Dogs Love Wool Too

Yesterday was the first Sunday of the month, which meant that is was time for Purls of Wisdom, the knitting group at Ribbon Circus to meet. Very excitingly, we had a couple of firsts to put on the list.

Harold became the first dog to join the knitting group. He was a little overwhelmed with amount of tea drinking, cake eating and chatter (as well as knitting... obviously) taking place, but he managed to cope quite well with all the head patting and ear scratching.

The other first was that we fitted 22 people into the shop AT THE SAME TIME. If you've ever visited Ribbon Circus you'll realise this is some achievement. There was a lot of careful needle management so as not to drop any stitches, but everyone coped like real stars.

I hope the squash was worth all the new friends we made, with 7 brand new people turning up for the fun. See you all next time.

Magical Visitor

This morning we were greeted by this jolly fellow on the windowsill of the shop. He was a bit worse for wear, so we took him inside, plied him with coffee and let him recuperate in the Ribbon Circus sequin drawer. We are very pleased to report that he's made a full recovery and has now popped for a hair of the dog. Hopefully he's spreading a little magic around Hebden Bridge somewhere...

Kitted Up For Crafting

This has been the summer for enjoying small craft projects. Everyone seems to be having babies, so there's been personalised bunting coming out of Ribbon Circus for the past few months.

The best craft project of the summer has been the design a bag craft kit from Blueberry Park. The kit comes with a ready made bag, embroidery silk and all the trimmings you need to make it look beautiful. Without the pressure of trying to work out whether you've got everything you need, your mind can concentrate on the design. Oh, what fun!

And if you like the idea of personalised bunting for new babies, birthdays and celebrations, Blueberry Park also does a mini bunting kit... although if you want to get totally creative and choose your own colours, trimmings and embellishments, everything is available from Ribbon Circus. As well as having the fun making the bunting, your friends will be forever grateful.

On The Button

At last, Ribbon Circus has started its button collection in earnest.

We've been thinking about it for months, and finally we've done it. To be honest it was a trip to Paris and the wonderful La Droguerie trimmings shop that reminded us of the joy of quirkiness, not to mention how it helps get the inspiration flowing. We've always tried to resist the boring haberdashery display stands, but their practicality sometimes wins out... not in this case though, as we're stashing our button collection in old jam jars. If you've got old jars you want to get rid of, bring them down to Ribbon Circus and they'll be lovingly recycled.

If you're on the hunt for interesting buttons, but don't live near Hebden Bridge, you can always try our online shop. We promise to keep the website up to date with our new button purchases as the collection grows and grows.

Hats Ahoy

Ribbon Circus is recovering from Hebden Bridge's first Fabulous Fifties Weekender... and what a fabulous weekend it was. There was dancing from Friday right through to Sunday evening, wonderful live bands (our favourite was TC and the Swingcats), amazing clothes both on people and to buy at Lucy and the Caterpillar's Vintage Fair and a seriously impressive 1950s beer festival at The Hole Int Wall.

The forementioned TC and the Swingcats should win an award for the most dedicated musicians, as they continued to perform through the pouring rain on Saturday afternoon in St George's Square. They were so enticing that the crowd was happy to get drenched just to stay and watch them perform... and I've never seen so many people dancing under umbrellas before. Hilarious.

Watch out of the next one.

Wrap a Ribbon Round It

Lucy Locket lost her pocket

Kitty Fisher found it

Not a penny was there in it

Only a ribbon round it.

On rainy days Ribbon Circus finds itself searching the internet for interesting indoor projects, and the Victoria and Albert Museum website often comes up trumps. Our latest find is a section on the history of pockets, which includes pattern ideas from the amazing V&A textile collection. So, if you've found yourself stuck indoors hiding from the rain, collect together your scraps of fabric and make yourself a pocket, and don't forget to wrap a ribbon from Ribbon Circus round it.

Hep Cats Weekend

Having recently returned from the July Hep Cats extravaganza, Ribbon Circus can highly recommend the September weekend for the best fun you can have whilst dressed in your finest vintage get up.

Hep Cats is a time machine that transports you back in time for the weekend... it's in a holiday camp that has retained it's 50s charm, there are fabulous vintage stalls, excellent Lindyhop teachers, brilliant music and amazing bands. If like Ribbon Circus, you are in constant search of inspiration, treat yourself and get booked up before it's too late.

You will return home with hundreds of new friends from all over the world. It's too brilliant an opportunity to miss.

Check out the Hep Cat Holiday website for all the information.

Fabulous Fifites Weekender

Ah, the smell of vintage clothing always gets my heart racing. I'm so excited that Hebden Bridge is celebrating the Fifites with classic cars, a vintage fair and dancing... swing, jump jive and rhythmn & blues. Looking for inspiration? There'll be a whole weekend of it here in Hebden Bridge from 29th July - 2nd August.

They'll be a live western swing band and jive dancing in St Georges Square on Saturday afternoon and a fabulous vintage market in the Hole Int Wall on Sunday afternoon. Ribbon Circus will be open for the duration, celebrating with delicious fairy cakes... and we could be pursuaded to show you how to make some vintage inspired ribbon brooches. Come and pay us a visit.