Inside the Vault

News, Makes and Moments from The Fabric Vault

Issue 04 – April 2026

A note from the Vault

April seemed to pass like a whirlwind for us – donations, travel and fabric seem to have dominated the 4^th month of 2026 for us! (and how can we also be whizzing through 2026 like this?)

Last Months at The Fabric Vault

April felt like a great month where loose ends began to be tied up.

Donations had been collected at the shop and the Cathedral and these were loaded into the van and we headed off across Europe to drop them off in Prague. These were gratefully received. Once we had a empty van, we spent some time with Dagmar’s family and also headed off to Hungary for meetings with 3 fabric suppliers. These went really well and we’ve already received a large delivery of fabric from them with the hope of more to come in the future.

In fact, some figures for this trip are:

Czech trip – April 2026

Statistics

1 van, 2 passengers, 2x ferry crossings

 9 Countries: UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia

3159 Miles / 5084 km

68Hours 19 minutes driven

39 Miles per gallon, 7l per 100km, approx 360litres Fuel used, 8 Fuel stops, 4 motorway toll ticket passes

Lots of comfort breaks 

32 boxes of donations passed to Korridor UA, 1039 Items in boxes

Too many cups of coffee to count, Plenty of local beers, 6 Hotel rooms, Not enough cups of tea (for John)

Once we returned to the UK, we hosted our first 2 day Sew Relaxing event at Lea Marston Hotel. This was a great event and all who attended felt the the two days allowed them plenty of time to work on their projects.

Make of the Month ✂

At The Fabric Vault, we’ve continued to tell our customers about our make of the month.

If you haven’t heard yet, this is where we invite you to send in pictures of items that you’ve made with material purchased from our shop. This may be bags, quilts clothing etc.

Well this month, we’ve picked 2 again! Because we just couldn’t choose just one.

The first one is from Helen, and she sent us lovely email with her photos:

I called in to your shop in January for the first time.  I had a ticket for the talk with Caz from Sewing Bee, and had some time to kill.

I bought 4 metres of linen look cotton in emerald green.  It was probably more than I would normally buy, but I loved the fabric and really wanted a project to get my teeth into.

I made the Freddy and Rossi wrap dress by TheBoldOne, downloadable pdf, found on Instagram. 

Anyway, I thought you might like to see what I did with your fabric. 

Helen

The second is made by Julie (our regular contributor to “Make of the Month” :-)) This time Julie used two completely different fabrics. On the left is our new Viscose from Hungary, isn’t that beautiful? Ready for summer. And on the right is William Morris Polyester Silk.

If you’d like to see your makes featured, please email them to John: [email protected] or WhatsApp them to us at the Fabric Vault.

Classes, Workshops & Learning

We have a wide array of lessons to cater for the absolute beginner to the experienced sewist. You can find more details of lessons by popping in the shop or checking out the lessons section on our website; Book Now

This time we are showing you photos of “proud moments”

What’s Coming Next?

We’ve been working really hard behind the scenes with our team of volunteers on our Poppy Project. This officially launches on Monday 4^th May at Lichfield Cathedral. We will be there to give you more information as well and show our patterns and resource packs which will be available should you wish to purchase them.

As always, our Sewing Retreat Days of 2026 continue – our next one will be on Sunday 14^th June. Dagmar has been working hard on the booking system for this on our website so that it allows you to book and pay in instalments for the Sew Relaxing days rather than have to pay the full amount in one go – please look on our website for further info and as we speak, there are still a few spaces available! Sewing Retreat Days

From the Community

Well, the Fenland Oak Table left Lichfield Cathedral after its year in residence. On speaking to volunteers and staff at the Cathedral, a feeling of sadness descended when the table left and it felt like a big space appeared in the Cathedral where the table had been. It’s strange how a table can become such a big part of your life. But, we really hope that it brings joy, smiles and great activities for all as it moves to its next home in Blackburn.

Thanks for reading, we hope that you’ve enjoyed this edition of “From the Vault”

With stitches and thanks,

Dagmar & John