I have a gorgeous stash of vintage, geometric and Japanese ofabrics, mostly cotton but some jersey, linen and a very occassional synthetic. I use them for my bags, purses, cushions - and soon for soft toys and plushies in my shop. People often ask where I get them so I thought I'd share a few secrets...
1. As soon as people know you sew, they start giving you things - buttons, ribbon, lace, patterns and fabric. If you're lucky it will come from grandmas and old ladies down the street. These are the best hoards, I have some fine gems from relatives, and from Miss Searle and Miss MacManus who gave me the their leftover scraps when I was 16. They were very old ladies then and their scraps included some irreplacable 1950s tweeds, quilted cotton, some sheer florals in a fabric I have yet to identify and all manner of cottons. What was a bag of off-cuts to them is still a treasure trove so dear to me I hardly touch it and can barely bring myself to cut any of it up. But occassionally I do, and think of them fondly.
2. Of course - Ebay! It does require some obsessive stalking of loved stores and some will power to stick with something really worthwhile whilst also knowing when to quit on something not so special. But for vintage fabrics there are some great sellers in the US and especially Australia. Here are a couple of my favourites, and some fabrics I 'won' from them.
Vintage Fabric Addict
Retro Age Vintage Fabrics
3. Also no great secret to many people state-side but these might be new to other UK textilers...
Superbuzzy - great for funky contemporary Japanese prints
Reprodepot - for re-issued vintage cottons as well as bits of haberdashery and such
Sew Mama Sew - again lovely for re-issue and cutesy Japanese cottons
4. Re-purposing. I scour second hand shops for old clothes, scarves, curtains etc which can be blitz cleaned and cut up for a new lease of life, like the Margo bag which was a 1970s silk scarf in a former life...
5. And just occassionally I actually go to a fabric shop and buy it the normal way...
Meanwhile I try and keep a catalogue of my fabric stash over on Flickr - it's never entirely up to date but it's a lovely album and a good alternative to a sketch book for me - and saves me turning out all my cupboards every time I want to choose a fabric for the next project!
ps - I'd like to buy British as much as possible so if you know of any good online sources for the UK please leave me their details and website as a comment, thanks.
