Sew Brum

I've just realised how long it's been since I updated this blog!  Sorry about that, I am still here but I've been busy sewing up projects for the Minerva Crafts blogger network, planning a Quilt Along for The Sewing Directory, writing my first fiction book (still looking for an agent/publisher) and planning a very exciting design competition for next year with an ex-Sewing Bee contestant...

Sew Brum at Guthrie & Ghani

I've spent so many months stuck inside working, writing or sewing I thought it was about time I got out and mixed with some other stitchers.  I spotted English Girl at Home's post about Sew Brum on social media a few months back and decided that I had to go along.

If you haven't heard of Sew Brum it's a meet up of sewing bloggers in Birmingham. It starts at some tea rooms, moves onto the rag market and then ends up at Guthrie & Ghani, the sewing shop run by Lauren Guthrie from The Sewing Bee.  It's been a few years since I've been to a big meet up so I was looking forward to it all summer. Especially when I heard how cheap fabric was at the rag market!  It started at £1 a metre!

These were all £3 a metre

Coming from Devon meant I missed the tea room gathering but my partner Julie who lives closer by went along and enjoyed it.  We caught up in the market where people were wondering around in small groups visiting the fabric stalls. We didn't get chance to meet many other stitchers here as we were all focused on shopping. I was pretty restrained and only bought 4m of fabric as per the picture below.  Although there was a lot of cheap fabric most of it didn't feel that great a quality, I guess you get what you pay for. I ended up getting 2m of denim look jersey (£6 total), 1m of woodland animal fleece for a baby blanket (£5.99) and an antique map style canvas fabric(£10 a metre) plus we found a stall that had very cheap trimmings on so I got a couple of those.

My Sew Brum haul

Also shown in the photo is the fabric I got in the swap later in the day (bottom left 2) and an ironing ruler and sleeve ham I bought at Guthrie & Ghani and some embroidery scissors from John Lewis. I was kind of fabriced out by the time I got to G & G and JL (nope I didn't realise that was possible either!)

Julie's Sew Brum haul

In the afternoon we all headed to Mosley on the bus and that's when we really started to mix and meet new people. I got to see a few people I already knew whilst having lunch in the pub and made a few new friends. Most the networking when on at Guthrie and Ghani after lunch.  There were loads of people there which made it hard to meet everyone, I think I managed to chat to around 20 or so people, there must have been over 100 there in total. I did get to meet several people I've spoken to or followed online but hadn't met before so that was definitely one of the highlights for me.

Raffle prizes

There was a very popular raffle raising money for charity. We donated a couple of sea/mermaid themed fabric bundles as prizes. Sadly our tickets were not winners but there was lots of very happy ladies who went away with some amazing prizes! You can see the full list of prizes here.

Charlotte & Lauren drawing the raffle

Lauren was there for the afternoon with her adorable Liberty clad baby Sophia, who was very well behaved given how busy it was. I didn't hear her cry once. Charlotte, also pictured above, was the organiser and did a great job. I don't know how she managed to organise so many people! It must have taken a huge amount of work.

It was really nice to get out and meet new people, and it was good to have Julie along too. I think many people still don't realise I now have a partner running the site with me so it was good for her to meet people too.  I did find it was a very long day, I spent over 6 hours traveling to have 6 hours at the event, I felt exhausted and very headachy by the time I got home.  It was very hot with so many people there which probably didn't help with the headache. I'm not sure if I'll make it back next year as I did find it totally wiped me out. However I am glad I went and it was lovely to meet so many people, I now have lots of new people to connect with on social media and lots of new blogs to read.

If you are interested in going to Sew Brum next year keep an eye on this page for Charlotte to post the details closer to the time.