Sunday 11 May 2014

Fabric finding and another Vogue 8710

Originally I had intended this post to be a quick 5 minute chat to myself about the Vogue 8710 top.  I had made this before and had in mind to make another version, I never got around to it, mainly because I forgot due to not finding the lace type fabric I wanted to use.  Then whilst shopping at the local market for something inexpensive to use for a muslin of another project muslin (Bluegingerdoll's Winifred) I found just what I had in mind.  It was perfect, a two way stretch bonded lace, I was expecting it to be expensive but when the stall holder told me it was £4.50 per meter I nearly fell over.


Of course as usual I came away with more fabric than I intended to buy but I was quite reserved this visit.
I purchased,

1m of bonded lace
3m of black cotton/lycra jersey
3m navy/white polycotton, all this only came to £18 ($30) I love this fabric stall.

This made me realised that I have some amazing fabric finding places in and around my city and some even within walking distance of my home.   I thought I might like to make everyone super jealous of the fantabulous fabric shops and stall I have at my disposal.

Here is the local market stall where I made the purchases above, he has hundreds and hundreds of rolls of fabric, its all inexpensive and I never found anything more than £5($8.50) per meter.
Fabric stall (John Street Market)

This photo was taken on a day where the stall owner had obviously tidied up because you really have to route through the stock to find what you are looking for.

This is a great place to buy cheap fabric but I guess you get what you pay for and it is certainly not my favourite place.

The place I buy fabric from most frequently is a place called Bombay Stores and apparently it is world famous.  It is an Asian department store in Bradford (where I live) and I can literally walk there from home in around 10 minutes.  You are not allowed to take photographs inside the store, mostly because they sell wedding dresses and jewellery with a value equal to a small pacific island, the wedding dresses are amazing, all hand beaded silks with drapery to die for, but the price tags are phenomenal.

I found this video on youtube,  please don't watch all of it but fast forward to around  the time of 5:14 watch until 7:40  minutes and I guarantee for 2 whole minutes you will drool and wish you could be let loose in the place with a gold card to hand, and yes they really do have that many rolls of fabric at £1.10 ($1.85) per meter or £1 ($1.68) per yard.  I tried to count rolls of fabric in there one time but stopped once I attempted one section and lost count (mostly because I was distracted by some beautiful shot silk organza that changed colour from purple to pink in the light), but I estimate there are over 3000.  As you can see they sell notions and decorative bits and pieces too (11:53 - 12:34 minutes), more than you can ever imagine.

There are few more places I purchase fabric too, I love The Shuttle in Shipley which is about 8 miles from my home, this place has been mentioned before in several blogs (Tree Fall,  and Did you make that?) and for good reason.  They stock some of the best dress making fabric around and are reasonably priced, they have great sales a couple of times a year too.  The shop is fairly small and the first time I went there I thought to myself "is that it?  "what's all the fuss about?" (I did come away with Liberty Lawn at £8pm)  then I was shown into the back room..... OMG!!!  it is stocked from floor to ceiling with fabric but you really do have to search, climb and route through it, it takes time but they have everything any dressmaker could need.
The Shuttles, back room


















Then we have the Pièce de résistance seriously you would love this place, everyone I know that sews loves this place. It is called B&M fabrics and is based in Leeds market.  it maybe small but it really packs some punch, if they don't stock it you really don't need it and their prices are AMAZING! 
Adrienne from All style and No Substance did a brilliant blog post about this place a while ago I do have to take a bus or train to get here but it only takes 30 minutes and it is well worth it.

So thats about it.........

Oh yeah I was meant to be showing you my Vogue 8710 but I got distracted, here it is on a hanger (sorry for the photo quality it was a last minute phone job) because I just haven't got around to wearing it yet.