Have yourself an Independent Christmas

We know we always bang on about this, but its for very good reason, promise.  If everyone just bought one small thing this Christmas from an independent shop it would make all the difference to making sure that we keep small businesses afloat!

Top 5 - Inspiring Places

Over the years we have been to some pretty inspiring places together and apart, from the UK to abroad, there is always a museum to be found, architecture to be admired and plenty of cake to be consumed.  We thought we would take you on a little tour of some of our faves, and they just all happen to start with the letter B!

Hidden Treasures: Fashion Fabrics

Now you may have seen our Bath Adventure post a few weeks ago and so I thought I would make the shop Fashion Fabrics, we saw there one of my hidden treasures, as it really was a treasure trove of goodies.

The Fashion Fabrics shop is on Green Street, just off the old part of the main shopping street and so very close to everything else you could need from a shopping trip to the big City of Bath.

The shop itself is filled to the rafters - literally with fabric.  From cottons and linens to tweed and Jersey, just about every fabric you need for your projects.  This place has been family run since 1955 and in Bath since 1969 and so has seen plenty of changes over the years.

I definitely recommend a visit as you can find some real gems.  H found some Vintage Tweed for a winter skirt and Sammy found some bright cotton for a summer dress, amongst many other fabrics!

If you do visit, let us know in the comments below.  Any other hidden treasures out there near you?  Let us know and we can take a trip!

H

Live it: Our Bath Adventure

You should all know by now how much H and I love an adventure and if you caught our post last year about the Bath Christmas market you will be aware of how much we wanted to take a second look at this beautiful city. A few weeks ago we got the chance to spend a weekend there and despite the April showers, we spent the whole time exploring all of Bath's best bits. Here are some of our highlights. 

How we Wear... Bath Special

As you may have noticed if you follow either of us on Instagram, we had a little trip away to Bath last weekend for some Best Friend time.  We have a full post for what we got up to, but in the meantime we thought we would show off our outfit choices for a UK city break - luckily we managed to dodge the rain enough to take photos!

H wears: Dress from ASOS (Similar), Jacket from Miss Selfridge (Similar), Boots from River Island (Similar), Scarf from Miss Selfridge, Necklace from New Look (Similar), Belt from New Look, Bag from Ebay, Nail Vanish - Haymarket by Nails inc.

Sammy Wears: Dress from NewLook Inspire,  Coat from Yours (similar), Belt from H&M, Scarf from Dorothy Perkins (similar), Boots from NewLook Wide fit, Bag from Accessorize, Nail polish in 'bright and early' from Tanya Burr.

Day 2

H wears:  Jumper from Topshop (similar), Jeans from Dorothy Perkins, T-shirt from H&M, Necklace from I am Acrylic, Trainers from Converse.

Sammy wears: Trousers from Yours, T-shirt from Dorothy Perkins, Jacket as before, Scarf from Miss Selfridge, Trainers by Converse from Schuh, Bracelets made by Sammy.

Our 'The Makery Emporium' Adventure

If you saw our post from last week about our little day trip to Bath, You will have seen that we stopped into the Makery Emporium whilst we were there. I have been dying to visit The Makery since I first heard about it back in early 2010 and since they opened the emporium I have been even keener to make the trip. Being a haberdashery shop owner myself, I am always looking for other shops to visit to see how they display things, what they stock and of course it usually ends up in a cheeky purchase... this visit was no exception.

The name 'Emporium' is the perfect description of this gorgeous little crafty haven. No bigger than someone's front room, it is packed with beautiful ribbons, trims, buttons and fabrics, no boring basics in this little store. 

I may have picked up a few fat quarters to add to my collection...

I love the displays in this place, this old printing tray was used to show off the cutest rubber stamps and this vintage Sylko thread cabinet is a brilliant home for modern Guttermann threads.

All their ribbon and trims are stored on these yummy wooden reels, they also sell the reels, so you can pick up some for your own trimming collection. 

All the lovely little buttons, findings and charms are stored and displayed in an amazing collection of dishes, trays and jars, just like a sweetie shop! 

