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
