Chicago fabric shopping
Like any good sewist, before travelling, I researched where to shop for fabric. There didn't seem to be a lot of options for Indy, but Chicago had some interesting-sounding destinations. Two of the places I visted were Fishman's Fabrics and New Rainbow Fabrics. They are about a block apart, so I figured I might as well check out both. Fishman's has been around for years. They have gorgeous stuff, like wools and silks, but the prices were just too much for me. Check out their website to see what I mean. Not that I thought the prices were outrageous or anything. It just wasn't in my budget. Although there were some rather tempting remnants, nothing was really sizeable enough for what is on my to-make list in the not-TOO-distant future. New Rainbow Fabrics was a nice smaller store. The prices were more affordable than at Fishman's, but they also stocked a lot more synthetics. Still, I had decided to be good and not go around buying things that I didn't have a purpose for, so I left empty-handed.
The next day, Vogue Fabrics was on the docket. It's in Evanston, which is just north of Chicago, about 30 mins. away from downtown. It is ABSOLUTELY worth the trip. The website really doesn't do the store justice. It is a very large store, made up of 3-4 sections that you can sort of label home dec, designer fashion, and cottons, but really is more mixed up than that. And the prices range, like from $1.99-$200.00/yard. They carry silks, rayons, wools, linens, and cottons, as well as your more generic poly stuff. I saw some really interesting things like a forest green wool gauze for $12.99/yard which I was tempted to get, but had no idea what I'd do with, and beautifully coloured silk taffetas and shantungs for $15.99-18.99/yard. There are also tons of notions lining the walls and a very large remnants section. Sadly, I left without silk; I'm still hoping to find some in LA for a good price, but I got some pretty nice things. At the top of the pic is a wool suiting for $9.99/yard for my 1895 tailor made suit. The bottom two fabrics are rayons. The polka dot rayon was $3.99/yard and will become a 1920's one-hour dress, hopefully for CoCo. The pink and cream houndstooth crepe? was a 2 yard remnant for $8. Not sure what it will be, but it was really pretty so I bought it. All of these are 54-60 inches wide.
The fabric on this trip didn't stop with Chicago. I had ordered some things from Dharma Trading and Whittle's Fabrics (thanks to jenthompson's post on repro cottons) and they were waiting for me to pick up from Indy. I shipped them there because it was WAY cheaper than shipping to Canada, and I'm not sure that Whittle's even ships to Canada.
Dharma is an old favourite of mine. I got silk organza and gold and silver Lumiere fabric paint for CoCo stuff. I love how sheer the organza is. The other fabric is a cotton-linen blend that I figured would be useful for lining 18th century and Regency stuff. The little paints are Jacquard fabric paints (same people who make Lumiere). It's a starter kit because I wanted a bunch of colours all at once. I have dreams of a painted 18th century Anglaise and this seemed like a good time to get the paints.
Look, you can see right through the organza!
Whittle's was a new experience, but a positive one. After I made my order, within a day or two I got an email saying they didn't have the yardage I wanted and whether the amount they had was alright or if I wanted something else. There were 2 others I had been considering, so I told them what those were and they shipped one of them right after. For the prices that Whittle's charges, I'm not bothered by the limited supply. I got several yards of this cotton to make an 1867 dress next year for the coming 150th anniversary of Confederation in Canada. The picture on the website showed more of a spring or pea green, but it turned out to be more of an olive, which was a fortunate circumstance because it's much more in my colour palette. It's Jo Morton for Andover; the quality is good and fabric is smooth and crisp, but not overly stiff.
A lot of stuff! I could barely get it all home. I'm pretty happy with my purchases though and I think I got some good deals. Now I need to get back to sewing so these don't end up just sitting in the stash!
The next day, Vogue Fabrics was on the docket. It's in Evanston, which is just north of Chicago, about 30 mins. away from downtown. It is ABSOLUTELY worth the trip. The website really doesn't do the store justice. It is a very large store, made up of 3-4 sections that you can sort of label home dec, designer fashion, and cottons, but really is more mixed up than that. And the prices range, like from $1.99-$200.00/yard. They carry silks, rayons, wools, linens, and cottons, as well as your more generic poly stuff. I saw some really interesting things like a forest green wool gauze for $12.99/yard which I was tempted to get, but had no idea what I'd do with, and beautifully coloured silk taffetas and shantungs for $15.99-18.99/yard. There are also tons of notions lining the walls and a very large remnants section. Sadly, I left without silk; I'm still hoping to find some in LA for a good price, but I got some pretty nice things. At the top of the pic is a wool suiting for $9.99/yard for my 1895 tailor made suit. The bottom two fabrics are rayons. The polka dot rayon was $3.99/yard and will become a 1920's one-hour dress, hopefully for CoCo. The pink and cream houndstooth crepe? was a 2 yard remnant for $8. Not sure what it will be, but it was really pretty so I bought it. All of these are 54-60 inches wide.
The fabric on this trip didn't stop with Chicago. I had ordered some things from Dharma Trading and Whittle's Fabrics (thanks to jenthompson's post on repro cottons) and they were waiting for me to pick up from Indy. I shipped them there because it was WAY cheaper than shipping to Canada, and I'm not sure that Whittle's even ships to Canada.
Dharma is an old favourite of mine. I got silk organza and gold and silver Lumiere fabric paint for CoCo stuff. I love how sheer the organza is. The other fabric is a cotton-linen blend that I figured would be useful for lining 18th century and Regency stuff. The little paints are Jacquard fabric paints (same people who make Lumiere). It's a starter kit because I wanted a bunch of colours all at once. I have dreams of a painted 18th century Anglaise and this seemed like a good time to get the paints.
Look, you can see right through the organza!
Whittle's was a new experience, but a positive one. After I made my order, within a day or two I got an email saying they didn't have the yardage I wanted and whether the amount they had was alright or if I wanted something else. There were 2 others I had been considering, so I told them what those were and they shipped one of them right after. For the prices that Whittle's charges, I'm not bothered by the limited supply. I got several yards of this cotton to make an 1867 dress next year for the coming 150th anniversary of Confederation in Canada. The picture on the website showed more of a spring or pea green, but it turned out to be more of an olive, which was a fortunate circumstance because it's much more in my colour palette. It's Jo Morton for Andover; the quality is good and fabric is smooth and crisp, but not overly stiff.
A lot of stuff! I could barely get it all home. I'm pretty happy with my purchases though and I think I got some good deals. Now I need to get back to sewing so these don't end up just sitting in the stash!