A really good fun NSV! Results of a High Fibre Diet! ;)

I went fabric shopping yesterday... Now you may think 'What has this to
do with losing weight?' and 'Why is this so special for a professional
dress and costume maker?' Bear with me... This is what my DH calls a
Scottish Story (long, involved, full of digression, but we get there
eventually!).

A couple of weeks back, at the Rochester Sweeps festival (the one where
we had a houseful, and took a bus to see the Morris Dancing!), I met an
acquaintance in the street: a bloke I've known slightly for many years.
He's getting married again, and his wife to be is a lovely lady, but
severely blonde! She said she wanted a wedding dress and LOTS of little
bridesmaid dresses, but not your usual bevy of pastel flower girls.
Notice that word, 'lots'... We'll get back to it!

I gave her a card, and she rang me during the week. We had a meeting
last Saturday, and she chose some patterns, and we looked at fabric
samples, and she said more bridesmaids... OK, no problem. But the
wedding is mid August! Hehehehehe! (Gibber... ) We decided that the
best thing to do about fabric was to go up to Wembley, to the Ealing
Road, where there is a fantastic fabric shop, like Aladdin's cave! We
thought lunch at IKEA would be good, to set us up nicely for the
shopping, so this was duly arranged. I went out and got the patterns,
so we had an idea or two about yardage, and yesterday off we went...

To get to Wembley from Sittingbourne is easy, but takes a while, and
involves some of England's most notorious roads: M2 (UK's main artery
from Dover & Europe to London and the north); M25 (Terry Pratchet called
it the Sigil of Darkness, and he was right! Think 80 mph traffic jam!);
M1 (London to the NW via Birmingham and the industrial midlands!
England's busiest road); North Circular (ARGH!); Hanger Lane Gyratory
System (4 lane square roundabout, with 6 sets of triffid lights: you can
go round 3 times before you reach escape velocity!). Oddly, for a hot
Saturday in the mid wedding season, there were NO hold-ups, no jams, and
even the Dartford Crossing was flowing freely! It took us about an hour
and a half each way.

Lunch was lovely: I had Morrocan Chicken with couscous, which worked out
at about 6.5 points. Very good point and monetary value!

Then we hit the fabric shop. Joshi's is fantastic! Doesn't look much
on the outside, but INSIDE is like nothing else on Earth! There are
thousands of rolls of fabric stacked up the walls, saris hanging from
the ceiling, trims in boxes under the counter... And the back shop is
worse! We spent quite a while pulling rolls out, grabbing this and
that, piling things up, counting colours, making our minds up between
satin and shot taffeta...

We ended up buying:

One 50m roll of 72" wide white bridal satin
One 50m roll of 58" wide poly taffeta lining
Twenty 2m pieces of nice shot poly taffeta in 20 different colours
5m of 70" wide white tulle veiling
Lots of diamante crystals, iron on...
3m red cotton for a tunic
7.5m braid for the tunic project...

I also bought some fabric for myself and a couple of customer projects,
and paid an outstanding bill for other bridesmaid fabrics and a roll of
lining... All my slimming and wardrobe clearance means I need NEW
CLOTHES! YIPPEEEEE!

The girls and the uncles in the shop were having a real giggle with us
about all this fabric, and having a bit of a time keeping the two piles
separate! 155 metres of fabric later, we were justabout done!

One of the uncles loaded the fabric in the car for us, and as we were
chatting, I had a wonderful NSV. Now, keep in mind that the girls and
the uncles know me well. I shop there fairly often, I do quite a lot of
business with them over the phone, and via my web site Fabric List, put
a lot of business their way. They KNOW what I look and sound like. One
of the girls said: THAT'S not Kate! Kate's MUCH bigger than THAT! Then
she heard me speak: Oh! It IS Kate! Wow! You ARE looking good!

Woo Hoo! Now I like Joshi's shop even better! So there you are -
the results of a high fibre diet!

And the lots of bridesmaids? There will be 20 of them. All in
different coloured tops and white skirts!
--
Kate XXXXXX
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

Wow, all the sewing will definetly keep you out of the kitchen. Nice NSV.
Kristine
"Kate Dicey" wrote in message
...
I went fabric shopping yesterday... Now you may think 'What has this to
do with losing weight?' and 'Why is this so special for a professional
dress and costume maker?' Bear with me... This is what my DH calls a
Scottish Story (long, involved, full of digression, but we get there
eventually!).

