I wasn’t going to do one of these posts, so didn’t take photos of all the shops I visited, but I decided that it might be worth reporting some of the more memorable shops that I did take photos of, plus a few other bits and pieces.
First up was a lovely shop in Lymington in the New Forest, where the owner was completely delightful and didn’t mind at all that I spent time browsing without buying anything. During our chat she told me that the relatives of many of her customers make a special visit to Lymington to shop here, which tells me that it’s a pretty good shop in local terms.
We visited the town of Painswick in the Cotswolds which has a very few shops, but one of which is a fabric shop!
This town is really lovely, with almost every building being constructed from the local stone, but the thing that really struck me was the way these yew trees in the churchyard have been trained. Look at that avenue over the path.
Painswick also had a craft exhibition with some wearable art. The local young people who make these items are then given the opportunity to intern with designers. Such a worthy cause.
Bath, of course, revealed a couple of beautiful shops. First up is Wool, where I did make a little purchase of some alpaca to knit a jumper on the journey round the country.
and then there was The Makery. I thought it would be a much larger shop, but it was quite charming and I could have bought everything.
but I confined myself to an espadrille kit.
I found inspiration all over the place. I took a sneaky photo of this Druid at Stonehenge because I loved her cloak. The hood and the detailing around the bottom are just gorgeous. I even quite like her headdress!
I’ve just had another look at this cloak and realised that it is very like an academic gown – my hood is a similar shape and I have been known to store my car keys in it during formal occasions 🙂
We were wandering around London (getting lost) when we came across Berwick Street which has a whole row of fabric shops. I had no idea! I did visit them all, but they were far, far too expensive for my rather thrifty habits. 
This is the window of Cloth House – lots of vintage things in this store.
I did buy some waterproof fabric in this shop – Misan Textiles. It’s for my next raincoat. Here I am trying not to look guilty about blowing the budget – not that I really care!
I didn’t even go into this one!
and yet another!
I haven’t included photos of all the stores, but there are quite a few.
I bought a tiny bit of tweed and some ribbing in Fabrics Galore, which is a well known store in Lavender Hill. This is a fabulous shop, with some really cheap fabric, but I was really restrained. Just noticed that I’ve spoiled the lines of my raincoat by stuffing gloves in the pockets. I also have three jumpers on underneath, which doesn’t help!
Finally, I noticed these boxes in the V&A and was quite interested. The note gives a date of 1850-1950 and states that they were used by women from the late Joseon dynasty to modern Korea, who were encouraged to learn sewing to provide bedding and clothing for their families. They kept their sewing kits and fabrics in these stacked boxes in their bedrooms. The coloured diamond motifs symbolise marital unity. If I kept all my sewing stuff in boxes in my bedroom I would need more than diamond motifs to maintain marital unity!!
