Dresses Events and day trips

The John Lewis Sewing Bee – with Lisa Comfort

What a happy thing to be writing about.

John Lewis 150 years #150

As I mentioned in my previous post, this past Saturday I was very happy to help celebrate 150 years of John Lewis with Lisa Comfort and some awesome sewing bloggers.

John Lewis 150 years #JL150 almond rock

Left to right: Freia (who assisted Lisa during the day), Lisa, Fiona, Elena, Clare, Charlie, Roisin, Me and Emmie.

We held our very own sewing bee in the Haberdashery floor of the Oxford Street premises. We cooed over the fabric, patterns and supplies and stitched up a storm  with the lovely Lisa, our celebrity host and founder of the Sew Over It sewing cafe and shop. There was lots of cackling and pink cheeks amongst the spoolettes as we gossiped over our work.

The photos are the wonderful work of our photographer Brian Doherty Photography, Kim and Holly from John Lewis and the lovely Charlie (who managed to find time to sew and snap pics!).

John Lewis 150 years #JL150 almond rock John Lewis 150 years #JL150 almond rock John Lewis 150 years #JL150 almond rock

John Lewis 150 years #JL150 almond rockJohn Lewis 150 years #JL150 almond rockJohn Lewis 150 years #JL150 almond rockJohn Lewis 150 years #JL150 almond rockJohn Lewis 150 years #JL150 almond rock

One of the cool things JL have done to mark their anniversary is to launch a line of heritage print fabric by bringing back special edition archive prints and putting a modern twist on them by rescaling the prints and using the 150 years colour palette.

John Lewis 150 years #JL150 almond rock

 For instance the colourful brick print was originally a 1950s John Lewis dress fabric.

I went with white, yellow and turquoise floral print called “Daisy Chain” and an AKO for Vogue pattern V1102, a backless dress with a bow. It’s finished and photographed now so expect a post about the dress VERY SOON!

John Lewis 150 years #JL150 almond rock

Charlie took this lovely photo of me. I’m so focused!

Amazingly we all managed to choose different fabrics. And I’m pattern twinsies with Charlie, who also went for the Vogue pattern.

Everyone was so lovely to us during the day, making sure we had everything we needed. Each blogger had an amazing prym toolbox chocca full of notions and gadgets. The shears cut like BUTTER!

John Lewis 150 years #JL150 almond rock

 

We took the group photo on the new rooftop garden. It was pretty amazing up there and JL have planned some swanky parties to make use of it. Very jealous!

John Lewis 150 years #JL150 almond rock

Look at Roisin’s pretty dress. “Winner Winner, Quorn family roast dinner”.

John Lewis 150 years #JL150 almond rock

I might even have to buy myself a few metres of some of the other stunning fabrics on offer during this 150 year celebration. Possibly to recreate this little beauty!

John Lewis 150 years #JL150 almond rock

So all in all an EPIC day. I came home exhausted and hoarse and thoroughly happy. I’m so so grateful to have been included on such an amazing event.

More on my finished dress soon!

(20) Comments

  1. lovely day! you lucky people!

  2. Oh my, this looks like such a lovely day – what a wonderful thing to be a part of!!

  3. Wow! Way too many beautiful fabrics and dresses (and aprons!) in those shots!

  4. Wow, what a fun day! Super envy feelings flowing your way! The fabric is wonderful. I would have had a hard time choosing. I also tend to get distracted & do very little work when I’m sewing in a group–I’d rather talk to people & see what they’re working on–so I’m amazed at what you all accomplished.

  5. misscrayolacreepy says:

    What a bunch of cool ladies! What I wouldn’t give to be hanging out with all of you! xo

  6. Katie says:

    If I wasn’t jealous before, I am triply so after seeing the goodiebags! Wahh.

  7. Loved meeting you and the solid sewing crew. Can’t wait for another adventure! And looking forward to seeing the finished dress! (Ack – so many exclamation points!)

  8. It was so much fun seeing you again and meeting the other ladies! They should make the JL sewing bee a tradition! 🙂

  9. Looks like so much fun!!!

  10. Looks like you had a perfect day! Such a great thing to come up with and to celebrate. Can’t wait to see your dress too!

  11. Looks a wonderfull day of sewing bliss! Samantha x

  12. Looks like you all had such a great day. Love the fabrics that JL have brought back.

  13. What a lovely group of ladies!!!!! Sounds like the best day ever!

  14. Looks like such fun! And what an awesome box of sewing stuff to take away!

    1. almondrock says:

      It was epic. Some really useful things in that tub that you talk yourself out of buying but make all the difference!

  15. It looks like a fabulous day was had by all!!

    1. almondrock says:

      Oh my goodness, definitely

  16. […] can find the lovely bloggers here. Thank you for taking part guys! Amy – Almond Rock Clare – Sew Dixie Lou Charlie – This Blog Is Not For You Elena – Randomly Happy […]

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