this picture on a website, where this housing project is listed as number two of "15 housing projects from hell".

Okay, back to my skirt construction: I lined the front flap with a viscose lining I found on sale and have loads of. I made a facing for the pocket openings, because I didn't want the lining to show at the edges. I also sewed on a snap button at the top of the flap, because the flap kept sliding down, revealing the zipper behind it. This is a bit of a problem with this pattern. Does this happen to other Kasias out there too? Any solutions?

And now for my absolute favourite part of this skirt: the buttons! I'm absolutely in love with the buttons on this skirt. They are big and metallic and have the eagle of the Austro-Hungarian Empire on them. Really! I mean there couldn't be anything cooler than that, right?! I'm so happy I found them.

I’ve worn this skirt a lot. It’s very comfortable and easy to wear. If I made it again I would just make it a tad less high-waisted and figure out a slightly better construction of the flap. Are you a Kasia fan too?

After a Long Hiatus...

...I'm back!

I've had a very eventful and busy summer after which I relocated to a different country. Moving from one country to another is exciting but it has also sapped a lot of my time and energy, so my blogging and sewing have had to take a back seat for a while. I've still been eagerly following all your blogs and have been trying to keep up with my blogroll to vicariously sew along with you. 

And despite having been all-consumed by my big move, I still managed to squeeze in a little sewing here and there. Here is a little preview of the humble fruits of my summer sewing. I will show you more details and pictures soon.

I haven't sewn anything in weeks now but I finally feel just a little bit settled and more organized and hope that I will be able to get into the swing of things as soon as possible. To help me get out of my sewing coma I have enrolled into a fashion design evening class at a local fashion design school, which is starting today! I am very excited about this and hope to learn new skills, make some sewing friends and get new inspiration. I will keep you posted on my sewing adventures. Talk to you all soon...