OS home sewing

ivyleaf

Thank you very much indeed, Flea! I shall have a good browse. Have you bought much from them? I see on taking a quick look that the prices are, of course, in $s. I've never bought anything from the US before - how do I work out how much the price is in sterling? or do I just give them my credit card details and they sort it all out? I'd be most grateful for any advice.

ivyleaf xx

frugalfairy_3

Wazoodle is a Canadian company, and if you order online by credit card, it will be charged to your CC in Canadian dollars and the exchange rate at the time the charge is made will appear on your statement in pounds. As it's Canadian, the rate is very good and you should be pleasantly surprised! The fabrics from there are very nice and Lee Ann is very helpful if you have any questions etc about the fabrics. You can check the daily exchange rate online (but I've forgotten which site I use, sorry! Try Googling )

Another (US) site which has lovely baby/child's fabrics is https://www.sewbaby.com
which also has adult type fabrics. I've used both sites and been very pleased with the resuts.

Be aware that you may get charged VAT and customs duty on large orders though. I think the limit is £16 worth of goods but you may get lucky and a slightly larger order may slip through the net.

Hope this helps, enjoy your sewing! FF

ivyleaf

Many thanks again! I shall have a look at https://www.sewbaby.com. I thought the printed fabrics at Wazoodle were lovely - how infuriating to have to send abroad for stuff like that! They seem a lot more into home sewing than we are nowadays - I suppose that, as another poster said, so little clothes manufacturing goes on here now and it's very often cheaper to buy readymade. I bought my new sewing machine just before I got ill with M.E. so haven't used it much really - to the extent that i sometimes have to look at the threading diagram in the instruction book to make sure I've done it right! How sad is that! I can't manage to sew big things like curtains, or cut out things for me as it's too tiring, but hopefully I'll be able to manage baby clothes.

Thanks again!

ivyleaf xx

meadowcat

flea72 wrote:

https://www.wazoodle.com

lovely, reasonable priced fabrics, but they are a bit slow at processing orders. Dont expect next day despatch, but if choosing airmail, it should be with you within 2wks, if using surface mail, more like 8 weeks.

Flea

I've been to that site many times, but never actually ordered anything. Their fabric is just gorgeous. If you join their emailing list they send you notice of when they have their sales - can't remember what they call it. Something like blitz or something. Nice to hear of someone who has ordered from them.

My DS1 lives in US and when we were over there for his wedding we did a lot of shopping (!!) and I went into fabric shops. They very much reminded me of the sort of shops we used to have but just aren't here now - not in N. Ireland anyway. Like an Aladdin's cave.

Frugal, I always use http://www.xe.com/ucc/ for the exchange rates. Good advice about the duty.

frugalfairy_3

Hmm, don't get me started on the parlous state of fabric shops in the UK these days :mad: . OH thinks the state of our finances is 100 per cent due to the massive amount of fabric I import mainly from Canada and the US (I think I'm keeping the fabric shops over there alive, personally :rolleyes: )

I have quite a few favourite sites which I can let you have if you would like them, but I'd hate you to get into similar trouble.....

Thanks Meadowcat, I think that's the site I used for the exchange rate too, DS was tucked up in bed at the time and I couldn't ask him.

FF

meadowcat

frugalfairy wrote:

I have quite a few favourite sites which I can let you have if you would like them, but I'd hate you to get into similar trouble..... :FF

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: No chance. He wouldn't even be aware of what I buy. Not that I would deliberately hide anything from him, but he just lets me get on with things. Although he knows I am very thrifty so he wouldn't worry much as he knows it's always a bargain.

flea72

there are some Ok fabric shops in the UK, but unfortunately, most dont deal online.

the only decentish (??) ones i have found online in the UK are https://www.chawlas.com - https://www.fabricland.co.uk

dont know which end of the country you are, but if in the north abakhan is good or https://www.croftmill.co.uk (dont sell online, but do have mailorder, just contact them for an 'enlightening' brochure)

if in the south, fabricland (same as the online place above) but for some reason, they dont have their full stock online. instore, the choice is so much better

perhaps if you give a rough idea whereabouts you are in the UK, someone can point you in the direction of a good store

hth Flea

rabialiones

there are loads of asian fabric shops around, selling a variety of fabrics. many of their items are around half price to similar/same fabrics in john lewis etc.
you can deffo get good bargains when they have sales on sometimes £1 yard/metre.

ivyleaf

Thanks peeps! I live in Bexleyheath (SE london/NW Kent). I did visit Lewisham by bus several years ago specifically to look at a shop called " Rolls and Rems" which was quite good - don't know if it's still there though. I did come across an Asian fabric shop there too, but it seemed to be mostly sari fabrics.

There's a sewing shop in Welling, just down the road, so I know I'm luckier than a lot of people, but they have to try to be all things to all people as they're the only one in the area. They often have lovely fabric, but if you've got a specific type of thing in mind it may not be there. Actually I must get my OH to take me down there soon so I can have a look and get some remnants to have a good "play" on my machine (and maybe try out a few machines, you never know! ). It's not that far (I used to walk it sometimes) but at present I get very weary if I go out on the bus and am always worried that I won't get a seat.

There's rather a dearth of good Asian "general" fabric shops around here - when the Knitting and Stitching Show is on at Alexandra Palace the big ones come down from the North!

Thanks again

ivyleaf xx

maryb

Ivyleaf,
Try Bromley market on a Thursday morning - just at the end of the 269 bus route for you. Two good fabric stalls especially for things like curtain lining, very cheap, and an excellent haberdashery stall