Haberdashery of every shape, size and colour at MacCulloch & Wallis

I do like a mooch around a good shop when I’m in London, and this trip was no different. After a day in Islington I headed to a haberdashery extraordinaire just off Oxford Street. Now why I’ve just discovered this is a mystery to me, though it’s probably a good thing that I hadn’t found this shop while I actually lived in London!.

Yes, not that far away from Oxford Circus tube I found myself standing outside MacCulloch & Wallis admiring their window displays, and having an internal smile of how they’d displayed balls of wool on models of sheep.

There was every kind of haberdashery item you could possibly wish for, plus wool, plus fabric and with a lot of vintage charm.

I couldn’t help but think wouldn’t it be lovely though to have a similar unit for my own craft supplies, though the wooden storage unit above also reminded me of a school uniform supply shop, just me?

Throughout the two levels of the shop there was a rainbow of colour.

At the very back of the shop on the ground floor I found the cutting table, and even that was a cutting table with a difference as the centre was filled with buttons.

Thankfully though, buttons weren’t in short supply - just look at the range available. And to think I thought the selection in Liberty was extensive when I visited last year!

I was tempted by some of the Tailor’s Chalk, but I resisted - I have some, though not as beautiful as this, and well, there’s only so much of it you can use isn’t there?

In the basement, alongside the tempting Tailor’s Chalk were rows and rows of needles, cards of every type of fastening you could ever want.

And miles of zips.

With cotton and ric rac in an array of colours.

In fact the choice was vast, almost overwhelming - this is definitely a shop you need to go to with a plan. A browse is good, but just wow - it’d be even better with a plan!

Inside the fabric and haberdashery departments at Liberty

Having filled my cup as it were with the homewares in Liberty I headed further upstairs to the fabric and haberdashery departments, which for me could be a much more dangerous place for my purse! Initially I headed past the world famous prints and into the haberdashery - perhaps attracted by all the shiny things, who knew?

I couldn’t think of any good reason to buy any of the buttons or ribbons, but was totally in awe at the choice of buttons and almost instantly transported back to ‘The Button Shop’ in South Norwood High Street in the seventies, though to be clear I don’t think it could ever claim to be on a par with Liberty, but I do remember endless displays of all colours, sizes and shapes of button nonetheless.

I was intrigued by the artwork on the walls too - though again it’s not for the fainthearted at a mere £2,495 - my usual don’t look at the price routine scuppered by the label below. But it was very nice, though part of me wonders if this was the wrong department to hang this, as surely crafters are more likely to think to themselves ‘I could do that’ though admittedly it would also probably go onto a long list, and they’d probably never quite get around to it!

The haberdashery was laden with baskets of tempting Liberty fabric - some already made into pincushions, and others into equally pretty rolls and bundles. I was tempted, but out of the corner of my eye I saw the wall of quilting fabric and I had a new destination in mind.

Yes a wall of shelving of Liberty Quilting fabric, which was actually less densely populated with customers than most of the rest of the departments put together. And for Liberty the majority of this range wasn’t extortionate. Clearly I was tempted by the bright and pretty colours, but also I remembered that I was on a ‘grey fabric shopping’ general mission, and so I hunted out the greys, of which there were at least five different shades to choose from! I left with half a metre of a dark and a light grey to add to the stash for my extended Floral Fancy.

Having paid I left the haberdashery before any more damage could be done, and headed into the almost equally dangerous fabric department. Actually it’s probably less dangerous as I think if you’re spending this much on fabric you really need to have a plan. The Tana Lawn fabrics were easily ten pounds more than the quilting fabric I’d just purchased.

But they are ever so nice. And iconic. But also which one to choose?

For me I think I’m destined to have do something with the Ianthe range (pictured above) as every time I visit, or even look online I always find myself drawn to this design - but as yet, I’ve not bought any. I love the design and how elegant it is, but I’m still holding out until I have a plan as otherwise I don’t think I’d ever cut into it. Ever. Though actually that’s not such a bad plan either now is it?