Dressmaking

Our original focus was dressmaking, and we have stayed loyal to our roots by always stocking an exciting selection of dress fabrics to suit all projects – from everyday sundresses, jeans, children’s clothes and t-shirts to one-off evening or bridal gowns, tailored jackets, and fancy-dress costumes.

We are proud to offer an incredible range of textiles – cottons, linens, wools, polyesters and viscose fabrics. The range of fabric types is even broader; plain weave, duchess satin, stretch sateens, velvets, corduroys, twills and drills, sheers, lace, suitings, canvases, denims, gaberdines and so on.

We also keep all the basics – calicos, dress linings, polycottons, furs and fleeces, muslins, hessians and more. For quilters, we can boast a beautiful range of craft cotton prints, plains, mixers and a good choice of battings that are ideal for patchwork, garments and accessories alike.

We understand that some dressmaking plans need only a cheap fabric whereas other special projects deserve a beautiful high-quality fabric. We are confident that you will find the right fabric at the right price.

We also stock most of the current dress patterns from Simplicity, Burda, New Look, Butterick and Vogue in store so you can take everything you need in one go and get started as soon as you get home. We can easily include a pattern in your parcel whilst ordering. This is perfect to get you all set for your next fashion project!

If you want to find out what is in store before you come, then don’t hesitate to get in contact with us.

If you live far away, we are always happy to send goods by post;  phone or email and our experienced staff will be only too pleased to offer some tips and pop some samples in the post for you.

Although we have endeavoured to get a true colour on our photographs, we cannot guarantee the colour accuracy of our fabrics because of varying screens so we would recommend that you send for a sample before purchasing, if an exact colour is important.

Our customers visit our fabric shop from across the South West of England and we are amazed by the wide-ranging projects that our fabrics are used for, we always love to hear about your ideas and see your finished items.

Soft Furnishings

In our soft furnishings department, we have a fantastic range of curtain and upholstery fabrics from Prestigious Textiles, Clarke and Clarke, Bill Beaumont, Fryetts and Porter and Stone both on the roll and displayed on sample hangers. These show thousands of further designs available by the metre or we can have almost any of them made into curtains for you. The hangers are available for you to take home to try if you are unsure.

We also stock a huge variety of linings, interlinings, curtain tapes and webbings and all the haberdashery and hardware you could need if you want to make your own curtains or if you are a professional curtain maker or upholsterer.

We are keen to help you make your own by giving advice and ideas – it can be very simple to make small curtains or recover a favourite stool, even for a beginner. We keep hundreds of fabrics in stock on the roll so you could start your new curtains today.

Made to Measure Service

We offer a full made to measure curtain and roman blind service, including cushion covers, tie backs and pelmets.

You can choose your fabric from a vast array of sample hangers as well as the stock fabric. Sample hangers can be borrowed so that you can view them in your own home before deciding.

We offer a wide choice of headings, linings and interlinings and we will tailor your curtains to your individual windows. If you want more than one pair of curtains in a room, we will make sure the pattern matches across all pairs. We will consider the position of radiators, space to stack your curtains when they are open, the height of the curtain track and the type of flooring to make sure they are the correct length.

The lead time is usually around six weeks including arranging to have your fabric delivered directly from the fabric company (or us if a stock fabric) to the curtain makers.

There they will check your fabric and make your curtains using state-of-the-art equipment in a factory setting, whilst checking the quality every step of the way. We can then be sure of consistency in every pair. They will be checked again when we receive them.

Prices start at only £50 per width plus the cost of the fabric. We are very happy to talk you through the process from beginning to end and give instant no obligation quotes. Just bring in your rough measurements and we can go from there.

Knitting and Crochet Yarns

In our first floor knitting department we stock all the popular yarns and patterns from some of the biggest brands including; Sirdar, Katia, James C. Brett, Woolcraft, Rico, Hayfield, King Cole and Jarol.

