A Big List of Fabric Sellers in the UK

I'm leaving this here for the time being - but the most up to date version of this list can be found on my new blog at Very Berry Handmade.  Please come round and say hello. 

A couple of friends, who know about my fabric addiction, have recently asked me to send links to good online sellers.  It made me realise that when you're starting out with sewing, it's difficult to know what the best fabric places are - and of course there seems to be new places opening up all the time.  I've also seen lots of interesting sounding shops advertised recently in Sew Hip and Selvedge magazines that I'd love to investigate in the future (hope my other half isn't reading this...), so I'd make a big list of UK based fabric sellers who have a good selection of cottons for patchwork, dressmaking and accessory-making.  Feel free to get in touch and recommend others if you know of them - and if you've used any of the shops listed here and have feedback, then I'd love to hear from you - then I can update the list with your experiences.  Btw, the fabric images are for decoration only, and not an indication that they're available in the shops listed...
  

I've tried to limit this list to those shops with really good user interface, really good stock and/or unusual fabrics.  Some sites haven't made it because I'm not particularly into their fabrics or the website is just too dreadful to use.  Sites in bold are those that I've actually bought from myself.


Abakahn
Masses of 100% cotton to choose from - but mostly fairly traditional choices.  Huge variety of other craft and dressmaking fabrics available too.


African Fabric Shop
A fabulous shop with a lovely range of fabrics that could never be described a run of the mill. Gorgeous beads and some really good kits too. 


Backstitch
Not an enormous selection of fabric, but very well chosen (Kaffe Fassett, Valori Wells, Amy Butler etc.). There is a really excellent selection of patterns including Oliver + S and Colette.


Celtic Fusion Fabrics
Another very well  chosen range with some designers & manufacturers that you don't see everywhere else, such as Saffron Craig, Naomi Ito (Nano Iro fabrics) & Westfalenstoffe.  The pictures on the website are lovely, but I find the white on blue text a little difficult to read.


The Cloth Seller
The Cloth Seller specialises in organic and fair trade fabrics.  This is a revelation if you're used to the standard organic and fair trade fabrics that are out there...  They have cottons, jerseys, lawn and velvet & furnishing fabrics in stock, and manufacturers/designers include Westfalenstoffe, Daisy Janie (they are the UK distributor for Daisy Jainie) and Mod Green Pod.


Clothaholics.com
Kimono, Genshodo and indigo fabrics.


Cotton Patch
I really like Cotton Patch - because of their enormous range of fabric, notions, patchwork and quilting gadgets, books, patterns, fabric bundles & threads they are an essential destination for quilters in the UK.  You could spend hours (and a fortune!) on this website.  If you think you are going to be a regular, it is well worth joining one of their clubs which entitles you to discounts.  There are some downsides - if you order a 1/4 metre you seem to get a skinny quarter rather than a fat quarter, the site is a bit catalogue-ish (lots of long lists), and delivery can be slow unless you pay for the expensive Express option.


Croft Mill
Lots of fun fabrics from people who are clearly very enthusiastic about their work.  Really excellent prices too.


Ditto
A lovely range of dressmaking fabrics (and some cottons that would be great for patchwork and other sewing) at good prices.  You can order online but payment is taken over the phone.


Doughty's Online
A new site to me, but has a wonderful selection of fabric at some GREAT prices. A really big range of Kaffe Fassett (always a draw for me) & other Rowan designers, and some very tempting batiks too.  They also have lots of other fabrics, yarns, threads and craft materials. The website is also very easy to navigate, and they have a pricematch feature. I shall definitely be testing them out very soon.


Emma Garry Designs
Amy Butler, Heather Bailey and more.  Not masses to choose from, but some good stuff here.  There are also patterns, kits, and some beautiful handmade items.


The Eternal Maker
There are huge quantities of lovely fabrics here (lots & lots of gorgeous Kokka stuff for example), but it's quite to find them because the menus are quite hard to locate.  11/10 for stock, but it would be so fantastic if it was just a little bit easier to navigate the site.


Fancy Moon
A really excellent range of fabric - specialising in Alexander Henry amongst others.  You can browse by designer, manufacturer and theme, which makes finding what you want very easy.  The fabrics from the various designers are very well chosen. A real bonus is a big range of interior fabrics by Etsuko Furuya for Kokka. 


Fabric*Garden (on Ebay)
Nice selection, including some lovely Japanese fabrics such as Sunny Place and Kokka. Seller has a 100% feedback rating.


