Guest blog by Marie Millward @BeautBramley
I come from a large family and before I was twenty had acquired two Godchildren. To satiate the hunger from this rabble for some sort of gift, I became a dab hand at presenting a sack of exquisitely wrapped budget gifts or some lovingly adorned homemade tat. I then tried to get to the door before they opened the gift and the smile faded. I’m guessing that this is why Culture Vulture has asked for my list of where to get your fripperies, frills and wrapping to make your presents a treat to behold.
First of all, to market, to market…
Most of the indoor markets in West Yorkshire have at least one fabulous haberdashery stall and Leeds Market has many excellent places to buy ribbons, ric-rac, cord, bells, bows and other delightful trimmings. Search the boxes where they have roll ends of ribbon and you will find some treasures at a really good price. The market is a veritable trove where you will also find feathers, dried and fresh flowers and foliage, coloured string, bright wool and festive stamps to make your own fabulous gift labels or stickers. The fabric stalls are great for remnants that can make a rather special gift wrap and can be reused either to wrap another gift or to make something else, (its less fiddly than you might think).
The trick to a really brilliantly wrapped gift is a bit of an element of surprise. At Scrap you are surprised at every visit with an unusual, ever-changing cornucopia of shiny, twine-y, paper and fabric bargains including containers that can be primped to your heart’s delight. You can even feel virtuous about your frivolous wrapping habit because the materials on sale at Scrap have all been rescued from landfill.
The Bowery is a delightful Headingley hangout on Otley Road. Part café, part gallery and teaching space and also stocks a really interesting range of unusual gifts, cards and materials by designer makers, many locally based. Sipping a cup of java while you shop is festive multi-tasking at its best, don’t you think?
For some very special cards, too-beautiful-to-tear papers and an increasing range of ace stationery, head to my new favourite shop, Colours May Vary on the bottom floor of Munro House. If you do not want to buy at least half of the things in the shop, you and I might be on a different page, taste-wise. At Yorkshire Sculpture Park shop you can mine a similar vein of loveliness and hot off the press news is that the shop has just been named Best Independent Retailer at the Northern Design Awards 2012 – awards that serve to recognise and celebrate excellence in design across the North of England. After stocking up on fabulous paper, cards, tape and stamps, go for a traipse around the park to get some inspiration for some sculptural approaches to bow-tying.
What special furbelow will I be adding to my gifts this year? Badges of course, little custom-made fabric numbers by designers of lovely things, Sukie. I spotted their cute Button Factory kits on sale in Waterstones. They are easy as pie to make and along with some coloured wool and string will be making my gifts the first one under the tree you will want to open
Cool blog. Loving those buttons