A couple of weeks back, at the Rochester Sweeps festival (the one where
we had a houseful, and took a bus to see the Morris Dancing!), I met an
acquaintance in the street: a bloke I've known slightly for many years.
He's getting married again, and his wife to be is a lovely lady, but
severely blonde! She said she wanted a wedding dress and LOTS of little
bridesmaid dresses, but not your usual bevy of pastel flower girls.
Notice that word, 'lots'... We'll get back to it!

I gave her a card, and she rang me during the week. We had a meeting
last Saturday, and she chose some patterns, and we looked at fabric
samples, and she said more bridesmaids... OK, no problem. But the
wedding is mid August! Hehehehehe! (Gibber... ) We decided that the
best thing to do about fabric was to go up to Wembley, to the Ealing
Road, where there is a fantastic fabric shop, like Aladdin's cave! We
thought lunch at IKEA would be good, to set us up nicely for the
shopping, so this was duly arranged. I went out and got the patterns,
so we had an idea or two about yardage, and yesterday off we went...

To get to Wembley from Sittingbourne is easy, but takes a while, and
involves some of England's most notorious roads: M2 (UK's main artery
from Dover & Europe to London and the north); M25 (Terry Pratchet called
it the Sigil of Darkness, and he was right! Think 80 mph traffic jam!);
M1 (London to the NW via Birmingham and the industrial midlands!
England's busiest road); North Circular (ARGH!); Hanger Lane Gyratory
System (4 lane square roundabout, with 6 sets of triffid lights: you can
go round 3 times before you reach escape velocity!). Oddly, for a hot
Saturday in the mid wedding season, there were NO hold-ups, no jams, and
even the Dartford Crossing was flowing freely! It took us about an hour
and a half each way.

Lunch was lovely: I had Morrocan Chicken with couscous, which worked out
at about 6.5 points. Very good point and monetary value!

Then we hit the fabric shop. Joshi's is fantastic! Doesn't look much
on the outside, but INSIDE is like nothing else on Earth! There are
thousands of rolls of fabric stacked up the walls, saris hanging from
the ceiling, trims in boxes under the counter... And the back shop is
worse! We spent quite a while pulling rolls out, grabbing this and
that, piling things up, counting colours, making our minds up between
satin and shot taffeta...

We ended up buying:

One 50m roll of 72" wide white bridal satin
One 50m roll of 58" wide poly taffeta lining
Twenty 2m pieces of nice shot poly taffeta in 20 different colours
5m of 70" wide white tulle veiling
Lots of diamante crystals, iron on...
3m red cotton for a tunic
7.5m braid for the tunic project...

I also bought some fabric for myself and a couple of customer projects,
and paid an outstanding bill for other bridesmaid fabrics and a roll of
lining... All my slimming and wardrobe clearance means I need NEW
CLOTHES! YIPPEEEEE!

The girls and the uncles in the shop were having a real giggle with us
about all this fabric, and having a bit of a time keeping the two piles
separate! 155 metres of fabric later, we were justabout done!

One of the uncles loaded the fabric in the car for us, and as we were
chatting, I had a wonderful NSV. Now, keep in mind that the girls and
the uncles know me well. I shop there fairly often, I do quite a lot of
business with them over the phone, and via my web site Fabric List, put
a lot of business their way. They KNOW what I look and sound like. One
of the girls said: THAT'S not Kate! Kate's MUCH bigger than THAT! Then
she heard me speak: Oh! It IS Kate! Wow! You ARE looking good!

Woo Hoo! Now I like Joshi's shop even better! So there you are -
the results of a high fibre diet!

And the lots of bridesmaids? There will be 20 of them. All in
different coloured tops and white skirts!
--
Kate XXXXXX
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

Sounds like you had a great day, topped with a wonderful NSV! I 'd like to
see those bridesmaids' outfits, make sure to post them on your site when
they 're ready!
--
Nathalie from Belgium
134.1/95/minigoal 94.1/ Goal 68 Kg
295.6/209.5/minigoal 207.5/Goal 150 pounds
WNM: 216.3/209.5/203 lbs
98.1/95/92 kg
"Kate Dicey" wrote in message
...
I went fabric shopping yesterday... Now you may think 'What has this to
do with losing weight?' and 'Why is this so special for a professional
dress and costume maker?' Bear with me... This is what my DH calls a
Scottish Story (long, involved, full of digression, but we get there
eventually!).

