Sew Brum 2016

September 26, 2016 by steelyseamstress 9 Comments

On Saturday I went up to Birmingham to attend the Sew Brum Meetup. This is the first time I have been to this event although it has been around for a couple of years. It is open to bloggers and non-bloggers alike and is organised by Charlotte from English Girl at Home.

It is the first time that I have met many of my fellow bloggers – I certainly had a feeling of “I know you, but we’ve never met”, it felt like a weird case of “déjà vu”. You are all a fantastic bunch and it was great to finally meet a few familiar (online at least) bloggers and chat to a few new faces too.

We started the day in the Birmningham Museum Tearooms. The museum is a fantastic, almost cathedral like building. I felt almost guilty that I wasn’t going to take a look around. Apologies for the next few photos. There were taken on my rubbish phone, as I’d forgotten my camera.

Birmingham Museum

I recognised our sewing group immediately; it was all those familiar fabric prints that gave it away! I couldn’t quite believe how many people there were!

Tea Room Birmingham Museum

First stop was the Rag Market. I had already looked around the rag market a fair bit in July, so apart from more interesting trim / braid from one of the outside stalls, I thought I’d give this a miss and go to Barry’s.

Barry’s fabric store

This time I had written down a wish list and had some exact measurements noted. I bought 1.5 m of a beautiful Wool / Merino ribbed knit. This is going to make a most fantastic winter jumper.

Our last stop in Birmingham was at Guthrie and Ghani’s in Moseley which is a short bus ride from the centre. First of all I had a bite to eat at The Dark Horse pub and then took a look at the fabrics in G&Gs.

The shop is beautiful with everything presented in temptingly attractive fashion. I succumbed to two bolt-ends. First, a viscose jersey with white cherries on a navy blue background. I haven’t made many t-shirts because I had many of these from my pre-sewing days, but it’s now time to replace some of the more grotty t-shirts with some new ones. There is only 0.6m in length, but it a wide fabric (152 cm) and navy and white are easy to team with another fabric if needed.

I also picked up some white cuff rib. I didn’t have a particular project in mind for this, but it will come in handy for a jacket perhaps, although I’ll consider dyeing it a darker colour first.

Upstairs in Guthrie and Ghani, there was also a pattern swap. I exchanged a dress pattern that I’ll not use (I’m not a dress person) for this interesting Burda tunic pattern. The pattern seems designed for fabrics such as boiled wool and I thought this pattern would be good for a warm winter tunic.

The event just gets bigger and better each year. I’m sure you’ll agree that Charlotte did a fantastic job organising the itinerary, attracting sponsors and securing all the fantastic donations for the raffle. Thank you Charlotte for running this tremendous event!