Fabric Shopping & Soho

Friday was a glorious day. Shelby, Sarah, and I went to Savile Row to gawk in all the windows, and then we went to Soho to fabric shop. Remember this lyric from Annie: "Who cares what they're wearing, from Main Street to Savile Row!" This is what those little orphans were singing about. Savile Row is (or used to be) famous for high-end men's tailoring. There are still a few shops that do this, so we went to gawk in the windows. So amazing and gorgeous. Unfortunately, there was a mighty glare on all the windows so it was hard to get very good pictures.


Our next stop was at Liberty of London. It's a pretty ritzy department store. The building is beautiful. The third floor had fabric, buttons, yarn, etc. The cotton that they sell is about 20 pounds per meter but it is the most delicious feeling cotton that I've ever handled. I bought some yarn and ribbon here, and I'm sure I'll go back with Sara. I think she'll love it.



Then, oh then, we went to Soho. This may have been my favorite place in London so far. It's funky and artsy and just a little sketchy. Also, this is where several fabric stores are. Not as many and as varied as in NYC, but there were some beautiful things to see nonetheless.

So much beautiful wool. I found myself attracted to several different red herringbone fabrics. Don't ask me why. There was also this Dupioni silk black and turquoise plaid that I was thinking of getting to make a "Christmas skirt". (I've had this obsessive idea of having a fancy skirt that I wear for Christmas for a couple of years. Not sure why I do, but it's fun to think about.) However, I only want to get one piece of fabric while in London so I wanted to mull it over before my final decision. Plus, it's expensive, like all the fabrics I liked.

There were a lot of amazing plaids.


And a whole wall of colorful, wool felt.


We hit a thrift store at some point, where we bought silk scarves. Side note: thrift stores is the UK smell the same as thrift stores in the US.

Then I had a new kind of ginger beer. Good, but a little tame for my experienced palate.