Back in June last year I organised a meet up in Harrogate. It came about after I called in to Fine Fabrics of Harrogate and was chatting to Sandra about the possibility of and she kindly offered her place as place for us to meet, and there was the mention of cake. So it was a no brainer.
Fabric + Cake + Lovely sewing pals = Fab day out
And it was!
We met about 10am, I think there was 18 of us. or there abouts. Sandra had organised coffee and chocolate brownies, and she also had a goodie bag for each of us!
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As well as stocking ‘fine fabrics’, Sandra also has yarn and patterns and habberdashery -
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I bought this orange crepe. It’s medium weight with an amazing drape and a dream to sew. Roll on summer so I can wear it again!
(Newlook 6532)
We said our good byes to Sandra and headed into town.
Sandra’s shop is just on the edge of town, on Skipton Road. It’s walking distance to the train station. There are parking restrictions outside but if your calling in Sandra can lend you a permit so don’t worry about not being able to park close by.
Our next stop was Bobbins and Bolts. I bought my Lander Pants pattern there – Amy was wearing hers (I’m sure it was Amy) and I just loved them and had to buy the pattern.
The weather was a bit miserable and we broke up into smaller groups before meeting up later in Wetherspoons.
I was really excited that Natalie could make the meet up. Those of you who follow my Sunday Sevens might recognise her. Natalie lives in America, but is a Yorkshire girl, and started Sunday Sevens back in 2014. She happened to be back in England over the Summer so I really was over the moon to meet her! Here’s a link to her Sunday Sevens post if you fancy joining in.
We really did have a fab day! There’s so many lovely shops in Harrogate, and places to eat, as well as it’s fair share of fabric shops.
If you’re thinking of heading there I’ve put a list together of places you might want to visit, with links if I can find them!
Circa – a vintage shop just a couple of doors away from Fine Fabrics
The Montpellier Quarter – has quirky shops, antique and gift shops
Cold Bath Road area – has vintage clothes shops, a really good charity shop which sometimes has designer stuff. And lots of eating places.
There’s probably lots more places you might want to visit in Harrogate but as I’m not a local this is the best I can do! Please leave a comment if there’s other places to visit!
I am organising another trip to Harrogate. It’s looking like it’s going to be Friday 17th July. I know many can’t do through the week but I struggle with Saturdays as I only get 1 or 2 weekends off a month. So I need to arrange the meet up on a day that I can go!
I was talking to Sam about it at Sew Down Dewsbury earlier this year and we thought it might be fun to have a bit of a vintage theme. So if you’re thinking about coming it might be worth having a rummage in your patterns and maybe thinking about making something with a vintagy theme.
Hope you enjoyed our first Harrogate meet up – it really is a lovely day out, not just for fabric shopping!
Cheerio for now
Ali x
T H I M B E R L I N A 
Nooo, I’ll probably be on holiday on 17th :-((( Looks a fab day too 🙂
Oh no! Ill probably be doing more, not sure if dates or where yet but hopefully you’ll be able to make one of those🤞
Love reading your blogs. I’m not a dress maker , but feel inspired when I read the things you make, maybe this summer!
You should Pauline! There’s some easy patterns out there to get you started. If you choose one of the indie patterns there’s usually online sewalongs to help you. I taught a friend 3 years ago and we started with pyjama buttons, she’s hooked now!