When going away I like to buy at least one piece of fabric or some yarn from a place, so I can make for myself a wearable souvenir. So how fortunate that fabric shopping in Scandinavia is fantastic!!
Our first stop; Copenhagen. I didn’t find much by way fabric stores online, but I had read about a leather shop and paid it a visit.
Well.
It. Was. AWESOME.
Skindhuset
Skindergade 6
1159 København K
Here can be found a lot of leathers and suedes in a variety of colours, leather needles and other working tools, and a good range of metal bits and bobs such as purse frames and handles; and buckles, snap latches and hooks used for finishing handbags and luggage. Stunned by the fabulosity within I conservatively bought only three pieces of leather. Later on I realised I had been way toooooo conservative and planned a return visit on our last day. Biggest mistake ever. My advice: buy stuff when you’re there, on the spot. Because you may find, like I did, that your last shopping day in a place is unexpectedly a public holiday and the shop is shut. *silent scream* a la Edvard Munch
oh well.
Next stop; Stockholm…
and Craig’s reflection in the window, wearing a shirt that I made for him too, hehe…
Svenskt Tenn AB
Strandvägen 5
114 51 Stockholm
Stocks a very beautiful, albeit extraordinarily expensive range of Swedish designs and prints in the form of upholstery fabric, lots of curtains and cushions made up. I was prepared to buy curtains as a last resort but fortunately found that you could also buy some of the fabrics off the bolt… and I did buy a lovely bucolic print that is still deciding whether it wants to be an Elisalex or a spring coat. Ahhh, decisions decisions!
And now I am so very grateful to
Liz, who emailed me to point me in the direction of some bonafide garment fabric stores too; thank you so much Liz! Enabling successfully achieved. 🙂
Tygverket – Tyger i Stockholm
Sankt Paulsgatan 19
118 46 Stockholm
As soon as I walked in this place I knew I had come to the place where Swedish ladies shop for their fabrics. A cheerful jumble of all sorts of fabrics of every description piled up all over the place, not unlike our Spotlight, but more intimate and classier. I found some very lovely designs, both cute kiddies’ and lovely adults’ prints from Swedish designers and also other European countries. The staff were super helpful and kindly took my name and email so as to keep me notified about a sold-out button.
er, I promise that is not as lame as it sounds! They have a dala horse button, and I HAVE TO HAVE SOME!! They would be perfection personified; per-button-ified? to finish the little white summer blouse I have planned, and for which I have the fabric already 🙂
Ohlssons Tyger & Stuvar AB
Sveavägen 34
111 34 Stockholm
Another regular fabric store, with some lovely reasonably priced Swedish designs on linen and linen blends. A smaller range than Tygverket but of a more select quality, so still worth a visit. I bought one piece.
Next stop… Oslo!
Thank you so much to
Sølvi for this recommendation 🙂
Rainbow Tekstil AS
Storgata 28
0184 Oslo
It doesn’t look like much on the outside but it’s an Aladdin’s cave of a shop; two stories with floor to ceiling shelves all stuffed to bursting point with fabrics. I didn’t find any traditional Norwegian designs here or anything, it’s more like a regular fabric store, but it does have a very large and a nicely diverse range. After much hemming and hawing I managed to choose one piece.
A word of advice to the fabric tourist; the address says Storgata 28, and the shop is in this building but the store entrance and the shop itself is situated quite a way away from Storgata, around the corner on Lybekkergata. I had come thisclose to giving upon my search, but Sølvi had confirmed the address and so I was sure that it must be there somewhere and so kept on looking. I was glad that I spotted it at last!
Next stop; Reykjavik!
I hadn’t found any fabric stores in my online searches, so had thought I would most likely be buying yarn here.
However!
First day we wandered in here…
Nordic Store ehf.
