Irish Sewing Blogs and suppliers

I'm off work for a few days, off sick and not up to much other than sitting up in bed with my laptop and surfing and planning projects and things to do when I'm back to myself.
Yesterday, I got immersed in sewing patterns... and blogs and fabrics... I ended up spending almost €100.
Today, it struck me that I should have a trawl around the web for local bloggers, and find out where they source their patterns and their fabrics and notions. How do they avoid paying overseas postage and packaging... etc.
I'm going to start off with a "disclaimer" and that is my disinterest in quilting and patchworking so I have quickly left blogs on those topics that I have come across rightly or wrongly. Wrongly, undoubtedly, because there is something to be learnt from everything but the sheer amount of blogs and postings causes me to impose some kind of 'rules'.

A great start: Etsy Ireland Crafty Team - but they seem to be quite beady and cardy and crafty orientated as opposed to sewing specific. Hmm. This sourcing is tough.

Fiona in Dublin has an Etsy shop called Threads2000 selling 100% egyptian cotton threads sourced from Greece.

Fabric Shops in Dublin:
Hickey's on Mary or Henry Street (can never remember where on starts and the other ends)
Murphy Sheehy's near the Powerscourt Shopping Centre and Grogan's Bar
Woolen Mills, near Ha'penny Bridge on North Side (upstairs for the big range of fabric)
TWI, 24 Mountjoy Square East - I haven't been here yet.
Ikea

Other crafty shops in Dublin:
The Yellow Brick Road, Bachelor's Walk (though I think it may have closed down?!)
Trimmings shop on quays near beside Crown Alley / Temple Bar / Ha'penny Bridge
Rubenesque in Powerscourt Shopping Centre (used to have shop next to the music shop but may have moved from there into bigger premises)

Knitting shops:
Craft Cottage, Ratoath, Co. Meath
Trim, Co. Meath
Winnie's Wool Wagon, Woodbine, Booterstown (near UCD), Co. Dublin
woolshop in Swan Centre, Rathmines, Co. Dublin
This is Knit, Powerscourt Centre, Dublin
The Gingham Duck, Sligo

Lots of info on Knitting Classes in Ireland. I keep getting distracted by information that is available as opposed to the information that I want.


The Crafter's Basket, North Sligo - have the facility for selling patterns but none in online shop as I look today. Sells fabric, vilene, a dressmakers dummy, sewing machines and other items.

Yay! I've found Pippablue. She's blogging from Galway, Ireland. Further investigation... there's an online Pippablue Shop - hurrah! The list of products is potentially very exciting... but the stock is very low. One to keep an eye on, I suppose. The real shop is on 1 Middle Street, Galway City.

Just Judith is in Belfast - a quilter though, not my métier!
A room in a cottage - sewing homewares made in Ireland
Sarah from Cork is also a quilter
Fluffy Sheep Quilting is based in Ireland... but I think the clue is in the name! She has blogged a brilliant list of quilting fabric stockists in Ireland
Emily lives in Ireland and she likes to make things... here's hoping there'll be a link or two to a whole world of Irish bloggers in her blogstream....
Linda Coleman is in Dublin. Her projects seem different to mine but I might steal a friend from her blogging community.
Cuada are a textile designer in South West Ireland... website seems to just sell finished products.
Millie (the same name as my Gran!) lives on a dairy farm in Ireland and she SEWS. Just like me. My hopes are raised again.
The Roma and Mary blog is kept by Amanda in Ireland who likes a variety of handiwork and crafts, including sewing, she says.

A lot of these links were found using the "Sew Irish" group on flicker. But many of the members of that group are not based in Ireland. I just think in terms of sourcing materials and fabrics and patterns, and sew alongs (for practical time-zone-related reasons!) that it would be nice to be part of a community of Irish amateur dressmakers. But maybe my expectations are too high. I have a few leads and will follow them later.