YFASMA - Fabric shopping in Athens

I promised this post in March! Fabrics from Euro1 per metre! I didn't buy anything in this shop but there was some lovely fabrics.

I did buy the green and pink one above on the right. A satin finish rayon. It is lovely. There was a lot of lovely fabrics in this shop. It wasn't cheap Euro 8 p.m. but I didn't have a lot of room in my bag and I wanted something I would really love. I also didn't buy anything in Paris this time. I did buy the fabric for a table cloth just across the way from this shop. I also bought some orange/white weave linen fabric for Euro 4 p.m. at another shop, which I think I'll make some summer trousers with.

As I was going to the airport, I saw this dress on the platform and I really liked it. Very easy to do too,

I went to the Benaki Museum while in Athens. There is actually 2 locations. In this one I saw lots of Greek and Cypriot cultural crafts. This was a bridal bed in Crete. There was lots of clothing, embroidery and gold jewellery. I really loved it. I took a lot of time. My son was at the apartment studying so I did the things he wouldn't enjoy.

Lunch in Nicosia, Cyprus one day.

Lefkara above is the traditional embroidery of Cyprus. This style of embroidery patterns featured heavily in my family home. It is all hand done. I remember when I lived in Nicosia when I was 21 when I dropped into a shop, some one was cross-stitching little 5cm squares of linen that had been crocheted together. It was about the size of a queen size bed. The girl had cut the squares, crocheted them together and then was doing cross stitch on them. It was beautiful and took her about 2 years to that point.

There was lots of broderie anglaise in Paris and Athens.

I had 4 days in Paris by myself. I think this was my 8th time to Paris so instead of doing all the usual things, I wandered around and just looked around. I found a few museums and churches and galleries that were fabulous, free and uncrowded. I saw a poster on the street for an exhibition at Palais Galliera for Paris Fashion Week and saw a wonderful exhibition. I took a tonne of photos. It was so self indulgent ... I just loved it. It was The 1997 Fashion Big Bang exhibition. There was lots of classic stuff there too of which I think is the permanent exhibition. Even the building was fabulous (as are so many in Paris).

(I had my old iPhone 6S so photos are not great .. sorry).

Below are some more of the fabric and craft shops in Athens. I'm not a knitter but there were beautiful shops that had groups in there knitting and chatting (and eating.. they were Greek after all).

Those last 4 photos were all in one shop and there was so much I wanted to buy but luckily weight restrictions stopped me buying more stuff!

I'll leave you with some of the fashions I saw in Athens that I liked, particularly this skirt! So simple yet so cute.

Trying a vintage togs pattern.

Hello, it's been a while again. Not as long as some bloggers who have recently returned to blogging...up to 7 years, but I'm glad people are coming back. I never joined Instagram as I'm not that fussed on 'social media' and more with people who write about their sewing. So back to sewing. I picked up this vintage McCalls togs pattern. It's quite a good value pattern as there are three very different and interesting swimsuits included. That's pretty rare. It's a size 16. I decided to make view B. All of the patterns have pieces for the bra cups too which is really great. Photographed with it is a Burda beach wrap. I can't find the magazine number right now, but it's at least 10 years old. Basically it's a large square of fabric with arm holes cut out. The fabric is genuine 70s towelling. I know because Mum bought it to cover our 'fantastic plastic' vinyl couch. Vinyl was preferred back then...

Kwik Sew

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Island night... PNG cruise

Well hello again. I've just come back from a cruise to Papua New Guinea and I made a dress for Island night. Island night or any theme night is just a suggestion... there is no organised event, meals, activities; just a dress code suggestion. As soon as I read that, I searched for this vintage surfie fabric I bought years ago at an op shop. I was thrilled to use it. I needed an easy pattern that I could make 2 days before the cruise departure and one that I would wear again. I used this Style 2911 pattern that I only bought online a few months ago. Style are my favourite patterns. I cut out a size 16 but had to reduce it to the 12. It's a great simple but elegant pattern and it went together perfectly. My machines liked it too... they cooperate when they like what I'm making and it was a breeze. I cannot believe that we didn't get one photo of it on. I was thrilled with it and even tho there is some ink staining you can't really see it as it's so busy. I had ...

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