I’ve lived in Walthamstow for over 8 years now and guess I’ve become a bit blasé about the amount of fabric shops and stalls that can be found just on the street market. It was only when I found other people telling me they were visioning from quite far away just to buy fabric here that I realised that of course, not everyone has this many shops locally!

So I thought it was high time to do a little blogpost about them.

I myself always start at the bottom of the market, near St James street station. There’s many other delights on this stretch of the market and it’s by far the quietest part of the market so I often don’t make it to the top!

I usually just pop into Hussains Fabrics for cheap cottons and linens, they also sell blackout fabric, wadding and felt as well as fake fur and amazing Asian fabrics. When you see something you like, buy it. That goes for all the shops here. They often sell end of line fabric and you are unlikely to see it again next time you visit. Which is of course it’s downfall as I cannot use it for products that need to replicated over and over. But then again it is like shopping at a car boot sale as it’s exciting and mostly super cheap!

The green fronted Fabric Shop across the road from Hussains is probably the cheapest of all the shops. Everything is stacked against the walls in bolts and they truly have the most amazing array! Very little in the way of cottons but at £1 or £2 a meter you are bound to come home with something cool!

Make sure to visit Ribbons. It’s my go to shop for zips but of course they sell hundreds of beautiful ribbons!

Each shop on that stretch of the market will tempt you with more bolts of funky home decor, cheap silks and bright jerseys.

Cross over to the busy top part of the market to find more haberdashery shops and fabric stalls. Make sure you pop into the little fabric shop on a side street near Sainsburys. It sells cheap Liberty like prints and great poly cotton prints, perfect for cheap bunting. She often has denims and all kinds of amazing fabrics too.

After all fabric shopping that you should pop into the International Supermarket for the best veggies, Turkish breads, cakes, olives and cheeses.

And really, no visit to the market is complete without a super tasty flat bread from Yilderim bakery on St James street, very near the station. The breads are hand made on the premises and are just the best!