Liberty London

I'm not sure how it can be that I've never visited Liberty, London before now? I'm stationery mad, craft and haberdashery mad, love English home wares, especially traditional styles - so of course it's the perfect place to visit. Maybe it was a subconscious self (credit card) protection that kept me away until now? Well what ever the reason, now I've been I'll definitely be going back again!

View of the grand frontage

the sun even shone for a moment to greet me

My first stop was the stationery department, wow, I could do some damage here. Picked up a writing pad, which I liked for the landscape ruled format, and the paper quality, I'm trying to get into regular snail mail and having the right feeling paper helps. Two sets of 'gift wrap' which are actually a collection of three different sized paper bags with gorgeous prints (world maps, and Paris theme below), pages of themed stickers to match and swing tags. I don't plan on using these as gift wraps, but as page pockets to add into note books, diaries etc, although some probably will end up with little gifties in them. Final stationery was a pack of Liberty post it notes. I could have bought so much more but had to restrain myself.

Then I headed upstairs to haberdashery; found all sorts of glorious notions and ribbons. I loved the old fashioned style of the box of bulb style pins, and think these will have many uses with knitting (thinking they will make usable stitch markers for one thing). Again, all the traditional style packaging had me drooling over bits and bobs, some of which I wasn't even sure what they were for, but I still wanted them. My restraint held out though.

Really love this 'Made in Great Britain' ribbon

I bought a few metres of ribbons, mostly for tying around knitted gifts, which I usually wrap in tissue when posting. Was great to find a yarn department, but not really anything different here than I can get in House of Fraser in Birmingham. I touched far too many fabrics upstairs, even considered buying a piece of a gorgeous Winnie the Pooh fabric on which the illustrations were all embroidered, at £120m! I would have bought half a metre of the Paddington fabric, but I didn't particularly like the design (old school Paddington fan)

As I was eyeing off the expensive Needlework section I glanced Helen Mirren out the corner of my eye, even she was giving the price tags a double check with her specs. 

Will definitely have to go back for another scout around one day.