So, you might be wondering where the next Minoru Sew-Along post is. After sewing the lining, I’ve run out of thread! (It’s all that triple-topstitching, taking three times the normal amount of thread.) Cycling to work means it’s a lot harder to get around once I’m here. It would take hours out of the day to bike to the fabric store! Even driving to the store takes at least an hour or so, return trip. There’s no fabric store within walking distance, or even reasonable cycling distance from my house or office. I sure wish there was at least one fabric store close to home!
Which got me thinking – how close is your nearest fabric store?
(Fabricana Richmond – an hour round trip by car, even longer by transit, probably three hours by bike!)
I live in a big city, with little cities connected to each other by bridges and tunnels. There are two million people in the Vancouver area. And yet, I can’t get to a fabric store from my house by foot or my bike! (I could, but it’s about 40 km by bike. I’d be too tired to sew by the time I picked up thread!)
It doesn’t matter as much for fabric and project supplies, because I can plan for it. It’s less convenient when it comes to the little forgotten things, like thread. When I get thread to finish the jacket, it’s either a half-hour train ride from the office downtown, or a hour round-trip by car to Fabricana. (Which we all know is going to take way longer than that – who can walk into a fabric store and just buy what they came in for?)
(thread at Dressew – half hour train ride from the office, even longer train ride from home)
There are less fabric stores in town than when I was growing up. When I was a little girl, there was a small fabric store next to the grocery store! Fabric was more of an essential, in the same little complex as the drycleaner, the butcher, the barbershop, and the bakery. If you ran out of thread, it was a convenient five-minute walk to the nearest fabric store, plus you can pick up bread and milk at the same time!
And if that’s what it is like for me, living in a big city, I wonder what it’s like for you guys? Some of you have mentioned driving three hours to the nearest fabric store, or having to buy all of your fabric and supplies online. If sewing supplies are hard to locate, what do you do when you run out of thread? (Substitute a close-enough colour? Buy twice as much thread the first time around, to be sure you won’t run out?)
How close is your nearest fabric store? Ten minutes away, an hour away, three hours away? So far away that you order everything online? I’d love to hear what it’s like for others around the world!
The comments are fascinating reading! My store is a 30 minute drive away which isn’t too bad, but it is a drive either from home or work. I then have to bung at least ¬£3 for parking.
It’s an indie and a bit of an aladdin’s cave as it’s packed and they arrange fabric by colour rather than fibre which I find a bit frustrating sometimes (although the luxe fabrics are on their own on a raised area at the back!). They staff are helpful though (although the manageress can be scary! She looks quite severe but is OK when you talk to her… The owner on the other hand will run up and down stairs for you because he knows he’s got something that might be more what you’re looking for!) It’s also a nightmare to take a two year old into! They have deliveries every day it seems and there are just too many places for him to hide or disappear into! So when I do go, I tend to go on my own so that I can browse in peace. The prices aren’t cheap either, but the fabric is good quality.
I do have a hobby craft closer to work but I’ve never bought fabric from there, just notions but I find it overpriced and cheaper to buy online even with the postage! There’s also a John Lewis (a department store chain) about 15 minutes walk from work but again its expensive although they sometimes carry something I haven’t seen anywhere else – like my reflective zips on my Minoru!
I’d love to go shopping with Karen and Seemane in Walthamstow, although I can’t see it happening anytime soon as toddler logistics make day trips to London a luxury that’s not possible at the moment.
I’ve had a lot of success buying online, but I always get swatches first unless it’s so cheap I don’t mind using it for a muslin if I don’t like it when it gets to me!
I work in Midtown Manhattan, so I’m just a couple blocks away from the Garment District. The problem is, my office closes at 6, and so do many of the stores, but my favorites, Paron’s and Pacific Trimmings, are both open late enough for me to get there after work and still have time to browse. Mood is open late-ish, too, and it’s not much further. (And as a bonus, Midtown Comics is right by Paron’s — one-two punch!)
