Friday 29 March 2013

Fabric-alicious Friday - Liberty Loveliness



I had a big old tidy-up in my sewing room the week before last and tried to organise my fabrics better.  I do have quite a lot of fabric, but I haven't yet reached the point where I have shelves laden with hundreds of evenly sized pieces, in colour co-ordinated piles like you see out there in Blogland...


From Sheree's Alchemy


Piecemeal Quilt's 8' x 4' bookcase




Lovely, but I wouldn't know where to start when choosing fabric for a project and Mr U-t-B would probably have kicked me out!

Anyway, I do have a teetering stack of ugly plastic trays that allow me to organise my smaller pieces of fabric into 'Vintage and Feedsack', 'Plain', 'Spots, Checks and Stripes', 'Pictorial' and 'Floral'.  

The Floral tray is the largest, and has three piles within - one of regular fat-quarters and remnants, one of retro prints, and then on top, my very favourite pile of Liberty Tana lawns.

I've talked often enough about my love of Liberty classic Tana lawns and how it all began with a 'Pepper' blouse I made when I lived in Paris for a year at the age of eighteen.




One of the things about Liberty fabrics is the beautiful surroundings in which you find yourself to look at the bolts of fabric.  My Parisian Liberty bolt-hole was the magical Galeries Lafayette...




...though I don't think they sell fabric any longer.




Of course, in London, I dearly love to head to its very birthplace and home...




But at £22 per metre, prices within these hallowed walls do reflect the loveliness of the surroundings so it is handy to know that you can buy from a huge range of Liberty designs either online or in person at 
Shaukat on the Brompton Road.  Prices range from £13 to about £16, a significant saving.  You won't necessarily find the print you want in the colourway of your choice...




Oh how I wish that Felicite in the lilac pink colourway was available!  You can, however, get it in purple.

But the selection is so large that you are bound to find something to tempt you.

Here are the ones I've had my eyes on recently.




But if you don't want fabric in whole metres, but lots of little pieces to select from, snip away at and piece together, I can highly recommend Very Berry Fabric, who you can find on Folksy.  The owner, Ali has a refined selection of fat-eighths, 'mini-singles' (9 x 12" pieces), patchwork packs and bundles, a perfect way to build up a lovely little stash.  


Very Berry Fabrics


When I ordered from Very Berry Fabrics, my mini-bundles arrived so quickly that I was able to get started on the project I had in mind the day after I had placed the order. 
(I hasten to add, I am not sponsored in any way on this blog, but when I get good service, I do think it's worth spreading the word!) 

6 comments:

  1. Beautiful fabrics Alix, and how fabulous to have lived in Paris ... What an amazing experience that must have been!

    Thanks for popping over to me and for your kind comments ... they make my day!

    Have a lovely weekend,

    Claire xxx

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a fantastic Liberty 'fix'! I love the Claudine. It's always good to be directed to a decent seller so thanks for the top tips. Have a lovely Easter weekend x Jane

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh I would love to have piles upon piles of lovely coloured materials just to look at and make wonderful things.A girl can dream.Happy Easter Alix love Jill xx

    ReplyDelete
  4. What beautiful fabrics you've shown here ... gets me itching to start some sewing (which I've neglected for far too long!). Love the shelving groaning with neatly folded stacks of fabric. I'm the same ... I dream about it, but it wouldn't agree with 'others' in my house! Wendy

    ReplyDelete
  5. I like Claire-Aude in red ! I like seeeing all the quaters stacked up - our post office has a haberdashers area .
    Paris at 18 must have been magical.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The Claudine and Felite are beautiful, although they all are really!

    ReplyDelete