A couple of weeks back, at the Rochester Sweeps festival (the one where
we had a houseful, and took a bus to see the Morris Dancing!), I met an
acquaintance in the street: a bloke I've known slightly for many years.
He's getting married again, and his wife to be is a lovely lady, but
severely blonde! She said she wanted a wedding dress and LOTS of little
bridesmaid dresses, but not your usual bevy of pastel flower girls.
Notice that word, 'lots'... We'll get back to it!

I gave her a card, and she rang me during the week. We had a meeting
last Saturday, and she chose some patterns, and we looked at fabric
samples, and she said more bridesmaids... OK, no problem. But the
wedding is mid August! Hehehehehe! (Gibber... ) We decided that the
best thing to do about fabric was to go up to Wembley, to the Ealing
Road, where there is a fantastic fabric shop, like Aladdin's cave! We
thought lunch at IKEA would be good, to set us up nicely for the
shopping, so this was duly arranged. I went out and got the patterns,
so we had an idea or two about yardage, and yesterday off we went...

To get to Wembley from Sittingbourne is easy, but takes a while, and
involves some of England's most notorious roads: M2 (UK's main artery
from Dover & Europe to London and the north); M25 (Terry Pratchet called
it the Sigil of Darkness, and he was right! Think 80 mph traffic jam!);
M1 (London to the NW via Birmingham and the industrial midlands!
England's busiest road); North Circular (ARGH!); Hanger Lane Gyratory
System (4 lane square roundabout, with 6 sets of triffid lights: you can
go round 3 times before you reach escape velocity!). Oddly, for a hot
Saturday in the mid wedding season, there were NO hold-ups, no jams, and
even the Dartford Crossing was flowing freely! It took us about an hour
and a half each way.

Lunch was lovely: I had Morrocan Chicken with couscous, which worked out
at about 6.5 points. Very good point and monetary value!

Then we hit the fabric shop. Joshi's is fantastic! Doesn't look much
on the outside, but INSIDE is like nothing else on Earth! There are
thousands of rolls of fabric stacked up the walls, saris hanging from
the ceiling, trims in boxes under the counter... And the back shop is
worse! We spent quite a while pulling rolls out, grabbing this and
that, piling things up, counting colours, making our minds up between
satin and shot taffeta...

We ended up buying:

One 50m roll of 72" wide white bridal satin
One 50m roll of 58" wide poly taffeta lining
Twenty 2m pieces of nice shot poly taffeta in 20 different colours
5m of 70" wide white tulle veiling
Lots of diamante crystals, iron on...
3m red cotton for a tunic
7.5m braid for the tunic project...

I also bought some fabric for myself and a couple of customer projects,
and paid an outstanding bill for other bridesmaid fabrics and a roll of
lining... All my slimming and wardrobe clearance means I need NEW
CLOTHES! YIPPEEEEE!

The girls and the uncles in the shop were having a real giggle with us
about all this fabric, and having a bit of a time keeping the two piles
separate! 155 metres of fabric later, we were justabout done!

One of the uncles loaded the fabric in the car for us, and as we were
chatting, I had a wonderful NSV. Now, keep in mind that the girls and
the uncles know me well. I shop there fairly often, I do quite a lot of
business with them over the phone, and via my web site Fabric List, put
a lot of business their way. They KNOW what I look and sound like. One
of the girls said: THAT'S not Kate! Kate's MUCH bigger than THAT! Then
she heard me speak: Oh! It IS Kate! Wow! You ARE looking good!

Woo Hoo! Now I like Joshi's shop even better! So there you are -
the results of a high fibre diet!

And the lots of bridesmaids? There will be 20 of them. All in
different coloured tops and white skirts!
--
Kate XXXXXX
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

that is wonderful, good for you!!!, Lee
Kate Dicey wrote in message
...
I went fabric shopping yesterday... Now you may think 'What has this to
do with losing weight?' and 'Why is this so special for a professional
dress and costume maker?' Bear with me... This is what my DH calls a
Scottish Story (long, involved, full of digression, but we get there
eventually!).