Though that said, I do a lot of online fabric shopping! I’m actually wearing a Lonsdale that I made from an amazing floral linen-rayon blend that I got at fabric.com.
interesting post. I have a couple of box store hobby/craft nearby. Hobby Lobby, where I can by thread if need be and have occasionally bought fabric for sewing, is about 20 minutes by bike and less than 10 probably by car. We have a Jo Ann in the next town, it is probably 20 minutes by car. But I shop in that town usually once a week. And we have a great quilt store with lovely quilt prints, probably 15 minutes. And a fabric store by the university which I haven’t really checked out as their main thing seems to be game day dresses and university colored fabrics. I should again. it is less than 10 minutes.
But a good fabric store with a good selection of wool or silk or really nice fabrics? I don’t think I’ve ever been in one. There’s probably one in Houston, and that is at least an hour and a half away.
There are absolutely no sewing supplies available in this town – well, unless you count phoning up your friends who sew and seeing if they have what you need. The hobby shop in the next town north has thread and some notions but it’s 40 km away on the highway. Closest fabric store is Fabricland – over 200 km away south – but luckily that one is locally owned so they have better fabric selection and there’s a small independent store in that same town. I love going to the Cloth Castle in Victoria. When I lived in Vancouver, there was a Fabricland just below the Granville Street bridge on south side – I presume it is long gone.
Wow, I never imagened that some people have to take a 3-hour drive to a fabric store. There are 5 fabric stores within a 10 minute drive from my home. One very expensive, two affordable and one with low prices, but no opportunity to buy thread. Then there is another low-priced fabric store with really great fabrices but no other supplies within the 30 minutes radius. And those are the ones I know of! So I just can’t imagine what it must be like not being able to buy fabric at the moment you need it. I have to say that I did consider to buy fabric online, because there are some really nice fabrics wich I just can’t find here. For instance: some of JoAnn’s fabrics I find gourgeous (when I look at the pics). But that’s just because there isn’t a JoAnn’s in my country :P
Walmart is just under 7 miles away: fabric is meh, but patterns are on discount all the time. Hancock’s is about 11 miles away, in a sketchy strip mall. Joann’s is closer to 15 miles and I dislike that particular store, but they carry Burda patterns.
Hancock is 1 mile, Joannes is 4 from home. I would love to hit the fabric store on my lunch hour from work but there is no fabric store near Stanford University. You would think with the “project runway” popularity, fabric stores would be popular too.
I actually have a fabric outlet in walking distance, although their selection is very erratic, and they may or may not have whatever I’m looking for. Stuff like interfacing, zippers, needles and thread, I can get at the department store which is 10 min either by bike or subway. The supermarket actually carries thread in black and white (although that, I usually have on hand).
I live in a little town in the mid-west and the fabric store is 50+ miles one way from me. Prasie the lord for fabric.com.
Wow! I live in a small-ish town in Louisiana, and we have a Joann’s, Hancocks, Hobby Lobby, and even a few quilting shops. All stores are within driving distance (biking is a little dangerous, people around here don’t understand that bikes deserve some road space too!). As far as good apparel quality fabric goes though, Houston is my closest option, and that is 3 1/2 hours away! I usually make do with what Joann’s has on sale, or order online. I guess I shouldn’t complain about selection anymore!
Imagine, I don’t live in the same city as Dressew. I don’t even live in the same Province or COuntry, or even Continent! I visited a couple of years ago when visiting my aunt in Vancouver. Takes me about a half hour on the bus. Sooooooooo worth it!
Believe you me, the fabric stores in North America are absolutely wonderful, even if some of the times are inaccessible to folk. I just did a course at the Palmer Pletsch sewing school in Portland OR and had an amazing time in Fabric Depot. Also did the shopping day to five more stores. And brought a second bag home with me! The shops are better than anything we have here in the UK I think.
