I have been searching for the fabric mecca of London since arriving here in November of 2011. Nearly a year later, I have found it. It is called Goldhawk Road at the end of the Shepards Bush Market.
From South West London, I take the Northern Tube line to Stockwell station, change to Victoria Line to the Victoria station. Get on the District Line to Hammersmith Station and switch to Hammersmith & City Line for one stop to Goldhawk Station. It sounds complicated, but only took about 40 min from my flat.
I have found many beautiful fabrics in London. I seen wool, linens, cottons and silk and a lot of rubbish. However I have been looking for the textile/fabric stores that will allow me to make things at a reasonable price. If I get organized I will do some other “Day Out” posts to tell you about the Berwick Street shops, Portobello Road shops, Brixton Market, Brick Lane, Columbia Road, the Button Queen, and a few other discoveries. However most of these were just too expensive. The fabrics were glorious but just too pricy for my wallet.
I’ve been looking for some wool felt in a natural color to make holiday ornaments and some silk to make a simple nightgown. You would think this should be fairly simple. However I would either find places that had amazing silk but it was £47 per metre, or I’d find a place with no natural fibre textiles at all, (ie everything was £3 metre.
Today I found everything and you don’t have to look very hard once you get off the train at the Goldhawk Station.
1st Stop – A-Z Fabrics.
Well stocked, three floors, very helpful. I found stretch knit fabric (£4 m) to make baby wraps for a friend who is due at the end of the month. I also found my wool in a lovely off-white (£12 m).
Lesson #1 Negotiate on price, there is some flexibility in most of the prices.
2nd Stop – Toni Textiles
My girls are going to a Girl Guides and Brownies sleepover this weekend and need something to wear for “Disco Night”, so I got some sparkly fabric (£2 m) in blue and pink. They had a selection of silks. I didn’t buy silk right away as I seem to be buying stuff at an alarming rate considering there were at least six more fabric stores within a one block space.
Lesson #2 What is Muck? Muck is a fabric used for trench coats. It has two layers of cotton with a water proof layer fused into the middle of the cotton layers. Can be had for about £15 m.
3rd Stop – Fabric World
Lots of sequins and sari stuff, not what I was looking for. Thank goodness. As my husband says, the second best answer is,”No.” This store I can take off the list.
Lesson #3 – Most shops are staffed by men and as is the case with most of London there are a variety of accents to decipher.
4-6th Stop – I cross the road and stop into 3 more textile/fabric shops. However, at this point I cann’t process the fabrics or the prices because I am hungry. I ask the shop guy for a suggestion of a good vegetarian food. A lady behind me informs me that the Shepard’s Bush Market has great falafels. Perfect. I am on my way.
Lesson #4 – Smaller shops give really good food suggestions for lunch. They usually know the close, inexpensive and good food places. Wait til I post about by Day Out on Brick Lane and the Beigels (AKA: Bagel).
7th Stop – Falafel Hut in Shepard’s Bush Market, near the Goldhawk end. Perhaps I am just really hungry, but the falafel is fantastic! They warmed the falafel, then added aubergine (AKA eggplant), tahini sauce, yogurt sauce, tomatoes, lettuce, pickle slices and I decline the pepper sauce. It was only £3.50 and Oh So Good. I don’t even like eggplant. But if I get to go try it again I will get the eggplant again, it was fantastic. I can’t wait to take Jeff there to try it out, as well as the girls.
Lesson #4 When you are overwhelmed, eat. It makes everything better. 🙂
Now I am fully committed to exploring the Shepard’s Bush Market. If you are not familiar with the London Market scene, it is a bit like a cross between a farmers market, a flea market and a craft fair, in the USA. The stalls are set up daily and taken down every evening. Some are only on weekends but many are open all week long. Lots of stalls selling everything from fresh ginger root to hair dye for you roots. To me there seemed to be an awful lot of stalls selling ladies night gowns and under garments.
8th Stop – Stall with no name
Off the main road on my left was a walkway with more stalls. I adventured down into the bowels of the market. I think this is considered the “New Shepard’s Bush Market” however that is guess from looking at a google map. I found a haberdashery with a tiny back room that looked to be an Aladdin’s Cave. I bought trim for a slip, ribbon to coordinate with the disco fabric, a button for my new (to me) black boots, and two are three other odd bits.
