Visiting London: Needlework shops or textile stores in Central London

[worksofhands]

Update (Oct. 23, 2009)
Hello!
I am back from the trip. I was able to visit all of the shops listed below.
I wrote a blog entry with photos about my shop hopping there.

http://worksofhands.wordpress.com/


Thanks again for the help!
Vincent

Hi everyone!
I will be in London next week.
Besides visiting the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Royal School of Needlework,
I would like to also check out needlework shops and textile stores to buy silks and chinese brocades for my tibetan silk thangka lessons.

Can anyone help me with addresses?


Thank you!
vincent

PS. photo is from my blog

[KatherineW]

Unfortunately needlework shops in London seem to be dying out. In central London you could try the haberdashery departments in John Lewis and Liberty, both department stores in central London (Oxford Street area).

John Lewis
Oxford Street
London W1A 1EX
http://www.johnlewis.com

Liberty
Great Marlborough Street (just off Regent Street)
London W1B 5AH
http://www.liberty.co.uk

Liberty is worth visiting anyway because it is such a lovely shop.

Both the above also sell fabric but I think you would be better going to a fabric shop to look for silks and Chinese brocades. Fabric shops in the area include:

MacCulloch and Wallis (close to John Lewis mentioned above)
25-26 Dering Street
London, W1S 1AT
http://www.macculloch-wallis.co.uk

and some in Berwick Street (not far from Liberty mentioned above):

The Berwick Street Cloth Shop
14 Berwick Street
London, W1F 0PP
http://www.theberwickstreetclothshop.com/
(actually has 3 shops on Berwick Street – maybe contact them to check which is the best one for silks and brocades?)

Borovick Fabrics Ltd
16 Berwick Street
London W1F 0HP
http://www.borovickfabricsltd.co.uk/index.html

You would be able to get round to all these shops in half a day, although if you want to spend a lot of time looking at the goods and getting distracted by other things along the way, I’d allow a whole day.

[Carol-Anne]

You have to visit MacCulloch and Wallis just for the experience :-)

I've only been to London to shop for fabric once. I wish SF had been around then, I found it so difficult to find out about fabric shops before I went! I haven't been to John Lewis in London but often shop for fabric in the Milton Keynes branch and been disappointed with any fabric I've bought from them.

Sorry I could not find any web sites for these two:

Soho Silk
22 D'Arblay Street,
LONDON,
W1F 8EG

Silk Society
44 Berwick Street
London W1F 8SE

Have a great day and let us know how you get on.

[worksofhands]

Thanks Carol-Anne! I will try to visit these shops. I will be in Berwick Street and D' Arblay st. should not be far from Oxford Street.

[worksofhands]

Thanks KatherineW! will try to visit them all in the next days.

[KatherineW]

I've remembered there is an excellent needlework shop in London:

Delicate Stitches/The London Bead Company
339 Kentish Town Road
London, NW5 2TJ



It's in north London, very close to Kentish Town Underground station (almost opposite the station) on the Northern line. The first part of the shop sells beads but go through to the back and the needlework supplies are there: fabrics by the metre and LOADS of different makes of threads. Well worth a visit. Their website lists what they stock but the links to the accompanying pdfs don't seem to be working. However you can still get a good idea of the ranges they sell.

[worksofhands]

I will check if I will still have time to go up north during my stay here. thanks for the address. it sounds like a good shop.

[Cheryl Wilhite]

Hi Vincent
I am just starting silk thangka lessons. I wonder if we have the same teacher?
Cheryl Wilhite

[worksofhands]

if you click on the website I mentioned in my original message above, you will go to my teacher's website, Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo, she now lives in Italy with her family. I just saw the DVD Creating Buddhas 2 days ago and I was so inspired. I am now in London and hope to find affordable satins and silk brocades. :)

[worksofhands]

Update (Oct. 23, 2009)
Hello!
I am back from the trip. I was able to visit all of the shops listed below.
I wrote a blog entry with photos about my shop hopping there.

http://worksofhands.wordpress.com/


Thanks again for the help!
Vincent