The postillion was struck by lightning

The updated online fabric store list

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 02:38:05 GMT

Last year, I posted an entry with links to a bunch of fabric stores in it and asked for people to recommend ones I missed. In the interest of doing something that could possibly be classified as useful today, here is the updated list, with a bonus list of places to buy reproduction medieval stuff. So, if anyone has any shops they would like added to either list, let me know and I will add them. Or if you have suggestions for places to get reproduction stuff for other eras -- or even originals, if you're lucky enough to re-enact an era where that is feasible.

But seriously, when I'm done with this, I am going to bed. Or rather, I'm going to try to read in bed, but I'm really going to end up spooning my Kindle and snoozing.

FabricsStore.com -- Linen, some cotton
Fabric Mart -- Designer leftovers, Shetland wool (which is actually from Uruguay?), lots of other garment fabrics
Vogue Fabrics -- Not affiliated with Vogue Patterns or the magazine. Fabric store near Chicago.
Fashion Fabrics Club/Denver Fabrics.com -- Same stock on both websites. Somewhat unreliable when it comes to fabric descriptions.
Fabric.com -- Lots of quilting fabric, but also upholstery and apparel fabrics. Sometimes has awesome sales!

Gray Line Linen -- Line fabrics at affordable prices, without Fabrics Store's quality control issues. Thanks to tattycat for this one.
Burnley & Trowbridge -- Focused on 18thc, but useful for other eras as well. Lots of other historical items, too. Recommendation from many of you!
Wm. Booth, Draper -- Ditto for B&T
96 District -- Website does not have great selection, but tattycat assures me that the selection is better in person.
Carolina Calicoes -- They say for 18th and 19th century reenactors, but there's tons of stuff there for earlier periods if you know what you're looking for. If you're looking for something in particular and they don't have it, try contacting them to see what else they have, since everything isn't on the website. Reproduction 18thc cotton prints for $6/yd, which is the cheapest I've ever seen.

Design Diva Fabrics -- Canadian website selling drapery/upholstery fabric, which sometimes has super sales where you can get silk damasks for very little (well, for a silk damask!). Thanks to chargirlgenius!
Pure Silks, on eBay as Exclusive Silks -- Silk fabric from India. Thanks to nuranar
I Luv Fabrix -- Ohmigawd, the name. But! Discount fabrics. Who doesn't love a discount? Check out "Hi End Remnants" and the 80% off and 90% off sections for super deals. Again, super deals for silk damask.
Duran Textiles -- Reproduction fabrics! Droolworthy in their accuracy. Thanks to northernotter
New York Fashion Center Fabrics -- rosewalker says their silks are expensive but beautiful.

Fabric Guru -- Lots of upholstery fabric, some of it appropriate for historical costuming. Apparently they have apparel fabric sometimes, too. The silk taffetas they have seem to start at about $12/yd, too, which is pretty reasonable.
Farmhouse Fabrics -- Heirloom sewing fabrics. Expensive!
B. Black and Sons -- Good source of wool, according to everyone I know.
Burholder Fabrics -- Has quilting cottons in 1800s repro prints.
Thai Silks -- Silk from Southeast Asia.

Originals by Kay -- Dress lengths of fabric appropriate for mid-19th century clothing.
Renaissance Fabrics -- Does what it says on the label!
Jas. Townshend & Son -- Fabric under "yard goods" in the lefthand column.
Common Threads Quilting -- Repro prints.
Dharma Trading -- Undyed yardage in natural (and rayon) fibers and also other things.

Silk Connection -- Undyed silk and cotton yardage.
Silk Road Fabrics -- Yet again, silk. But also cotton and linen.
Reproduction Fabrics -- Says what it does on the label. Reproduction cotton prints for quilting, 1795-1950. Thanks to nuranar for the recommendation.
Heritage Trading -- eBay store for fabrics from India, including handblock prints. Thanks to nuranar.
eQuilter -- Quilting prints! And some fashion fabrics. Also, 2% of their sales go to reputable charities, which I think is wonderful. They've raised nearly a million dollars so far. Thanks to bauhausfrau for the rec.