Lesson #5 Ask for what you need. They crazy stalls and store in London have things tucked into every nook and cranny. Take a swatch, take a picture, and ask. They will look at their mental filing system, walk away for a moment and come back with what you wanted. It is amazing.
9th Stop – Another Stall with no name
I asked a stall owner if he had any silk. He said no, but pointed me to down three stalls, turn right and it is the second stall on the left. Actually he must much more vague, “go down there, turn right and you’ll see it.” I discovered a stall selling 100% silk Caftans. I was looking for a silk night gown with out spending a fortune. £19 perfect that will work just fine.
Lesson #6 Cash is King in the markets. Some will take credit cards but will then charge a fee or you will need to walk to a different stall to use their machine. It is best to have cash. Along that same note (Lesson #6b), look for grocery stores to find cash machines that don’t charge a processing fee.
10th Stop – A-One Fabrics
Back out onto Goldhawk Road I venture into another fabric store. Ground level is the fabrics and upstairs in a nice and simple haberdashery (AKA: notions like thread, buttons, needles). I get some Gutterman beads. I didn’t know Gutterman made beads. I love their thread so their beads must be good also, right? I go back downstairs. I am getting weary. They have silk velvet for £15 m. That is a good price of silk velvet. It is so soft and the colors are beautiful and there is a color that matches my new silk caftan. Hem & Haw, should I, shouldn’t I… I’ve been wanting to make a nice bed jacket for reading in bed. It is a good price, It does go with the caftan and they take credit. Sold.
Lesson #7 – Remember you want to simplify. Remember you don’t want a whole bunch of projects that will make you feel stressed, even if you do love doing them. Remember you can come back again if you need to.
11th Stop – Back to Toni Textiles
£10 m silk, like I said, I was weary and I couldn’t resist. Two meters of a lovely silvery silk that looks nice to the silk velvet.
I am tired, weary, thirsty, slight headache (probably because of being thirsty) and I need to pee (the markets are not a great place for toilets). I am heading home.
It is 11 and I am supposted to be sleeping but I cant because the new ipad has come out, iPad mini. It is 7.9 inches diagonal across. It has nearly everything from the “New iPad” except instead of a 6x power or something it has 5. When I go to CA in December I will be buying one…. Some one may be getting a old iPad for Christmas ! I am going to try and go to sleep. Have fun!
It is 8:15 and I need to post this before tomorrow or there will be reckoning. This post is a update on my life! First, mom, Eli and I will meet up with dad in Budapest next Monday. Not much long after Eli will be going to school! After that I get to go to a camp called PGL with my friend Lucy. In December, I get to do to the CA for 3 weeks! We might even be there for cookie day! (A day where mom, Aunt Ronda, and Grammy all cook cookies while the kids – Eli, TC, Jack and I – play! Like 6 months later Aunt Ronda and family will be visiting! Okay I think that is all for now,
Dad has told me to look into my interest so, I didn’t know what to do so I looked up Harry Potter on Wiki and found JK and started to read. The first thing I went OMG OMG at was this
After working at Amnesty International in London, Rowling and her then-boyfriend decided to move to Manchester. In 1990, while she was on a four-hour-delayed train trip from Manchester to London, the idea for a story of a young boy attending a school of wizardry “came fully formed” into her mind. She told The Boston Globe that “I really don’t know where the idea came from. It started with Harry, then all these characters and situations came flooding into my head.” When she had reached her Clapham Junction flat, she began to write immediately.
Now the remarkable thing is the fact that it takes less than 30 minutes to walk from our house by Clapham South to Clapham Junction!
Will Update More Soon Need to finish reading Wiki!
Well, I made a sling shot with my Mom. Dad made me write about it. Here is how we made the sling shot. First mom got a big fork shaped stick. I went and got out a bed sheet and spread it out on the floor in the living room. I went and got my Swiss army knife. I sat on the sheet with my knife and stick and peeled the bark off the forks. The stick was way over sized so I cut it down to the right size. After that I shaved more of the stick. Mom got me some rubber bands and a patch of denim from an old pair of Emeline’s jeans. I tried a lot of different techniques, trying to make it shoot then I gave the sling shot to Mom. Within a few tries Mom did it. We used wadded up newspaper from the London Evening Standard to make ammunition.
