The Harrogate Show is a great place to buy fabric!

I am always being asked "where can I buy fabric?"

Well, how would you fancy lots of fabrics stall all under one roof? The various sewing shows are an ideal place to find the perfect fabric, and find new suppliers that sell just what you need! I always end up spending lots of money on fabric to add to my stash and I'm guaranteed to find what I want! Dave, from The Shuttle in Shilpley, sells a wonderful range of patchwork, quilting, dress, silks, bridal and fleeces.... and if you ask him nicely, he might find what you need from the shops stock when he gets back after the show!
Doughty's are a specialist in patchwork and quilting fabrics, wadding and quilting accessories, check out their website or why not pop in next time you are in the Hereford area?


I have added a page to this blog for Fabrics Shops, from soft furnishing, dress, bridal, patchwork and good trimmings and haberdashery suppliers.... if there is anywhere that you recommend that isn't listed, please drop me a line and I'll happily add on.


To find a Sewing Show near you, check out Twisted Threads and ICHF websites for details.

Need to find beautiful wools to use with your embellisher??

Beverley has been knitting for 40 years and it's her love of knitting and felting and collecting wonderful and interesting yarns that started her business a few years ago. She now imports wool and yarn from all over the world and sells them through her beautiful website www.knitting4fun.co.uk. Stocking major branded yarns from Adriafil, Debbie Bliss, Elle, Lanartus, Lang, King Cole, Twilleys and Noro. Knitting4fun has found exciting new producers of pure wools, including pure alpaca and also have a selection of natural and plant dyed wool, and are now building our range of natural fibre yarns such as cotton, cotton linen mix, Irish linen, nettle and hemp Bev loves taking her yarns to the Knitting and Stitching Shows in the UK, and is happy to help with any felting or knitting questions. Bev often teams up with Sandra Coleridge to bring embellishing workshops to the East Midlands area. Bev promotes the Janome FM725 felting machine and they can be purchased through her website www.knitting4fun.co.uk

Click here for more information on the Janome FM725.

Dionne Swift uses Janome Felting Machine in her "Drawing for Textiles" masterclass @ Harrogate!

Dionne studied at Goldsmiths College and received a MA in Textiles from UCE. She now works from a wonderful studio; Radiant Works in Huddersfield, Yorkshire. Where she draws, prints, dye's, stitches and embellishes – creating works for galleries and design shops.

Dionne often exhibits at The Knitting and Stitching Shows in the UK, and this year at Harrogate was no exception. She had a beautiful stand to display her work, book, DVD's and materials..... and some gorgeous scarfs!

Dionne also ran several workshops during the show on Devore, and a Drawing for Textiles master class. Janome are happy to support Dionne with her workshops and supplied several FM725's (felting and embellishing machine) for her students to use on the class, both at the show and her regular workshops throughout the year.

For more information on Dionne Swift, her work and workshops, please visit her website www.dionneswift.co.uk

Horn Cabinets @ Harrogate Show

When you sew... do you get stuff everywhere?? Your machine on your dining room table? Pins on the carpet? And when you have to tidy up.... where does it all go??
How about a Horn Cabinet?? These are so useful to keep all your sewing essentials tidy and easy to find, a safe place to store your sewing machine and overlocker and an easy Aitlifter! What could be better??

Jason, from Horn Furniture, was exhibiting with White Rose Sewing Centre at the Harrogate Show, and is happy to offer advice for which cabinet is best suited to your sewing needs. Why not pop in and have a chat with him at their exhibitions next year? or check out their website for full information.

Alison Smith @ Harrogate Show!

Alison Smith from her School of Sewing in Ashby de la Zouch has been promoting her dressmaking and tailoring wokshops at the Harrogate Show. She has a wonderful display of corsets, lingerie and an evening dress... so why not pop down to the lower floor of the hall to check them out? During the show Alison has been busy sewing on the Janome Horizon making some samples for future classes!

Isn't that dress beautiful? and the lingerie on the back display is very agent provocateur!

Alison workshops are ran from her shop in Ashby, where she also had the most wonderful shop of quality fabrics, trimmings and haberdashery.... so check them out next time you are in the area!

For full information on Alisons classes, check out her website www.schoolofsewing.co.uk

Gok Wan @ Harrogate!

This year at the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate we had an extra special guest.... Gok Wan!!
Gok has been busy around Harrogate all week and has done a wonderful Gok make-over on four beautiful post ladies! On Friday night we were invited to watch one of his new Gok's Roadshow being filmed in the old theatre in within the exhibition hall.

Alison (from Fabulous Fabrics / School of Sewing who is also exhibiting at the show) and I, enjoyed the show and the glass of wine went down well after a very busy day!

And finally, the man himself! Can't wait to see the complete series on tele soon! Click here to follow Gok on Twitter.

Janome is exhibiting at the Clothes Show next week... so you never know... I might bump into Gok there as well!

Four Needle Embroidery Machine by Janome!

Ever fancied setting up your own embroidery business?? Why not have a look at the Janome MB4 four needle embroidery machine? The Janome MB4 embroiders with four colours and trims and cuts threads as it goes! How easy will that make embroidery! This makes the MB4 an ideal machine for people wanting to work from home or just love their hobby and want to embroider faster!
Andrew, from Stock Sewing Machines (below on the left) specialises in the Janome MB4 and also is the UK distributor for Iris threads. Nick, on the right... bad photo Nick ;) joined the company this year and is fast becoming a whizz on the MB4 and Digitizing software. Why not check out their website for more information, or visit them at Sewing for Pleasure at the NEC next year?

Or check out the Janome website for full speck on the MB4.