ART & CULTURE
than buying in Liberty, and have a vast selection. I find that all the online fabric and pattern shops I’ve dealt with have been very kind and helpful. Another one I love that is easier for me to get to is Ray Stitch
in Islington. Tey sell wonderful Japanese double gauzes among many other fabrics and lots of nice patterns. I also attended a pattern-cutting course there which took place over a weekend. It was wonderful, though head-spinning. I’ve always wanted to be able to tailor ready-made patterns to fit me better and this was my answer. It was a nice small group of six and we learned so much! In theory, once you’ve made your bodice pattern using a series of special measurements and a special ruler, you can adjust any ready-made pattern to fit you perfectly, using your “master” bodice pattern as a guide. If you’re really good at it, you can just make your own patterns based on clothes you already have that fit well, or you can design your own. Now, if I could just find the time to put what I learned into practice…
With sewing, success is in the preparation, not actually in running the fabric through the sewing machine…
Resources for getting started or getting better
VV Rouleaux is a haberdashery you can’t beat. There are stores in Bath and London, filled to the brim with beautiful ribbons, buttons, trims, lace, elastics etc. Very inspiring. You can buy lovely ribbon to wrap gifts with if you’re not into sewing.
www.vvrouleaux.com
The Button Queen, which had a shop in Marylebone, but now sells online, is a favourite for any kind of button you can imagine from expensive silver to antique ceramic to 20th century Bakelite.
www.thebuttonqueen.co.uk
Cloth House, Berwick St is very chic and sells both fabric and patterns. Minimalist in style, the fabric is very high quality and expensive.
www.clothhouse.com
Merchant & Mills sells fabric and workwear patterns online with a certain vintage and utility aesthetic. Lots of shift dresses, smocks and tote bags and some patterns for
menswear.merchantandmills.com
Kleins and MacCulloch & Wallis, both in Soho, sell haberdashery to the fashion industry. If they don’t have it, it doesn’t exist.
www.kleins.uk /
www.macculloch-wallis.co.uk
www.HotPatterns.com are located in the US but sell their own patterns, mainly for advanced beginners, online and print-at- home. Their designer, Trudy Hanson, is from the UK and really knows how to explain how the patterns come together via her web tutorials. The patterns always reflect the latest trends and are sized way beyond the usual UK 16.
Sew it with Love located in Lambeth near Waterloo, offer all kinds of sewing classes from a taster class for beginners on how to use a sewing machine to more advanced classes on alteration and upcycling techniques to recreating clothes you already have and love. See also Ray Stitch in Islington which additionally has classes on making children’s clothes and your own home soft furnishings such as cushion covers.
www.sewitwithlove.com /
www.raystitch.co.uk
Brush up, or even just learn, hand embroidery techniques at the Royal School of Needlework. There’s a class for just about every skill level at this institution founded in 1872. And the best part is classes are held in Hampton Court Palace in London as well as other locations around the country.
www.royal-needlework.org.uk
Jennifer Grigg is from Boston and has lived in the UK for over 20 years. After working in the arts and as a
freelance writer, she now runs Green Bottle Press, a small press which publishes poetry collections and pamphlets.
Books are available to buy and submission guidelines are at
www.greenbottlepress.com
18 FOCUS The Magazine September/October 2018
These are just a few ideas to get you going if you’ve always wanted to start sewing. If you’re into quilting or knitting, there are plenty of amazing shops and classes to get involved with. For anyone generally interested in fabric arts of all kinds, Selvedge is a print magazine with an online presence that bears subscribing to. Each month is a visual cornucopia of fabric-related articles and beautiful photographs from indigo dyeing in Japan, to embroidery from Ukraine – if it involves fabric, Selvedge have covered it and they review books and exhibitions too. They also have an online shop selling a small selection of lovely handmade things.
www.focus-info.org
Ray Stitch
Cloth House
V V Rouleaux
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