A couple of weeks back, at the Rochester Sweeps festival (the one where
we had a houseful, and took a bus to see the Morris Dancing!), I met an
acquaintance in the street: a bloke I've known slightly for many years.
He's getting married again, and his wife to be is a lovely lady, but
severely blonde! She said she wanted a wedding dress and LOTS of little
bridesmaid dresses, but not your usual bevy of pastel flower girls.
Notice that word, 'lots'... We'll get back to it!

I gave her a card, and she rang me during the week. We had a meeting
last Saturday, and she chose some patterns, and we looked at fabric
samples, and she said more bridesmaids... OK, no problem. But the
wedding is mid August! Hehehehehe! (Gibber... ) We decided that the
best thing to do about fabric was to go up to Wembley, to the Ealing
Road, where there is a fantastic fabric shop, like Aladdin's cave! We
thought lunch at IKEA would be good, to set us up nicely for the
shopping, so this was duly arranged. I went out and got the patterns,
so we had an idea or two about yardage, and yesterday off we went...

To get to Wembley from Sittingbourne is easy, but takes a while, and
involves some of England's most notorious roads: M2 (UK's main artery
from Dover & Europe to London and the north); M25 (Terry Pratchet called
it the Sigil of Darkness, and he was right! Think 80 mph traffic jam!);
M1 (London to the NW via Birmingham and the industrial midlands!
England's busiest road); North Circular (ARGH!); Hanger Lane Gyratory
System (4 lane square roundabout, with 6 sets of triffid lights: you can
go round 3 times before you reach escape velocity!). Oddly, for a hot
Saturday in the mid wedding season, there were NO hold-ups, no jams, and
even the Dartford Crossing was flowing freely! It took us about an hour
and a half each way.

Lunch was lovely: I had Morrocan Chicken with couscous, which worked out
at about 6.5 points. Very good point and monetary value!

Then we hit the fabric shop. Joshi's is fantastic! Doesn't look much
on the outside, but INSIDE is like nothing else on Earth! There are
thousands of rolls of fabric stacked up the walls, saris hanging from
the ceiling, trims in boxes under the counter... And the back shop is
worse! We spent quite a while pulling rolls out, grabbing this and
that, piling things up, counting colours, making our minds up between
satin and shot taffeta...

We ended up buying:

One 50m roll of 72" wide white bridal satin
One 50m roll of 58" wide poly taffeta lining
Twenty 2m pieces of nice shot poly taffeta in 20 different colours
5m of 70" wide white tulle veiling
Lots of diamante crystals, iron on...
3m red cotton for a tunic
7.5m braid for the tunic project...

I also bought some fabric for myself and a couple of customer projects,
and paid an outstanding bill for other bridesmaid fabrics and a roll of
lining... All my slimming and wardrobe clearance means I need NEW
CLOTHES! YIPPEEEEE!

The girls and the uncles in the shop were having a real giggle with us
about all this fabric, and having a bit of a time keeping the two piles
separate! 155 metres of fabric later, we were justabout done!

One of the uncles loaded the fabric in the car for us, and as we were
chatting, I had a wonderful NSV. Now, keep in mind that the girls and
the uncles know me well. I shop there fairly often, I do quite a lot of
business with them over the phone, and via my web site Fabric List, put
a lot of business their way. They KNOW what I look and sound like. One
of the girls said: THAT'S not Kate! Kate's MUCH bigger than THAT! Then
she heard me speak: Oh! It IS Kate! Wow! You ARE looking good!

Woo Hoo! Now I like Joshi's shop even better! So there you are -
the results of a high fibre diet!

And the lots of bridesmaids? There will be 20 of them. All in
different coloured tops and white skirts!
--
Kate XXXXXX
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

Nathalie W wrote:

Sounds like you had a great day, topped with a wonderful NSV! I 'd like to
see those bridesmaids' outfits, make sure to post them on your site when
they 're ready!

They'll be there! I promised the bride I'd document the whole process,
and diary the lot!

--
Kate XXXXXX
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

Michelle Guy wrote:

Sounds like you are going to be very busy between now and the middle
of August, no time for nibbling.
Michelle : Ozzie in Switzerland
69.8/???/61kg

There HAD to be an up side to this somewhere! ;P

--
Kate XXXXXX
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

On Sun, 16 May 2004 23:32:04 +0100, Kate Dicey
wrote:

I went fabric shopping yesterday...