Alongside our yarn selection we keep accessories for both knitting and crochet including straight, circular, and double-ended knitting needles in a variety of materials and lengths, knitting needles for children, Knit-Pro knitting needles and Waves crochet hooks, crochet hooks in steel, metal, plastic and bamboo, stitch markers, row counters, project bags and much more.

Come and explore our gorgeous yarn department upstairs, with over 130 different varieties ranging from basic acrylic to luxurious alpaca, classic plains to exciting multi-coloured cake yarns and one ball projects, we hope you’ll find just the thing for your next idea!

If you can’t get to us, we offer a mail-order service on all our products including yarns and accessories. Get in touch to let us know what you need.

Haberdashery

We have such a great range of haberdashery supplies; we would like to think we stock nearly everything you could possibly need for any sewing or knitting project!

It would be difficult to show all our products online so why not call or email us with any enquiries. We are happy to pop anything in the post whether it is a pattern, a zip, a reel of thread, a new pair of scissors or a complete project, just ring and let us know, we are happy to help!

To save you time we keep dressmaking patterns in stock, including Simplicity, New Look, Butterick, Vogue and Burda. We can also order in McCalls patterns for you.

We keep all the latest catalogues for you to browse through or you could take a look at www.sewdirect.com at home, choose your pattern, then pick it up when to come in to look for your fabric or ring us and we can add it to your online order.

Here is a list of just some of what we have in store:

• Paper dress patterns – essential to get that perfect fit and style.

• Ribbons, cords, braids, fringing and trimmings – don’t forget to add some embellishment to your garment or project to make it unique.

• Scissors, rotary cutters, and mats – you will find that accurate cutting out and snipping awkward corners so much easier with good quality sharp pairs of scissors or a rotary cutter.

• Zips, buttons, and fastenings – most garments will need a fastening of some kind, decide whether it wants to be hidden or a feature, the choice is yours!

• Hand and machine needles, pins, and threads – if your machine does not sew well, it is often because the needle is blunt or damaged, few of us change our needles as often as we should. There are different needles for different fabrics, ask us if you are not sure which to use.

• Beads, findings, sequins, and jewellery wire – add beads to a garment or make your own jewellery to co-ordinate with that new outfit (that you have made!)

• Toy eyes, joints, squeakers, and noses – always use safety eyes and noses when making toys for small children or you can always embroider them on if you prefer.

• Glues and sticky tapes – glues for every purpose, whether it is to stick fabric, gems, or paper, temporarily repositionable or permanent.

• Dyes, paints, and feathers – give a favourite garment a new lease of life by strengthening its original colour or stripping it and giving it a new colour (this works best on natural fibres).

• Knitting needles, crochet hooks and stitch holders – all the knitting needle options you could need, circular, pairs, sets of four, long, short, bamboo, wooden, plastic, metal etc.

• Elastics, tapes, webbings, and waist bandings – for an easy garment take a shortcut by using elastic instead of a fastening or a tape rather than make a waistband. Ideal for children’s clothes.

• Quilting rulers and markers – for accurate cutting of fabric pieces; essential for achieving perfect lines and matching seams in your quilt.

• Bridal motifs and laces – make that special dress even more unique with the addition of beautiful lace motifs and edgings; ask to see our full selection.

• Interfacings and stabilisers – give your project that professional looking finish, essential to keep the shape of any garment. We can guide you to the right product for the right fabric, the choice can be confusing!

• Waddings, battings, and cushion pads – We have a range of polyester waddings in different thicknesses and a natural 80/20 cotton polyester batting prepacked or on the roll. Also toy filling and cushion pads filled with feathers or polyfil.

• Curtain tapes, hooks, and weights – everything you need to complete your curtains with a range of different headings available to suit your decor. We can show you how to use them.

• Upholstery nails, pins, and needles – look out for our increasing range of upholstery supplies for those wanting to give a piece of furniture an uplift at the fraction of the cost of buying new.