I haven't done much fabric shopping lately, not much at all in fact. That's what happens when you stop working I guess, no spare cash for fabric indulgences. Luckily for me, I do have a fair sized fabric stash to keep me going for some considerable time.
Anyway a few people have asked me lately where to buy nice fabrics, where I buy my fabrics, so I thought I'd add a list of my favourite stores, some are local, but most are online. The sad fact is that despite living in an area that was once thriving with cotton and silk mills, locally produced fabric is now nigh on impossible to buy.
So real bricks and mortar shops first:
Leons, on Barlow Moor Road, in Manchester is a total Aladdin's cave of scrummyness. I don't get there as often as I'd like,but I highly recommend it, especially for good basics, woollens and bridal fabrics. (They also have a sister store in Birmingham, called Barries. I used to shop there as a teen, when I was bunking off school....shhh!)
Abakhan I've shopped in the Manchester ,Chester and Mostyn branches, and the Mostyn one is my fave, I usually pop in on my way to visit the mil once or twice a year. TBH it can be a bit hit or miss, but the hits are usually really worth it. I've bought ex Boden fabric at ridiculously low prices from there before.
Then to Online Shopping, I tend to buy mostly from US sites, as the prices are just so much better, even often considering postal charges, and even customs charges.
So in no particular order below are some of my favourite sites to buy from:
Fabricshack Great store, they squash an amazing amount of fabric into a global priority envelope, and split large orders over several envelopes if necessary, which keeps postage costs down, and often avoids customs charges. (though you should always be prepared for any customs charges you might get)
My Blue Bamboo As above, this company are super reliable and ship using global priority envelopes, which generally arrive in about a week.
La Chakra Yuki is amazing! She has the most glorious fabrics in stock, she's fast, efficient, well priced, and again ships in global priority envelopes. She can stuff around 9 yards of cotton print fabric in one envelope. I can't recommend her highly enough.
Sew Love Fabric on Etsy, is another great seller. She often has fabrics in as soon as they are released from all the hot designers, like Anna Maria Horner, and Sandi Henderson. She's fast and once again ships in global priority envelopes. (can you tell this is my fave shipping method?)
There are other sellers I could mention, but honestly these are my total faves, the ones I head straight to if I need a fabric fix right now .
I hope they help anyone out there looking for a fabric fix, and hey if you want to recommend me a new place to shop, leave me the web address in the comments.
Anyway a few people have asked me lately where to buy nice fabrics, where I buy my fabrics, so I thought I'd add a list of my favourite stores, some are local, but most are online. The sad fact is that despite living in an area that was once thriving with cotton and silk mills, locally produced fabric is now nigh on impossible to buy.
So real bricks and mortar shops first:
Leons, on Barlow Moor Road, in Manchester is a total Aladdin's cave of scrummyness. I don't get there as often as I'd like,but I highly recommend it, especially for good basics, woollens and bridal fabrics. (They also have a sister store in Birmingham, called Barries. I used to shop there as a teen, when I was bunking off school....shhh!)
Abakhan I've shopped in the Manchester ,Chester and Mostyn branches, and the Mostyn one is my fave, I usually pop in on my way to visit the mil once or twice a year. TBH it can be a bit hit or miss, but the hits are usually really worth it. I've bought ex Boden fabric at ridiculously low prices from there before.
Then to Online Shopping, I tend to buy mostly from US sites, as the prices are just so much better, even often considering postal charges, and even customs charges.
So in no particular order below are some of my favourite sites to buy from:
Fabricshack Great store, they squash an amazing amount of fabric into a global priority envelope, and split large orders over several envelopes if necessary, which keeps postage costs down, and often avoids customs charges. (though you should always be prepared for any customs charges you might get)
My Blue Bamboo As above, this company are super reliable and ship using global priority envelopes, which generally arrive in about a week.
La Chakra Yuki is amazing! She has the most glorious fabrics in stock, she's fast, efficient, well priced, and again ships in global priority envelopes. She can stuff around 9 yards of cotton print fabric in one envelope. I can't recommend her highly enough.
Sew Love Fabric on Etsy, is another great seller. She often has fabrics in as soon as they are released from all the hot designers, like Anna Maria Horner, and Sandi Henderson. She's fast and once again ships in global priority envelopes. (can you tell this is my fave shipping method?)
There are other sellers I could mention, but honestly these are my total faves, the ones I head straight to if I need a fabric fix right now .
I hope they help anyone out there looking for a fabric fix, and hey if you want to recommend me a new place to shop, leave me the web address in the comments.
