sewbrum | english girl at home

October 4, 2016
by Charlotte 4 Comments

SewBrum 2016 Wrap-Up

The 2016 SewBrum meet-up took place on Saturday 24th September.

I’m not planning to publish a weekly vlog, but I am planning to publish one every so often when I have something to share. I filmed a little bit of footage during SewBrum which you can view below:

As in previous years, the day whizzed by! We started the day by taking over the Edwardian Tearooms at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery – and I do mean taking over. From there, we wandered across town to the Rag Market, and nearby Barry’s Fabrics and Fancy Silk Store. Rhiannon introduced me to a stall in the Indoor Market which specialises in wax print, which I hadn’t spotted before, and Charlotte recommended a nearby stall which has a huge selection of cotton and novelty prints.

Over 100 of us traveled into Moseley Village in the afternoon to visit Guthrie & Ghani for shopping, chatting, a pattern and fabric swap, and charity raffle. The raffle, plus donations given for tea and cake, raised £465 for the The Eve Appeal gynaecological cancer charity.

Huge thanks to everyone who came along, I hope you had a good time & managed to meet some new-to-you sewists. It was lovely to meet people I haven’t chatted to before, as well as to catch-up with friends, including some I’ve never met in person before.

There have been some great blog posts, plus a lovely vlog about the day by The Fold Line. Links below!

Steely Seamstress: https://steelyseamstress.wordpress.com/2016/09/26/sew-brum-2016/

Almond Rock: http://almondrock.co.uk/sewbrum-2016/

Thimberlina: https://thimberlina.wordpress.com/2016/10/02/sewbrum-2016/

The Ruined Mother: http://ruinedmother.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/sew-brum.html

Red W Sews: https://redwsews.wordpress.com/2016/10/02/sew-brum-so-good/

The Sewing Directory: https://thesewingdirectory.blogspot.co.uk/2016_09_01_archive.html

Mokshatrim: http://www.mokshatrim.co.uk/single-post/2016/09/27/Sew-we-meet-again-SewBrum

Sew Essential: https://www.sewessential.co.uk/blog/sew-brum-2016/

September 23, 2016
by Charlotte 4 Comments

SewBrum Raffle Prizes!

As in previous years, we’ll be holding a raffle at the SewBrum meet-up this Saturday! Raffle tickets are only on sale to attendees on the day of the meet-up and the raffle will be drawn in the afternoon at Guthrie & Ghani.

All money raised by the raffle, along with donations in exchange for tea and cake at Guthrie & Ghani, will be donated to the Eve Appeal.

Lots of lovely companies have generously donated raffle prizes. I’m demoing a lot of the prizes in this video, or see the full list and photos below. (P.S. I mispronounced a couple of things in the video, but only had a limited window of sunlight yesterday evening after getting home from work, so no retakes!).

The full list of prizes:

♥ Sew Essential have donated an Adjustoform Supafit Standard Dress Form. The dress form comes in four sizes so the winner will be able to select their preferred size.

♥ Minerva Crafts have donated a big fabric bundle worth £100.

♥ The Sewing Directory have donated two beautiful FQ packs: Lewis & Irene Under the Sea and Heather Ross Mendocino.

♥ Prym have donated sewing boxes filled with a range of sewing supplies.

♥ Pavilion are donating five of their recent sewing books: , by Chinelo Bally, by Dawn Cloake, by Marie Clayton, and by Jane Brocket.

♥ Crafty Sew & So have donated a £25 voucher for their online or bricks & mortar shop, based in Leicester.

♥ The Crafty Mastermind have donated a kit to make Tilly & the Button’s Coco, with plenty of fabric for a dress or top version.

♥ Sew Crafty have donated a selection of goodies including pin badges, crafty pencils, and crafty notebook.

♥ Create Escape have donated a four fat quarter bundle of Lotta Jansdotter’s latest fabric collection.

♥ Remnant Kings have donated a tote bag containing a selection of haberdashery goodies.

♥ Fabric Godmother have donated a beautiful £100 fabric bundle, with a mix of knits and wovens.

♥ Plush Addict have donated an 11 reels selection of Gutermann sew-all thread, and a 9 FQ pack from the Tilda Spring Diaries Collection.

♥ The Draper’s Daughter have donated a lovely Tote Bag kit.

♥ FabricHQ have donated a £20 gift voucher.

♥ Abakhan have donated two Liberty fabric bundles.

♥ Fabrics Galore have donated a £20 gift voucher.

♥ Dragonfly Fabrics have donated a Katha Tunic sewing kit, with all required supplies to sew a tunic in a lovely Japanese cotton.

♥ Bloomsbury Square have donated a fabric bundle, containing 2 metres of crepe, and 1.5 metres of cotton.

