Diary of a Chain Stitcher

O my goodness. I cannot believe I have not been to Walthamstow Market before! After picking up from various sewing blogs that this was THE place to go for fabrics in London I decided to make the trek up there this Saturday. Well I actually decided to go two months ago but something got in the way every Saturday until it became this one. So as it had taken such a long time to get there and probably would be a long time before I did again I decided to really go for it and went armed with my spreadsheet of upcoming projects I am looking for fabrics for and a bundle of cash! Well let me tell you on my return that bundle of cash was not as depleted as I expected but I had bundles of fabric as planned! I could not get over the prices for the quality and variety of fabrics available. I came back with enough fabric for 4 dresses and 2 tops as well as a bulk buy of both black and white fusible interfacing for just over £30! £30! Even on Goldhawk Road I'm used to fingering fabrics wist...

Over the last couple of weekends I have been out and about hunting for particular things I need to complete certain projects and it occurred to me how useful it would be to have an idea of where was good for what all written down in one place. So I thought I'd start a little series of blog posts about my favourite places to shop to pass on some of my contacts I've collected over the years and also see if anyone has got any other brilliant additions. Most of the places will be in London, although most now have shop online options for others elsewhere. So first in line are Haberdasheries, I think the most important places to know (and also a word I can never spell correctly first time!). Here's a selection of my favourites. Barnett Lawson  - 16-17 Little Portland Street, Oxford Circus One of the biggest haberdasheries I know of. They have a HUGE supply of all different trimmings; ribbons, braids, fringes, buttons, cords, tassels, you name it they've got it. They al...