The slingshot originated in Russia and is decended from the sling. Here is a link if you want to read more about it.
There are many different brands of historical and modern slingshots. Some are foldable, a lot have a wrist support. Some have a “Y” shape, some have a “U” shape. Some are very complicated. Some are made of wood while others are made of metal. The pockets are made from leather but I’ve seen some homemade ones made of duct tape.
I haven’t seen a lot but I read about how the military uses massive slingshots to launch aircrafts. I also have seen slingshots in TV advertisements.
Slingsshots have been used in torment hunting of bears. This is very sad. They have been used for self defense, but I am going to use my sling shot for attacking my sister with paper balls.
II was walking around in my room tossing up my tennis ball and catching it while listening to a Freakanomics podcast called Legacy of a Jerk when a heard something that changed my prospective of my dad. To those of you closly related to him you might, no you know for sure that Jeffrey Todd Fredrick is a very smart man, and he enjoys showing his kids that by giving then lectures, his most resent favorite to give to me was, “FInd your intrest that is why we home school…” I had no idea why that was until… I was listening to the show and I hear steve Jobs saying, ” I was lucky enough to find my pashion at age 10…” My first thought… ” How did you find your pashion at 10!” Then I thought ” Oh darn.. I am nearly 12 don’t have a pashion for much of anything.” Next came, ” Oh My God dad wants me to be the next “Steve Jobs” Crud…” Then, ” My dad whats me to be the next Steve Jobs! Cool… Oh no my DAD WANTS ME TO BE THE NEXT STEVE JOBS! ” Once I calmed down I thought… ” No my dad JUST wants me to have a pashion.” My calm self was losing, ” Oh God I do not want to have my dad to have such high expectations!” Now you may be wondering why I don’t just ask him, the answer is simple he WILL deny it. Also please do watch the Legacy of a Jerk by clicking here or on any of the blue words in this post, it will come up in a different tab.
Bye aand I hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts as I tried to connect to dots
Remember my post yesterday about feeling good? Hummm, not so good today.
Cali 1998 – 2012
Saying Good Bye
In 1998 on a hot early summer evening a puppy was thrown from a car door into the front yard of my parents old house in Clements, CA. The house windows were open to try to capture the evening breeze. My father heard the passing car, the door slam, and the sound of a small animal. He went out to discover a pathetic, stinky, mangey puppy. My mother worried that the puppy was doomed if she took her to an animal shelter in such poor condition. She washed the puppy, took her to the Vet and got vitamins, special shampoo and anything else needed to bring her back to good health.
Caliente (hot in spanish) = Cali
I was living in Santa Cruz and working full time at Inprise (aka Borland). My boyfriend, Jeff had gotten custody of his boys back in December 1997. I’d returned from living for 3 months in England in February 1998. Jeff, his brother Ryan, Ryan’s girlfriend Donna, and another friend and I were going river rafting so we came up to camp out in my parents enormous backyard on the way. That is when we first met Cali. She was cute, but still a stinky mess. My Mom said she was much better than she had been. That night we camped in the backyard and Cali kept trying to crawl into our sleeping bags. As the story goes, Donna was the lucky winner to get the mangy puppy to sleep with. 🙂
Jeff and I had navigated some turbulent times and it looked like we were going to stay together. I had wanted a pet for a long time, but my work and travel schedule just didn’t permit it. Here is thepart where I am sure Jeff will remember the order of events better than I, but it went something like….
Jeff and the boys moved in to my house in Santa Cruz, with me. My parents were going on a long trip (China maybe?) I told them I would like to have Cali, she was a great dog. My parents wanted to travel so they didn’t want a dog at that time in their lives. So I said I would take care of Cali while they were gone as a kind of trial run, to see if I could handle having my own dog. A live-in boyfriend, two little boys (4 & 6 yrs old) and a dog was a lot to take care of. Apparently my Mom mentioned to Jeff that I was planning on keeping the dog. I hadn’t mentioned that part yet, since I didn’t want a big discussion unless I thought I could even handle taking care of the dog. There was a bit more turbulence in our house.
As you can tell, we kept the dog. She was great! She helped teach the boys to pick up their toys by chewing up and eating anything they left out on the floor. She cleaned the kitchen floor and any other place crumbs would fall. She would cuddle and play with whom ever wanted to give her attention, but was content to just be in the same room with someone.
