Whenever I explore a town I always visit markets, if they have them. My favourite type of market are permanent covered markets which can be both historic, visually appealing and contain some real gems. Most of you know my favourite charity shop is in Oxford covered market.
In Bath, near the Abbey, you will find the town hall and next to it is the Guildhall Indoor Market. I hadn’t researched it at all before entering. This market is a lot more functional than Oxford covered market, with pet food shops, diy shop etc. We entered from the riverside and explored. I had to have a groan at the name of the sweet shop – Bath Humbugs (although I did have to explain it to Mr M who didn’t read it that way to start with).
At the opposite side to where we entered, on the outer circle of stalls, I spotted the end of Sew and So.
Little did I realise that this haberdashery would keep going for almost 1/4 of the outer way round the market.
It is huge. Even Mr M was amazed at the size of it! He commented on all the ribbon, and he only saw the outer bit. You can just about see some of this on the 2nd photo above this paragraph!
Mr M even called me over to look at the button collection.
He asked if I’d ever seen so many buttons in one place! At this point he offered to get a capuccino and sit in the cafe whilst I explored. He is lovely, isn’t he!
I explored the ribbons and had far too much choice! Mr M had only seen some of them. This is what the inside bit looks like:
See, lots of ribbon! They even had a column of just bias binding:
I was very restrained and only bought a few ribbons, and only 1m of each. As you can tell I got bits which I think I will use over the next three months:
As for buttons, I was also restrained there. I got more red buttons to add to my collection, ready to make my sister something.
I have seen plenty of polka dot buttons, in lots of sizes and colours, and they had lots here. I can’t remember ever seeing strippy buttons before, so treated myself to a few in one of my favourite colours.
Sew and so also have a small line in beads. I didn’t have a look at them as Mr M had returned, and was bored, but I did treat myself to this board:
I’ve been meaning to get a bead board for a while. I’m hoping this will stop my beads rolling around too much when making jewellery on the sofa. It should also save me having a tape measure out so much. At £4, this seemed a similar price to these I’ve see on the web.
In conclusion – I want Sew and So to be near me! I went into another crafty shop where another visitor was commenting on bits on sale in said shop and directed her to Sew and So! As great as he was, I want to go without Mr M so I can spend ages exploring everything. If ever in Bath, go!
Mrs M Makes 