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The Sewing Book Club: Summer Reads

The sewing book club summer reads for dressmakers on holiday

Six sewing themed summer Reads. If we can’t take our sewing machines with us on holiday, at least we can read about sewing Holidays are the best time to catch up on reading. Perhaps fish and chips in South-end-on-sea or two week’s lying on a sandy beach. I’ve pulled together a collection of books that…

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Vintage sewing inspiration

Olive Road customer makes We all love a fabric stash, a collection of fabrics we can fold, re-fold and admire. Amazing as they all look together, fabric really is there to be used. My business is created from buying people’s fabric stash. So when a customer sends me a photo of their creations from my…

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Sewing Machines in the Movies

My top six films for sewing machine day Encanto Blink and you miss it but there is a sewing machine in Encanto! Right at the beginning of the film. Mirabel pulls her skirt from under a vintage sewing machine as she starts singing. I noticed it as I’d just finished making my niece her very…

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Dressmaking patterns now available at Olive Road London

Paper patterns from Maven Patterns and Seasons of East I met Sharon from Maven Patterns , her husband Richard (from James Tailoring) and their daughters at the Knitting & Stitching Show in October 2019 and loved their patterns. The clean designs that champion vintage fabrics, classic with a vintage style. Shop now Choose from the…

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The Stitch Festival 2022

Vintage fabric London

Thanks for coming! I had a blast at The Stitch Festival earlier this month. Thanks so much to everyone who came along to my stand for a sewing chat and bought vintage fabric, patterns and kits from my pop up shop. Thanks to Liz, my mum and Laura for helping me on my stand. It…

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1960s Beautiful People

Review of London’s Fashion and Textile Museum’s 1960’s exhibition, Beautiful People: The Boutique in 1960s Counter Culture. While Swinging London promoted consumerism and futurism, a very different ideology was developing in parallel. The Underground were ‘arty’ and intellectual. They rejected materialism, seeking instead spiritual and psychedelic enlightenment. On 11 June 1965 this alternative community congregated…

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Bags: Inside Out at the V&A

My six favourite bags in the exhibition I managed to catch the exhibition a few days before it closed. Leaving it until the last minute, the exhibition was busy but I’ve chosen my six favourite bags. 1. Sentimental Lulu Guinness, 1996 Florist’s Basket handbag I’m being sentimental as 1996 is the year I met my…

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Fast Fashion: How did it go too far?

During COP26 there have been plenty of stats on the negative effect of fast fashion on the environment. As a sustainable business it is something I have campaigned about for years and I’m glad to see the awareness growing. But do you ever wonder how we got into this situation. I worked as a fashion…

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The Knitting & Stitching Show

Thanks to everyone who visited my stand at the Knitting & Stitching show last week. If you couldn’t make it, thanks for opening my emails and liking my posts on social media. Every little bit helps small businesses like me. It was great to be out chatting to vintage fabric fans again. Working on my…

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Scrap buster: Suffolk Puffs

My favourite part of running a vintage fabric shop is meeting customers. It isn’t so easy for an online shop but I get to meet people at the fabric shows. Even during lockdown it has been great connecting with customers on social media and via email. Mera came along to the Stich Festival last February…

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