Cali liked Easter, Christmas, the mountains, and messy eaters.
Cali didn’t like 4th of July, Halloween, the beach, vacuums and the PG&E man.
Cali was an awesome camping dog. She was small enough to fit in the tent and worked extra hard on our annual hike around Pinecrest Lake as she would run from the front of the group to the back of the group to make sure everyone was staying together. As I reflect on this it started with Grandpa and Jeff in front with Grandma and the kids behind. Then as the years progressed, Anton and Jeff took the lead. As of last year the order had reversed, but Cali still ran from front to back, again and again, all around the lake. She’d run by each of us and sniff making sure we were all there. After camping, she’d sleep for a couple of days. If we were in CA, we’d likely be heading to Pinecrest this week.
At some point we needed a birthday for Cali as I was having trouble remembering how old she was. We decided on St. Patricks Day. She was a 14 1/2.
Cali slept at the foot of our bed. In the morning, Jeff would pull her up close and snuggle her saying, “Fuzzy Doggy”. Andreas liked to rub her floppy ears. Anton liked it when she’d sit on him in the car and lean into him with her full weight then lift her head up next to his. Eliana recalls when she was mad and made a fort to keep out Mom, Dad and Emeline, but she let Cali in. Cali went to sleep in her fort. Eliana curled up next to Cali and went to sleep also. Sometime if Emeline had a hard time sleeping, Cali would jump up onto her bed and she could curl around her and go to sleep. You are perhaps catching a theme here. Cali was my Nap Dog. When I was pregnant and exhausted, I would lay down to rest and she’d just up on the sofa next to me. Her warmth was always welcome.
Cali and I would walk Andreas & Anton to and from school everyday when they were little. One day I guess Cali got tired of waiting and the gate was left open on accident, so she took it upon herself to go find the boys. Since we came to school so often another little boy found her wandering around near the boys bathroom and went to back to class to tell Anton his dog was at school. The school called home and I went to get her. It made me think of the Lassie story.
There are many wonderful stories of Cali. Her fondness for helping the gophers with their tunnels, her muddy feet made me crazy, getting sprayed by a skunk the night before we were hosting Easter at our house, and helping someone who wasn’t feeling well.
In November when we moved to England, Cali went back to live with my Mom and Dad. They would give us regular updates about how she was getting them out and walking more, making new friends at the park with other “dog” people, and happily going on errands in the car. I can’t thank my parent enough for looking after her for these last 8 months. I know that she was loved and cared for until the very end of her days.
This morning mom came into our room, she set Eliana down in my bed and she told us that as we knew one of Cali’s back legs were giving her trouble… well yesterday morning her other hind leg gave out. The vets had told us that if that happened there was nothing they could do to help. Cali couldn’t move so grandma had to carry her around. Grandma and grandpa took her to the vet and she had to be put down. If you have any picture of Cali please do email them to me. We haven’t seen her in 8 or so months and will never see her alive again. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for taking care of her and doing the right thing even thought it was hard.
Is it the family and friends that have visited? Is it that we are on our 2nd day of sunny warm weather? Is it because I have a date with my husband to take a salsa dancing lesson tonight? It is hard to say why I feel so good, but I sure does feel good to be feeling good.
June was an exciting month for us Fredrick’s here in England. First our friends the Dusienburgs arrived from Santa Cruz on their way to Italy for their summer holiday. The very next day our boys (Andreas and Anton) arrived for a visit from the States. Unfortunately we got to juggle their visits with a round of the stomach flu for every one but Jeff.
Emeline w/ Brothers at the Thames in front of the Tower on London.
Kathy & I (Leanne) in front of Kensington Palace
The Dusienburg family in front of the Wolseley after a fantastic High Tea.
Can anyone tell me how to do a thumbnail and adjust how it centers? Anton has lost his head in two pictures. 🙂
Eliana & Anton at the Wallace Collection in real armor (HEAVY!!).
Emeline & Eliana’s favorite way to travel on the tube, with their iPods. Travel made even better with their brother, Andreas to cuddle and consult.
Then our Uncle Larry (sorry no picture.. I forgot or Jeff took it or something ) from Washtinton DC came to visit for the afternoon. It was so wonderful to see him and have time to visit. He was taking a fantastic Literary tour of London and southern England.