Lækjargata
101 Reykjavík
And sure enough, found some lovely yarns and knitting patterns immediately. Browsed these for a bit, but then my amazed eye was caught and held by something else, far far cooler and all thoughts of yarn were abandoned. Not that yarn is not cool, you understand. It is. Really, yarn-lover from way back, here, honest. But wait. This store also sold leather made from fish skins. Fish leather. I kid you not. Cooooool! Obviously I bought some. I bought cod, salmon, perch and catfish leather. What on earth am I going to do with that, you might ask. Ahh, we shall see, we shall see 😉 I have some ideas, but everything’s still bubbling and geminating. One thing’s for sure, it has to be something to do the materials justice so I’m not rushing in.
So I didn’t buy any yarns, but do have to say something about Icelandic yarns though. Knitted items are part and parcel of Iceland. Icelandics are serious about their wool, maybe even more so than Aussies. Once you get out of the city sheep are everywhere you look and traditional Icelandic knitted items are sold and worn everywhere. It seems like everyone has and wears an Icelandic jumper, and I can’t tell you how much I loved seeing this. Even regular guys pumping petrol into their monster trucks, kiddies riding their bikes, women shopping in the supermarket. Everyone rocking their Icelandic jumpers. I just loved the regional cohesiveness, and it seemed to me a really nice thing, and sorta quietly patriotic.
Speaking of supermarkets, even the supermarkets sell wool and knitting patterns. That’s pretty impressive. How much do I wish we still had that here in Australia?? so much! Browsing through a knitting pattern book in one little supermarket I even found patterns for knitted wedding dresses. Consider my jaw officially dropped. Seriously, how lovely! Seeing this just made me love Iceland even more 🙂
So no, I didn’t buy any yarn, sadly not enough space in the suitcase… but yes! I did buy an Icelandic knitting book! Expect some Icelandic-style cosiness to pop up here, at some stage 😉
I loved this post; seriously weird though, because I've just posted on the same thing – confined to Stockholm. You did a better job by including the map!
Thank goodness you're home at last! It does sound as though you have had such a great time and I have to applaud you for being so restrained. Air travel does rather help in the matter of discipline though with the weight restrictions, otherwise I expect we would all need a jumbo to ourselves.
I remember ladies knitting away when we went to scandinavia on the buses, ferries, parks everywhere. You had a good shot at lots of shops. looking forward to the makes. Jo x
Fun, fun, fun! Sounds like you got some wonderful things while you were there. Can't wait to see what you do with it all!
Sounds like you had quite the adventure. I love the idea of using fabric as a wearable souvenir.
I think knitting your own wedding dress must be the most nervewracking undertaking imaginable. I mean would you really take the time to knit and then block a muslin version? But if not, what would you do if months later you didn't like the final garment?! Wow.
Yes, it would be a huge undertaking! but I kind of imagined it would be something a grandmother would do for her grand-daughter, which is such a lovely thought to me. Actually I never ever do muslins for a knitted garment anyway 🙂
I did the same thing in Sapporo, Japan a few weeks ago!
I blogged it too, lots of photos here http://www.nataliefergie.com/blog
Wow – great trip but I want to see pics of the fabric itself!! I have some bespoke real fish skin shoes by the Aussie company ShoesofPrey.com where you design your own shoes. You can actually see where the scales were. Way cool.
Now I want to go to Iceland more and more!!
Amazing information and I would love to see the fabric, sounds like you had the most wonderful time.
Oh, thank-you for letting me travel and shop vicariously with you.
Can´t wait to see what you do with your new book and all the stuff you bought!!!
Very useful to have a Scandanavian shopping guide, thank you for providing this with maps too. And I agree with you Carolyn that Iceland has it all (except enough sunshine). I really want an Icelandic jumper but the wool is a bit rough for me – wouldn't it be nice to knit one up in a softer yarn?
I have been to Svenskt Tenn in Copenhagen, but Liberty's of London has quite a good selection, and Skanda in Marylebone High Street (for visitors to London) have some super fabrics too.
We bought a few fish skin wallets in Hong Kong – brilliant colours and they have stood the test of time. And isn't shagreen made from sharkskin?
Wow, sounds like you had a great time in Scandinavia!
I've always wanted to visit Iceland for its natural beauty, and now you've made me want to go there even more.
