Liberty
For the ultimate fabric shopping experience, head to Liberty and swoon over the lovely Liberty print cotton in this stunning department store. Look out for the special collection of fabric created for the V&A Quilts exhibition which is sold by the metre, as well as in smaller pieces just for patchworking which are charmingly known as fat quarters!

The Cloth Shop
The Cloth Shop is a Notting Hill fabric boutique and a rabbit warren of beautiful cloth. Check out the back room which is full of yummy designer remnants and Savile Row leftovers.

The Cloth House
The area round Berwick Street is home to lots of fabric shops, including the two shops which make up The Cloth House. One shop offers basics like cottons, suiting and ticking, the other sells luxuries – velvets, jersey and embellished fabric. You’ll also love nearby Boroviks, The Berwick Street Cloth Shop and Soho Silks which are great if you’re making something for a special occasion.

Creative Quilting
If you’re off to see the tapestries at Hampton Court Palace and the textiles at The Royal School of Needlework, you’re just round the corner from Creative Quilting who stock over 1,000 different quilting fabrics, including festive fabrics for special occasions.

Tikki Patchwork
Tikki Patchwork is stuffed with colourful fabric that’s perfect for patchworking and making pretty gifts. Tikki Patchwork is close to Kew Gardens and they’ve clearly been inspired by the exotic flowers and the beauty of nature when choosing their lovely cotton prints.

M Rosenberg & Son
OK, this isn’t a shop, but once a month, M Rosenberg & Son take over Hays Village Hall in Bromley and fill it with huge rolls of lovely fabric. As well as the basics, you’ll find astonishing bold Italian print cottons and other unusual stuff that isn’t on their website. A family business, M Rosenberg & Son have been selling fabric since 1946 and it’s now the son and grandson! www.mrosenbergandson.com

MacCulloch & Wallis
The ultimate haberdashery, MacCulloch & Wallis have three floors stocking everything you need to whip up the perfect couture outfit – the thread, fabric, zips and trim. You can even pick up a hat block and sinamay in every colour of the rainbow to make a matching hat.

Goldhawk Road
There’s loads of fabric shops in Goldhawk Road which sell all sorts of fabric from all over the world. One of our favourites is Classic Textiles which offers good quality silk, crepe de chine and suiting. A-One Fabric and the stalls in Shepherd’s Bush Market also stock a good range.

Cath Kidston
Did you know you can buy Cath Kidston fabric by the metre so you can make anything you like? We love the London street scene cotton fabric and the oil cloth in pretty spots and florals.

Joel & Son Fabrics
Joel & Son have an enormous shop near Edgware Road and have been selling everything from printed cottons to embroidered chiffon for over 30 years. If you can’t find it here, you’ll have to weave it yourself!

Did we miss out your favourite places to buy fabric in London?

The market is great for groceries, homeware and fashion. You can kit out your kitchen, bulk buy bananas and hoard some new handbags at discount prices. The market also has a few high street favourites including New Look, Peacocks and Dorothy Perkins.

There are hundreds of stalls so you’ll need to rummage to find amazing stuff, but it’s worth it. I spent all day Saturday bargain hunting and didn’t even get to the end of the road!

My favourite thing about Walthamstow Market is the haberdashery. There are lots of stalls selling sewing threads, buttons, ribbons and amazing carnival sequin trims. If you look hard enough, you’ll even find Kylie and Bros patches for your jeans.

There are plenty of cheap and cheerful places to eat in the market but we followed a tip from a friend and took a 10-minute walk to find Orford Road, a hidden street of lovely restaurants.

We picked Eat17 as most of the locals were eating there, looking happy and well fed. The hamburgers were delicious but we had food envy over every dish coming out of the kitchen. I didn’t have room for pudding, but will be going back to try them all, especially the one which appeared to be served in a flowerpot.

What’s your favourite London Market?

One of London’s best kept secrets, the London Sewing Machine Museum in Tooting Bec is open this weekend and you can visit for free! There’s always something thrilling about exploring a small specialist museum.

If you’re obsessed with sewing or machinery or both, you’ll be rubbing your knees with glee when you see this collection. The museum has two rooms packed with vintage machines, funny shaped bobbins, original packaging and sewing machine themed statues. You can see a sewing machine which was presented to Queen Victoria’s daughter as well as one shaped like a clown sitting at a table!

Local sewing machine experts from the sewing machine warehouse downstairs are on hand to tell you fascinating facts about the collection.

The museum is free and open between 2pm and 5pm on the first Saturday of the month. You have to be over 16 years old to visit because there’s lots of machinery about.

If your visit inspires you to get sewing, you can pop downstairs and buy your own machine.

And next door to the museum is a big haberdashery shop where you can pick up yarn, fabric and notions. On my recent visit, the haberdashery shop staff were knowledgeable and friendly, and weren’t even fazed when a customer popped in for craft supplies while walking her ferret on a lead.

For information about the London Sewing Machine Museum and shops, visit www.sewantique.com