Because I'm not making as much as normal, I'm also not buying as much fabric as normal, a fact that has been understandably commented on (although possibly blaming my lack of fabric purchase for the state of the economy may be a little strong!). The thing is it turns out that whilst I will happily say that there is no such thing as too much fabric and that you really do not need a reason to buy it, I actually do not feel justified in acquiring more when I'm not using any at all. And I did not see that one coming.
That said, I did manage to pick up a few bits and pieces whilst I was in London last weekend.
These first two are japanese fabrics - a baby whale cord (the red apple) and a linen. I generally don't buy japanese fabricfrom here in the UK. It's too expensive and there's never a good choice. At least that was what I thought until I met the very clever Anna, who's shop The Eternal Maker, stocks a small but perfect range of Kokka fabrics(amongst others). They're still expensive (blame the distributors), but she has a couple of prints that I haven't seen anywhere else and her fat quarters are easily affordable.
And that's not all. Even more excitingly, Anna sells 100 percent wool felt, in about a trillion colours, and you can buy online.
I want it all. In every colour.
The next pile is Liberty. And this is where my 'I just can't justify it' theory falls down flat on it's face. Because as far as I'm concerned, if you see Liberty fabric and it's half price, and you love it, then you buy it. All.
I very rarely buy Liberty fabric at full price. At almost £20 a metre it just isn't possible, no matter how much I love it. Instead I have a couple of UK shops that I visit as often as I can, purely because they tend to stock prints at between £8 and £10 - which is much more justifiable.
One of my favourite shops is Fabrics Galore. This is not only where I've bought a number of Liberty prints from, but is also the shop that I've mentioned before that stocks Boden fabrics. Unfortunately although they have a website, you can't buy online, but they do always have stands at the Knitting and Stitching shows and at the Festival of Quilts and if you know what you want and you ask nicely, they'll even post out fabric to you. But the best place to see what they have is their bricks and mortar shop in London, because it is absolutely wonderful and has a huge range of cottons, wools, jerseys and printed linens. I quite literally lost 3 hours of my life in there back in August. Which is not a complaint.
If money isn't an issue, you can now buy Liberty fabrics online directly from Liberty's (which may not be a new thing, but you certainly couldn't the last time I looked), although bizarrely enough they don't have a huge range - something I and many others just don't understand.
Or if, like me, you want the fabric at a better price you can also try Sunflower Fabrics and Worn and Washed Fabrics, who I see at a number of shows and who will post out to you, even though they don't have an online shop.
Of course there's always Ebay and Etsy too, both of which often have pieces at bargain prices. And if you're in the US the wonderful Purl of course stocks a gorgeous range.
So you see, there's just no excuse for not having a bit of Liberty in your lives.