Fabric Inspirations
I love the range of fabrics here, but I have to say I find the menu options on the website very limiting (thematic search only, very useful in itself, but what if you are after a particular designer or colour?), so I find it rather frustrating.


Fabric Land
This website is a total blast from the past and exhausting to use, but the prices mean that it can't be left out.  No designer fabrics here, but lots of useful stuff at good prices (if you can find them...).


Fabric Rehab
Really lovely selection of more unusual contemporary fabrics, with the emphasis on retro and funky.  A deservedly popular site, with a great design, but I would love more non-thematic menu options for browsing.


Fabrics Plus
A selection from Amy Butler, Anna Maria Horner, Heather Bailey, Dena Designs, Makower and Moda.


Gaga Fabrics 
Funky and retro fabrics with a lovely clear interface. Not a vast selection, but some very tempting things here, and the selection is a bit different.


Gone to Earth
I'm a regular at Gone to Earth - the customer service is second to none, and there is a very well chosen range of fabrics, patterns and notions which means that you're very likely to find almost everything  you want.  Delivery is always incredibly fast too.


Gossypium
Organic and fair trade fabric - not much choice at the moment but included because it's fair trade and organic.


Liberty
Lucky you if you can afford it!  But always worth a look for a bit of inspiration if nothing else.  The new season stuff at the moment is absolutely delicious.


LucyLovesFabric
Some of the standard designers here - Amy Butler, Anna Maria Horner, but also some really lovely vintage fabric finds.  Definitely worth a look.


Lymington Fabrics
They have a very good range including Moda and Freedom Fabric.  They have lots of fabric bundles, jelly rolls, charm packs on offer - which look fantastic. They also offer free delivery, which is always good.


MacCulloch & Wallis
Masses to choose from with the added bonus of huge quantities of gorgeous haberdashery.


Millie Moon
Not an enormous selection but some good fabrics including Amy Butler, Alexander Henry and Tilda.


Nerybeth Fabric and Crafts
Stocks Amy Butler, Kaffe Fassett, Anna Maria Horner, Heather Bailey and Moda.  Seems to have a very good range - sells sewing accessories & patterns too so this is a bit of a one stop shop.


Patch Fabrics
Very nice site with a good selection of fabrics, including a fair few from Michael Miller.  I particularly like the lovely fabric bundles and inspiration packs. If you are nervous about choosing fabrics then bundles are a good way to find stuff that go together.

Quality Fabrics 4U (on Ebay)
This Ebay shop has one of the widest selections I have seen in this survey - majoring in Michael Miller and Alexander Henry, with some good prices too.


Quilters Cloth
A lovely site, with a really excellent menu to allow easy browsing.  There appears to be an absolutely excellent range here, including gorgeous batiks. They have some lovely fabric bundles too.


The Quilt Room
A strangely impersonal website, but there's some lovely fabrics here, including the gorgeous French General Rouenneries, and some lovely heritage and reproduction fabrics.


Ray Stitch
A really lovely new site with a gorgeous and very different selection of fabrics including Cloud 9, Kokka, and plain organic cottons.


Saints and Pinners
A very representative collection of all the current fave designers like Heather Bailey, Tanya Whelan, Amy Butler & Erin McMorris.  Very useful browsing menu too.


Seamstar
Another shop with a really imaginative selection of fabrics, including sproutdesign from Australia, Hoodie and Lauren & Jessie Jung.  They've got some really great free project patterns on the site too - very inspirational.


So there you go - hope you find it useful.

It's a start..!

The bags of fabric bits are oppressing me... And in spite of wanting to get going with some patchwork projects, at this time of year (busy in the garden), I haven't got time to experiment with anything too complicated. So thinking of lovely strippy quilts that I've seen on Flickr and at the V&A exhibition, I decided to just start sewing little pieces of fabric into strips and think about what to do with them later. It was lovely to sit and sew in straight lines, and not worry too much about colour and design! So once I had my strip, what to do with it? Here's what I came up with..

Yes... it's another zippered pouch...  Now I've worked out how to do this kind of zipper I can't stay away from them.  This time I've made the zip look even neater by covering the ends in this lovely tidy way.  The other thing to know about this colourful little pouch is that the lovely grey linen used to be a skirt and that sophisticated grey and white lining fabric is an ex-shirt.  I do like to recycle - it gives me a real buzz not to throw things away.... but it does, of course, mean a lot more bags of fabric.  Oh dear!

