Belgian Blogger Meet!

Yesterday was the day of the Belgian Blogger Meet I wrote about before. I was amazed at the response it got, and at how many people turned up! Quite a few interested people couldn't make it, but I definitely think there will be a next time...

We decided upon Brussels as a meeting place, and Jo from Jo Sews did an excellent job in planning a great day for all. I met up beforehand with Joost and Stephanie on a very crowded train, And we were joined by Lieke and Ilse (who were in a different part of the train). At the South Station we met all the others: Jo, Louize, Beata, Kamila, Sigrid and Margot (did I forget anyone?). I didn't take a lot of pictures so this will mostly be text... Sorry!

Our first stop was Berger, basically two floors packed with pretty cheap fabrics! I went for a surprisingly basic purchase (which would turn out to be a trend during this day) and bought a nice navy linen. Most blue linens I found before tend to look a bit faded, so I was happy to find this deep colour! I'll probably use this to experiment with fabric stamping...

That's Jo, looking through the fabrics in her awesome Tania culottes. If I didn't know better I would have thought she was wearing a skirt!

After this we went to snoop around the fleamarket at the Vossenplein. I didn't really find anything there, so me and Stephanie sat down for a drink until the rest joined us. We all had something and then headed for lunch at Houtsiplou. I ordered a sandwich which turned out to be massive, and surprised myself (along with some others) by eating it all. Right before eating we realised that some people were leaving early and would miss the planned swap, so everyone got out their fabrics and patterns and went for it. A cheery chaos ensued:

I got rid of almost everything I brought, and got some nice pretties in return! After lunch we said goodbye to a few people and started making our way to Le Chien Vert. I had only been there once before and enjoyed that visit, but didn't find anything during this one. Maybe it was the heat, or the fact that there were sales going on and a large part of the stores were coupons of things in various shades of brown and black... Or maybe there just weren't enough prints. Nothing that really blew my mind anyway!

After this we headed back to the train station and home. I was absolutely exhausted, but it was such a lovely day!

Now, what did I drag to my cave with me?

On the left is the linen I mentioned earlier, on the right a knit I swapped with Margot (who doesn't have a blog, sadly enough). It's a slightly heavier knit and there's quite a lot of it, not sure yet what I'll use it for!

Kamila seems to have a habit of buying things in bulk, and I releived her of some of the massive amounts of this lace she had. Again, I don't know what I'll use it for, but I'm curious to see what it will become!

This vintage cutie came from Jo. I can totally see myself making this in a sleeveless version, maybe with a slightly toned down collar? I just bought this fabric and think it could work pretty well:

So, that was a day well spent in great company! I truly hope we can do this again. I don't really know any people who are seriously into sewing in my own circle of friends, so it's nice to be able to geek out about hems and mathing patterns in real life for once!