Stitchin' in the rain!

I love Southbank, and I love village fêtes, so when the two combined this bank holiday weekend, I could not resist braving the threat of rain and going along to check out what was on offer.

The Alternative Village Fête was set up outside The National Theatre, and I have to admit, upon arrival, I was a little disappointed at how small the event was. I suppose I was hoping that as it was held at such a prominent spot, where there are always a lot of people milling around, that it would be on a grander scale, and there would be more things to see and do.




I am sad that they haven't run the Innocent Village Fête for the last couple of years, because that used to be super dooper fun, with great food, awesome bands (I saw Paloma Faith perform there before she got famous), free smoothies, an abundance of things to see and do, and funny traditional games like wellie wanging, ferret racing and geese herding!


That said, looking around the stalls with my niece, we still had fun. Dj El Nino was on hand spinning excellent tunes (again, as seems to be the story of my life, there was nobody to dance with!) in between bands, who were simultaneously performing and teaching the audience folky type dances to go with their music.




So along with cupcake stalls, vintage clothing, The Chap, jewellery, art and music, there was a monster making stall. Naturally, my eyes were drawn to this, and after establishing that we had free reign on the wide array of colourful fabric, buttons, felt, thread, string and feathers for free, we set to work stitching, together with a crowd of people.










Even when it starting drizzling (ok, raining) a little, we stuck it out for the sake of taking home a pair of badly stitched monstrosities that we have no use for! They handed out free rain ponchos, which I was reluctant to use, for vanity's sake (although tempted, for my hair's sake)...




Ultimately, I enjoy crafty projects, and despite getting a little impatient at points (why couldn't they provide some glue so we didn't have to stitch everything?!) I enjoyed sitting amongst a group of adults, all focussed on making the best potato-headed fabric monster possible.








For a small fête, it was fine - it attracted a lot of people, it was in a beautiful setting by the Thames, there was enough to keep you entertained for a while, and it got us out and about for free on a Saturday afternoon!