Hello AT,
I'm an avid reader of your blog, and I've recently decided to do a little project involving fabric, canvas, and Christmas lights. I've lived in Brooklyn for about a year, and have yet to find a good fabric store. I figured you'd be a great person to ask. I live in Williamsburg, but I will go anywhere in the Brooklyn/Manhattan area to find a fabric with great patterns. I'm interested in finding some funky patterns and bright colors. If you could help me out, that would be great. Thanks!
-Sylvia
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I have great luck on ebay.
i remember a site that AT posted a while back that has some really great stuff, but its online:
http://www.reprodepot.com/index.html
There are 2 or 3 good, solid fabric stores on Bridge Street off the Fulton Mall in Brooklyn. Prices are pretty reasonable and they have notions too. Jay St/Borough Hall is the subway stop.
New York has amazing fabric stores. Marimekko is a good call.
Mood Fabrics (226 W 37th, 3rd Floor, moodfabrics.com) has lots of great cotton prints. It recently added a section for interior design fabrics, but most of the good prints are in the fashion fabrics, which are usually 60" wide.
B&J (bandjfabrics.com) is the gold standard of fabric stores; they also carry most of the same cotton prints that Reprodepot.com does.
Good luck!
To make the most of your trip, you might want to go to the garment district in midtown. From 38th to the low 40's between 6th & 7th Aves. are full of fabric stores. The nicest one is probably B & J. I have had luck in one of the stores off of Fulton, but it can be hit & miss.
When I was taking design classes I always found great things at Mood Fabrics on 37th btwn 7th and 8th. If you happen to watch Project Runway they show the desingers shopping there all the time. Good Luck!
KG
Depending on what your needs are, Purl Soho, a knitting/yarn shop, has a new branch, Purl Patchwork, for fabrics. It's designed with quilters in mind, but the fabric choices they have could be used for lots of purposes and they have a lovely selection.
city quilter has amazing fabric! not sure the address though!
Judy at Harry Zarin,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,great fabrics not always cheap tho. She is great at combining fabrics.
Susan
Mood is where those Project Runway folks go, by the way, except when they were in Paris.
There's also P&S Fabrics on lower Broadway (355 Broadway between Franklin and Leonard.) Decent prices and a lot of home dec fabric on the lower floor. Closed Saturdays. Open Sundays.
Bridge St. in Brooklyn can also be reached on the #2/3 line, Hoyt St. Station; the block with the fabric stores runs right off of the Manhattan-bound side exit. I've had great luck with Fulton Fabrics, but I do suggest avoiding Sav-A-Thon.
What is your project involving fabric, canvas, and Christmas lights?
yes if you fail to find what you want in the shops...REPROT DEPOT!
the bomb, the end, true love.
design*sponge's picks seem to sell out...
check frequently as do others
Beckensteins, in the W. 30's
Thanks everyone! I can't wait to check these places out. The little project is just a way to fill my large empty walls. I buy a large canvas on wood, rip off the canvas, replace it with fabric and then nail in white christmas lights to the wood from behind in any shape or pattern. Nothing special, but I like the way it looks.
The Paron Annex, on 40th St between7th and 8th, used to have the best half-price fabrics anywhere -- they go on sale about halfway through the season, which is admittedly an inconvenience, but how else does one get Italian wool suiting at a discount, or the end of a well-known designer's dye lot? Tags will often give design house + what season the fabric was used in, ex "Donna Karan '06" or "Members Only" etc.
Unfortunately, the last time I was there the Annex had been shrunk from a full-sized store of its own to a corridor alongside the regular Paron store, but there were still good deals hiding around the place. And the staff are all like loveable grandparents. I kind of want to go to all their houses for Sunday dinner.
P&S is very serviceable (although maybe offers fewer high-end options?) and has a reasonable selection of sewing patterns, too, which not all fabric stores have in NYC. Plus I think they offer some yarns & knitting supplies, although I know there are really good yarn stores elsewhere.
B&J is great, and they have a wonderful staff. I was just there! If you need heavier, drapery/upholstery options, you need to go to Joe's Upholstery or Zarin's, but they are really close to each other.
silvia, quick comment.
it's actually cheaper to go to an art supply store (pearl, dick blick, utrecht, etc.) and buy wood stretchers sans canvas rather than to buy pre-stretched canvases and rip out the actual canvas. all you need are stretcher bars and a staple gun, plus the fabric and lights. ask a shop employee about this if you're confused. the people at dick blick on bond are pretty helpful as opposed to those at pearl who can be pretty scornful of a newbie.
w00t. drunk posting. and i never thought it would happen to me...
I agree that Purl is a great place to go for first time fabric buying. The store is small, but all of the prints are very nice. The atmosphere is much less intimidating than the garment district, and the staff is willing to help you pick things out and make suggestions.
Don't know if anyone knows about the fabric shop in Brooklyn- Sew Materialistic, on Coney Island in Midwood. They sell sewing, quilting and craft fabric and supplies. Check out the website for a sampling of their products. www.sewmaterialistic.biz
i am travelling to new york in the new year and am looking for cotton fabric that is quirky and and looks retro..its for making childrens clothes..any ideas where is the best place to go???