Haberdashery

The parts that finish a project

Over 600 items across 37 categories: buttons, zips, elastic, hooks and fastenings, ribbons and bindings, threads, needles, interfacing, wadding, bag hardware, dyes and the small tools that make a job quicker.

It is the least glamorous part of a make and the part that decides whether it lasts. A bag fails at its handle fixings, a waistband fails at the elastic, a collar collapses without interfacing — never at the fabric.

Getting the choice right

Thread should match the fabric's behaviour, not just its colour: polyester has enough give for knits where pure cotton thread can snap, and bags and upholstery want a thread rated for the load.

Needles are chosen by point shape. Ballpoint pushes between the loops of a knit instead of cutting them; sharps pierce woven cloth cleanly; denim and leather needles get through heavy layers. Most skipped stitches and puckered seams are a blunt or wrong needle rather than a machine fault.

Interfacing should be lighter than the fabric it supports. Heavier and the piece goes board-stiff, which is the usual reason a collar looks wrong.