Glad you had a nice day and what a great NSV

M1 (London to the NW via Birmingham and the industrial midlands!
England's busiest road);

Englands biggest car park

North Circular (ARGH!); Hanger Lane Gyratory
System (4 lane square roundabout, with 6 sets of triffid lights: you can
go round 3 times before you reach escape velocity!).

They KNOW what I look and sound like. One
of the girls said: THAT'S not Kate! Kate's MUCH bigger than THAT! Then
she heard me speak: Oh! It IS Kate! Wow! You ARE looking good!

Woo Hoo! Now I like Joshi's shop even better! So there you are -
the results of a high fibre diet!

Wonderful

Ray
--
rmnsuk
273/193/182

Kate,

That's wonderful!! To be so slim someone didn't recognise you!! Congrats!!

20 bridesmaid dresses...ack!!

--

Cheers,

Connie Walsh

241.5/191.5/155
WNM 193.5/191.5/181.5
30 lbs to go 191.5/191.5/185

"Kate Dicey" wrote in message
...
I went fabric shopping yesterday... Now you may think 'What has this to
do with losing weight?' and 'Why is this so special for a professional
dress and costume maker?' Bear with me... This is what my DH calls a
Scottish Story (long, involved, full of digression, but we get there
eventually!).

A couple of weeks back, at the Rochester Sweeps festival (the one where
we had a houseful, and took a bus to see the Morris Dancing!), I met an
acquaintance in the street: a bloke I've known slightly for many years.
He's getting married again, and his wife to be is a lovely lady, but
severely blonde! She said she wanted a wedding dress and LOTS of little
bridesmaid dresses, but not your usual bevy of pastel flower girls.
Notice that word, 'lots'... We'll get back to it!

I gave her a card, and she rang me during the week. We had a meeting
last Saturday, and she chose some patterns, and we looked at fabric
samples, and she said more bridesmaids... OK, no problem. But the
wedding is mid August! Hehehehehe! (Gibber... ) We decided that the
best thing to do about fabric was to go up to Wembley, to the Ealing
Road, where there is a fantastic fabric shop, like Aladdin's cave! We
thought lunch at IKEA would be good, to set us up nicely for the
shopping, so this was duly arranged. I went out and got the patterns,
so we had an idea or two about yardage, and yesterday off we went...

To get to Wembley from Sittingbourne is easy, but takes a while, and
involves some of England's most notorious roads: M2 (UK's main artery
from Dover & Europe to London and the north); M25 (Terry Pratchet called
it the Sigil of Darkness, and he was right! Think 80 mph traffic jam!);
M1 (London to the NW via Birmingham and the industrial midlands!
England's busiest road); North Circular (ARGH!); Hanger Lane Gyratory
System (4 lane square roundabout, with 6 sets of triffid lights: you can
go round 3 times before you reach escape velocity!). Oddly, for a hot
Saturday in the mid wedding season, there were NO hold-ups, no jams, and
even the Dartford Crossing was flowing freely! It took us about an hour
and a half each way.

Lunch was lovely: I had Morrocan Chicken with couscous, which worked out
at about 6.5 points. Very good point and monetary value!

Then we hit the fabric shop. Joshi's is fantastic! Doesn't look much
on the outside, but INSIDE is like nothing else on Earth! There are
thousands of rolls of fabric stacked up the walls, saris hanging from
the ceiling, trims in boxes under the counter... And the back shop is
worse! We spent quite a while pulling rolls out, grabbing this and
that, piling things up, counting colours, making our minds up between
satin and shot taffeta...

We ended up buying:

One 50m roll of 72" wide white bridal satin
One 50m roll of 58" wide poly taffeta lining
Twenty 2m pieces of nice shot poly taffeta in 20 different colours
5m of 70" wide white tulle veiling
Lots of diamante crystals, iron on...
3m red cotton for a tunic
7.5m braid for the tunic project...

I also bought some fabric for myself and a couple of customer projects,
and paid an outstanding bill for other bridesmaid fabrics and a roll of
lining... All my slimming and wardrobe clearance means I need NEW
CLOTHES! YIPPEEEEE!

The girls and the uncles in the shop were having a real giggle with us
about all this fabric, and having a bit of a time keeping the two piles
separate! 155 metres of fabric later, we were justabout done!