On the same day our friends Laura and Adam Wood came to stay for a few days. We were the second leg of their trip that included Sweden before they return to Santa Cruz. Laura had us all rallied and read for adventure. We went to the Labyrinth at Hampton Court, took a boat cruise (a 3 hour tour – sing Gilligan’s Island song here) from Hampton Court to Westminster, Walked the Thames, rented a car and drove in & out of London (Thank goodness the husbands weren’t there and the kids were playing on the electronics), Lunched in the Grounds of Windsor Castle, and visited Aveburg (stones like Stonehenge but not as big), stayed at a B&B, toured Stonehenge and visited the awesome Hawk Conservancy Trust.
Jeff, Emeline, Adam, Eliana, & Laura at Hampton Court Labryinth
Adam, Emeline & Eliana in a London phone booth.
Laura,Emeline, Adam, Eliana, and I (Leanne) in front of Windsor Castle.
The three Fredrick girls at Stonehenge.
Our last round of visitors, so far, were Laurie and Alex Radovan. They were on their way to Copenhagen (hummm, now I can’t remember for sure, and Italy.) Emeline and Alex has been in Preschool together but hadn’t seen each other in many years. They all got along so well. Thank you to WPENS (Westside Parents Education Nursery School in Santa Cruz, CA, USA)
Laurie and Alex managed to score tickets to Wimbeldon for the mens semi finals. They had an amazing day there. We had enjoyed an afternoon of walking Central London and a brief visit to the Jewel Tower, the day before Wimbeldon (BW). After Wimbeldon (AW) we took a Thames tour from the Tower of London to Greenwich. See the Olympic circles up on Tower Bridge. We also got to put a foot on each side of the East & West Latitude marker in Greenwich (you’ve heard of Greenwhich Mean Time?)
Well, I am now running a bit late for Salsa, so I will post this and hope there aren’t too many errors.
Next day….Okay there were errors, hopefully all fixed now.
From South West London, I take the Northern Tube line to Stockwell station, change to Victoria Line to the Victoria station. Get on the District Line to Hammersmith Station and switch to Hammersmith & City Line for one stop to Goldhawk Station. It sounds complicated, but only took about 40 min from my flat.
Well stocked, three floors, very helpful. I found stretch knit fabric (£4 m) to make baby wraps for a friend who is due at the end of the month. I also found my wool in a lovely off-white (£12 m).
2nd Stop – Toni Textiles
7th Stop – Falafel Hut in Shepard’s Bush Market, near the Goldhawk end. Perhaps I am just really hungry, but the falafel is fantastic! They warmed the falafel, then added aubergine (AKA eggplant), tahini sauce, yogurt sauce, tomatoes, lettuce, pickle slices and I decline the pepper sauce. It was only £3.50 and Oh So Good. I don’t even like eggplant. But if I get to go try it again I will get the eggplant again, it was fantastic. I can’t wait to take Jeff there to try it out, as well as the girls.
Now I am fully committed to exploring the Shepard’s Bush Market. If you are not familiar with the London Market scene, it is a bit like a cross between a farmers market, a flea market and a craft fair, in the USA. The stalls are set up daily and taken down every evening. Some are only on weekends but many are open all week long. Lots of stalls selling everything from fresh ginger root to hair dye for you roots. To me there seemed to be an awful lot of stalls selling ladies night gowns and under garments.
Off the main road on my left was a walkway with more stalls. I adventured down into the bowels of the market. I think this is considered the “New Shepard’s Bush Market” however that is guess from looking at a google map. I found a haberdashery with a tiny back room that looked to be an Aladdin’s Cave. I bought trim for a slip, ribbon to coordinate with the disco fabric, a button for my new (to me) black boots, and two are three other odd bits.
Back out onto Goldhawk Road I venture into another fabric store. Ground level is the fabrics and upstairs in a nice and simple haberdashery (AKA: notions like thread, buttons, needles). I get some Gutterman beads. I didn’t know Gutterman made beads. I love their thread so their beads must be good also, right? I go back downstairs. I am getting weary. They have silk velvet for £15 m. That is a good price of silk velvet. It is so soft and the colors are beautiful and there is a color that matches my new silk caftan. Hem & Haw, should I, shouldn’t I… I’ve been wanting to make a nice bed jacket for reading in bed. It is a good price, It does go with the caftan and they take credit. Sold.
