Travel Buying

Do you ever spend ages writing about something, only to find in the end you weren't really talking about that thing at all? This keeps happening to me.

This post started out as a lament on Dublin's woeful fabric shop selections, but really, it was more about how I keep buying when I travel. Not everyone is as lucky as I am in the travel department, and the lack of proper fabric buying facilities in Dublin is pretty shameful, but that's a rant for another day.

I travel a lot these days, enough that I’ve considered a new blog about travel (because, you know, I need two new blogs as much as I need a unicorn, which is to say not at all, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want it). Last year, I made a concerted effort to make time to hit the fabric shops in all the places I went to and it really paid off. I've been continuing this trend this year and its been interesting to see how it crops up.

Sometimes it has happened by accident. In Ayr, I had been shopping the main street for family presents and stumbled into the doors of a quilt shop by pure happenstance. 

Other times it has been more purposeful. Before leaving for my trip to Canada I specifically looked up whether and where there might be fabric shops so I’d have a clue if there was no wifi available at my hotel. 

London, however, was my most blatant fabric shopping excursion. I very boldly asked the organisers of my trip if I could stay an extra night, with no good reason other than that it would allow me to cross London and get to the fabric shops. 

As it happened, I was staying quite close to Walthamstow Market, which, if you’ve never been, is rather charming. I had beautiful weather, and went back a second time to Saeed Fabrics. I was looking for cheap stretch materials, and Walthamstow had plenty to offer. 

My other London stop was to hit Goldhawk Road. I will be returning there my next London visit, for certain. There is such a huge selection, and the prices are still reasonable. If you have a day to fabric shop in London, you could certainly do worse than spend it here. 

I must, however, say thank you to my fellow bloggers. I would likely have missed out on both Walthamstow Market and Goldhawk road had previous bloggers not written reviews and guide beforehand. So, in the vein of giving back, I’ll be doing a whistle stop review of the fabric shops in Dublin next week so that those who come to Dublin have similar help in choosing their destinations