Where Can You Visit Us?

I know a lot of people (me...sometimes) like to see their fabric before they buy it.  As well as feeling the quality of the fabric (as it does vary from designer to designer) you can never be sure the colour on the screen is the same as the colour you will get...which can be a pain if you're looking for something specific for a specific project!

As well as getting The Sewing Boutique name out there, I like to get out and about to craft fayres so customers can do exactly that...see their fabrics before they buy it!

We've got a couple of fayres booked in so far so if you're local to either Abergavenny or Cardiff, come along and see us!

The first one is in a lovely village hall in Clydach, Abergavenny.  Its their Easter Fair so guaranteed lots of lovely spring makes and easter themed games...oh and us!

We've also booked to go to the Cardiff City Stadium Craft & Hobby Show again in May.  We've been twice before and its always an amazing two days with loads and loads of craft suppliers on one floor and dozens of very talented crafters on another floor.  

Tickets are £4 each and we'd love to see you there!

There are a couple of other events we may be attending too but will list them another time.  There is a "top secret" project underway at The Sewing Boutique HQ that I cant talk about at the moment (dont you hate it when bloggers do that!) but may affect how many craft fayres we can attend this year.  More news soon!!

 

First Craft Fayre of 2013

With the run up to Christmas being so busy and January and February being such dismal months, I decided to start back on the craft fayre circuit in March.

The first fayre of the season was the Cwmbran Craft Fair.  I love having a stall here, its full of friends I've made along the way and I can spend a few hours talking crafty stuff with lovely customers!

My layout doesn't change too much, fat quarters folded nicely and all lined up, buttons in pretty glass bowls and all the haberdashery items in jars (thanks Ikea!). Here's a few photos of todays set up, including one of my cheekiest little assistant, who even brought her own till!

Looking forward to next months already!

Happy Birthday To Me!

I say it all the time, "I cant believe how quickly time is going", today is no different when I think back over the last year.

Thing is, exactly a year ago today we opened our virtual doors to the shop....A WHOLE YEAR HAS GONE BY!!  A whole year since we posted this post saying we'd launched, and what an amazing year its been!  Since then we've sent out so many beautiful fabrics, hundreds of scrummy buttons and a fair few metres of ribbon!

Our collection of fabrics has gone from a few lovely florals and prints to nearly 100 different patterns and its increasing every month.

But the shop wouldnt be what it is without you, so thank you, for making the first year of The Sewing Boutique fantastic beyond my wildest dreams!  Without wanting to sound too gushy, I do count myself so so lucky that I can do what I love every single day!

As a thank you, every customer will receive one of these new scrap bags with their order.  Choose between blue/yellow, blue/green and cream/pink.  They will also be available to buy from the shop here but for this weekend only, they will go out free with every order!  

There are already so many exciting things in the pipe line for this year, some of which I dont want to jinx by saying too much too soon, but guaranteed, there will be lots of lovely fabrics and buttons involved!! 

So thank you...and heres to many more years doing what I love and  many more beautiful fabrics!

Design Team Makes - Valentines Special

I thought to myself when packing up the Design Team challenge this month, that the this could possibly be their favourite one so far...and I was right!!  The Riley Blake - Sweetcakes fabric went down really well and soon photos of their makes were dropping into my inbox.  They each had a fat eighth of fabric (a fat quarter cut in half - coming soon to the shop) and co-ordinating buttons and ribbon.  I did wonder if they would struggle with such a small amount of fabric (each piece measured around 28x50cms) , but that was the challenge.  Well, as you can see, they certainly didnt struggle!

First up, Eli at Heartstitch made not one but five different designs (see, you can do loads with a fat eighth!)

From the fabric she made 2 love bird art hoops - hand sewn using embroidery silks, the delightful Sweetcakes - Tiny Hearts fabric, with felt details on calico, in 5" embroidery hoops that have been painted with a b&q tester pot(!) and hung with pretty ribbon (bright pink backing).

She also made a "love" art hoop, hand sewn using embroidery silks, yummy Riley Blake fabric in a 4" embroidery hoop painted using b&q tester paint, hung with cute satin ribbon. 

Then finally...1 heart & button brooch card, made using pretty fabric, felt, tiny buttons, cardstock, a brooch back and a stamp.  Also a speech bubble love brooch card, made with the gorgeous fabric, felt, a broochback, cardstock, decorative paper and a stamp and a heart card (not pictured) made with the scrumptious fabric, felt, cardstock and a stamp.

Emma from Sweet Williams made these beautiful keepsake items.  

A lavender ring cushion using the fabric, the ribbons and a little button detail, a beautiful "key to my heart" decoration and an amazingly cute fabric and button brooch.  Emma also made a very good point that a lot of people think its expensive and that you need a lot of equipment to start sewing, but these were all made with the smallest amount of products. 