♥ FabricPunk have donated a FQ bundle of six Dashwood Studio fabrics.

♥ Village Haberdashery have donated a voucher for their online and bricks-and-mortar store.

♥ Girl Charlee have donated a fabric bundle worth £100 in one of their tote bags. Two metres of each of the following fabrics ar included: Quatrefoil Oxford Blue Cotton Jersey Blend Knit Fabric, Coral Blue & Red Diamond Floral Geo Jersey Rayon Spandex Knit, Plum Grey Rose Floral on Taupe Cotton Jersey Knit Fabric, Heather Burnt Orange Solid Baby Cotton Jersey Knit Fabric, Fawn Silhouette on Rose Cotton Jersey Blend Knit Fabric.

♥ Adam Ross Fabrics have donated a £35 voucher for their (Birmingham-based) online store.

Plus, Simplicity have donated pattern which I’ll be giving away in the morning at the Edwardian Tea Rooms (first come first served), and Crafty Sew & So have given me some flyers for a very exciting event they are planning…

Abakhan Liberty Fabric bundles

Crafty Mastermind Coco Kit

Simplicity Patterns

Dragonfly Fabrics Tunic Kit

Fabric Godmother fabric bundle

The Sewing Directory FQ packs (Lewis & Irene Under the Sea and Heather Ross Mendocino)

Girl Charlee fabric bundle

Fabric Punk Dashwood Studio FQ selection

Bloomsbury Square fabric bundle

Create Escape Lotta Jansdotter FQ pack

Sew Crafty goodies

Minerva Crafts fabric bundle

Remnant Kings Goodie Bag

The Draper’s Daughter Tote Bag Kit

Books from Pavilion

Quilting Book and FQ packs from EQS

FabricHQ voucher

March 31, 2016
by Charlotte 2 Comments

SewBrum 2016: Save the Date!

Just a quick post to let you know that there will be a #SewBrum meet-up on Saturday 24th September 2016. This will be the third year running!

Like last year, the meet-up will start in Birmingham City Centre, before moving to Moseley Village to visit Guthrie & Ghani.

I’ll post details nearer the date, but I’m aiming for us to spread out a bit this year given that there were around 100 of us last time.

Everyone will be welcome. Hope you can make it x

In the meantime, read my wrap-up posts about the 2015 and 2014 meet-ups.

SewBrum logo by illustrator and sewing blogger Maike of Sew & Illustrate & on .

November 15, 2015
by Charlotte 9 Comments

SewBrum 2015 Wrap-Up

I can’t believe it’s already been two weeks since the SewBrum meet-up. After many months of preparing (i.e. gathering raffle prizes) the day whizzed by.

The meet-up started in the Edwardian Tearooms at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. It’s one of my (many) favourite spots in Birmingham so I thought I’d drag everyone there:) There were 60+ of us drinking tea and chatting in the tearooms. It’s quite a large cafe but we took over a good section; we’d been allocated about a third of the seating, but I think we may have taken over around half by the time we were due to leave.

From the tearooms we wandered across town to the Rag Market, and nearby Barry’s Fabrics and Fancy Silk Store. We had unseasonable good weather this year so didn’t get wet while walking around Birmingham. One of the market stall holders who sells Liberty-style printed cottons (near the food stalls at the front of the outdoor section of the market) did particularly good business!

When they were ready, attendees caught a bus into Moseley Village to visit Guthrie & Ghani, via lunch at Moseley Farmers’ Market. We lost count of the exact number, but there were over 90 attendees at Guthrie & Ghani so it was pretty full in the upstairs studio space which the meet-up took over for the day. Goodie bags were waiting at the shop for the first sixty or so attendees but ran out before everyone arrived (partly because it is very difficult to predict exactly how many attendees will turn up on the day in order to prepare, and partly because such large numbers are difficult for sponsors).

The raffle held in the afternoon at Guthrie & Ghani, plus donations given for tea and cake, raised £554 which has now been donated to the Made Up Initiative, and has helped to push the total amount raised by the Initiative over £3,000. We also held a pattern and fabric swap, with leftovers donated to a nearby charity shop.

I’ve heard a few people previously mentioning that they aren’t fond of larger meet-ups. I totally understand that once you’ve built up a group of friends who sew it’s nice to meet up with them, and that it’s much easier to chat with everyone as a small group. But I also think it’s good to have meet-up events that are open to everyone. It was through large meet-ups, advertised to everyone, such as Rachel’s London meet-up and the Birmingham meet-up organised by Marie, Claire and Kat, that I first met other sewists in person. One of the best things about the sewing community is how inclusive it is, and I think it’s important that there are inclusive meet-ups that anyone with an interest in sewing is welcome to join.

