Fabric shopping on Goldhawk Road

I had a bonus day off last Thursday in my relatively new job as the Library was closed for the day - so when Jessica suggested I join her on a fabric shopping trip I was so excited to be able to say yes (of course the fact that we now work together helped as we both had the day off!).  Jessica was on a mission to find lining for a very important project and I was just looking to take advantage of her advice on which fabrics would be good for various fixing projects and my first full-on handmade project.  The first clothing item I'm going to make is a top - 'New Look 6483'.  I chose this design for two reasons, obviously because I like it, but also because it says '1 hour easy *sewing time' - so I'll let you know how that goes!

Even before we got to Goldhawk Road I got distracted by the Shepherds Bush market and ended up buying another fabric - the patterned fabric you can see in the photo above.  I just fell in love with it - the colours and the pattern, though it's a very light fabric and even I, a totally inexperienced sewer could see it would need another fabric below.  Luckily this wasn't a problem as Jessica was on hand to advise me on what type of fabric I needed to go beneath it!  I'm going to use it to make a skirt - but that's a later project, after the '1 hour' top!

I'm going to try the version E first, the top left one, with the cheapest fabric I got which was the yellow/white stripe (also from the market) which was £2.99 a metre.  I love stripes, and I love yellow so it's perfect!  The green fabric is a Liberty print which was a bit more expensive but still a bargain I think - £6 a metre from one of the fabric shops on Goldhawk Road.  I'll maybe do the top right style or the centre one for that.  However I thought it was safer to start with the cheaper fabric and see how it goes.  Watch this space...!

It was such a lovely, and successful day out - Jessica also got the silk lining she needed for Catherine's wedding dress.  After that we went to the Westfield Shopping Centre.  it was my first time at Westfield and I have to say, that given that I always said I hate shopping malls, I really enjoyed it! I had a recent shopping nightmare on Oxford and Regent Street, trying to find a belt to match a dress for a wedding next weekend (not 'the wedding', even better than that - a friend's wedding in Guernsey!) - the streets were so busy I couldn't actually move.  So Westfield was fantastic - so quiet and spacious! I got the belt I wanted from Topshop and we went to Wahaca for lunch - much deserved after all our shopping and wandering!

I've got a rip to fix in husband's jacket first, and straps to extend on a dress (for Catherine's hen do!) then I can get down to starting my top.  Next week at the earliest realistically.  I'm already day dreaming, and dreaming, sewing projects so I can't wait to get started!