Weft and Warp: A dream from a love of sewing

Posted on 14 December, 2021

Like all good stories, the creation of Weft and Warp begins with love.

Surrounded by a world of needles, bobbins and thread, Rebecca Harper learned to sew from her mother and grandmother. With her mother working at the local haberdashery shop, she first met Matthew who was the son of the shop owner and while it certainly wasn’t love at first sight for the pair, fifteen years later Rebecca was sewing her own wedding dress.

It seems like fate, then, that 30 years later they’ve opened Weft and Warp, a luxurious fabric shop, bringing their combined interests to Canberra.

Since moving to Canberra after the 2003 bushfires, Rebecca and Matthew have travelled the world, often visiting fabric shops, talking and dreaming about creating somewhere local that they could fill with the world’s most beautiful and ethical apparel fabrics.

“We’ve bought material back from all over the world, because whenever you travel you find something different and special,” says Rebecca. “So when we started working out what we’d bring into the shop, we decided that what we wanted to sell was beautiful, practical and different.”

“We didn’t want things that you would just pick up in a chain store, we didn’t want things that you would just find anywhere. We wanted the type of fabrics that we wanted to come in touch with and it would actually make you happy just holding the fabric.”

Photographer: Collections From Him

Located in the heart of Phillip, the shop is a perfect embodiment of Rebecca and Matthew’s dream, full of imported fabrics, patterns and sewing notions, as well as a safe place for anyone interested in the craft.

Weft and Warp opened in July this year, bringing fabric from the UK, Germany, Belgium, France, Holland, Japan and South Korea to Canberra. Included in their extensive fabric collection are designs from iconic brands including Liberty of London, Lady McElroy, Atelier Brunette and more.

“We are a Liberty of London authorised seller, so we’re bringing a series of fabrics which are only sold in their flagship store in London,” says Matthew. “It’s an opportunity for people to explore their creativity with some of the most incredible and beautiful fabrics that usually are made for the highest-end clothing manufacturers.”

“Nike and Liberty have just done a collaboration…It’s funny, a little Canberra shop is sort of, in some ways, doing the same type of collaboration as Nike.”

As well as supplying some of the most luxurious textiles in the world, Weft and Warp also offers denim, active and swim fabric, with plans to bring in smaller fabric houses including a company in Germany that has been manufacturing out of the small mill since 1850.

However, Rebecca warns that due to the short runs favoured by many fabric houses, once the innovative designs, materials and styles are sold out they might not be in store again.

Along with the abundant selection of fabric, Weft and Warp also has an in-shop printing service for PDF A0 patterns as well as unique sewing notions.

“We’ve just started bringing in specialty scissors from the United Kingdom’s last traditional scissor maker. Hand-forged dressmaking scissors, which are beautiful to look at and use,” says Matthew.

Located above the endless sewing supplies, you can find the other half of Rebecca and Matthews’s dream: classes and tutoring sessions taught by experienced sewers and designers.

Rebecca explains that the idea is that the space is safe and inclusive for all sewers, no matter how they identify or how long they have been practicing the craft.

“Our classes have no boundaries on who you are or where you come from and we offer these classes to help people who might not be able to find clothes that suit them,” says Rebecca. “We want to be able to teach them how to make great clothes, really love themselves and what they’re wearing.”

Photographer: Collections From Him

Available to both beginner and advanced sewists, there are also Sew Social sessions for those who want to get creative in a friendly environment.

“You come with a friend, you make a friend and you sit in a space that you feel safe and comfortable,” says Matthew. “Drink cups of tea and coffee and eat biscuits, sew, chat and have a sense of community.”

Open Wednesday until Sunday from 10 am, Weft and Warp is unique in its collections, its story, and its ability to make anyone interested in textiles smile: the ultimate aim of the store.

“We want things that make people smile, make people happy, and give them the ability to make the clothes that they want to wear, not clothes that they’ll just accept,” says Matthew.