A New Acquisition and a Fabric Giveaway

I’ve bought a serger/overlocker!!

I’d never really thought much about owning one until recently but I’ve started to feel that I might be missing out.  I noticed at the weekend that LIDL had these coming back into stock today at £129 and given the national TV advertising and announcements on IG etc. I thought I’d better get down there first thing.  This model seems to retail at about £250 elsewhere so definitely something of a bargain.

I arrived just before 8.00 am and the car park was already filling up with people who looked very much like they were after the same thing as me!  It was a very civilised and sociable group outside the front door, some people were after the serger, others the sewing machine which also looks good.

This is the actual model.

As the doors opened we all piled in and made a beeline for the back of the store where the boxes were piled up.  By the time I got to the checkout about two minutes later they had already sold three so I suspect they will run out quickly.  I also bought some of the thread cones at 50p each, I wish hadn’t decided to give the trolleys a miss as I was struggling to carry everything!  I might pop back again later as there were some other sewing-related items I didn’t have time to look at.

Having to go to work straight afterwards was a bit of an inconvenience as I really wanted to get it out of the box straightaway!  I have absolutely NO idea what I’m doing with it.  I’ve had one very short session on a serger during a course at Clothkits in Chichester and was slightly terrified.  I’m going to have a proper read of Portia’s three-part Serger Series on Makery before I even try to use it.

In the meantime …. while we were away in the Cotswolds recently I visited Tinsmiths in Ledbury.

Entrance via Tinsmith Alley

Quirky Tinsmith Building

Tinsmiths

It is curtain and upholstery fabric (and gift/homewares) heaven but they also stock some dressmaking fabrics including pre-cut lengths of hand-blocked African fabric.  The fabric I’d previously spotted online was no longer available so I picked another one.  I’d not really given sufficient thought to what I was actually going to do with over five metres of fabric so I thought I’d see if anyone would like a share in it?  It’s a medium weight cotton, 110 cms wide.  I’ve not tried washing it yet so can’t say whether the colours will fade but they are certainly pretty bold at the moment. I think it has quite a vintage/retro look to it.

Here it is pinned to Doris.  That’s the whole lot pinned round her because I couldn’t face unfolding and refolding it so it is obviously going to drape a bit more than this!

I’m giving away two metres and if you’d like to welcome this fabric into your stash just leave a comment below and say what you might use it for.  I’ll get W to pull a name out of one of his hats after midnight on Sunday 18 October.  If it’s not your cup of tea then spread the word to anyone you know who might be interested.