And the fish leather sounds really cool. I'm looking forward to seeing what you'll make of it. It sort of sounds like these might be smaller skins, ideal for accessories like bags but, of course, I might be wrong.
Wow, that looks like an amazing trip!
That knitted wedding dress looks awesome! Wonder if we could get that trend to take off here. It looks like you had a lovely time shopping for fabrics in your travels. Can't wait to see the fabrics themselves (made up of course!)
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE SHOW US THE FABRIC!!!
Sorry. I'm all excited about the fabric buying (and I'm currently on a moratorium until I finish the five projects that are currently half finished…I may or may not have a bit of an addiction going on here…and Spotlight has its end of financial year sale on and I'm busting to make a hot pink tulle skirt). But seriously, please show us the fabric! And those dalahäst buttons. And what did you get from Ohlssons? You can't come out with something like "some lovely reasonably priced Swedish designs on linen and linen blends" and then no pictures. That's just sooooo cruel.
Yeah. Hmm. I might need to get out more.
Ahh, here it is again:
Cannot agree more! What in the world is fish leather and how does it look like?!? Enough with the teasing, show us!
I definitively need to visit Scandinavia one day, for me as a German it so much closer, but apart from a short trip to Denmark and Finland during school I’ve never really been to it.
And I also do buy fabric as a souvenir…
Haha, I'm sorry, and you are right, I totally should show off the fabrics too… 🙂 I love seeing other people's fabric choices too, and I'm pretty excited about mine! …soon! 🙂
Loved this post…like being on vacation this morning!
Looks amazing. I can't wait to visit Scandinavia one day. I remember a dew years ago eel skin wallets and bags were everywhere – beautiful colours, and so soft! Look forward to seeing your purchases! And loved your travel wardrobe post btw – didn't comment on that one.
What an awesome post. Your purchases sound so awesome, and that fish leather, wow!!! I had the same experience as you in Barcelona when I turned up at the fabric store on my last day to find it was closed for holidays. I purposely went on the last day so I could blow all I had left, and I was so excited. It was like a hard slap in the face hehe
What an entertaining read. I am very jealous of your shopping and can't wait to see what you make. I's bound to be perfishtion perbuttonified.
It sounds like you had a lovely trip, I went to Stockholm in April and still haven't written up the fabric shopping trip there. Glad to see you went to Tygverket too! It's difficult to find, isn't it?
I love Skindhuset too – I visit them every time I am in Copenhagen 🙂 – if you come to Copenhagen an other time, you should go to Silkehuset, Fortunstræde 3, 1065 Copehagen, ITA-Textiles, Tordenskjoldsgade 14, 1055 Copenhagen and Hvidberg, Løngangsstræde 25, 1468 Copenhagen – they have all wonderful fabric. If you want cheeper ones you can go to Stof og Stil and Stof2000, they have several shops in Copenhagen and in other cities in Denmark.
Thank you so much Majken. I wish so much to be able to go back there one day 🙂
ooh I do love scandinavia but have only fabric shopped in Copenhagen tho I don't think it was the leather place you visited. Would love to see your fabric haul and eventual destination of said fabric.
I love the Icelandic bride!
Oh! Iceland! I've never been there but your post just made me want to go there even more! Fish leather sounds amazing! I think there's an anorak in the British Museum made of it & I was always very intrigued so I can't wait to see what you make with it! It sounds like a fantastic trip – Oslo & Stockholm are some of my favourite cities! And I TOTALLY understand the dala horse button love!
Your amazingess knows now bounds! I get to Oslo fairly regularly and never even thought to look for fabric there. I'm off to Storgata the next time I'm in town – thanks so much for the tip. And yes – show fabric soon!
I so agree that fabric shopping is a wonderful travel activity, and the fabric itself is the best souvenir! This info is bookmarked in case of future travel to Scandinavia . . .
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Hi Carolyn, I just got back from Sweden, and had great success at Stoff & Stil: Geometrivägen 3, 141 75 Kungens Kurva, Sweden. Kungens Kurva is a big shopping complex where IKEA is. We got a free IKEA bus from T-Central, but I skipped IKEA and just went fabric shopping!
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