Half Term

Well hello there my fine wee corner of the internet, I'm back!

This year I have really had to prioritise things, which has meant that I have had to ignore my wonderful wee sewing club here at Sew Well Travelled, and for that I truly apologise. It is currently May half term and my school has two weeks off! Which means I am going to endeavour to do SOME sort of sewing/craft as well as plan the hell out of my LAST TWO WEEKS ON PLACEMENT!!!! That's right guys, I am officially on the home stretch, I made it through the stress that is the PGCE year and have many grey hairs to show for it.

The last few months have been very tough going, I am currently job hunting for September as well as working hard to maintain my grades to get a good pass at the end of all of this. On top of this, in April we bid a tearful goodbye to our wonderful 20 year old cat, Toyah (pictured below).

She was something else was our Toyah but she became severely ill and it was cruel to keep her for our own sakes when she was no longer enjoying life. My mum and I made a resolution to live cat-less for the first time in our lives and we lasted a week. Toyah was such a big part of our family that no one could ever replace her, but our new feline friend has softened the blow. 

His name is Murphy and he is the survivor of what seems like a severe cruelty case, as a result he has a gammy leg, no teeth on the left of his mouth and is extremely needy. Quite a lot for a four year old to deal with! He likes to help me plan my lessons by walking all over the keyboard when he's not getting enough attention.

Aside from my cat news that really is all that's been going on in my life aside from teaching. My current class are amazing characters and I am going to miss them a stupid amount when I leave at the end of June. I still don't have a job but I remain hopeful and tenacious with the process, yet right now I really am looking forward to relaxing a little this summer!

I've got a plan in mind for a top to make this half term using this fabric which I bought at the Sewing fair in Manchester last September.

It's going to be a semi self drafted strappy top, using a pattern from last year's Sewing Bee book. I hacked the pattern last summer to make the dress below and it worked out quite well! I'm thinking of breaking the rules and making the straps in a totally different fabric, just to make it a bit wilder! 

I really need to wear that dress again actually. As well as that I'm going to make a few wee bits and bobs and finally put them on Etsy with the aim to top up my ever diminishing student loan, stay tuned for a link on here! I have a huge stash of fabric that needs to be used up, my first placement class did enjoy choosing from it for their iPad cases at our craft club though!

Anyway, you'll definitely hear more from me this half term, but until then - Happy Sewing Crafters!

Katharine xx

Manchester's Stitching Sewing and Hobbycraft Show Haul

Morning readers! It's that sporadic blogger again, the one who is trying to juggle establishing a brand, completing a postgraduate degree at Masters level, and fighting off germy fluey germs. 

As you may have already gathered from previous posts I have inherited the crafting bug from my darling Momma-Bear, who I am unsurprisingly very close to. So, way back at the start of the year we kept seeing ads for craft shows across the country and were toying with the idea of going to one. Unfortunately we never really got round to it so for her birthday I bought her a ticket to the one in Manchester, 6 months in advance! 

Now, due to my lack of blogging time the show was actually a month ago, but all too sadly I haven't actually made anything with my haul so (almost) everything is still intact. 

The show as a whole was brilliant. Seriously, us crafters are the friendliest people ever. The show was packed and yet everyone who bumped into me apologised and looked so sorry. You wouldn't get that on a Saturday on the Headrow! 

There was a wide range of craft stalls, but the majority were fabric and paper crafting. My mum, being a cross stitch addict only had a handful of stalls to choose from, but made some good connections and got a wide range of patterns. (As well as an amazing Victorian sampler to make for me). 

I went a bit mental with money that I don't have. But I'm seeing is as an investment for the year, everything I've got pending right now will see me through until next September so I don't have to spend my precious and modest student loan on fabric, unless it's for a present. 

First of all I found a nice wee haberdashery stall packed with shoppers and goodies and went a bit mental. At the start of the day I'd budgeted £20 for myself, that was nearly gone at one stall....

I absolutely loved the vintage style of this. I got a fat quarter's worth and think it may become a purse or a head scarf. It's too cute.

This is printed denim from somewhere called "The Denim Company". I would have loved to buy more but I was really pinching the pennies. This is a perfect example of my love for fabric, no plans but I had to have it!

We all know I love to flaunt my sewing and dressmaking skills, I just wish I could have afforded more of this to make it into a top, but it was quite pricy and I could only stretch to a half metre, maybe it'll be a sewing bag? Or travel sewing kit?

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but I am totally and completely obsessed with penguins. Penguins are my true love, sorry Danny. Only a fat quarter again as the fabric was quite thin and I didn't want to make it into clothing. Ideas for it's uses are welcomed!

My current obsession is foxes, and I am actually almost finished making something with this one! I bought two metres and am making a English Tea Dress (previously made here), sans sleeves! Full post on that to come ;)

I fell in love with this cotton from Abkahan fabrics and stretched to buying a metre of it. I have a cami pattern in mind for it, or maybe some lingerie. The colour is so rich and I have always had a fascination with birds. So in love and it's great quality cotton!

So there we are, all in all it was a fab day at our first sewing show. We met some lovely people, got some good stuff and totally exhausted our feet! We slept well that night :) The tickets, bought in advance, were £7 a piece, which for a good day out was pretty good. I'd definitely recommend going one. For one in your area, check here http://www.ichfevents.co.uk/

If you have any ideas for what I can make with any of this stuff please let me know! Especially the fat quarters, my stash is huge and needs to be worked at. Share your ideas, let's make Sew Well Travelled an idea forum!

Til next time,

The Stressed Out Student that is Kat xx

A Wee Bit of Market Research...

Happy Sunday guys! I hope everyone has had a relaxing and peaceful day and is ready for Monday tomorrow. This coming week is my final week at work before I start Uni, I can't believe how quickly it's come round! It's feeling quite bittersweet right now...

I'll get right to it now then. As I've mentioned before on this blog, and if you've read my little "Support Me" tab, you'll know that I've been toying with the idea of opening up an online shop for a while now, but have had a few things holding me back. 
I've quickly come to realise however, that during my PGCE year the  chance of managing to fit in part time work is slim, and so I will need to find new and innovative ways to top up my student loan. As sewing is my passion and my main hobby, I can't think of anything better than making beautiful things for other people, whilst having some downtime for studying by doing what I love.

So essentially, I'm doing a bit of market research to help get this underway, please feel free to share it with your family and friends! If you enter your email address at the end of the survey you may be lucky enough to get a cheeky wee surprise when the store is launched! (basically a discount).

The survey is here... https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/59MYFJL

If you have any questions or suggestions you can get me on here, @SewTravelled on Twitter, @SewWellTravelled on Instagram, or via sewwelltravelled@gmail.com.

Enjoy! Much love, Kat xx