Friday, July 23, 2010

Calico & Ivy - A LQS review

Location and Parking
10 Glyde Street
Mosman Park

Located in the Western suburbs of Perth just north of the beautiful historic Fremantle this LQS is not central for all Perth metro residence but makes a great destination store for a Saturday drive or a jewel in the LQS crown for the lucky residents of the area.

Just off Stirling Highway, close to the Fremantle train line Calico & Ivy is accessible for many. Parking is on the street out the front. Although it is near a busy shopping strip I had not trouble finding a park on the street out the front, twice.


Yardage
The fabric section of this store has a large but not massive range of great designer fabrics. They stock a larger than normal range of Japanese cotton/linen blend fabric including a whole shelf of echino and Kokka. There is also a lot of Kaffe Fasset, Heather Bailey, Amy Butler and Anna Maria Horner. Prices ranged in store from $20-$40.
I could not see a sale section (even although it was End of Financial Year sale time)


Fat Quarters
Dotted throughout the shop are several trays of fat quarters. Cut from the bolt in store I can see these being matched with yardage from the same range or other fabrics in the store.

Precuts
I didn’t see any Moda precuts in the store the day I was there but there were several displays in the store complementary fabrics cut into packs and kits.

Books
I could have spent a lot of money on books in this store, thankfully for my bank balance I knew I could make my luggage limit stretch to accommodate them. There are quilting, general craft and dressmaking books galore.

Patterns
Then store had displayed the largest range of Oliver + S patterns that I have seen to date in an Australian store. Also spotted were some other artisan patterns. Interestingly there were not a huge number of quilt patterns in store (as separate from the books).

Rulers, Notions and Potions
The was a small section of rulers and notions and cool tools down the back in a small alcove but the focus was not on this section and there was noting there that I haven’t seen many other places.

Service
Along with the Japanese fabric this was perhaps my most positive impression of this store. People, regular customers obviously, were chatting with staff about recent trips, projects and family events. I am sure that one or two people came in just for a chat. Staff were also more than happy to assist people with their crochet skills (there is a large yarn section at the front of the store). The only slight down side to this friendliness is that I had to go and seek service when I had finished wandering but this was readily provided and was a friendly and helpful as I had seen with more regular customers.



Classes and Services
Calico and Ivy offers classes. Check out their
website for details.

Other Stock
As mentioned above there was also a significant yarn section (with a whole other library of books). It isn’t my craft of choice so I didn’t have a good look around here.

3 comments:

Sally said...

I think it might be time for me to take a little trip to Mosman Park.
Thanks so much for the review.

Nicole said...

I really liked your post. I thought it was very informative and would check back here for location and facilities if i were travelling to perth.

DebO said...

Thanks Kristy for including Calico and Ivy (actually I feel honoured to be your first) in your shop reviews.
There is always a place for every buyer type, and most cross over and support local when able, as you suggested. My goal is to present the most inspiring, community based, warm environment to our customers:- a retreat from the home with a friendly face. Please come again, I look forward to meeting you.