London Fabric Shopping Part 2

So, before I got totally sidetracked with Athens, I was going to tell you about fabric shopping in London. Thankfully, Phineas arrived on Friday evening, so I had someone to take a photo or two, even if he was a bit less than enthusiastic about a shoping excursion. Actually, we had a really nice day rambling around London.

First stop on the fabric circuit was Cloth House. There are actually two locations and I only made it to the one at No 47 Berwick Street. It is a charming - and beautifully curated - shop. Everything about it is neat and tidy with fabrics carefully arranged and marked, a small but quality collection of notions and buttons, and a knowledgeable and friendly staff. The shop at No 47 is stocked with cottons, linens, denim, poplin and eyelet fabrics. Definitely, this is the place to go if you are looking to buy beautiful basics or are making a dress or suit for a garden party.

Since I was not looking for basics, we moved on to MacCulloch & Wallis. This store has flash. There were an abundance of dress fabrics and nary a cotton to be found. They have a second floor with a broad variety of notions, including (or so the very helpful young design school grad waiting on me says) magnetic "zippers" of the sort that strippers would use for their tear-away pants. Ahem. He told me this after I had purchase some sequined snow leopard print fabric, which I plan to make into a pencil skirt and NOT tear-away pants.


This photo doesn't do it justice. Basically it is a silver grey leopard print with rows of small silver sequins over it. I'm not planning to make it up right away, but was thinking that it will be fantastic for holiday parties or a wedding.

Since I had fantastic fabric in hand, I could no longer deny Phineas his turn to choose how we spent the afternoon. So, my shopping was done. That said, London sewists have it pretty good. And, happily, I will be heading home with my first international fabric purchase.