Thursday, September 11, 2014

Wellington Craft Crawl 2014

A few weekends ago, I took part in my first ever Wellington Craft Crawl organised by the Dreamstress. The Craft Crawl took place in the inner city, which is my home, so I  knew most of the places  we went to fairly well - but there were still a few surprises along the way.

The craft crawl started at Made on Marion which is one of my favourite stores in the city. I've taken a few courses here before with the Dreamstress (and I have another starting next week) and its the perfect place to get any crafty bits and pieces you need. For me these pieces generally relate to cross-stitch and sewing, but there is so many other crafty goodies here!
Everyone taking  part in the crawl met at Made on Marion and the our route for the day was explained. We were also told about a couple of games we were going to play - including craft bingo!
Our first stop was "Made it" which is a store that stocks all kinds of fun New Zealand made items, its a great place to buy locally made presents (or to buy awesome stuff for yourself). Rich bought me a terrarium for my birthday this year and he bought it from this store.
This is the kind of store where I could happy spend a lot of cash - but instead I limited myself to two pencils. The are pretty wonderful pencils though.


Next stop was Fabrics Direct - this store is very close to our apartment, but this was the first time I have been there. I think because its more of a store for curtaining and upholstery fabrics, rather than dressmaking fabric. It was fun to look around though - they had some fun notions and also a few vintage fabrics.


 Next stop on our trip was The Fabric Warehouse, I've been here many times and its just a wonderful place. The staff are super helpful and really know what they are talking about. Also how great is that flamingo print fabric?
Our next stop was Ziggurat which is not a fabric store, but a vintage store. I don't go there often as although their stock is beautiful its just too much money for me to spend on clothes. However, they  do have a small selection of vintage fabric that is pretty reasonable. 
I did manage to buy some pretty wonderful vintage fabric from here - it was one of those fabrics that just makes me happy when I look at it.

Final stop for me on the tour was Minerva - which is our local craft book store. This is one of those places I could spend hours in, it has so many amazing  books.

I also bought something here, I am a bit of a sucker when it comes to Japanese sewing books, but usually the sizing in these books is too small for me and I'm too lazy to grade up patterns. But on this shopping trip I found a Japanese sewing book that includes patterns in my size. It is very unlikely I will make them in black fabric though.



I left the tour around this stage, there were a couple of more stops, but I needed to go and meet Rich so I cut it short. But I did have such a fun time - it was a really great way to spend a Saturday!

7 comments:

Nikki said...

Fabrics Direct is great for buttons! And the staff there are so friendly and helpful.

As for that flamingo fabric... I got some the other day, it's in my stash! :-)

Vix said...

What a great idea for a day out! Love the idea of a craft crawl, discovering places together. The edgy black design book looks fab, although I'd be tempted to make them in colour. xxx

Krista said...

This looks fun and I've only ever heard of a pub crawl, I would be into this, or a thrift crawl:). The fabric you bought will make a beautiful dress, maybe something from the new book. With spring starting over there you must have tons of stuff planned!
Xxxoo

Curtise said...

That certainly does sound like a fun way to spend the day!
The Japanese pattern book looks great, very you, but definitely make the pieces in your trademark colours and prints, a wardrobe of basic black would be a sad thing! xxx

Anonymous said...

Gest minds! Those are then pencils I wanted to buy buy I corny find then when I was at Made It last! Also, I really want that flamingo fabric. No more buying fabric though! In theory.

Anonymous said...

Wow, excuse all the typos. For some reason I can't see what I write when I comment on my phone until after I publish it, without great difficulty!

alicia said...

FABRICAHOLIC. <3