One of the uncles loaded the fabric in the car for us, and as we were
chatting, I had a wonderful NSV. Now, keep in mind that the girls and
the uncles know me well. I shop there fairly often, I do quite a lot of
business with them over the phone, and via my web site Fabric List, put
a lot of business their way. They KNOW what I look and sound like. One
of the girls said: THAT'S not Kate! Kate's MUCH bigger than THAT! Then
she heard me speak: Oh! It IS Kate! Wow! You ARE looking good!

Woo Hoo! Now I like Joshi's shop even better! So there you are -
the results of a high fibre diet!

And the lots of bridesmaids? There will be 20 of them. All in
different coloured tops and white skirts!

You're going to be quite busy!

What a great NSV, thanks for sharing. :-)

Julie
"Kate Dicey" wrote in message
...
I went fabric shopping yesterday... Now you may think 'What has this to
do with losing weight?' and 'Why is this so special for a professional
dress and costume maker?' Bear with me... This is what my DH calls a
Scottish Story (long, involved, full of digression, but we get there
eventually!).

A couple of weeks back, at the Rochester Sweeps festival (the one where
we had a houseful, and took a bus to see the Morris Dancing!), I met an
acquaintance in the street: a bloke I've known slightly for many years.
He's getting married again, and his wife to be is a lovely lady, but
severely blonde! She said she wanted a wedding dress and LOTS of little
bridesmaid dresses, but not your usual bevy of pastel flower girls.
Notice that word, 'lots'... We'll get back to it!

I gave her a card, and she rang me during the week. We had a meeting
last Saturday, and she chose some patterns, and we looked at fabric
samples, and she said more bridesmaids... OK, no problem. But the
wedding is mid August! Hehehehehe! (Gibber... ) We decided that the
best thing to do about fabric was to go up to Wembley, to the Ealing
Road, where there is a fantastic fabric shop, like Aladdin's cave! We
thought lunch at IKEA would be good, to set us up nicely for the
shopping, so this was duly arranged. I went out and got the patterns,
so we had an idea or two about yardage, and yesterday off we went...

To get to Wembley from Sittingbourne is easy, but takes a while, and
involves some of England's most notorious roads: M2 (UK's main artery
from Dover & Europe to London and the north); M25 (Terry Pratchet called
it the Sigil of Darkness, and he was right! Think 80 mph traffic jam!);
M1 (London to the NW via Birmingham and the industrial midlands!
England's busiest road); North Circular (ARGH!); Hanger Lane Gyratory
System (4 lane square roundabout, with 6 sets of triffid lights: you can
go round 3 times before you reach escape velocity!). Oddly, for a hot
Saturday in the mid wedding season, there were NO hold-ups, no jams, and
even the Dartford Crossing was flowing freely! It took us about an hour
and a half each way.

Lunch was lovely: I had Morrocan Chicken with couscous, which worked out
at about 6.5 points. Very good point and monetary value!

Then we hit the fabric shop. Joshi's is fantastic! Doesn't look much
on the outside, but INSIDE is like nothing else on Earth! There are
thousands of rolls of fabric stacked up the walls, saris hanging from
the ceiling, trims in boxes under the counter... And the back shop is
worse! We spent quite a while pulling rolls out, grabbing this and
that, piling things up, counting colours, making our minds up between
satin and shot taffeta...

We ended up buying:

One 50m roll of 72" wide white bridal satin
One 50m roll of 58" wide poly taffeta lining
Twenty 2m pieces of nice shot poly taffeta in 20 different colours
5m of 70" wide white tulle veiling
Lots of diamante crystals, iron on...
3m red cotton for a tunic
7.5m braid for the tunic project...

I also bought some fabric for myself and a couple of customer projects,
and paid an outstanding bill for other bridesmaid fabrics and a roll of
lining... All my slimming and wardrobe clearance means I need NEW
CLOTHES! YIPPEEEEE!

The girls and the uncles in the shop were having a real giggle with us
about all this fabric, and having a bit of a time keeping the two piles
separate! 155 metres of fabric later, we were justabout done!

One of the uncles loaded the fabric in the car for us, and as we were
chatting, I had a wonderful NSV. Now, keep in mind that the girls and
the uncles know me well. I shop there fairly often, I do quite a lot of
business with them over the phone, and via my web site Fabric List, put
a lot of business their way. They KNOW what I look and sound like. One
of the girls said: THAT'S not Kate! Kate's MUCH bigger than THAT! Then
she heard me speak: Oh! It IS Kate! Wow! You ARE looking good!

