Rayon seam binding

 I first heard of this stuff whilst reading Lauren's blog Lladybird.  She seems to use it a lot, and even has a tutorial on how to use it.  This stuff really appeals to me.  I like the look of bias bound seams, but double fold tape can be a bit bulky.  Also I hate hemming with a passion and a narrow hem practically kills me, I go nuts pressing the hem over twice, it’s such a pain in the posterior.  So using seam binding on the edge and only folding the seam once will give my hems a nice finish that is less bulky than bias binding, and will avoid some of the painful and painstaking hem pressing.



Look how thin this is!

It doesn't seem to be something widely available in the UK though.  So after scouring the Internet for a little while I found a UK based shop called Crafty Ribbons which sells hundreds of colours of the stuff at £1 for 5 meters.  They have an offer on as well, if buy 5 lots of 5 meters and get a 6^th lot free.  So I stocked up with a nice selection of colours.

 The colours of the binding will give you some clue about the projects I am deciding on for The Plan 2012.

So what about other UK sewers, do you use this stuff, how do you get hold of it and what are your experiences with it?

Brighton meet up and the Beignet begins!

Well my last exam was today, so hopefully in 6 weeks (once my results are in) I will able to call myself an Accounting Technician.  Lucky me.

To celebrate it's high time I actually started sewing something, and I now have my fabric for the Beignet skirt washed and ready to go.

Saturday was the Brighton M-M-J meet-up, and although I wasn't participating, being a Brighton local I tagged along.  I met some lovely sewers, and seeing everyone in their me-made creations really inspired me to get sewing again.

I was pretty restrained in my purchasing, as I don't feel I can justify buying any more fabric until I've at least made a dent in my existing stash.  I did however pick up some buttons for the Beignet, but can't decide which ones I want to use.

In the fabric swapping section of the day I didn't bring anything with me, so wasn't expecting to take home anything either.  However once everyone had had a swap around, there were a few pieces left unclaimed, including this Liberty cotton print of Zoe's.  She kindly offered it up to me.  I'm not sure what the heck I'll do with it, but I have around one and a half metres to play with so any suggestions you may have are very welcome.



Craftaganza: What I bought

On Saturday, I helped out at the first Brighton Craftaganza craft maket, organised by Lisa and Steph from U Handbag and the lovely Zoe from So Zo....

It was a really good day, long, but really good fun.  Energy levels were topped up with regular doses of coffee and some of the best sausage rolls I have ever eaten!

I may of had a smidgeon of a browse whilst I was there, and did purchase a couple of bits.

Firstly I got this awesome ring made from the end of a teaspoon from Ai Ijiima

I also bought something from Rosy Appleton.  This lady hand weaves ner own fabric on her loom, seriously!  Her cushions were so lovely, but I went for this super cute pin cushion.

Last up I bought something from Cherie from My Three Trees.  I can't show you a pic of this though as it's a gift for someone, who may read this blog post!

There were so many other great stalls, and lots of things I wanted to buy, but alas my bank balance wouldn't let me.