A Creative Day at Surrey Docks Farm

One of the people I know here in London is fantastic Libby Rose who I met years ago when she was selling stuff in her fabulous stall. We kept in touch via Facebook and today I finally had the chance (and the energy) to visit her at her new and improved stall and workspace at Surrey Docks Farm. They have a new monthly market there with crafts and workshops and it's a lot of fun :) So this morning I set out for the farm (I actually wanted to visit hobbycraft for some fake moss that I need for a project but that was at the other end of town and I was reading Eclipse so kind of got up late).

As I took one Tube, the DLR, the Overland, and then walked for 45 mins, I passed this statue on the Thames Walk:


I have no idea what it represents but I thought it looked nice. So after some more walking and endless direction enquiries, I made it to the farm. Yay I was there at last!


The first thing I saw was Libby which was great and what was even better for me: no queue! LOL. Check out her fantastic stall which is also her workshop. Imagine being able to sew outside in this lovely weather... *swoon*


There are machines inside and outside as well for workshops and also for her personal use. So lovely :) As she has a different workshop every month at the market, today's workshop was 'Make Your Own Bee Costume'.


I really wanted to do this, and for £5 only it promised to be a lot of fun :) Then I was given the option of using other colours so not so much 'bee' but just anything really. Argh! Me and options do not go well together but in the end I managed to figure it out (with Karen's help, thank you!)

Karen found this wonderful fabric for me that I could use (they had tons and tons of scraps that we could all use for this project) and it seemed to be just enough for the top bit.


So the theme was sent and colours decided. Enter masses of tulle...


I had to cut the tulle into strips and then tie them around an elastic waistband which was A LOT more work than I thought it would be... I got started:


And when I thought I was nearly done (an hour later), Libby showed me how it was supposed to be and I was only halfway there! OMG... This was the back that was done:


I hadnt had breakfast yet so was close to fainting at this point, but I had to have at least the skirt done before taking a break. So I struggled on for another hour and managed to finish the skirt. I love it!!


It's not full length as the tulle wouldnt allow that (and I didnt want uneven strips) but this length is really cute and comfy also. So, time for lunch!! It was now nearly 3pm and I was starving! Then, as I had finished my lunch, it was back to the sewing desk where I made the top. It was really warm at this point and my fabric choice turned out to be a little smaller than expected so the halterneck top was going to be tricky. So after a little deliberation, we decided to make it just a normal straptop. I rounded the corners as there just wasnt enough fabric otherwise (it would have worked out upside down but I didnt want upside down skulls!)


I hemmed the edges (the bottom was just zigzagged as I really getting very tired, as well as Libby actually and the heat was getting to everyone). The straps didnt quite work as the top was a little wide so I just used my pillowcase top idea and stuck in a cool ribbon to tie it all up with; it was red with white polka dots, so cute! So this is the end result:


The top is not 100% to my liking yet but for today it is good. Let's see what I think of it tomorrow. I'm thinking I might just not leave it as a halterneck top but sew the ends onto the back of the top which would surely also look cute. What do you think?

Then it was getting super late and I still had a barbeque to get to at yet another end of town so I helped Karen and Libby tidy up a bit under the watchful eye out the farm's turkey (oh dinner!)


It was a very productive (and tiring!) afternoon, I loved it! Thank you Libby Rose!!