I’d like to test an idea on you… Do you find it difficult to locate your nearest fabric shop, pattern supplier or sewing machine repair person?

I find that lots of the best shops and suppliers are tucked away down backstreets, away from the main shopping areas, so it’s not always easy to find them unless you’re already in the know. And there are just so many places to look that it’s hard to keep up sometimes. Each shop has different ways of promoting itself – word of mouth, Yellow pages, classified ads, Facebook, Twitter, their own website. So I often visit new towns and come away unsure if I’ve found the best fabric shop in town or not.

I read lots of blog posts about the best online shops, or the best shops in London, but sometimes I just want to go and see the fabric IRL, and without going all the way to London. So I’d like to try to map the sewing shops that I’ve visited in my local area and see if there’s a way to collate the information and make it useful to others.

I’ve made two test maps of my town, Great Malvern in Worcestershire, for you take a look at – one in Pinterest and one in Google maps.

The Pinterest map

This one relies on each business having a listing in Foursquare, and I immediately found that one of my local venues didn’t, so I can’t plot it on the map. On the upside, it’s nice and visual, and you can pull through images or upload your  own. I’m still exploring all the features of Pinterest, so maybe you can tell me what else I can do with this place board?

The Google map

You only need the address to plot the pins on the map, so it’s easy to make sure they’re in the right place. And you can also get directions to each shop from wherever you are.

It’s map-led rather than image-led, so it’s not as pretty as the Pinterest one could be, but I wonder if function is more important than looks here?

So – is this a useful way to show this information? Would you be interested in one that covered the area where you live?