Levana 2.0 - WSBN Road trip!

If you've been following my blog for a while, you may remember the trip I took with the WSBN last year to Levin to go to the Levana factory store - only to find it was closed. We still had an awesome day, but didn't get to check out Levana.

I'm sure some people are wondering what exactly Levana is - well its a textiles factory that sells all  kinds of good stuff, including lots of merino for winter clothes.

Last weekend we tried to visit Levana again and guess what?  This time it was actually OPEN and they had a sale on remnants, hurrah!

 What was waiting for us when we arrived in the store? All kinds of pretties - perfect fabric for the cooler months ahead!

Don't let these photos fool you - the shop actually got INSANELY busy! There were only two staff members working running between the cutting tables and the till. 

We were all eventually able to buy what we wanted and were extremely happy - as can be seen in the photo below. 

From left to right - Me! (obviously), Juliet, Linda, Nikki, Sandra and Elizabeth. I'm looking so happy because I bough so much wonderful warm merino fabric. The two pieces of stripe fabric will become dresses/tunics, the red fabric a top and the black a cardi (although I may change my mind - you never know!)

The Hospice op shop in Levin was pretty awesome last time, so we decided to check it out again. This place had so many treasures!

Look at all of these amazing souvenir spoons for 50 cents each - I really had no reason to buy a spoon, but they were fun to look through. 

 Also there was SO MUCH FABRIC at the op shop - it was amazing! There we also heaps of other crafty goodies like buttons, trim, zippers and so much more.

What is a trip to an op shop without seeing a humorous pattern or two - this was my favourite.

I managed to pick up some slightly more useful pattens - a mens jumper/cardi pattern and a woman's raglan sleeve top. Turns out these Amvic patterns were made in Levin, I googled them and couldn't really find any further information about them - but they are pretty great.

Here's my op shop haul - all of this for $12! I'm hoping to use most of the fabric to make summery clothes for our holiday next month. The zippers, trim and other bits will all come in useful - you can never have too many zippers!

Obviously we had to finish up the day with a shared lunch - because that's what the WSBN does. So many delicious things!

Wellington Sewing Bloggers Roadtrip!

Since I joined Wellington Sewing Bloggers Network there has been a trip planned to visit Levana in Levin. Levana is a factory store that's open the first Saturday of every month, the sewing bloggers had been planning this trip for a while and I was really excited to go along. So excited in fact I was prepared to catch the 7:03am train from Wellington to Johnsonville on a Saturday morning to meet up with some of my sewing blogger pals to head to Levin. I was the only person in my train carriage!

I met up with Mel  in Johnsonville and she was kind enough to drive me around for the day, along with Nikki and Jo we headed off to Levana.

However, when we finally arrived in Levin and headed to Levana - disaster struck! IT WAS SHUT!!

There was some issue with the electricity so it was SHUT on the first Saturday of July and open the second Saturday instead. We were sad - but resourceful and decided that we were still going to have a fabulous day. We decided to check out an op shop and then head onto Palmerston North as originally planned.

I didn't buy this fabulous men's "body shirt" pattern at the op shop - but I did buy a table cloth which will become clothing and some cute doilies.

When we arrived in Palmerston North we headed straight for Petite Fours where the lovely Juliet had booked a high tea for us all. It was amazing! You all know how I feel about high tea - the cafe was lovely, the food delicious and the company was just the best. I even learnt some New Zealand sign language at high tea.

After lunch we visited the Arthur Toye fabric shop in Palmerston North, its MUCH bigger than the Wellington. So much excitement - they even had a selection of Hello Kitty fabrics!

After spending much time and money at Arthur Toye it was time to check out another op shop, Juliet told us they had a lot of vintage patterns.

Look at ALL THESE PATTERNS!

They also had a "fabric room" where I managed to pick up some fabric cheaply to try and make a coat.

So what did I pick up during my adventures in Palmerston North? I was pretty restrained despite a half price sale at Arthur Toye. I bought some stretch blue velvet and blue Hello Kitty cotton. The velvet is much more of a royal blue that it looks in this photo.

At the Op Shop in Palmerston North I picked up some houndstooth fabric to try and make a make a coat with and also a whole bunch of patterns.

Despite initial disasters, I had the best day out with my sewing blogger friends and hopefully we can do it again when Levana is actually open!

To finish off, here's a tree that's been yarn bombed in Palmerston North that I thought was pretty rad (there was some kind of festival happening when we were there).

 Hope you've all been having a rad weekend xoxox