My nearest fabric shop…hmmm. Well its not so much distance I can get to 2 by train and a 20min walk (uphill might I add)….as choice and value. One has good value but not a big range, the other has a big range but is very expensive.
So if the small one doesn’t stock what I want I’ve either got to traipse across town and pay out on another train fare and big money on the fabric.
The place I’d like to be closer to is the market in the town 2 hours away which has 2 fabric stalls and a humongous haberdashery stall…for reasonable prices. But it costs me in train fares again.
I’m quite envious to find out that in the US they sell fabric in supermarkets!?!
This is a great thread! Philadelphia has about 5million people and a few fabric stores, mostly in the outlying areas and suburbs. I can drive to the nearest Joann in about 20 minutes, but our daytime school and nap schedules preclude daytime trips anymore. I go at night when there’s a big sale. There’s a great modern quilting shop that opened a few years ago after the owners had success with a yarn store. That’s walking distance. Fabric row downtown isn’t what it used to be but there about three shops that sell good quality apparal fabric, focusing on suitings and special occasion stuff, though I can find linens and shirtings too. They are mostly old fashioned stores and don’t seem to have any notion that sewing is huge again. However, they keep business hours and it’s tricky to fit daytime shops into my schedule. I live downtown, but on the other side of town so I drive. I could take the bus, but it would take longer. I buy a lot online. I will be in NYC for the Heather Ross weekend in May and I can’t wait for the garment district shopping trip! In theory, I could probably manage a shopping trip to NYC once in a while.
Melanie, do you know about Karlin’s right off of 8th and Market, I believe. I used to go there all the time during my lunch breaks. I don’t know if it’s still there, but it was a decent store.
It’s unfortunate that most of the smaller, independent fabric stores have long gone out of business. I remember growing up in a small town and we had at least three fabric stores, now the same town, last time I was there, has maybe one?
I’ve always thought Vancouver wasn’t the best for buying fabric, but between Gala Fabrics, Dressew, Fabric Land, Fabricana, Spool of Thread, and that somewhat sketchy discount place on Hastings St. near Dressew, we don’t seem to be faring too poorly and I know I’ve missed some quilting stores in there as well.
However keeping that in mind, I know of a few other stores that have closed down in the past few years. Victoria, BC for its size is actually a pretty decent place to find fabric though you’ll have to drive around a bit for it.
Chelsea, where in Victoria do you buy your fabric? I haven’t had much luck here and was hoping to go to Vancouver to Mr. Jax outlet but I don’t think it’s open anymore. Are there any suggestions for other Vancouver fabric stores similar to Mr. Jax?
My answer would be Not close enough!
However, it might be good for my pocket though :)
http://sewingyourstyle.tumblr.com
Is the Woolen Mills still around in Vancouver? I think it used to be on Clark Drive. Was my fav store in my 20′s!!!
I guess I can call myself lucky, within a 10min bikeride I pass 3 (small) fabric stores and two places than mainly sell buttons and wool. Some supermarkets also carry some emergency-sewing-supplies.
Some more minutes and I’m downtown..
I live near Boston, Massachusetts and there is actually a very nice fabric store about a ten minute walk from my house. I’m so lucky! They focus on quilting and upholstery fabric with only a smattering of garment fabric. But, they have just about any notion – zippers, thread, ribbons – that anyone could want. (It’s called Fabric Corner in Arlington, MA).
And if I ** really ** need something wonderful, there’s a fairly new fabric store in the Auburndale section of Newton, MA called The Silk Road Fine Fabrics. It’s just west of Boston and I swoon when I think about the fabric selection — there is something I love about being able to check the fabric’s hand myself. The store’s focus is on natural fibers; they have just the most wonderful selection. The owner is so helpful and welcoming. If you’re visiting Boston, you could actually reach the store using the Boston transportation system. You’d have to use the Commuter Rail to get to the Auburndale stop. I’d guess it’s a twenty minute train ride from Boston itself.