Thimble Raven

In light of Joann Fabrics closing (sigh)… I’m sharing a list of my favorite non-Joann fabric/notion/supply shops. I think this might be part one of three posts. I’ll focus on general fabrics/notions resources here, historic/costume specific resources in another post, and maybe favorite specific ITEMS in a third. I’m not sponsored by anybody, these are just places I like. There are plenty of other suppliers that I’ve heard good things about, but I’m sticking with places I have personal experience with. Feel free to share your personal recommendations in the comments!

FABRICS

• Burnley and Trowbridge // This is one of my go-to sources for historically appropriate fabrics like wools, linen, cotton, and silks. Their prices are super fair for the fabrics they carry, and while they have some fabric items in continuous stock, many of their colors and options are on a rotating basis with new fabric drops on a weekly basis. And yes, I do compulsively check every Tuesday to see what’s new! I especially like their worsted wool “stuffs” and linen selection, both of which are competitively priced and high quality. They also carry specialty threads, silk ribbons, tapes, and some accessories like gorgeous historical reproduction printed handkerchiefs.
• Fabric Guru // This is a dead stock home decor fabric merchant that I specifically use for great deals on some drapery silks. My orange 1780’s Italian gown was made from one of their drapery silks that I got for $10/yd. I recommend ordering samples (usually $2-3 a piece) of the silks you’re interested in, as colors in their pictures are not always super accurate, and textures/weights/weaves of the silk can vary. If you find a color you like, don’t delay too long to order it, since dead stock fabrics are not restocked.
• Fabric Mart // Another dead stock fabric store with some great finds! They have a website with the majority of their fabrics listed, and while their “regular” prices aren’t impressive, they run rotating sales daily that seem to average around 65% off, making those fabrics an excellent deal. They also have an in person retail shop with rotating dead stock clearance fabrics, which I’ll talk about in the “local shops” section.
• Bias Bespoke // This is where I get my cotton corsetry coutil! They have a nice selection of colors, and good prices on the coutil. They also have a neat selection of other notions and supplies.
• Royal Fashion Centre // Etsy shop with a decent selection of silks, which I typically don’t buy full price – I buy them when they run good sales around black Friday and other holidays.
• Silk Baron // Silk is expensive but comparable-t0-competitive with other online prices. Free shipping, lots of colors. Their shantung is a bit less expensive than the taffeta, and BARELY slubby, so I have ordered it a few times for millinery and accessories.
• Fabric Wholesale Direct // I have ordered from them a number of times with no issues! I especially like their cotton voile (great for fichus, ruffles, caps, etc), 100% cotton broadcloth (I use this for linings and mock ups), and their matte satin (peau de soie), which is a really nice polyester satin (not too shiny or slippery, with a good weight) for a great price.
• Silk Guru // Closeout prices on closeout drapery silks. They don’t usually have a huge selection, and it’s always rotating depending on what they need to move, but I’ve gotten some nice silk taffeta/dupioni from them in the past.
• Hawthorne Supply Co. // Delicious quilting fabrics. Also sells quilting patterns and notions. Their fabric selection is amazing, and they also have an extensive “store brand” print collection which is fantastic, and can be printed on a variety of different types of cotton, from lightweight lawn, to traditional quilting cotton, to sturdy twill.
• Vogue Fabrics // My go-to source for stiff cotton organdy.
• Sale & Bargain // The ONLY thing I have purchased from them is their Swiss dot cotton in black and white, which made lovely Georgian/Regency era gowns. I can’t personally vouch for anything else!
• Fabrics Store // Really nice selection of linen. They have some good coupons and sales.

TRIMS AND NOTIONS

• Wawak // I’ve ordered millinery wire, sewing thread, hooks and eyes, and button blanks for fabric covered buttons here. Good prices, quick shipping. This will probably be my go-to for basic sewing notions in light of Joann’s closing.
• Timely Tresses // Historic millinery shop with a gorgeous ribbon selection! I like their vintage moire ribbon, swiss satin ribbon (polyester ribbon has never felt/looked better), and double faced silk satin ribbon. Lots of color options. Lovely selection of millinery flowers and decor. This is where I buy my hat making buckram, too. I also recommend their patterns!
• Lace Place // A local shop in Lancaster County (currently open by appt. only) that also sells a lot of their products online. Primarily lace with a small selection of other trims. Their google listing and website indicate that they are temporarily closed, which is new information to me – I’ll post an update when I have one.
• Laceking // I have purchased some of their mesh net lace for historic projects, and it’s lovely!
• Penny River Costumes // Pretty silk ribbon and lace for historic projects! She sells so much more that I love, which I’ll get into in my next couple posts.
• Burnley and Trowbridge // Recommending them yet again for silk ribbons, cotton/linen/or wool tapes, buttons, boning, etc.
• Corset Making Supplies // I’ve ordered corset busks, straight and spiral steel boning, grommets, lacing cord, and more from this merchant. Pretty much a one-stop-shop for corset making.

LOCAL RETAIL STORES

LOS ANGELES:

My LA fashion district shopping experience is limited, and I definitely visited more shops with good products and prices than are listed here, but my phone battery was dead so I wasn’t able to take notes. I can’t wait to return for some shopping some day, during which I will take ample notes! I was very impressed by silk prices in LA!

• Home Fabrics (910 Wall St.) // I constantly dream of returning to Home Fabrics. I was so utterly overwhelmed by the silk fabric options and the RIDICULOUSLY good prices they had on said silks at the time of my visit (think $10-15 a yard, which might not be normal for them? But my impression is still that they have really good prices at all times!). The two associates who helped me were very nice. There were delicious figured silks, silk jacquards, silk solids, silk plaids, embroidered silks, stripes, you name it. Narrowing it down to a handful of options to fit in my budget (and suitcase) was a CHALLENGE.
• Memo Design (938 Wall St.) // DON’T skip it if you’re looking for silk bargains. They had a selection of silk (mostly dupioni and shantung, but with some smoother taffetas in the mix) for only $10 a yard.

NEW YORK CITY:

I only just recently took the train to NYC for a day trip to check out the garment district shops for the first time, and honestly I need a do-over at some point to properly review more shops. The one place I bought fabric at was really oily/sneaky with how they handled the sale, which left a bad taste in my mouth for the rest of the day, ate into my budget, and didn’t put me in a good mood to do a lot more shopping. I’ve left that shop off the list. I’ll update this list at some point when I’ve had another chance to browse stores.

• East Coast Trimming (142 w. 38th st) // To be fair, I haven’t actually purchased from them – but I did wander their aisles absolutely drooling over the incredible selection of vintage ribbon and trims. If you’re in the mood for inspiration or a splurge, definitely stop here.
• Pacific Trimming and Buttons (220 w. 38th st) // More cool trims! From a huge selection of “findings” like buckles/purse/bag hardware, to silk ribbons, to any color of bias tape you could imagine.
• Daytona Trimmings Co (251 w. 39th st) // Nice selection of trims (ribbons, braids, lace, cording, petersham, fringe, you name it) and very budget friendly pricing. I left with some cotton beading lace, metallic fringe, and some frog closures.

PHILADELPHIA:

• Jomar // Deadstock fabrics, MOSTLY synthetic and modern fabrics, but I’ve found some occasional gems for historic sewing. The fabric store section is about half of their store, with the other half being clothing/home items. It was a bit easier to find historical appropriate fabrics here a couple years, but they have an ever changing stock, so it’s always worth a look if you’re in the area. Prices are extremely affordable, almost everything is under $6/yd, IIRC. I can’t remember if they sell notions like thread etc, but I don’t think they have any sewing supplies in “regular” stock. They do usually have a modest selection of lace as well. I’ve lucked out a few times with some nice velvets, and remnants of historically adequate/accurate fabrics! I’ve found a couple nice quality synthetic satins, too (most of their satins are pretty shiny/cheap, but you have to comb through things to find the gems).
• Fleishman Fabrics // Independent fabric/notions store on Philly’s Fabric Row. They have a great selection of trims and notions! They have a nice fabric selection, but I honestly can’t remember which fibers they mostly carry. All of the fabric row stores vary slightly in what they specialize in, and in my experience, if a store doesn’t have what you’re looking for, they will point you in the direction of another store on Fabric Row that is likely to carry it.
• Baldwin Leather and Fabric // Independent fabric/tailoring shop on Philly’s Fabric Row. They offer expert tailoring services, and have a beautiful selection of fabric that (IIRC) is mainly geared towards men’s clothing and suiting – wools, linens, silks. I think (?) that they also carry African wax prints. Gorgeous stuff!

SOUTHEASTERN PA:

• Fabric Mart (Sinking Spring) // I mentioned Fabric Mart above, but I’m lucky enough to live close enough to make an occasional trip to their store in-person. You can shop both from their online stock (which takes up most of the store), and their retail store, where I have found some exceptionally good deals. Since this is a dead stock store, you are never going to find the same thing twice, so look thoroughly each time you go. The online selection of fabrics follows the website sales (for instance, if the website is listing silk at 65% off that day, you will get that seam deal in-store). The retail store section has fabrics NOT listed online, and they are rarely more than $4-5/yd. Sometimes they have $2/yd sales to move inventory, sometimes they have wool blends for $5-10/yard, and one glorious day I scored about a dozen yards of silk shantung for FIVE. DOLLARS. A. YARD. I still have no idea why it was marked down so steeply, as I have yet to find anything wrong with it. Sign up for their newsletter to find out about which sales the retail store is running. The employees are friendly and SUPER knowledgeable, and since the retail store doesn’t usually have fiber content listed on fabrics, the employees can do burn tests on request (they are also just really good at guessing fiber content by feel). If you don’t find anything you like on a given day, return in a few weeks to see what’s new. The retail store also sells Gutermann thread and a handful of other notions, as well as patterns from brands like Cashmerette and Friday Fabric Co. Anyone who carries size inclusive pattern brands like these gets bonus points in my book!
• Zinck’s (East Earl) // Carries a mix of dead stock and store-brand discounted fabrics. Has a good selection of 19th century historic reproduction print cotton fabrics from name brands like Henry Glass, Marcus Fabrics, etc, as well as a decent selection of quilting cottons and homespun cottons with good prices. That’s just the quilting fabric room! The largest room has a lot of apparel and home decor fabrics. I’ve scored some wool blend coating, plaid woven cottons, poly matte satin, and cotton/synthetic blend jacquard fabrics here. The store is very well organized and carries a number of name brand notions and tools, as well as a cool selection of loose buttons (I’ve scored a number of mother of pearl buttons here).
• Old Country Store (Intercourse – I know, I know) // Very nice quilting fabric store. Amazing selection, super organized and has just the most delicious selection of quilting prints, from William Morris and other historic reproduction prints, to gorgeous retro and modern prints, KONA cotton solids, and THEEE coolest novelty prints. This is not a discount store so items are typically at full price, but there is a clearance aisle. Absolutely worth a trip if you are looking for some amazing quilting materials! They are right across from Kitchen Kettle Village and my very favorite authentic pretzel shop (the one that first made me realize I love soft pretzels), Immergut. Oh, and they DO sell online!

DELAWARE:

• Hayes Sewing Machine Repair (Wilmington) // This is a local sewing machine dealer/repair shop that is my go-to for sewing machine tune ups/repairs for my Janome. Their customer service is very friendly and they are super knowledgeable. They have a nice selection of quilting fabrics, an impressive button selection, and other notions like sewing/quilting/embroidery thread, needles, etc.

KENTUCKY:

• Hancock’s of Paducah (Paducah) // No relation to the old Hancock Fabrics chain (RIP), this is an independently owned quilting fabric superstore. They have a massive quilting cotton selection, available both in person and online. They have a good selection of 19th century historical reproduction prints! Employees were friendly and helpful when I visited.