I began noticing conversations about London Frocktails on Instagram, and followed the tag. It became clear very quickly that I needed a ticket, but I decided that I would travel to London, with or without a ticket, and, should I miss the event, I would still try and catch up with all my virtual friends in real life. I booked a couple of flights, and began planning a trip. It’s a long way to go, so a longer holiday was planned.

Luckily I was able to procure a ticket, but then hit the stumbling block of getting my husband a UK passport, and realised, in the end, that the AI scanners were declaring all his documents as photocopies, as the writing was faded. Gah!

I began stressing about the outfit, but finally, for my sanity, decided to pull something out of the wardrobe.

I had made the Pattern Union Phoebe Flounce and Phoebe Maxi skirt in 2019 to wear to Perth Frocktails that year.

I used a roll of Japanese shibori silk which clearly cost me $5 in the Fibres West garage sale. I took no photos on the night of London Frocktails but this is the outfit on me in 2019. I was considerably younger!

I decided that I needed a wrap, and, coincidentally the Making Zen retreat had a class called the Meditation Shawl, so I chose to make it. A hunt through my stash found three balls of some beautiful Filatura Di Crosa Superior in an orange colour, which I had found years ago in an op shop. It’s made from cashmere and silk and a 25g ball has 300m of wool, so you can imagine how fine it is. I began the shawl with a single strand and decided I needed to double it. I did a rough estimate in my head and felt I would have enough.

I made the mistake of taking it with me when I visited my granddaughter, and it was immediately taken over. In the end I promised I would get her some knitting that she could do, and she demanded a “kit”! There are still some flaws in the knitting, but I decided to leave them as a memory of our knitting session.

I could see people knitting this shawl in a few days, but it took me a few weeks. I was still knitting it when I left for London Frocktails – both in the lounges waiting for the flights, and on both flights. I lost the plot at one point and began knitting in the round and had to undo a row, which by the end had more than 300 stitches. Each row took between 30 and 40 minutes to knit.

I finished it the day before Frocktails and had enough wool left over for a fat tassel. I still have some scraps so might make tassels for the other ends.

We were in London for a few days before Frocktails took place, but there was a lunch planned the day of the event, and I was very excited to catchup with Suzy, Dawna and Sarah.

Then, at the lunch there were many more people to meet, most for the first time in real life.

Some of the hosts of Sew a Garment a Month challenge on Instagram were there, and Dawna gave us all a tote with “SAGAM” printed on it. This will be treasured! Wendy has joined in for this photo, and she’s someone I have actually met before.

The Frocktails event was held at The Swan and we were on the top floor with acess to the balcony shown below. The view from the balcony at night was spectacular.

It was beyond wonderful to catch up with people I’ve followed for years. I can’t tell you how much fun I had.

Meeting Suzy, who I’ve been co-hosting SAGAM with for eight years, was especially wonderful.

And meeting Caz, who won the Great British Sewing Bee in 2025, Season 11, was a massive thrill. Even more thrilling that she knew who I was.

We all participated in a catwalk and I loved that I got to walk with Lindy from Stokx Patterns. So gorgeous.

Then there was the antipodean photo. We’re all from Australia and New Zealand.

Some more photos of some of the people I’ve followed for ages and finally met.

The post Frocktails euphoria continued the next day, when we visited the Fashion and Textile Museum which was showing designs by Ossie Clark and Cecelia Bertram. This is the era that I grew up in so was quite in my element.

The bias dress is actually strips of fabric sewn on the bias. So beautifully cut and sewn.

Fringing and lace. Not the most practical garments, but certainly beautiful.

I remember having a lot of velvet dresses in the 1970s, but nothing as stunning as this.

And these trousers are so reminiscent of the Pattern Union Phoebe Flares.

Just compare. The Pattern Union ones don’t have shirring, but I’ve decided what I’m making for summer and Designin’ December this year!

There were a lot of illustrations by Cecilia and I absolutely love them. I took a lot of photos, but won’t show them all here.

And a fun interactive display which turns the viewer into a dolly bird from the era. This is me:

and my most favourite photo from the whole event is with Suzy, I can’t tell you how much of a joy this was! I could have stayed with her for days!

Just when I thought the post London Frocktails excitement had quietened down a little, we happened to run into Dawna and her husband in Ghent! It was like an extra special meetup and we were giddy with excitement at the coincidence. They were staying in Brugge, where we went the next day, and I did look for her but to no avail.

So, a wonderful event, meeting so many wonderful people, fondling amazing fabrics and talking about everything. Now it’s over, I want to start again and have all the conversations I meant to have but didn’t.