They have a really colourful selection of goodies on offer in such a small space, it is a feast for the eyes, even a non sewer/crafter would undoubtedly enjoy a visit. They also had a selection of their new Make Away kits on offer (you may have seen them on Dragons Den).

H and I literally can't wait to go back in the new year, we are going to go and visit the workshop space and hopefully get ourselves booked into one of their classes.

We had such a lovely day in Bath, but the highlight for me was definitely visiting The Makery. 

If you can't make it to Bath you can shop with them online and you may have seen our review of Kate Smith's (founder of The Makery) book 'Makery' back in October, a great gift for anyone crafty.  You can also buy their 'Make Away' kits online in their store at the stocking stuffing price of £15.00... Bargain!  H and I are both hoping for the Stags Head kit for Christmas (I am a little gutted I didn't pick one up whilst I was there) 

Have you been to visit The Makery? what did you think? have you been to one of their workshops? We would love to know what you thought.

Also, if you have any recommendations of places for H and I to visit, let us know in the comments <3

If you want to hear more about The Makery, check out the new issue of Craftseller Magazine for an interview with the lovely Kate Smith.

Sammy xxx

Live it: Bath Christmas Market

On Sunday Sammy and I popped to Bath for the day.  We have been meaning to go for ages and are planning a full weekend trip next year - famous last words!  But we decided that with the Christmas Market on, it would be a good time to go and have a cheeky day out.

It also gave us an opportunity to check out The Makery Emporium (more about that next week) and a few more shops, including December 25 - can you guess what they sell???  Before settling in Bill's for some well earned Dinner.

It was nice to do something a bit different and have some lovely bestie time.  What with running the blog and our day jobs, it sometimes feels that we forget to hang out!  So this was a great way to do it,

The Stalls were scattered around the main City Centre, around the Abbey, the Roman Baths and throughout the cobbled streets.  They were the little wooden huts that we are so used to seeing these days but why not, when they make the place look so good.

It was very busy and so whilst winding ourselves through the (over 150!) stalls we managed to get some pictures for you guys to explore too.  You can find a list of all the stallholders here.

With the Abbey in the background, the stalls looked so Christmassy!

The Makery also had a stall in the Market selling their books, gifts and Make Away Kits.  They have plenty of Kits to choose from, my favourite is the Stag Head kit.

How cute are these biscuit badges!  Good enough to eat - always thinking of my stomach!

The Vintage Inspired Jewellery shows no signs of disappearing anytime soon and these from Elsie Belle Jewellery did not disappoint.

Some of the Stall holders products made such beautiful Christmassy displays, especially when it started to get dark.

You get to meet such great characters when walking around a new City, the Bird Hotel was a lovely feature outside the RSBP shop - which incidentally had some beautiful gifts too.


One thing that both of us wish we had more time for is drawing and sketching.  When we saw this guy sketching using some big old fat Pastels, we couldn't resist having a little look.

You just have to love an old style Carousel and this huge one was right in the middle of the cobbled streets, just ready for everyone to have a bit of a break midway through shopping.

We will be back The Pump Room - we have heard about your treats and will be back!

These drawings and prints from Pitch26 were amazing.  They are all done by architects and the level of detail is beautiful.  The Build your own house was a great touch too and it definitely is - as they say - the only house I could afford!

The Christmas Market really was a great mix of the old and new with plenty of decorations to spruce up your home.

Or you could just make a Gingerbread home - much tastier!  These beauts are from Bickie-boo.

We found these themed Russian dolls, with all sorts of characters from Father Christmas right through to Mick Jagger!

After all that, we had to pop into the Fudge Factory for some sugar intake before taking on some of the other shops Bath had to offer.  I think we will definitely have to have a long weekend here to be able to explore Bath fully, but it was a great taster for another visit.

The Market is still on Until this Sunday (15th) and so there is still time to have a visit this weekend, but be warned, it will be busy!

Which markets have you been to?  Have you been to Bath Market?  H used to live in Lincoln and the Christmas market there was great too - the Ostrich Burgers are a particular pull for people to visit.

H & Sammy