A Trip to The Bramble Patch - by Jackie S

As some of you might know, I moved to Northampton just over a year ago - can’t believe a very eventful year has gone so quickly. Anyway, one of the good things about living here is that I am fairly near to The Bramble Patch quilt shop in Weedon, a village not too far from me. 

So, when I heard that they were holding a Christmas exhibition I decided that I would take a trip through the Northamptonshire countryside to have a look, and also to satisfy my need for fabric buying. 

As I have not driven very far from where I live and am not too familiar with the surrounding roads I decided to take the bus, which stops almost outside the shop. I caught the D3 from Northampton bus station and 57 minutes later arrived at The Plume of Feathers pub next to The Bramble Patch, having travelled along twisty, narrow lanes and through several villages dotted along the route, such as Upton, Harpole, Kislingbury and Upper Heyford. 

The shop was easy to spot with two quilts strung outside flapping in the wind and rain, and is quite quirky in layout with several different rooms full of quilting goodies. But on entering the shop I was immediately confronted with so much colourful fabric. 

I headed for the two rooms with the exhibition quilts hanging and was struck by the number of large quilts and the variety of patterns and colours in front of me. There was a small display of embroidery items made by a group in Kettering, which was interesting and so well done. A lot of the quilts were products of classes the shop holds and were from a few years ago as because of this year’s lockdown they hadn’t been able to run the usual classes. But the range of styles, patterns and the number of makers involved was impressive, plus the quality of the work.

After I had been around the exhibition a couple of times I pounced on the sale basket of fat quarters, 6 for £10 - can’t go wrong - and the fabrics were of good quality and choice of colours and patterns. Back to the main room with so much fabric to choose from, laid out in colourways, different types of fabric, makers, etc. Of course, I added to my sale fat quarters with a lovely Grunge greeny gold, some Spraytime red and light cream and Linen Texture spring green, plus a few other fat quarters that I couldn’t go home without, together with a couple of spare rotary cutter blades. I could have gone on but the bus back was looming (1 an hour) and I wanted to have a quick coffee and cake in their little cafe to set me up for the journey back.



A good day out - the journey will be better in good weather - but if you ever find yourself in the area I can highly recommend The Bramble Patch. They really do have a very good selection of quilting requirements and the staff are helpful and friendly as well. There is also a reasonably-sized car park. I shall definitely go back next year when the weather is a bit better