London Blogger Meet-Up

A couple of weeks ago, Suzy of Suzy Sewing Blog tweeted that she was going to London to do some fabric shopping and asked for company. Having been a while since my last London road trip I jumped at the chance, knowing I could get a return coach ticket from Cardiff for roughly £20. Further conversations and a blog post later and Lauren of Tea & Crumpets and Justine of Polkadot Pebble were joining us. I'd not come across Justine's blog prior to the meet up but unfortunately for my poor housemate Lauren and Suzy are two of my very favourite bloggers which made me very very excited and very very babble-tastic. For the entire three hours it took to get there (and the three hours return) I don't think I shut up.

We had a lovely map put together by Suzy with shops to visit. I like this approach, it appeals to my Production Co-ordinator side, almost like a call sheet. I had no idea there were so many fabric shops in one area, and we visited each and every one. My favourites were probably Liberty's for its architecture (see Suzy's blog for pictures of us) and the Cloth House. Both Lauren and I decided that if we ever owned a sewing/ crafting shop it would be done out much like the Cloth House. We also discussed a Speakeasy, costume designer careers, Alexander Skarsgard, Game of Thrones, Alexander Skarsgard, Russell Tovey (who we passed in the street), Lord of the Rings and a whole heap of other subjects.

I had a great time chatting about everything under the sun, pointing out the craziest fabrics that could be made in to Doctor Who costumes and wandering around sunny (sunny!) Llundain. Definitely the best road trip in a long time and I hope to do it again soon.

I've finally recovered from the epic day trip and have found the time (whilst at work) to mess about with my photos. I failed miserably to take many interesting pictures, including pictures of any of us, but what I did take is below for your perusal.

Liberty's stairwell

Dress forms at Liberty's

Button wall at Libery's

Lauren, Suzy & Justine at the Cloth House

Suzy & Justine at the Cloth House

The Cloth House's window

And because a trip to London wouldn't be complete without a crazy person busking
whilst hanging upside down from a tree ...

Thanks for stopping by,

Llundain Town

Ridiculous time to have to leave

Just time for a quick outfit shot

Local train station - heading to Cardiff

Welcome to the Heart and Soul of Wales

Mmmm, Starbucks - something to perk up the 3 hour bus journey to London

Sarah and I

Rather speaks for itself?

L-R: Me, Liam, Amita and Sarah

L-R: Sheena, Amy (all the way from Canada!) and I

Me and Liam

L-R: Sheena, Amita, Amy, Sarah and I

L-R: Sheena, Me, Sarah and Amita

Amita's silliness is legendary ...

... as is everyone elses I know

I think it safe to say a good time was had by all.

Thanks for stopping by,

Road Trip ... Erm ... Bus/ Train Trip!

I've got the soundtrack to Glee all ready to go. I've booked my bus ticket to and my train ticket from London. I've picked out the book I'm taking with me ... sort of, because there's also this and I haven't even read this yet.

But I haven't a clue what to wear. Help!

This is the first time I've been back to London since my move to Wales in 2006. Well, I've been back a couple of times for meetings at the BBC that went more like, train, tube, meeting, tube, train. But I've not been back for pleasure for damn near 4 years.

The last time I was in London I had bad hair (believe it or not but it's actually better now), I wore baggy clothes (mostly from the menswear department) and no make-up. The people I'm going to see have seen me drunk, asleep, half naked*, wearing Liam's clothes, on the dance floor and in minus degree weather. Erm, not all at the same time.

So of course the order of the day is to look as svelte as possible when one has no waist, beautiful (obviously and nothing to do with the fact that one of the guys I'm having lunch with was a not so secret crush whilst at college), stylish and comfortable. If I'm going to be spending roughly six hours on public transport I want to do so comfortably.

I've narrowed it down to three outfits and this is where you come in. It's almost like one of those choose your own adventure books, except you don't get anything further out of it so maybe it's not at all. But I'd like your opinions on all three to help narrow down which one would be best suited for a day trip to London, lunch, drinks and a bit of shopping (and let's not forget public transport, it's going to be painful enough to warrant several mentions I think!).

Comfy flat boots (that still squeak a little, must dig out more hair conditioner to sort that!). Nora Batty socks, 3/4 jeans, white shirt and peacock blue cardi with brown belt. Comfy is the word. This is an outfit that wouldn't be out of place on me in the company I'm going to be hanging with, it's similar to what they're used to seeing on me just a little more my size.

Outfit Number Two! Latest eBay acquisition in a bluey-purple. I wasn't sure what shoes so I just randomly picked two. The reds are another latest eBay acquisition that arrived this morning (yay!).

Comfy dress and granddad top, Nora Batty socks and fave T-Bar shoes evah.

A note on the pose: this is my 'oh my god, what are you eating ... no, no, nono, not on the bed!
... damnit' look

Bonus Outfit! I threw this together as an after thought. Fave new jeans (yes, I slipped, I bought ready to wear) and an old shirt that's oh so comfy (but a little tight when sitting).

Oh, and hey! Look what I found!

Some shape to my body, who knew?! ;)

* I want to stress that this is not because I prance around half naked at any given opportunity despite what some people might recollect from a night at college involving cookies and a strange green plant. This was in fact down to a theme night and a bedroom filled with boys putting on my make-up far better than I ever could when I stumbled out of the shower in only a towel (as you do when you think your room is empty) and to be completely and utterly honest I don't think a single one of them noticed. Not sure what's more depressing ;)

Thanks for stopping by,

Spotlight: Twinwood 2010

... otherwise known as the Twinwood Experience.