Massive thanks to everyone who came along – I hope you all had a good time & managed to meet some new-to-you sewists. I just wish I could have had more time to chat to everyone. A list of attendees is available here.

Around 38 attendees also participated in a merit badge swap and there were some amazing badges swapped on the day (you’ll find some on instagram tagged with #sewbrum). I was paired with , my badges for her are below, and were inspired by her love for sci-fi.

And hers for me, which features Paris, alpaca feet and a computer on/off logo – very fitting:)

I have put together a small gift for one member of the merit badge swap, on an embroidery theme. It contains a cute embroidery book I picked up last time I was in Paris, and two Dandelyne miniature jewellery embroidery hoops. The winner, identified using random number generator, is .

October 31, 2015
by Charlotte 6 Comments

SewBrum Goodie Bags

Today is the day of the SewBrum meet-up! I thought it would be fun to do a little reveal of the goodie bags waiting for attendees at Guthrie & Ghani this afternoon.

Lauren at Guthrie & Ghani is providing fabric bags courtesy of Liberty, goodies from Prym and a discount code for the store. The sweets were added by me;)

Inside the goodie bags attendees will also find:

A discount code for Pavilion Books whose recent sewing publications include the five lovely books pictured below which Pavilion have contributed to the raffle.

Postcards of projects from PomPom Quarterly who have also contributed a back-issue to the raffle.

A 15% discount voucher for Girl Charlee who have also contributed a big fabric bundle to the raffle.

A very cute mini discount voucher for 10% off DK yarn from Brityarn who have also contributed a canvas bag to the raffle.

Rachel and Kate at The Foldline have contributed amazing goodie bags containing sweets, buttons and vintage 1950s zips! (Have you seen that it’s now possible to create pattern wishlists and libraries on The Foldline? So good!)

And finally, Nominette have provided a discount code to create your own custom sew-in labels. They also allowed me to order SewBrum labels to include in the goodie bags. The labels contain the wording ‘A SewBrum Meet-Up Make’ as I thought it would be fun for attendees to sew these onto projects they make using fabric or patterns purchased or swapped at SewBrum. I’ve kept a few to sew into my own SewBrum makes.

You may have seen Nominette labels reviewed elsewhere. I had seen Katie, Winnie, and Melissa’s reviews previously, but whereas they reviewed the logo labels these are the ‘Clothing Label 25mm’ option. The logo label option requires you to upload an image (and as such does allow more customisation) but if you don’t have an image you’d like to use this option is more straightforward as well as cheaper (£37 for 100, with discounts applied for larger orders).

To create the labels you simply type the text you would like included into a box on the website and select a font (from 5 available). Washing icons can also be added – I left them off since I don’t know what attendees will choose to attach these to! The website is interactive, displaying your choices on an example label as you select text and colours. There are two options for label type, either centre fold (like these) or end fold, and a wide range of colour choices (15 background colours, 17 text colours). I selected a dark blue background with white text and the contract means that the text is nice and clear. I hope attendees will enjoy sewing them into a SewBrum project.

P.S just a caveat for attendees that as a free event it’s very difficult to predict actual attendee numbers and goodie bags are limited – sorry if you don’t get one or if some of the items have run out!

P.P.S There have been some late additions to the raffle, including an Adjustoform Supafit Standard Dress Form courtesy of Sew Essential. The full prize list is here.

September 27, 2015
by Charlotte Leave a comment

SewBrum Merit Badge Swap Sign-Up Deadline

Just a super quick post to note that sign-up for the SewBrum merit badge swap will close on Wednesday 30th September. After this date you’re still very welcome to sign-up for the meet-up itself, but I won’t be pairing further badge swap partners, to ensure there is enough time to make the badges before the event.

If you’d like to join in, sign-up here, and find . Anyone can join this swap, you don’t need to be attending the meet-up in October or have a blog to join in.

I’ve also updated the list of prizes for the raffle we’ll hold on the day of the meet-up (with all money raised being donated to the Made Up Initiative) to include:

♥ Tickets to Crafts for Christmas, Stitching, Sewing & Hobbycrafts and Art Materials Live at the NEC, Birmingham. These pairs of tickets can be used any day of the show, which takes place 5-8 November 2015. In addition to lots of lovely stalls, the show will feature the world’s largest knitted Christmas tree (25 feet tall!) created by Allison Murray and 700 volunteer knitters, and a knitted Gingerbread Grotto, which includes a knitted bed, dresser, chairs, pictures, table and stove. 500 knitters around the world contributed to create the grotto to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital.

♥ Pompom Quarterly Summer 2014 issue I’m a Pompom subscriber and big fan. The donated issue includes 7 knitting/crochet patterns (including shawls, tops and a blanket), plus a tee sewing pattern.

