Tuesday 4 December 2012

Shoppinghaul from London

As promised in my last post, here's the shopping haul from London!


Let's start in Notting Hill... I spent eunough at What Katie Did to get a complementary shopping bag... So cute! But best is still the goodies inside of it =)


A Glamour corselette and chocolate fully fashioned 45 den stockings! I happen to know my boyfriend also walked away with something from WKD... Can it please be Christmas soon?!


A fast hop to Gold Hawk road, and the staggering number of cheap fabric shops, all within 5 min walk of each other. Few of them accepted cards, but that was ok, as a tourist I came with plenty of cash, and oh boy did I put them to good use! All but the last are jerseys, and I doubt there's a single natural fibre in any of them, but they're lovely to touch, have a beautiful drape and a decent recovery. They were 4-5 £/metre, a bargain in my book =)


From right to left: a green dress (for me or for Malin, if she wants it), two red tops, a brown dress for me and a t-shirt for the mr, wool-like heavier patterened blue for a dress, black jersey with black lace for a fancier but comfy dress (blues dancing, work parties etc) and last a polyester silk-like fabric for a slip (test-run before cutting into real silk, and good to have a machine washable version).


Let's hop on to MacCulloch and Wallis on the corner of Oxford street and Dering street! They have an amazing collection of haberdashy, equipment and fabrics of all sorts. The store is divided so the fabric is on the groundfloor, most of the haberdashy and equipment is on the 1st floor, while the trims and so on are on the 2nd floor. While the girls on the fabric floor was angels, the people upstairs were... not so serviceminded. Now, I'm Swedish. I'm polite, patient and don't want to make a lot of fuss. But I still find it unpleasant when a clerk rolls his eyes when I ask for a band being cut. Yes, I wanted 20 metres of it, but still - rolling his eyes? Not so nice. I was very, very happy I had spent a few hours at their website and therefore knew what to ask for, as the store was pretty hard to navigate and not so well-labeled (most things were not labeled at all, actually).
I don't recommend against the shop, not at all! But I do recommend coming with a good idea of what you're looking for and be prepared to be ignored or sighed at when you ask something (they did answer my questions, though). Most important, I found some stuff that just can't be bought anywhere I've seen in Sweden... and def not to those prices! So I'm happy =)


At the top: Gripper waistband. Below it: 20 m of piping cord. At the bottom of the picture: designer tape, wax for handsewing, basting thread, kicktape (brown + black) and two twin needles.


Now, the fabric departement and the lovely ladies who worked there... Totally different experience! No fabric is left laying around in the store, instead huge sample pieces hang on clothing racks. Easy to browse through, cut a piece, feel the drape etc. I had of course a million and one questions about the different interfacings, the lady answered them all, came with suggestions, and ran off to the basement for my fabrics.
In the last minute - like 5 min before they were closing - I asked for a shirting with some specific qualities. She showed me the row of shirtings and I felt a a moment of pure panic. Five minutes and all of those to browse?!!! Then she took one out and said "This one is the one I think best fit's the description you gave...", and it was perfect. Relief! I didn't even glance at the other fabrics =)


Not much to look at like this, but am I weird to find this the most exciting photo of them all? Perhaps =) To the left, interfacings of different sorts (sew-in, fusible, horse hair, hair canvas, chest canvas etc). To the right, pocketing and the aforementioned shirting (a lovely cotton mix with beautiful fall and body. There's a small weave stripe, maybe 2 mm apart).



Leaving the world of sewing and lingerie, I found some books that just had to come home with me =) I had planned to not buy any books, the suitcase get's so heavy but... The gorgeous coffetable book about the Hollywood costume exhibition in Victoria and Albert museum I just had to have. I loved "How to be a woman" by Caitlin Moran, so I of course had to buy her new book. While searching for it at Waterstones, I stumbled over the little "How to be a welldressed wife" by Anne Fogarty and then... =)


This and that. The scarf and the coaster I picked up as we walked along Portobello road towards WKD. I loved the deep chocolate colour on the scarf, and I have a similar coaster that it'll be easier to use when I can also provide a retro-humour coaster for my guest =)

The tie is... a bit hard to see, but I didn't want to remove the protective plastic. It's dark brown with a diagonal weave, and it matches two of the three shirts the mr bought. It's going to look stunning!

That was the week's haul! Or rather, the haul from monday to wednesday, as we just danced during the weekend =) Hope you enjoyed the peek!

Love, Erika

15 comments:

M'lady said...

Everyone keeps saying to me I should have a look down portabello road...Its somewhere I've yet to visit. The fabric shop sounds interesting. Did they have linen there? i've been looking for some to make some underclothes (as linen is supposed to be good for absorbing sweat and keeping cool).
Is what katy did a lingerie shop or general vintage?

Erika said...

You've never been there and you live near London?! It's a cute area, there's a fun street market and some amazing little shop. It is a bit of a tourist trap, though, so overpriced at some places.
The fabric shops at Gold Hawk Road had all sorts of fabrics, some of them had linen and even wool suiting, others had more silk or more jerseys. But it's a small area, so if one devote's a couple of hours to it, there's no problem in finding whatever fabric you may want. At MacCollouch and Wallis they had all sorts of linen, but they are of course a bit more expensive. I can very much recommend linen for historical underwear, there's nothing better!

