There was a twitter request from the Guardian’s in-house crafter, Perri Lewis, for Glasgow-related crafty tips. Rather than try and cram it all into 140 characters I thought I’d try and collate it into a post. Disclaimer: these are just my own picks! I’m sure there are fab places out there that I’m missing, so please comment if you have any gems to share!
Okay, with that in place, here are my thoughts.
First of all, if someone else has done the work, it’s worth sharing – Emma of Showpony wrote a Glasgow guide for Poppytalk. Check it out, she’s done a great job.
And the Glasgow Craft Mafia forum and blog are both well worth reading. See if there are any markets happening and if so, do go. You’ll find some lovely stuff! Maybe I’ll be there…and then you can come and say hello and make me very happy.
Stuff to buy (new):
Fabric is best bought at Mandor’s, near the GFT on Rose Street. The ladies there know their stuff and you can get beautiful Harris tweed, wool tartans and a decent choice of quilters’ cotton. There are two hubs of Asian fabric shops: Great Western Road towards Charing Cross, and Cathcart Road in Mount Florida, round about Allison Street.
For charity shops, I like density too – so Dumbarton Road, at the bottom of Byres Road (and don’t miss out the Salvation Army which is now called something disconcerting but it’s still the SA if you look closely) is well worth an afternoon. There are plenty of treasures to be found if you work your way up in the opposite direction from the art galleries, but beware of charity shop fatigue. Take breaks! Eat cake! Drink coffee! But not too much! Southside, try Victoria Road. There aren’t as many but they’re also less well frequented, so you might spy a treasure or two. And a special mention goes to the Islamic Relief (I think! It’s something like that anyway. You’ll know it when you see it)shop on Pollokshaws Road, near the Pakistani Cafe (607 Pollokshaws Road). It’s got a mix of asian and western stuff and is piled to the gunnels. Last time I looked it had a good range of groovy 70s crockery too, but I’m not allowed to bring any more of that into the house without extremely good reason… Plus, it’s near the Pakistani cafe, so you can have lunch while you’re in the neighbourhood – well recommended. There is also a vintage-specialist Cancer Research shop at 1073 Pollokshaws Road – a little further up, into Shawlands. There are a few decent charity shops in the Shawlands stretch, plus the three (3! Count ‘em!) Cosgrove Care shops on Skirving Street – visit each, as they’re fab.
For machine bits and bobs, there’s a sewing machine man in the Savoy Centre, apparently, but I’ve never been. I was going to get a teflon foot, but so far, improvising with tissue paper’s worked ok.
If you like wool, as well as K1 in the West End, a visit to Marjory’s Wool Shop (120 Holmlea Road, near the Victoria Infirmary) is worth your time. It’s a proper old-fashioned ladies’ shop, but it’s got some lovely modern yarn in amongst the sirdar snuggly…organic, cotton, slubby. Makes me wish I could knit faster than my current rate of one garment every six years.
Places the Mafia hold markets, hence all round good eggs: Mono, on Kings Street, which is a bar/vegan restaurant/record shop. Cooooooool. The Butterfly and Pig at 153 Bath Street is a jolly bar but the most wonderful thing is its afternoon teas, with mismatched china and lovely baking.
