A nautical ESP and fabric shopping in bonnie Scotland

Hi Chaps!

The sign on the stairs in Glasgow’s fabulous Tenement House: can Mrs Toward do miracles??

I’m back from the BEST week in sunny (well, alright, changeable) Scotland. My husband and I went up on the sleeper train and took in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow on our travels. I also managed to do some fabric shopping in Glasgow, and meet up with super lovely fellow sewist Shirley who took me for a little trip to a great place selling super cheap liberty prints (£8 a metre!).

I took quite a lot of me-made clothes on my holidays, including my latest make which is, unsurprisingly, another ESP.

Here I am looking jaunty on a bridge over the Clyde in Glasgow

I don’t have much to say about this that is different from my previous E.S.P apart from the fact that I did try to lower the neckline by extending the width at the top of the shoulder piece. However, once I had sewed it up, I realised I hadn’t also enlarged my facings, and being incredibly lazy, I just sewed it back up with a much larger seam allowance so the facings fit, instead of drafting new facings. I am the actual worst. However somewhere along the line some magic happened and the neckline is a little bit lower and more comfortable. I obviously can’t repeat this as it is borne out of bodging, but it makes this dress supremely comfortable.

It’s made from a lovely quilting cotton from Moda called More Hearty Good Wishes and features line drawings of boats. It was also pointed out to me that from a distance, they look like suspension bridges which is very excellent.

It was very comfy for wearing around GLORIOUS Glasgow and for doing a spot of fabric shopping in. I only went to Fabric Bazaar and Mandors (OMG Mandors is fabric heaven) which I can heartily recommend but there is a great guide to Glasgow fabric shopping by the wonderful Kestrel Makes, here. It seems to me that fabric shopping in Glasgow is a lot better (by which I partly mean cheaper!) than London. Mandors was magic, full of gorgeous discounted Liberty (what is it with Scotland selling Liberty at half the price of, errr, Liberty?!) and other brands. I got some fabulous floral John Kaldor satiny stuff and a couple of Liberty prints for a tenner a metre. Sadly, tragically, the houses one is for a shirt for Robin. It would make the BEST ESP dress yet.

Luckily, I had already bought myself some Hyderabad Madras Check Liberty for an ESP, so you don’t have to weep for me too much.

I also bought 4m of this amazing giraffe pattern rayony stuff, probably for a Southport maxi, but maybe for some Alexandria peg trousers and a matching cropped t-shirt. As I’m typing this I think that actually might need to happen.

What do you think I should make with my satin and my green Liberty print?! I have 1.5 metres of each…..

I do promise I will make something other than ESPs soon, maybe, but for now I’ll leave you with another pic of this dreamboat dress.