Next, Rachael from Sew Rae Me created these very useful and more importantly very pretty coffee cup sleeve and coaster set. 

As the rules stated "no hanging hearts allowed" Rachael decided to make a practical gift using the fabric, some wadding and one of the spotty buttons.  But if coffee isn't your thing, she also made a very cute matching coaster, using the left over fabric, one of the spotty buttons and a little ribbon tag for added cuteness!! 

And last but by no means least...Lane from Willowlane Designs put a different spin on the ring cushion.  How amazing would this be as a proposal on Valentines day??

Lane used some of the fabric, the ribbons and two of the buttons and again, said she had lots of fabric left!  

All these items can be bought from each member of the DT, just click on their links and it will take you to their Facebook page or website.

All the items used for these makes can be bought from the shop and not just for Valentines day, but for any romantic day of the year!

I hope you enjoyed this installment of the Design Team and have been suitably inspired.  The next pack will be winging its way to the Design Team soon so more lovely makes will be posted here.

Until next time....

Facebook Giveaway!!

I am hugely pleased to announce we have reached over 4000 friends on Facebook!  This is a massive achievement for our little shop as one of the problems online retailers face, is reaching people in this vast community we call the world wide web!!  Facebook has been a fantastic platform for us since we have launched, just 10 little months ago, so the fact that over 4000 people have taken the time to "like" our page makes me think that perhaps we are doing something right!!  

To celebrate and as a thank you, we are having a rather lovely giveaway (lovely in my humble opinion of course!).  Pop over to our Facebook page and be in with a chance to win this little lot.....

All you have to do is share this photo via Facebook.  The Giveaway closes at midnight on Wednesday and the winner will be drawn on Thursday.

Good Luck!! x

Normal Service Has Resumed!

Well technically speaking normal service resumed last Wednesday.  Lots of you lovely customers ordered during the Christmas break, hence my pile of parcels I took to the post office looked something like this last week....

Not my actual pile, my parcels are pink, but you get the idea!

Cue lots of tutting and muttering at the post office queue...ooops! 

Im pleased to say a lovely Christmas break was had by all.  Mountains of toys were brought from Santa for my two (to go with the mountains they already have!).

It was lovely not having to get up and do the school run, however I have looked forward to getting back some sort of routine.  I did also manage a little sewing time during the Christmas break.  Santa was very kind to me too and brought me two books I've been wanting for ages...

It really is amazing what you can sew with a metre of fabric!  I started off with this little chap for my nephew...

I used the No More Monkeys fabric that came into the shop recently and some cream felt for his face and his tummy.  For those of you who might like to know, I'll do a more indepth review of the book here on the blog soon.  Just incase you're in two minds about buying it!

Now that we're back to normal, sewing time will be taken over with picking and packing (and school runs and after school activities etc. etc.) but one of my new years resolutions is to get to my sewing machine more...I miss it!  Plus surrounded by all this gorgeous fabric, I have ideas in my head all the time so hope to complete some of them this year (and by complete I mean completely finish, not start and leave!).  I also plan to blog more but we'll see about that one.

So now that normal service has resumed, dont forget...

So to all our lovely customers, we wish you a happy, healthy and successful 2013.

p.s. Our sale section still has lots of lovely fabrics in it, with more being added all the time.
 

A Year In Fabrics

Well, its the end of another year.  I've spent the last hour or so reading blog posts of reflection and resolutions, so thought I'd add my two-pennys worth!

I can honestly say 2012 has passed all my expectations....and its all thanks to you, my lovely customers!!  When the idea of opening my very own little fabric came into my head I never, in my wildest dreams, dared to believe that it would all take off aswell as it has.

*Warning - self indulgent post follow!!*

Since we launched on 1st March 2012 (read the launch post here) we have, as promised, brought you lots of gorgeous fabrics, tripling the amount of prints we have to tempt you!  We have attended many, many craft fairs including the two day Cardiff City Craft and Hobby Show (and will be attending again this year in May), we have over 3800 friends over on our Facebook page and over 1100 twitter friends.  However, most importantly we have worked with and served 100's and 100's of lovely lovely customers!!!  

Some favourites from 2012

So what does 2013 hold for you?  

For us, I really hope its much of the same.  We will be bringing you more lovely fabrics (take a look at our pre-order album to see exactly what!), a range of sewing patterns to inspire you, a regular newsletter so you can keep up to date with the goings on here at TSB HQ and we may even throw in a giveaway or two!!

So that, my friends, just leaves me to wish you a happy and healthy 2013!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

from Rhi @ The Sewing Boutique x x