Oh my, I can't believe it's taken me so long to babble and gush enthusiastically over Twinwood, the vintage festival held over August Bank Holiday weekend. Shame on me, I am such a slack tart!

This is going to be a picture heavy post, peeps, because frankly everyone there looked amazing ... apart from Best Gal Pal Jemma and I who felt decidedly out of place in modern clothing. I'm happy to report, however, that next year we will be dressing up!

Anyway, on to the good stuff!

A little over excited I made Jemma drive us to RAF Twinwood for 11am, in hindsight this was waaaaay too early as we then peaked too soon and ended up leaving at around 4pm. Ideally next year we'll get there just after lunch. Twinwood's all about the dancing, the bands don't kick off until 1pm and head on into the night so as you can plainly tell we missed out on quite a bit.

We found the air field with no trouble, it was quite a pleasant journey through Bedfordshire's rather flat countryside (a marked difference to Wales and felt very strange). We parked up in a big field, already squealing a little excitedly over the vintage bus we'd seen. Tickets in hand we wandered over to the tent at the entrance, following a rather dashing foursome in RAF uniforms and beautiful tea dresses.

We'd just missed the bus to the actual event but it was a short walk away and we decided to just wander over on foot instead. As you can see the bus driver, like all the staff, was very friendly (and a little loopy) and waved madly at us as he drove past.

The main arena was actually a natural arena, part of a hangar made up the stage and a small bowl in the hill formed the base where people were setting up camp chairs and picnic blankets. Around the edges, just before the sides started climbing rather steeply in places to the flat of the airfield, were vendor tents selling marvellous vintage and reproduction clothing, books, hats, shoes and knick knacks. And food, mucho mucho food. Randomly (and rather poetically I thought) our food tent choice turned out to be Welsh who gave us extremely delicious chocolate cake and coffee with a bright bore da and a twinkle.

We had a nose through the vendor tents, I tried on this cloche hat, what do you think?

I picked up a 1940's shirt pattern, Jemma bought a lovely brooch, and we spent an extraordinary amount of time just happily watching people wander past in the beautiful clothes (even the kids!) and pointing out the more fabulously costumed to each other.

I'd been gutted that I hadn't had a chance to make my dress or overalls in time for the festival, but Jemma had been very relieved to hear I wouldn't be dressing up. Thankfully that opinion changed within about two minutes of arriving and we were soon discussing potential costume ideas for next year within about 5 minutes of getting our coffee.

I'm not sure we could ever rival any of the below, but I hope we'll give it a damn good try!

Don't they look dashing?

We then wandered off to the vendor area, above the main arena and to the left of the woodland walk with its vintage armed forces vehicles and fire engine. There were a couple of hangars and sheds, one set up as the women's dorms (I was in love with the whole place).

Jemma and I both fell in love with this lady's dress, almost hidden in the corner of the fire engine hangar. What a fabulous blue! She looked stunning and we were both very envious.

Not finding anything of interest in the vendors tents we toddled off to the dance lessons tent to have a nose. Unfortunately we never managed to remember to get back to the dance lesson tent on time but whenever we did pop our head in it always looked like such amazing fun. And there were some brilliant couples giving it their all on the floor:

Convinced we'd seen everything we headed back to the main arena for another aimless wander and to check out the band that was about to start on the main stage (and get some more yummy food). The dance floors started filling almost as soon as the bands started playing.

It was about this time we realised we'd missed an entire section! Where was the other stage? Where was the Glenn Miller Museum? Where was the Tin Hat and the Officers Mess? Understandably we went wandering to find them.

And find them we did, a little further past the end of the vendors tent. Along with:

The prettiest of the lot! Well, almost. Because whilst rummaging around in one of the hangars displaying general stuff from the 40's a deep thruuum started vibrating through us, so deep you could feel it in your bones. This was what I'd been waiting for and I admit I squealed like a little girl and physically dragged Jemma and her camera outside.

With perfect timing the Lancaster bomber flew over the top of the hangar we'd just been in and circled back, directly overhead and repeated twice more. I love these planes. And when I say love, I mean I cried in happiness to see it. The Lanc is a four engined plane and was the plane that became known as the Dam Buster. It was primarily used in night bombing missions and was the most successful and famous of the WWII night bombers, but was it also a precision day bomber. It's engines are the same as those of the Spitfire (and are probably as big as my car) and the noise is something I'll never forget. This is the only Lancaster in the UK still flying, indeed there are apparently only two left in the world (the other is in Canada). Did I mention how much I love these planes?

The plane flew out of sight and still bouncing, we rounded the corner, following the music and found ourselves the 50's stage.

So that's where all the younger peeps had disappeared to! There were more people our age on this side of the festival than where we'd been hanging out earlier, and we'd been a little stumped over where everyone could possibly have gone. The dance floor here looked amazing, with everyone strolling in time, heads bobbing in perfect synchronicity. I'm going to get lessons so next year I can join in!

We had a wander around the Glenn Miller museum and a final nose through the stalls and then decided to call it a day. A little tired, a lot happy, we headed home. And yes, I dreamed of planes that night.

Please note all photographs are © Jemma Creaser and should not be used or linked to anywhere else. If you see yourself in a photo please let me know and if you'd like it removed drop me an email using the contact page.

Thanks for stopping by,