Fabric Shopping

Fabric shopping when you live outside London is a lot harder than you think! If you are like me, live out in the sticks of East Anglia, you find yourself incredibly limited in choices of fabric shops.

I know the internet is the best place for choice and price ranges, however, sometimes we need to go and see look and feel the fabric we want to use. And with all the new technology, the internet fails to give us these other senses to us.

One shop I do recommend is And Sew On Fabrics. The staff is very friendly and always willing to help. Not only they have a wide selection of curtain/upholstery fabrics, they do also have a huge selection of clothing fabrics and quilting fabrics. Just be prepared to spend hours looking through piles and piles of rolls, worth the effort. Plus the centre where it is based has other interesting independent shops and a nice place to have a coffee.

I have found other shops around where I live, however, none can beat And Sew On Fabrics for choice and price. Usually the small shops in the towns and cities just have a small selection of fabrics and the price is on the higher end.

However, if you ever find yourself with a day free to go into London I can thoroughly recommend Goldhawk Road. Not a specific shop but the entire street! Yes, a dressmaker's dream. The nearest tube station is Goldhawk Road. Some shops specialise in a particular type of fabric, some have a selection of everything. However, one thing I recommend, if you see a fabric in one shop you like but want to shop around, take note of fabric and shop name. I have done this before only to find that I forgot which shop it was. I will also say that prices are very competitive and some shop owners are very friendly, not all. Most fashion students mill around these shops in search for bargains for their projects.

I have also visited Walthamstow Market for fabric, but I found that it cannot beat Goldhawk Road in choice, price maybe, but the wide choice of Goldhawk Road is far better. And when you are making the effort to go into the city for fabric shopping, you might just as well go for somewhere with lots of choice.

Also, as a dressmaker, seamstress or fashion designer, you may find incredibly useful to attend one of the big trade fairs in London.

All the amazing fabrics are almost entirely wholesale exclusive. I know there are great fabrics out there, but it is not until you start attending the trade events that you realise the plethora of fantastic quality fabrics that are almost exclusive to big fashion houses. Many of these trade fairs are open to the public, others require that you have a business card. Which is not a big problem, all you need to do is have some printed and call yourself a seamstress or a fashion designer... easy.

Anyway, over the past year I have attended a few trade fairs in London and was pleasantly surprised. Some companies have low minimums buy, some of 5 metres others 10 metres and a few of just 1 metre. Of course, depends on what you are going to sew. Usually when you go to a trade fair you already know what type and style of fabric you are looking for as you will have a specific design in mind or have a range of clothing to make. So the 'just browsing' that we usually do in shops will not work here. Still, I learned a lot attending the trade fairs and found some great companies willing to deal with small business/dressmakers like me.

The one trade fair I can recommend is Textile Forum. They do two shows a year to follow the fashion seasons and many of the businesses featured on the fair have low minimum buys. But remember, everything is plus VAT and delivery.

However, I cannot talk about fabric trade fairs without talking about Premiere Vision in Paris. I am yet to attend this trade fair, and it is a day out I am planning to make. When I do I shall let you all know how it went and whether it is worth going for dressmakers and small businesses like me.

I hope this has some useful information for you all. If you know of other fabric shops in East Anglia that are worth the visit, feel free to comment below. I am always on the look out for new places.

Have fun creating!

Lusete