As the final preperations for the Grand Opening of our new shop (on Saturday 27th April) continue I finally managed to get a quick chance to put together a tutorial to show you how I make my patch pockets. So,...
Phew! What an episode that was! Watching how we all got on, brought back how tense it was at the tiime. My stomach was a bag of knots when they said we had to make mens trousers - gulp! I...
So, I really hope you all enjoyed the first episode of The Great British Sewing Bee last night?!? I was so excited and nervous to see it I had ants in my pants all day and could hardly concentrate on...
Keeping up the theme of big announcements this week like The Grand Opening of our bricks and mortar shop on Saturday 27th April I've been keeping something else under wraps too.......... I wasn't allowed to spill the beans until now that...
Hello everyone! I thought I should really give an update on how things are progressing with the renovations in the shop as I realised today how quickly time had flown by and how long it has been since I last...
After two weeks of lots and lots of painting since my last post I am now really pleased to say that the studio has been completely painted!! Only the floor to oil and the light fittings to go up and...
Woop woop.....we're onto the top coats!!! Things are really starting to actually look finished in some places now in the shop! Its all getting very exciting...and very real too! I've been so busy thinking about stripping beams and painting the...
It's been another really busy week for us this week at 169. My parents came down from Scotland too which has been such a great help. Most of the building has had its first coat of paint on the new...
Bringing you all the latest progress updates a little later than normal this week as I have been so busy working on the renovations myself this week. We came to the realisation that getting the whole of the interior of...
Does anyone have any new year resolutions this year? One of mine is to try and bit a bit more organised. I don't have a huge amount of space at home so trying to keep things tidy can be ticky...
Happy New Year everyone!!! I know its been a little while since I last posted an update but the renovations have still been continuing over the past month. We are getting to the stage now that although things are happening...
Things are quite on site at 169 today and with good reason....the liquid screed on the ground floor is setting right at this moment and we can't walk on it till it starts drying out! Getting the insulation, underfloor heating...
Work is still ticking along at 169 and the building, soon to be my new shop, is finally getting water tight! The major step achieved this week has been getting two sections of flat roof felted and flashed - thats...
The weather has been sooo terrible here this week. Thankfully there are plenty of things that we can do inside. The Chandaliers we picked up on ebay finally arrived all the way from Turkey so we unpacked them and had...
By popular demand...I'm re-posting this tutorial from last year! Happy Sewing! A cute little purse makes a perfect Christmas pressie idea and the great news is they are really quick and easy to make up! With so many options for...
Wow -what a week at 169 it's been! The big bay window finally got delivered and fitted and I love it already, even though its still to be painted, archatrive to be fitted and roof sealed off. The original one...
This week the original floor boards in the big room upstairs (which will eventually be the studio area for all our workshops!) have been sanded, sanded again, then again, then again, then I lost count! There were covered in so...
The metal clasp frames used to make little purses and clutch bags come in all shapes and sizes! When done right you can end up with a really professional looking make and once you know how, it really isn't that...
The big reveal this week (which all you localers will have seen already!) is at last the scaffolding is down from the front of the building! The bay window is pretty much the same...apart from more of the old glazing...
Things are still ticking along at 169 and its getting to the exciting stage of things starting to look slick, new and clean. The replica window that was made to replace the little four section window right at the top...
First of all my apologies to any regular readers of the renovation posts for a bit of a delay in the fifteenth edition. Despite tumble weed blowing across the blog things have been busy busy busy on site. The boarding...
