There are so many suppliers I'll include a list and comments on quality and range in the guide but just for now...
Hardware: Lots of places sell Prym (Empress Mills has a good selection as per Henrietta Maria's comment) and it's more economic for delivery charges if you can find hardware, fabrics and interfacing etc together. I started with Prym but they work out pretty expensive because it's nearly all packed singly and many things are always bought in pairs or more. Fortunately I've found some really good places subsequently that are usually my first stop now.
The best quality hardware by far that I've come across are by
Emmaline. They're a Canadian company but
Sew Hot have a good selection of Emmaline and hardware by others too - all good quality. I think they probably have the biggest range of everything bagmaking in the UK including fabrics. Not bargain prices but all good stuff and not as expensive as Etsy. I really like their continuous zips by
Serial Bagmakers and the matching SB sliders. The Serial Bagmakers home company site in Belgium has even more gorgeous stuff online but the delivery prices put it out of reach for me now as I obviously don't buy in bulk. Sew Hot also sell cork, the darling of bag makers these days but beware, they have lots of different types and what my hubby bought me for Christmas was not what either of us expected.
For budget hardware and zips which are reliable products that I often use myself and find perfectly satisfactory are from
Bags of Difference and
MeMadeMakes. The latter also has off brand interfacing and stabilisers which are worth a try too.
I also use
Little Stitcher Sews for:
- her thread (the only UK stockist I know of Amann Saba Tex 40 - stronger and thicker so a good aesthetic look on a bag which my domestic machine absolutely loves). I've used it in all my bags but many others use Moon quite happily.
- lightweight waterproof canvas which is a big thing for linings just now and
- her StittchFuse medium woven interfacing - not as smooth as the Vlieselene but I really like it, it's never exposed of course and it's cheaper! NB currently sold out but she's expecting more this month. I guess I'm not the only one who likes it.
She's recently changed to free delivery for everything which really suits me as I hated buying one new thread colour and then always hunting for something else to offset the delivery. That wasn't always easy as I've only put a small dent in my Immanuel's furnishing fabric and she has some very tempting fabrics too.
NB She's closed for Easter until the 20th so you've lots of time to browse.
I'll stop there though as there are so many places I could list and concentrate on trying to provide more detailed info in the guide.