9 Patch Perfection

We've been talking about the attractions and problems of hoarding on At A Kitchen Table (the lovely parenting forum where I hang out).  I'm not really a hoarder because I really don't like clutter, but you wouldn't know it if you saw my house!  It's overflowing with fabric, yarn, craft books, magazines, buttons, and all sorts of crafting ephemera.  Partly it's because our storage is really limited, but it's also because I really can't bear to throw away anything that is bigger than absolutely tiny!  So I am hugely keen to get going with some patchwork to use up some of the masses amounts of scraps that I have 'stored' in carrier bags...  I'd quite like to make some 9 patch and log cabin pin cushions, and maybe, if I have some bigger pieces, I could try some proper-sized cushions...

I've been browsing on Flickr for some 9 patch inspiration...  Look at these beauties!

1. 1930's 9-patch quilt, 2. Nine-Patch Quilt, 3. crazy9patch11, 4. Hugs & Kisses, 5. 9 errrr.....10 Patch Baby Quilt, 6. 9 A Day Quilt Along, 7. scrap 9 patch close, 8. crazy nine patch quilt

So, what are you guilty of hoarding?  Tell me all about it!  I was actually thinking of doing a hoard-busting challenge (with a prize of course - maybe I could declutter some of my craft books!) - if you're interested in playing along, please do say (you're not committing yourself - just expressing an interest!), and I'll try and think of some rules...

Working Through My Stash

I'm busily preparing for my first ever craft fair at the moment & haven't got much time for blogging - but this place is seriously in need of an update! I'm trying hard to make use of the fabrics in my stash to create lots of loveliness to wow the public with (ha ha), and these coasters are one of the things I've come up with. I bought a charm pack of the Rouenneries collection from French General quite a while ago now - I was totally seduced by all those beautiful reds and faded creams and browns - it's a gorgeous collection. I wondered about making a bag or two, using the squares in decorative strips (an idea I'm definitely going to use at some point), but time being rather limited, I decided to do something a little more straightforward. These coasters were huge fun to make, so much so that I'm just completing some more using Amy Butler fabrics. What worries me about them is whether people buy coasters any more, and what on earth to charge for them! They take a fair bit of time to make, and I have a feeling that if I charge a realistic price for them no one will be interested. But that's so often the trouble with handmade. Ho hum - I guess all I can do is give it a go.

First Ever Artist Trading Card

Over at UK Handmade, Kella of Creative Wishes has set up an ATC Swap group. The 1st swap is now underway and the theme is Trees. Here's what I've come up with. I'm pretty satisfied with it for a first attempt and I hugely enjoyed the process of thinking up what to make. I am looking forward to it as an opportunity to learn lots of new techniques and to experiment within the limits of the form. If you want to get involved then pop over to UK Handmade and sign up to the ATC swap group - swaps are going to be taking place every month.

Before and After...

I came downstairs this morning to this terrible sight in my living room.... I've only used a tiny photo in an attempt to cover up my shame, but it's still pretty terrifying isn't it ?! This is pretty much what happens every time I put together a patchwork block. For this particular block - a Log Cabin pattern - I needed 4 co-ordinating lights & 4 co-ordinating darks, and first I had to decide which shades I had to use. Blues and greens maybe? Purples and greens? Reds & purples? Then I had to come up with enough fabric each of my chosen colours. And that, of course, meant getting out practically my entire fabric stash, unfolding it, trying different combinations, then trying more different combinations..... well, you get the picture. It's all tidied away now and, best of all - it came out happily in the end:

Lots of Progress

It really is about time that I reported on my patchwork progress. I now have 8 12" square completed (please excused crumpled appearance - it's been rolled up in my bag over Christmas!). It's been brilliant fun so far - working with the other women in my class has been very inspirational and it's been great to see the colours and patterns that other people have come up with. It is fascinating that the same block can be made to look so different by the use of colour and arrangement. We are about to start our new term and I'm very enthusiastic - just hoping that enough people join up again to keep the class going. It seems a shame that there aren't more people out there who want to learn this amazing craft. This week I've also been working on a needle/crochet hook roll to store some of my crafting clutter. By complete coincidence, a couple of my crafting friends both approached me with a request to make one for them, so I thought I'd do one for myself first to work out a pattern - it's going well - just need to finish sewing up the binding and then I'm all done with that. I also have a commission to make a card wallet and a bag, so I've been buying gorgeous fabric and boring stuff like interfacing from the brillant Gone to Earth (ordered yesterday morning, received today!) and Cotton Patch. What a busy few days it has been - I've got lots of new followers on Facebook and great comments on my blog so it looks as if there's going to be quite a competition for the bag on Monday. That's all hugely exciting and it's certainly helped me to feel very enthusiastic about moving on with lots of new crafting projects. I've signed up for a crochet challenge - A Granny A Day over at Meet Me at Mike's. The aim is to commit to crocheting one granny square a day in 2010 - well there's no way I am going to achieve that, but I might manage 1 every other day. That would certainly be good for my yarn stash and also I'm hoping to end up with a groovy throw that would brighten up our newly decorated front room. Then there's also a very cool White Elephant swap at Juanita Tortilla. This is a great idea because it doesn't actually involve any crafting at all... go check it out and sign up if you have some crafty bits and bobs that you can't think what to do with! And in amongst all of this activity I've also managed to list a few things for sale on MISI and Etsy (phew!) - here they are, for your delectation.

