As every dressmaker knows a stash of fabric is essential. Nothing calms you down after a fraught day at work like stroking fabric. Keeping fabric in a drawer, cupboard , wardrobe or a whole room to itself costs nothing to keep & doesn’t eat anything. It provides insulation for the house & makes you very happy when you see it. As obsessions go it is a very mild one to have.

These are all things that students & customers have said to me in the past, as an excuse for buying another piece of fabric they couldn’t live without. I don’t think you need an excuse to buy fabric because you don’t want it you NEED it.  I like most of you have my large stash all around the house in various cupboards boxes etc. I didn’t realise how bad my addiction had become until last week. I heard that a redundant stock of silk dupion was available so I thought I would go along & have a look to see what colours were available. I was intending to buy a few rolls for stock in the shop. As soon as I saw the fabrics I knew I wouldn’t be able to choose what I wanted & despite trying my best I finished up buying the whole stock. We got it back to the shop at 8.15pm & I had to tear myself away from it. The temptation to start sorting it out was almost overwhelming. My more sensible side took over & as I was teaching up in Sheffield the next day I left the silk in the shop as we delivered it. I couldn’t wait to get into work on Thursday morning. So at 8.15am I arrived, there were so many orders waiting that I just had time to pick up the rolls which had fallen over & take off the plastic coverings from the other rolls & put them into bins around the shop to stop them going all over the place. So it was Friday before I got the chance to really look at the silk. OOOOOH! How much fun can one person have.

We now have over fifty different colours of silk dupion in the shop. The photos show just some of them. Some of the rolls only have a few metres left on them but it is all perfect beautiful silk. Am I the worst fabricaholic out? I don’t even buy my fabric by the metre it has to come by the roll. Even now I haven’t decided which one I like the best & not a clue as to what I would make if I could decide.

You can make just about anything you could name from silk dupion including, with the correct interlining jackets. If you have a stash of open woven tweeds to make the classic Chanel style jackets this silk makes a perfect backing to quilt on. Of course the obvious thing to make would be an evening dress, get ahead & get your fabric for that special dress for Christmas or  New Year.

Now here is your chance to buy some of my shop stash for yourself. On Friday 15th & 22nd May & 5th June I’m opening the shop for a sale from 10-4. I’m selling the silk off at £14.95 per mtr for these three days. After that it will go on to the website selling at £19.95 per mtr. I hoping to sell quite a lot of it on the sale days as photographing & putting all the details on the website is going to take forever. So come along & help me out. You really do need some more fabric!!