London haul

So I had a day in London on the 27 Th to celebrate my besties birthday.
My day started with very early train in the rain on a flying visit to my favourite fabric and trim suppliers in East London. Plenty was bought even though the weather was awful with wind and very heavy rain. These guys really are so sweet they don't forget me even though I might only see them once every two months now, especially the guy who sells the trims he always gives me a discount and shows me all the colours I like! What a gem he is!

lilac crochet and pink velvet ribbon

white satin ribbon snuggling in with my doilies

some gorgeous large beads on some Cath Kidston fabric

a puddle of white crochet ribbons

a sweet clothes patch from Liberty's of London

After all this wonderful shopping I then met my bestie and her gorgeous mum for shopping in central London. It started in Liberty's of London haberdashery where I got the cute blue bird clothes patch for on my 1983 green army coat. Oh that is a hard place to leave as a sewer let me tell you. All those wonderfully iconic printed pattern cottons. Ah the sweet pain it was to leave there. We then headed out to a long girlie dim sum lunch and then to my other favourite haberdashery, John Lewis on Oxford Street. Then it was time for afternoon tea and cake before an evening of celebration drinks and dinner in a North London public house. Before catching a late train back to Essex in the rain.
Such a magical day full of laughter, love, a feast of great food, shopping and rain!

Take care
Love Clara x

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London shopping trip

So I have a Thursday off from my part time job this week. This is exciting because on Thursday's before I moved to Essex I used to semi frequent a wonderful market where I would wander about and look at lots of glorious vintage and antique things. I would often buy complete pieces from here for in my shop, or up-cycle vintage fabrics in to my work. At this market you could get furniture, clothes, odds and ends like printers drawers, jewellery and textiles! Oh sweet sweet vintage lace pieces were always in plentiful supply. So this Thursday come rain or shine I shall be getting on the train in rush hour (something I normally avoid at all costs, as I hate being crowded) and I shall be making a long awaited trip back to this market! I am super excited I have a big list of things I would love to buy.
My List:
Printers drawers X 2 for in the shop
White doilies X as many as I can get get my grubby little mitts on
Vintage lace trim
An apple crate or a wonderful decent size wooden box for storage at home
Plus any other vintage things like white crochet gloves, tray liners, small ornaments for my home

Ohhh I am so excited! I shall take photos of the market and of course what I buy.

Image of boxes and the crate from Pinterest, the lace is my own image and collection.

Shopping for supplies

So I have been to London and I have been supply shopping, I bought some lovely white washed linen, it is so soft and drapes wonderfully it is the backbone item in my shop, so many items have this wonderful material as the foundation. It is strong yet beautiful and eco-friendly compared to cotton. I also got some more ribbon and cotton lace as I can not resist having more, but this time I also came across some wonder roses as ribbon, pink and dark pink with  green it is wonderfully romantic and gorgeous! Last but not least I bought some wonderful romantic white ruffle fabric, this I just adore to hold it up and shake it and watch all the ruffles quiver and shake. I have no plans for these at the moment, one day soon I should be able to show you what I have come up with though.

roses ribbon

white ruffles

I moved in the last quarter of 2012 and the area I have moved to while lovely and quiet it is not equipped for a shop-a-holic like me. There is is only one haberdashery about three miles away and she does not sell anything out of the ordinary so I am still relying on trips to London to get my supplies this is a long round trip for me approximately two hours each way so it is not something I do frequently. Do you have problems getting supplies for your crafts? How do you get around this? Do you buy online? I struggle with online buying as I am self taught and so I do not know the terms for the fabrics I want, so shopping can be fraught with expletives and nothing purchased. Oh well I will now be saving my pennies for my next shopping trip in London town.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ClarasHandMade

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/clarashandmade

Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/clarashandmade

Love Clara x