“I wanted it to feel like that”: How childhood memories of Heptonstall drapers inspired Halifax fabric shop

It’s exactly how owner Chrissy Wild imagined the shop would be when she opened it in 2013, on Clare Road, just south of the town centre opposite the Royal Oak pub.

Growing up in Heptonstall, Chrissy would visit the co-op drapers in Towngate with her mum in the 1960s, and these childhood memories of the atmosphere in the shop later inspired her to open The Fabbadashery.

Recalling her memories of the Heptonstall shop, Chrissy said: “it was just a fabulous place. I used to go in as a child with my mum.

“Everybody would just be chattering and talking about fabric.

“It was marvellous and I always loved the place, so when I came to [the Halifax shop] I wanted it to be like that, I wanted it to feel like that, I wanted to just replicate it really.”

Although not a professional sewer, Chrissy picked up the skill from a young age, making clothing and alterations.

“I’ve never done it for money, just for sheer convenience, enjoyment, just a hobby,” she said.

Prior to the fabric shop, Chrissy had a busy career for around 20 years as a sales rep for an international company, looking after large corporate clients and travelling between 30 and 40 thousand miles a year.

“It just came to a point where it just had to stop, it was crazy,” she said.

Following that job, Chrissy took a career break and fostered for a while, before deciding to open The Fabbadashery in Halifax.

The Fabbadashery finds repeat customers in local sewing hobbyists, but also finds one-off customers among some tourists, who may pop in to pick up a fabric to remember their visit by, such as its Piece Hall print, created by a local designer.

The Fabbadashery runs regular workshops for quilting, patchwork and sewing skills, run by skilled tutors for groups of up to six people.

When someone books a workshop, the tutor will call them ahead of the day and talk through their project and skill level, so attendees can work on individual projects in the same workshop, with different skill levels working side by side.

Chrissy said some people find creating things by hand to be very mindful, and that the workshops can also be a chance for people to socialise.

“It’s more than social, it’s a real group with people with lots in common.

“All the groups are quite tightly knit and they just look forward to coming every week.”

“[Sewing] takes you away completely from anything else that’s going on.

“Just like any hobby, you’re concentrating on it and you’re just in the moment with it rather than thinking 10 steps ahead with what you’ve got to do that day.”

Some people have been attending the workshops for nearly 10 years.

One such attendee, Rosslynn Gowers, was taking part in a patchwork quilting workshop at the time we visited.

She explained why she enjoys coming to the workshops: “The different techniques you’re learning all the time which is really good, socialising — it’s a good community group — it’s nice to have a teacher [...] and we’re always doing something new.”

Speaking about the shop, Rosslynn added: “It’s fantastic, the staff are absolutely wonderful.

“They’re just so friendly, caring, they guide you, they don’t mind — it’s lovely, it’s like a home from home.”

Although the shop does have an online presence, it doesn’t sell fabric online, a deliberate decision by Chrissy.

She said when customers order fabric online, they are often unhappy with the product they receive, as different fabric will behave differently for individual sewing patterns.

In the shop, customers can be advised by staff, and steered away from fabric that won’t work for their pattern.

“Fabric is something you need to see how it behaves, you need to see the true colour,” Chrissy said.

Like many businesses, The Fabbadashery was forced to close over the lockdown, which Chrissy described as “torture,” coming out of that period with loans and debt which the business is only just now finishing paying off.

“Everybody had time and we had to close the doors. Everybody needed fabric because they were all making masks and scrubs, anything to help the hospitals, and we couldn’t be there,” Chrissy said.

“We had no voice, and to me that was the absolute critical time where we were needed.”

“I don’t know how we got through,” she added.

Today, however, The Fabbadashery is filled with a joyful and bubbly atmosphere, as customers pop in and out and the quilting class works away.

“The feeling in the shop. It’s just home, it’s absolute [...] joy is being here and being surrounded by all this wonderful family,” Chrissy said.