Sewing February to March

 

I was in Brighton's best fabric shop, Ditto yesterday buying lining for Jan-Willem's dressing gown. 

I came back from the Netherlands earlier this month with four metres of red felted wool which he bought at the fabric market in Utrecht. 

The market's a dream. Every time I visit Giya, Saturday morning's spoken for. 

The dressing gown needed lining so I promised to find some fine cotton in Brighton. I headed for Ditto and there, Jill, the owner, pulled out an Italian designer lawn with a horizontal red stripe matching the wool perfectly. 

This will be one of the most expensive items I've made, after Giya's wedding dress because that lawn was not cheap but it's a marriage of equals. 

I often take knotty problems to Jill, having discovered she worked for Jean Muir. I've bought the best linen ever from her. She sources ends of lines from designers and there's always something in the shop to desire.

So it was with the black and white fabric - it is one of several Japanese cotton and linen blends in Ditto at the moment. I had the last 1.9 metres of it. I knew I had to be impulsive. It will be a skirt, I think since it falls so beautifully. February into March, then, is sewing time. Which will take me into sowing time. 

Saturday fabric Market, Utrecht