If you have booked a dressmaking class with me then you will be asked to bring along suitable fabric for your project. I prefer to have my students choose their own fabric as I know we all have our own unique and individual tastes. Working with a fabric that makes you love is going to motivate you more and you know you are going to end up owning a beautiful garment that suits your own style.
I stock a growing selection of dressmaking and craft fabrics in the Threadquarters Studio and all students will get a discount code emailed to them when they book a class. You are very welcome to purchase fabric for your class project from Threadquarters, but you are by no means obliged to. If you would like to come in to view the fabrics in stock (often more than what is online) then please just get in touch with me and we can arrange a day & time.
We have a few dressmaking fabric shops in Northern Ireland, but unfortunately they are few and far between. However, if you can make it to one of these shops then you will benefit from being able to feel your fabric before choosing, which is obviously a huge benefit when trying to buy fabric!
For more variety and choice you could try shopping online. The obvious draw back is not being able to see and touch the fabric, although you can order swatches from most shops. I will admit that I buy nearly all of my fabric online.
Here is a list of local fabric shops and some online shops.
Local Fabric Shops
Craftswomen Fabrics – Kilroot Industrial Estate, Carrickfergus
– the largest fabric shop in N.I.
– this is great option if you want LOTS of choice, to actually FEEL the fabric before you buy it and ask for advice from someone in person.
Mad About Fabrics – Duncrue Industrial Estate, Belfast
Sew ‘n’ Sew – 14 Callender St, Belfast
Bangor Based Stores:
Sew Unique – High St. Bangor
Quilting & Crafting Fabric Stores:
Hab&Fab – 30 Castlereagh St, Belfast BT5 4NH
Paragon Fabric – 86 Donegall Pass, Belfast BT7 1BX
The Wool Shop – 24 Frances St, Newtownards BT23 7DN
On-line Fabric Shops
In no particular order!
Sewisfaction
Like Sew Amazing
Minerva
– HUGE selection (perhaps a little overwhelming for a first time fabric buyer)
Sew Me Sunshine
Sister Mintaka
1st For Fabrics
Lamazi Fabrics
Stitchy Bee
– free postage
Cloth Spot
– videos of how each fabric moves!
Guthrie & Ghani
– run by Lauren Guthrie from The Sewing Bee!
That is just the tip of the iceberg for online fabric shops – there are more and more popping up every month at the moment! So much choice, we really are spoilt compared to just a few years ago.
Most shops will offer thread matching – just check the ‘add matching thread’ option when buying your fabric.