First steps in patchwork...

I confess I have made patchwork bits and pieces before - the log cabin needle books for example, but I pretty much made it up as I went along. I've been wanting to do a course to learn how to do it properly for ages, so I was really pleased to find a Beginners Patchwork course at my local college. It started a couple of weeks back now and this is the beginning of my first block. The plan is that we are going to do 9 blocks in all - all of them taking us through the basics of different kids of patchwork. I am hoping that my finished article will look good enough for me to give to someone as a Christmas present. Or maybe I should make it the prize for my 100th post giveaway, which is coming along very soon...! I'm using mostly scraps and fabric from local charity shops, although I have bought a couple of new fat quarters and some background fabric from Abakahn.

I was quite stressed making this up this morning - I was a bit scared that I wouldn't be able to get the corners to match up and that it would all come out too small / too large / too cockeyed, but it worked pretty well (I really concentrated - I am not known for my accuracy!), and everything pretty much matched up, and it measures the right size. The fabric consists of an old pillowcase, a thrifted baby dress from Gap, a bit of vintage Laura Ashley, a thrifted shirt, and 2 bits of new FQs. Can you guess which is which?

The really disappointing thing is that it's possible that our last patchwork class will be tonight, because although there are 8 enthusiastic pupils, the College has a policy that self-funded classes need a class size of 12 to make them viable. We spent a lot of time last week trying to work out how we could keep the class going - so fingers crossed there will be better news tonight. Otherwise I will just try and keep teaching myself - I hope I can motivate myself as well as the class would have done!

I've been doing a lot of experimenting with applique lately. I want to make lots more wallets and needle books to sell, and I think a bit of applique will make a nice change from the ordinary. It's also a great way of jazzing up the plainer upcycled fabrics that I like to use. Here's a couple of examples of what I've been working on. The background fabric for both of them is from an old pair of Boden cords. The bird applique is made using a little bit of Kaffe Fassett fabric (Striped Vase in Lavender), and some yellow felt. The applique stitch is up and down buttonhole stitch, which I think looks good, a bit more showy than standard buttonhole stitch / blanket stitch, and so works better with this rather dramatic fabric. I'm using it for the front of a proper purse / wallet (with a zip and everything!) which will be in my Etsy shop very soon. I just need to take some good photos..

The owl decorates a business card / credit card wallet, which just needs a press stud to finish it off (I am so not a finisher...). I put it together pretty quickly last week - I like it but I'm not sure if the fuzzy fabric isn't a bit too fuzzy, and I'm worried that those bead eyes might make him look a bit too scary. He might well go in the shop at a 'prototype' price!

A Little Experiment with Patchwork and Quilting...

I didn't want to make my swap partner something crocheted for the Time for Tea Swap - Izabela is such an expert at crochet (take a look!), so I thought I would have a go at something different and make use of some fabric from my stash.

I pieced together bits of fabric in strips and then in turn sewed them together until I had a rectangular piece of patchwork. I then cut a piece of toning fabric to form the base and a piece of fusible fleece to provide the padding. I ironed this lot together then cut out 6 coaster-sized circles. Then I used some thrifted bias binding to bind the edges - I was lucky enough to find a huge box of different shades of bias binding in our local Oxfam a while back. So it was great to use different colours - I think I like the pink best, what do you think?

I am pleased with result, and it was so enjoyable to do... I think I might make a few more - if I do square ones then they might not be quite so fiddly either!

The coffee mug in the photo up at the top is from my gorgeous Cinqe Ports Rye coffee set and dates from the late 50s. That's another charity shop find - just ocassionally I get lucky and find something very lovely. Makes all that trundling round worthwhile.