After we purchased our house in 2001, my sewing was quickly limited to curtains and other household items, as most of our free time was taken up by various projects with the house. Currently, my husband and I both have gone back to school, (while continuing to work and remodel the house) so when my sewing machine started having fits, I never got it repaired. I hope, at some point, to be able to repair my machine/get a new machine and to have free time to sew, but until then, I will not have any new sewing projects.
| Fabric | Patterns | Other Stuff | Me Stuff |
While trying to figure how I was going to make my wedding dress, what kind of material I was going to use and all that, I ended up going to about a zillion or so Web Sites. Most of them were okay, though some were pretty awful. These were some of the better sites I found. Of course most people who live in a larger city probably have some nice stores they prefer to frequent, but sometimes you just can't find what you are looking for, or else your local stores aren't as thorough as they could be. Or, if you are like me, it's just nice to see what's out there. There are some really beautiful fabrics out there, and it would be nice not to pay and arm and a leg for them.
Big Horn Quilts
Quilting stuff, including Fat Quarters. They are in Wyoming instead of Canada.
Fabric Direct
Lots of very pretty fabrics, plus quilters Fat Quarters, and some other stuff, plus an Online Craft Store. Prices are very
reasonable so it's well worth a look.
Hamilton Dry Goods
Historical fabrics, patterns, clothing, etc.
Hancock Fabrics
Online Fabric store. Pretty cool. They have a nice selection.
Hancock's of Paducah
I receive a catalogue from them (very quickly too!) and it was chock full of really gorgeous fabrics, PLUS if you order online you get FREE DELIVERY! Woo Hoo!
Kick Ass Country Store
This is a really nice site with a little bit of everything: Links, fabrics, notions, Cole Slaw recipe, plus lots of Quilters Fat Quarters for sale, and when I e-mailed her with a question she was very nice and very prompt. Canadian site. Two thumbs up!
Lunn Fabrics, Ltd.
An expensive quilter's speciality site, but they have a nice set of Links.
Patchworks
A mail-order source of cotton reproduction fabrics, this is a very interesting site. You won't find the fabrics here, anywhere else!
Reprodepot Fabrics
Reproduction fabrics.
Birch Street Clothing
An independent pattern company. Has an online catalogue with some different patterns.
Butterick
Online site for the Butterick pattern company.
Dos de Tejas
This has some unique patterns.
Folkware Patterns
Folkware patterns. Lots of variety! I e-mailed a catalogue request, received a prompt reply and the catalogue came much sooner than I was expecting. I *really* would like to order a lot of patterns from here!
McCall's
Online site for McCalls pattern company.
Park Bench Pattern Company
Another Independent Pattern company. But they don't have any FACES!!!
Past Patterns
Just for fun, check this out, it's pretty cool.
Simplicity
Online site for Simplicity patterns.
Vogue Patterns
Online site for Vogue patterns. In my opinion Vogue has nice high quality patterns, but a lot of them are "what's in fashion now", and "what's in fashion now" is the reason I started sewing -- so I could find something ELSE!
Treadles
Antique & Vintage Sewing Machine Gallery. Excellent site if you for antique treadle machines!
Singer Shop Online Manuals
Looking for a manual for your old singer sewing machine. Look here!
Chivalry Sports Renaissance Store
This is another speciality store for Renaissance clothing for SCA or LARP or stuff like that. They have some nice clothing for sale, and this is a good place for ideas.
Milieux: The Costume Site.
This is a really nice site and a great source for finding all kinds of stuff. I found a majority of these sites through this site (or a link from this site) If you have a couple hours to spare, check it out.
101 Sewing Links
I don't actually need to explain this do I?
Dharma Trading Co.
I really liked this catalogue. My paper catalogue arrived quickly, and is quite entertaining to read. It contains un-dyed fabrics, including cottons, silks and rayons, dyes for their fabrics as well as "clothing blanks" ready to be painted or dyed. Plus books. Pretty durn cool. Plus they have very nice prices. Thumbs up!
Fat Quarters - "A fat quarter is a quarter yard of fabric that is only half the width of the fabric, so it measures 18" x 22" instead of the normal cut which would be 9" x 44". Similarly a fat eighth is one eighth of a yard of fabric measuring 9" x 22" .... a whole lot more useful than the regular cut 4 1/2" x 44" would be." (Blatantly stolen from the Kick Ass Country Store Web Site)
For anyone interested, here's what my wedding dress looked like: