Vintage Fabric and Notions

[fifi]

Fabric question

For those ladies who sew, where do you find your fabric to complement your vintage patterns? Large-city downtown fabric marts, local sewing stores like Jo-Anns? Do you scour eBay for non-rotted vintage fabric? I'm getting an itch to sew, but I'm way out of practice!

 

[Lauren]

My first choice is to find authentic vintage texiles at places like vintage fashion or textile shows, estate sales, etc. After that I head for the garment district. And as a last resort, or if there's a smashing sale, I head for Joann's.

Yay! I'm glad you're getting the sewing bug!

 

[decodoll]

I wish we had a garment district here. I mostly buy from Britex, Satin Moon, or Stone Mountain and Daughter locally. On the web, these are my favourites:

Thai Silks
Equilter
Farmhouse Fabrics

 

[Lauren]

I'm not sure if they have fabrics, but my friend lived in San Fransisco for a year and mentioned their garment district. Here's a link to an article. Might be worth checking out

And if all else fails you know you have a shopping buddy if you come out to Los Angeles!

 

[decodoll]

Thanks I knew about most of those, but I guess I never actually thought of it as a garment district. I'll have look into it. I don't think there is anyplace down there that sells fabric. Well, maybe one place that I go to occassionally would qualify as being part of it....

I'll keep that in mind if I ever get to L.A. again. Thanks again!

 

[fuzzylizzie]

Thrift stores are decent places to find vintage fabrics (and patterns too). I also look for it in antique stores and flea markets. I've bought some off eBay, but as with everything else, read the description carefully and ask any questions before bidding.

Lizzie

 

[Kaela]

know your stuff!

I think that the best way to find fabric appropriate for vintage remade dresses is to just know what they would have used by looking at old magazines and pictures you can sort of educate yourself before you go off buying lots of fabric. I've bought so many yards of fabric that I won't use for a dress because something about it isn't right!
Joannes is alright, but most of their fabric doesn't really work for dresses, it's mostly quilting, and some of the fashion fabrics aren't so classy.
I like fashionfabricsonline.com they have so many different wools and silks that are dead-on right out-'a the golden era. Of course, it'll probably take you about a few afternoons to sort through the whole site.. i bought some lovely brown and creme polkadot silk! it's gorgeous!
also Equilter.com is good, too. Most of it is quilter fabric, but they also carry some fabrics that are actual reproductions of old fabric patterns. I bought some for a dress that was reproduction 30s fabric, and it was cotton, but it still made for a very convincing dress!
But as long as you pay close attention to matching the appropriate fabric to the dress, you can really pull off something convincing!

 

[BettyValentine]

I liked Britex when I lived in San Francisco, and in Chicago I usually went to Fishman's and Vogue Fabrics. I just moved to New York, so I'm pretty much spoiled for choice now. I also like www.thaisilks.com for silk. (I like their sueded charmeuse a lot. It's not really sueded, but it's got a lovely texture.)

Joann's is good for other costuming projects because they have all the crafty stuff too (If I need a pink satin cat outfit, Joann's is the best place for finding fake fur, felt, pink poly satin, and a giant bell.) but generally I don't use them for fabric. You can't beat Joann's for pattern prices, though.

 

[Lauren]

also Equilter.com is good, too. Most of it is quilter fabric, but they also carry some fabrics that are actual reproductions of old fabric patterns. I bought some for a dress that was reproduction 30s fabric, and it was cotton, but it still made for a very convincing dress!

Yes. I totally agree. The reproduction 30's prints are taken from "feedacks". Yes, the sacks during the depression would actually be reused into fabric for clothing! They also sold similar prints by the yard. Go take a peek in the fabric pages of 30's Montgomery Wards or Sears catalogs, and there they are! Exactly the same prints! And dresses were often made of cotton, so no need to fear it not being period correct. The dresses often made from these prints were housedresses, afternoon dresses, summery dresses, pajamas, beachwear... and then of course it would be made into things like aprons, potholders, quilts, and laundry bags. A good all around basic fabric for the 30's gal!

 

[BettyValentine]

also Equilter.com is good, too. Most of it is quilter fabric, but they also carry some fabrics that are actual reproductions of old fabric patterns. I bought some for a dress that was reproduction 30s fabric, and it was cotton, but it still made for a very convincing dress!

Yeow! Thanks for the link! I'd never looked around because I figured it was just quilty stuff, but I really love some of those patterns! (That's it. My doggy is getting a chilipepper coat for xmas.)


BV - (so's my mom.)

 

[Jivin4Java]

Hello Ladies!
My name is Jennifer and I am from the Pomona-Claremont area in Southern California. I appreciate the wealth of knowledge and experience here. Since I need some suggestions I knew this would be the place to come.

To those of you that sew using vintage fabric and notions, where do you purchase such things? Is ebay or online shops a good start? Are there any fabric stores in the Los Angeles area that have deadstock?

Thanks for your time and help.
~Jenn~

 

[mysterygal]

Hello Jennifer!
ebay is a great place to look. I'm not from around your area, but I know there's a few ladies in here that are...Good luck!

 

[Grace]

Ladies! Where Do You Find Your Fabric?

I've searched all over the fabric stores in my town, and everything is POLYESTER!! Even their gab and 'bridal satin' is poly. Ick!!!

I'm looking for rayon, preferably with a novelty print. Rayon jersey or the 'cold' rayon.

Do any of you shop online for your vintage-style fabrics? I've searched everywhere I can think, and all I found was a fabric store in Michigan that has two floral printed rayons.

 

[GOK]

Internet every time. I refuse to pay high st prices, so I tend to buy in bulk from suppliers. Very often they have clearance sections which contain vintage or vintage style fabrics - usually at stupidly cheap prices.

 

[TOTTIE]

I know it can be really hard to find good fabric, particularly in the US.

This may be stating the obvious of course, but Viscose is the same thing as Rayon, and certainly this is the name that seems to be more often used these days when labelling fabric.

I always giggle at the way they keep changing the names of fabric. Has anyone noticed how Nylon (clearly now out of favour) is now called 'Polyamide' and whilst Polyester is in most of todays 'performance' sportswear fabrics, they don't like to mention it.

 

[TOTTIE]

It's always cotton, of course, not Rayon, but many quilting fabrics are a good standby for blouses etc and do repro novelty prints. Though, I wish they'd go away sometimes, because they make it hard to find any other fabrics!

 

[Lauren]

http://www.fashionfabricsclub.com

or the garment district, or quilt stores for repro cotton print fabrics. We have a chain here called Yardage Town that carries wools at a discount. You can find vintage fabrics sometimes at estate sales or even at vintage clothing or textiles shows.

 

[Kaela]

yes, I usually get my fabric from fashionfabricsclub.com
But I also just adore www.rubyjane.com. It's got all the great sort of prints for 30's and 40's daydresses and housedresses. I'm still trying to figure where these cats are wholesaleing from.
My biggest annoyance is that whenever I find a reproduction vintage print that I absolutely LOVE, as soon as I'm out to find more of it, it's all gone. So I've got a bad habit of hoarding fabrics and being nervous about messing up something when I make anything with them. Actually, you'll find Joanne's has some vintage prints, (those too, being just about limited edition as the only bolt in the store) and I found one that I absolutely love, and now am going into a sort of wild-goose-chase trying to find something I'll like similarly.
But check that link, you gals'll love it!

 

[Babydoll]

I've bookmarked the www.reprodepot.com site. I found quite a few cute fabrics on there. Haven't purchased any - yet.

P.S. They have a lot of fabric on sale for 60% off right now.

 

[Kaela]

Yes, repodepot.com is pretty great, but I think it's a little overpriced on some things. If you go to http://www.equilter.com they have *some* of the same fabrics, and others, actually I've found many lovely reproduction prints there. They usually sell for $8.50/yd. But rubyjane.com is cheaper, and has good customer service. Equilter is the sort of place you've got to check in with every now and then, I've seen as much as 40 different vintage repro prints at one time, and very good ones, the sad story, as always, I can't find the same ones any more! I'm still searching for one in particular.