WKD is a strictly lingerie shop, but one that focuses on faux vintage lingerie. It's basically new lingerie with modern comforts, fits, sizing and techniques, but in a vintage style. Worth a visit! =)

M'lady said...

I've been to camden, brick lane, spittlefields, the shops like the cloth house and to libertys but portabello road is still on my to do list.

Samia said...

Thank you for sharing your finds. You are quite the focused tourist. I often go to London as i've lived therefor 5 years, but i Never ever shop for fabric.
Is the choice of fabric so much better than in Sweden ?

Cań´t wait to see what you will sew with everything you bought !

E.

Eva said...

Hmm, I think I have to go to that fabric store next time I go to London. At Goldhawk road I mainly go to Classic Textiles and they have lots of pure silk, wool and cotton. Like cheap Liberty cottons in the basement.

But now you've made me long even more for London. Due to conferences I was there twice last winter and now I haven't been there for (almost) a year. Especially the photo from Portobello road in you last post made me London-sick, since one of my best friends in London lives near Portobello.

Kitten von Kat said...

Åh, blev riktigt ressugen nu! Eller shoppingsugen kanske, heh. Ska bli kul att se vad du gör av alla tyg och tillbehör sen :)

Lena said...

Underbara bilder, blir riktigt sugen på en resa till London. Ska bli kul att få se och känna på tygerna. Kanske en resa för dig o mig längre fram?

Harlow Darling said...

The WKD store is just one of the many reasons I need to visit London again soon! And you are so lucky, any boyfriend that gets his girl WKD is a keeper :D

Erika said...

Eurielle; Oh, how I wish I could go to London regularly! It really is an amazing city, with so much to see!
The cheap fabric shopping, at least on Gold Hawk Road, is a lot better than in my area of Sweden. The reason I didn't buy any fancier fabrics was that I have an excellent store for that in my hometown =) But simple jerseys are really expensive, usually about 10-12£/metre.

Eva; Thanks for the tip! I might have been inside that store (think so), but it was pretty much system overload by that time and I decided to this time focus on the jerseys, which I had do-able plans for =) Next time I'll check it out a bit more carefully!
Sorry I made you long for London! Maybe a weekend trip for spring? When combined with visiting a close friend, it sounds about perfect! ; )

Kitten; Haha! Jag blev då bara mer ressugen av att vara utomlands. Det finns så mycket att se! Så många länder och platser jag inte upplevt. Så mycket rolig shopping... ; )
Jag hoppas det ska bli kläder av tygerna under första halvan av 2013!

Lena; Strålande idé, mamma! Vi åker på en tyg-shopping resa till London =) Jag är helt klart med på noterna!

Harlow Darling; Oh, I just loved being able to see everything in real life and to try things on! Totally different experience than shopping online... He's indeed a keeper! Just that he was ok to hang around while I tested my way through the store in the first place... And I know for a fact that I will love my Christmas present =)

Witchcrafted Life said...

What an absolutely wonderful array of treasures you brought home. Despite living in Ireland (ROI) for two years (2004-2006), I never got a chance to see London (beyond Heathrow) and very much hope to get back there one day to do some serious vintage shopping, too.

♥ Jessica

Erika said...

Jessica; Thank you! I'm sorry to hear you never had a chance to visit London during those years! I hope you'll one day see the city, it's very much worth a visit.
Two years in Ireland sounds amazing though! I've always wanted to visit there, the landscape and the historical sights seems amazing.

Ruby June said...

I am also a self-taught seamstress who is into vintage sewing patterns. I can appreciate the challenge of learning as you go from patterns alone. Although I feel as though vintage patterns are easier to follow than modern ones. At least the sizing makes more sense! Either way, I've learned a great deal and about 80% of my wardrobe is hand made. Quite the rewarding hobby, keep it up!

Your blog looks lovely, I look forward to more posts!

Johannas Rockabilly & Vintage said...

Åh, ska ta och beställa från What Katie Did när jag har råd! :)

Erika said...

Ruby June; I'm really inspired by your comment! Thank you so much! Couldn't agree more about the sizes... =)
One does indeed learn over time! For me it has been a combination of vintage patterns, sewing books, sewing blogs, the basics I learned from my mother and the eye for period sewing I developed during my years of sewing historical outfits for participating at medieval events. The really fun new area I'm currently exploring is jerseys, one can make so much everyday wearable with it!
I'm very happy you enjoyed my blog, and am looking forward to swing by yours soon =)

Johanna; Oh, ja, de har så himla mycket fint! Men smakar det så kostar det... Ett tips (om du inte redan sett det) är deras rea/försäljning av andra sorteringen på engelska Ebay. Ibland väldigt bra nedsatta priser, och med returrätt om det inte skulle passa.

Leida Verhoeven said...

Oh my goodness, I thank heavens for having discovered your blog!
Will read everything as soon as I have the time.

Keep on blogging!
xo Jessica