Silent Auction

This pretty quilt made by Katy @imagingermonkey as a workshop sample for the shop has just come out of storage and has been freshly washed.

When it was in the shop I could have sold it a thousand times over so I would like to hold a silent auction in aid of Help for Heroes. 
Help for Heroes is the charity we support here at Patch when holding our charity craft sessions, and a cause I feel strongly about with my familys military background.

The gorgeous lap quilt has been made with a Moda jelly roll and backed with a pastel Kaffe Fassett spot.
It measures 48" by 54".

If you would like to bid for it, please email patchfabrics@hotmail.co.uk with your maximum bid before Friday 20th June.
Thank you! 
Please share with your friends and family to raise funds for this worthy cause.

Grand Reopening

Finally, things are moving...apart from the asbestos they found in the ceiling which has halted work this week that is!

I have a work schedule from the contractors and our reopening date has been set for 2nd May.

I am very excited, and also anxious...there is so much to do! I just hope that all the plans I have will translate well from the scribbles on paper to the real thing!

The first change is to our opening hours, when we reopen we will be open from 9.30 til 4.30,  hopefully this will mean that those of you working school hours will be able to browse after work!!

Secondly, we will be launching a loyalty card scheme too. 

Our craft club times will stay the same ( spaces are available) we will still hold workshops and free demo sessions too, more news on those in another post.

In the meantime I am concentrating on our opening weekend.

We will have lots of lovely new things, fabrics, the Simplicity range of dressmaking patterns, gift items and handmade items.

There will also be a discount voucher for our newsletter subscribers, goody bags for the first 25 customers on each day of our opening weekend and a free raffle with great prizes.

If you don't already subscribe to our newsletter, you can fill out the small form to the right of this page.

Claire x

Killing Time

At the moment thats what I feel like I am doing!

When the shop flooded and I was looking for the positives in the big fat mess it caused, the list of things I would be doing during my unwanted time off was endless!

I was going to sew everyday, I would get up to date with my accounts, I would make sure I had a full and up to date stock take, I would visit friends and family, I would help in school, I would have a tidy house.....

Not one of these has been scrubbed off the list.

Its been hard to motivate to be honest, its hard to keep a neat house when half the bloody shop is in your lounge/dining room/bedroom/landing, its hard to muster up enthusiasm for work when the people in control of getting you opened again are dragging their heels.

But this week was a turning point. Finally, buttons have been pressed and papers signed so works will start very soon.

So I celebrated by starting a(nother) new project.

The granny stripe blanket by Lucy of Attic 24 .

Unless you are new to blogland you will have heard of Attic 24. I have read her blog for..working out in my head as I write..5 or 6 years! But have never made anything from one of her amazing tutorials.

Until now.

The tutorial uses more colours than I am, and is for a bigger blanket than I am making. 

Reasons behind this decision: I had 6 balls of this gorgeous cotton yarn at home. And I knew where in storage to get my paws on another couple of balls of each too. Secondly, I hate doing chain stitch to start a project. I crochet a lot in the round, chain 6, thank you, lovely, that will do me ;)

So the Attic 24 pattern starts with a chain of 240 for a double bed, I want this for the caravan so I chained 120. To be honest I do wish I had the stomach for the 240 this would have looked amazing in double bed size!

You then double crochet into the chain ( I did trebles as I forgot to do doubles...by the time I realised I wasnt frogging it for nobody!) then the next row you make a treble cluster in every 3rd stitch. But obviously if you are going to make one you will go over and follow Lucys instruction not mine ;)

After you have done the first 3, quite frankly, tedious stages, this is the most satisfying crochet I have ever done !Its tedious for me because of the counting..counting chain stitches (yawn) 120 double crochets (yawn) and treble clusters counting stitches (made my brain hurt).

And this is me at day 3. I haven't sat watching trashy tv every day crocheting (except Thursday) and I am pleased with my progress, It looks like I will get 4 stripes out of each ball so I will keep granny striping until I have used the 3 balls of each colour I got from storage.

Granny Stripe Week 1

And you know what...I am going to finish this...it is making me so happy, the DMC Natura Cotton is divine once made up, I toyed with adding more colours into it but glad I didnt as I love how it looks too.

If you haven't learnt to crochet yet then Patch still have places on the beginners crochet full day workshop in May.

Once you have the basics the (crochet) world is your oyster!

The Great British Sewing Bee

Tommorrow night sees the start of The Great British Sewing Bee on BBC2.

Series 2 with a new bunch of contestants.

You can swot up before 8pm tomorrow, by visiting The Sewing Directory, where Fiona has put together a who's who for you!

Although I still wish they would include quilting in the format (I do think technically it should be called The Great British Dressmaking Bee!), I am really looking forward to the show. I am sad that the shop isn't open and I am going to miss out on my lovely customers coming in to discuss the previous nights show....

And if you fancy taking part yourself the production company are currently taking applications for series 3.

But hold that inspiration and enthusiasm because it won't be long until we are back!!

I am just back from a trade show where I made enquiries and placed orders for some new stock. 