September 11, 2015
by Charlotte 12 Comments

SewBrum Update: Raffle Prizes & Contributing to the Made Up Initiative

Like last year, we’ll be holding a raffle at the SewBrum meet-up on 31st October. Raffle tickets are only on sale to attendees on the day of the meet-up and the raffle will be drawn in the afternoon at Guthrie & Ghani.

All money raised by the raffle, along with donations in exchange for tea and cake at Guthrie & Ghani, will be donated to the Made Up Initiative. Given that the sewing community is already backing the Initiative it seemed like the perfect charity. Made Up has already raised £2500 for the National Literacy Trust. Hopefully we’ll be able to help Karen add even more money to that total. If you’ve made a garment or accessory as a Made Up pledge why not wear it to the meet-up? It would be great to see some of those pledge garments in person.

Lots of companies have generously donated raffle prizes:

♥ Janome have donated an Overlocker! The model donated is the lovely Janome 6234XL Overlocker. The overlocker will be sent to the winner’s home so you don’t need to lug it home either:)

♥ Sew Essential have donated an Adjustoform Supafit Standard Dress Form. The dress form comes in four sizes so the winner will be able to select their preferred size.

♥ Lutterloh will be providing a demo of their pattern making system during the meet-up, and have donated a pattern making manual including tailor and designer curves and two rolls of drafting paper. Invented in the 1930s, the system uses the Golden Rule Principle to take key body measurements and scale different sewing patterns.

♥ Minerva Crafts have donated ten separate fabric bundles (approximately £20 each). Photos of a few bundles are below, and each one is different:)

♥ Girl Charlee UK have donated a bundle with 10 metres of assorted fabrics. (Fabrics included in the bundle are: Black Mustachio on White Cotton Jersey Blend Knit Fabric, Licorice Black Cotton Jersey Sweatshirt Fleece Knit Fabric, Turquoise Aztec Glyphs on Ivory Ponte de Roma Fabric, Grey Red Euro Floral Cotton Jersey Knit Fabric, Quatrefoil Samba Red Cotton Jersey Blend Knit Fabric, Black Mauve Scattered Spots Baby Hacci Sweater Knit Fabric, Mint Green Solid Cotton Spandex Knit Fabric, Deep Forest Cotton Modal Lycra French Terry Knit Fabric, Maya Stripe Azulon Coral Cotton Jersey Blend Knit Fabric, Heather Charcoal Grey Solid Cotton Spandex Knit Fabric).

♥ Dragonfly Fabrics have donated a Fat Quarters Bundle of Westfalenstoffe printed cottons.

♥ Tuttle have donated their two latest Japanese sewing books (two copies of each book), by Yoshiko Tsukiori, and by the Violette Room. I’ve already sewn a dress from my copy of Stylish Party Dresses and I’m a big fan.

♥ Clover have donated three sets of haberdashery supplies. (Each set contains one of the following: 9581 Flex ‘n Glide Bodkins, 9582 Clip ‘n Glide Bodkin, 9583 Elastic Lock Set, 3180 Wonder Clips (Neon Green/10 pcs.), 464/18 Bias Tape Maker (18 mm), 464/25 Bias Tape Maker (25 mm), 4713 Chaco Liner Pen Style (Yellow), 463 Seam Ripper).

♥ TOFT have donated two places on their ‘Learn to Crochet Amigurumi’ course. On the course you’ll learn the skills to crochet an animal from the Edward’s Menagerie collection, and will be supplied with tea and a cake;) TOFT have a number of possible dates coming up which the winner could select from, subject to availability (Sat 7th November (AM), Sat 9th January (AM), Sun 24th January (AM), Sat 6th February (AM)).

♥ Craftsy have donated a free class of the winner’s choice.

♥ Prym have donated sewing boxes filled with a range of sewing supplies.

♥ Quadrille Craft have donated two recent publications: by Amanda Riley, and by Erika Knight. Simple Colour Knitting has some gorgeous home and accessory patterns – pictures below!

♥ Laurence King have donated four amazing books: by Samantha Elliott, by Anette Fischer, by Josephine Perry, and by Drusilla Cole. There is so much inspiration in these books!

♥ Pavilion & Batsford are donating five recent sewing books: , by Mariko Nakamura, by What Delilah Did, by Jane Brocket, and by Lena Santana.

♥ Brityarn have donated one of their awesome printed canvas bags. Perfect for transporting your knitting or sewing project!

♥ Pompom Quarterly Summer 2014 issue I’m a Pompom subscriber and big fan. The donated issue includes 7 knitting/crochet patterns (including shawls, tops and a blanket), plus a tee sewing pattern.

Pictures of some of the prizes are included below. If you fancy joining us, you can sign-up for the meet-up here.

Janome 6234XL Overlocker

Images courtesy of Janome