Woo Hoo! Now I like Joshi's shop even better! So there you are -
the results of a high fibre diet!

And the lots of bridesmaids? There will be 20 of them. All in
different coloured tops and white skirts!
--
Kate XXXXXX
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

What a shopping NSV for you. You are going to be a very busy lady for a few
months.

"Kate Dicey" wrote in message
...
I went fabric shopping yesterday... Now you may think 'What has this to
do with losing weight?' and 'Why is this so special for a professional
dress and costume maker?' Bear with me... This is what my DH calls a
Scottish Story (long, involved, full of digression, but we get there
eventually!).

A couple of weeks back, at the Rochester Sweeps festival (the one where
we had a houseful, and took a bus to see the Morris Dancing!), I met an
acquaintance in the street: a bloke I've known slightly for many years.
He's getting married again, and his wife to be is a lovely lady, but
severely blonde! She said she wanted a wedding dress and LOTS of little
bridesmaid dresses, but not your usual bevy of pastel flower girls.
Notice that word, 'lots'... We'll get back to it!

I gave her a card, and she rang me during the week. We had a meeting
last Saturday, and she chose some patterns, and we looked at fabric
samples, and she said more bridesmaids... OK, no problem. But the
wedding is mid August! Hehehehehe! (Gibber... ) We decided that the
best thing to do about fabric was to go up to Wembley, to the Ealing
Road, where there is a fantastic fabric shop, like Aladdin's cave! We
thought lunch at IKEA would be good, to set us up nicely for the
shopping, so this was duly arranged. I went out and got the patterns,
so we had an idea or two about yardage, and yesterday off we went...

To get to Wembley from Sittingbourne is easy, but takes a while, and
involves some of England's most notorious roads: M2 (UK's main artery
from Dover & Europe to London and the north); M25 (Terry Pratchet called
it the Sigil of Darkness, and he was right! Think 80 mph traffic jam!);
M1 (London to the NW via Birmingham and the industrial midlands!
England's busiest road); North Circular (ARGH!); Hanger Lane Gyratory
System (4 lane square roundabout, with 6 sets of triffid lights: you can
go round 3 times before you reach escape velocity!). Oddly, for a hot
Saturday in the mid wedding season, there were NO hold-ups, no jams, and
even the Dartford Crossing was flowing freely! It took us about an hour
and a half each way.

Lunch was lovely: I had Morrocan Chicken with couscous, which worked out
at about 6.5 points. Very good point and monetary value!

Then we hit the fabric shop. Joshi's is fantastic! Doesn't look much
on the outside, but INSIDE is like nothing else on Earth! There are
thousands of rolls of fabric stacked up the walls, saris hanging from
the ceiling, trims in boxes under the counter... And the back shop is
worse! We spent quite a while pulling rolls out, grabbing this and
that, piling things up, counting colours, making our minds up between
satin and shot taffeta...

We ended up buying:

One 50m roll of 72" wide white bridal satin
One 50m roll of 58" wide poly taffeta lining
Twenty 2m pieces of nice shot poly taffeta in 20 different colours
5m of 70" wide white tulle veiling
Lots of diamante crystals, iron on...
3m red cotton for a tunic
7.5m braid for the tunic project...

I also bought some fabric for myself and a couple of customer projects,
and paid an outstanding bill for other bridesmaid fabrics and a roll of
lining... All my slimming and wardrobe clearance means I need NEW
CLOTHES! YIPPEEEEE!

The girls and the uncles in the shop were having a real giggle with us
about all this fabric, and having a bit of a time keeping the two piles
separate! 155 metres of fabric later, we were justabout done!

One of the uncles loaded the fabric in the car for us, and as we were
chatting, I had a wonderful NSV. Now, keep in mind that the girls and
the uncles know me well. I shop there fairly often, I do quite a lot of
business with them over the phone, and via my web site Fabric List, put
a lot of business their way. They KNOW what I look and sound like. One
of the girls said: THAT'S not Kate! Kate's MUCH bigger than THAT! Then
she heard me speak: Oh! It IS Kate! Wow! You ARE looking good!

Woo Hoo! Now I like Joshi's shop even better! So there you are -
the results of a high fibre diet!

And the lots of bridesmaids? There will be 20 of them. All in
different coloured tops and white skirts!
--
Kate XXXXXX
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!