Including this dressmaking fabric.

This is 100% cotton lawn and will retail (I think, to be confirmed) at £8 per metre.

I love them! 

The 'new' shop will be stocking dressmaking patterns again. Back when we first opened we had a small stock of Vogue and mccalls patterns! They went well but not holding the full stock held us back a bit...but I am still asked ALL the time for dressmaking patterns! This time I have ordered the full Simplicity range after the success of the Lisette patterns in the shop.

(watch out later this week for a special offer on Colette patterns...)

The full Simplicty range of patterns (which is fab and includes some great craft patterns too)  will be available in the shop only, that is I won't be listing them all individually in the webshop. But obviously we can send patterns out to you if you order over the phone or by email.

In other news, the drying out company have finished their work and we are now waiting for the builders to go in and start the rebuilding. I am still quietly confident that we will be open by the end of March.  

Dont forget our fabric sale this week - 

Claire xx

Pixelated Quilts

 

Katy from I'm a Ginger Monkey blogged last week about a new website that had just launched. Slightly late to the party, I went over tonight and wow! I have been waiting my whole life since August for this site.

 

I love pixelated quilts, at Festival last August I saw the most amazing Dr Who quilt and since then I have put making one myself at the quite near the top of my to make list.

 

You can see that quilt here and read Kristys story of its creation. Its amazing. I *whispers* don't even like David Tenant and I love it!

 

But, even though I have purchased books on pixel quilting, I hadn't got round to working out how I was actually going to make my quilt.

Enter YouPatch .

It does all that work that I couldn't get my head round for me.

The website is so easy to use.

You upload an image, this can be a family photo, movie star, anything/anybody you want to immortalise in fabric.

I chose Morrissey. Because ...well just because I love him lol!

 

I uploaded my image, I chose the difficulty level of the quilt (I chose hard because I am stupid hardcore*)

 I was able to change colours and edit pixels. Seriously easy.

 

*joking aside I personally preferred the look of the quilt pattern generated when I changed it to hard.

I decided I wanted to purchase my pattern, so I registered, which took no time at all and paid via paypal.

The cost is $9.50, which on paypal tonight converted to £5.50 approx. This is comparable with other craft patterns I have purchased as downloads.

But it costs nothing to play. You can upload your pictures and play around with no obligation to buy. Although when you see that making something so amazing is achievable I wasn't able to resist!

 

Mozza was then emailed to me, and he is printed out ready for me to start gathering fabrics.

 

 

look at him all young and gorgeous

 

Everything - apart from cutting and sewing - is done for you. The patterns are generated using Kona cottons as the colour but with a little effort I am sure you could adapt this for your solid fabric of choice.

 

I am very excited to get going on this - perhaps before we reopen????

 

 I am now going to tweet Andi at YouPatch to tell her that her website is a delight and try to make Morrissey before I pixelate anything else!!

 

 

 

Grand Re-Opening Sale

The end is in sight!

I found out this week that the drying company need just one more week at the shop and then the builders can start work rebuilding us.

This makes me very very happy indeed!!

It's been a trying couple of months to say the least.....it's not been easy trading from a storage unit! In fact impossible - we had a really successful pop up shop in Barclays Bank last month and it was lovely to catch up with our fabulous and patient customers, but we have loads and loads more sale fabrics to clear before opening day.

So we have arranged another 2 sale days in town:

                                  

At the bank we took cut pieces of fabric due to the space we had, this time we have yardage on the bolt.

We have lots of bargain haberdashery, ribbon bundles and full rolls, knitting yarn and fabric from just £3 a metre.

We shall also take the bias binding, wadding and calico (not in the sale) with us for those of you who are running low.

If anybody would like us to take along something specific or if you have any questions please contact us by email: claire@patchfabrics.co.uk or by calling 01502 588778.

See you there??

Pop up Shop

So the shop is in storage.
The strip out team have been into Patch and done this...

And this.....

I met with the insurance companies surveyor last week and discussed the refit, chose new floor tiles, discussed electrical stuff (zzzz) and got sent away with a paint chart to choose new colours (walls will be white again before anyone gets excited lol!) for doors and things.

Things are moving and my 'whats the point' feelings have passed and I am tentatively planning lay outs in my 'new' shop.

As I said before I will be making changes..nothing drastic..new opening times, rearranging of the shop floor, and a revamp of the stock.

So - I have a lot of fabric to downsize! Which means a mammoth sale...

Patch will be in Barclays Bank, London Road North, Lowestoft between 9am and 5pm on Friday 24th, Saturday 25th and Monday 27th January.

We will be selling ONLY our sale items, which consist of: 

Bundles of ribbons and trims at £1 a bundle. 

Coats threads for £1.00 or 6 for £5.

Anchor Embroidery threads 50p each

Fabric at £7 metre - obviously we wont be able to cut as we go, so everything will be precut and available as a FQ (£1.75) 1/2m (£3.50) and a metre (£7.00)

We have some pre-cuts too but sadly we are not able to get to everything so the full range we had in the shop will not be available.

We hope you will come and see us

X