Calico Cottage Quilt Shop -- They frequently have lots of repro prints in their $5/yd sale, which is quite a bargain.

Fashionable Fabrics -- Modern sewing, not historical.
Fabricworm -- Modern, lots of quilting.
Bunte Fabrics -- European import fabrics and notions. Modern, though you might find something useful for historical if you poke around.

Etsy sellers I like, who all sell mostly silk but sometimes other natural fibers: FabIndianFabric, Fabricana, silkfabric

They will all make custom listings with yardage for you if you want more than a fat quarter.

Anybody have any more they want to recommend? I know there are more out there -- I cannot even pretend that I have hit all the discount fabric places, let alone the ones where people end up mercy killing their wallets. So, additional recommendations welcome.

And now for the reproduction medieval stuff sites.

Bractea -- Polish site doing custom work. AMAZING wide girdle buckle, based on a van der Weyden portrait. However, very expensive. But beautiful.
Medieval Design -- Italian site, with pricing that is occasionally bemusing. For example, the $90+ wooden buckets but replica portraits starting at $130. However, they do have the silver footed goblets that I lust after, so it's good for drooling over. Also, the shoes. Look at the shoes.
Billy and Charlie's/Fettered Cock Pewters -- Many things of pewter, mostly High Middle Ages. How do I introduce these guys?
Raymond's Quiet Press -- Also many cast things. Pretty, pretty rosy brass.
Pewter Replicas by Steve Millingham -- Soooo pretty. Not limited to jewelry, but many other material culture thingies. In the UK.
Armour and Castings -- Ukrainian site, sells armor and castings. Pretty brooches and pendants that won't break the bank, along with buckles and the like. Seems to be well researched stuff, too.
Gaukler Medieval Wares -- Metal stuff. Which I am damning with my brevity here.
Ironwood Pottery/Eadric the Potter -- thatpotteryguy's pottery. I can testify to its beauty and strength and mom-pleasing qualities. Thanks to Eadric, I finally bought my mom a present which she actually uses. Also, it is a reproduction medieval pitcher which is just as beautiful today as it was a billion years ago. (History! I knows it.) Eadric does a wide array of periods, from 7th-century European to 19th-century American. So, do check him out for all your pottery needs.

_{My ulterior motive here is trying to find buckles for a "broad harnessed girdle" that are not super expensive. I am contemplating buying some sheet bronze and making my own, but I am also asking myself if I want to bring that sort of excitement into my life at this time. Or ever. So I am eyeballing the ones from Raymond's Quiet Press.}

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Online Fabric Stores

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 23:53:20 GMT

I left a comment on someone's journal last night about online fabric stores with a bunch of links, and it occurred to me that there may be fabric stores I don't know about. Could it be possible?

Here's my list, slightly augmented. And by "slightly augmented" I mean "more than doubled in size".

FabricsStore.com -- Linen, some cotton
Fabric Mart -- Designer leftovers, Shetland wool (which is actually from Uruguay?), lots of other garment fabrics
Vogue Fabrics -- Not affiliated with Vogue Patterns or the magazine. Fabric store near Chicago.
Fashion Fabrics Club/Denver Fabrics.com -- Same stock on both websites. Somewhat unreliable when it comes to fabric descriptions.
Fabric.com -- Lots of quilting fabric, but also upholstery and apparel fabrics. Sometimes has awesome sales!

Fabric Guru -- Lots of upholstery fabric, some of it appropriate for historical costuming. Apparently they have apparel fabric sometimes, too.
Farmhouse Fabrics -- Heirloom sewing fabrics. Expensive!
B. Black and Sons -- Good source of wool, according to everyone I know.
Burholder Fabric -- Has quilting cottons in 1800s repro prints.
Thai Silks -- Silk from Southeast Asia.
Originals by Kay -- Dress lengths of fabric appropriate for mid-19th century clothing.
Renaissance Fabrics -- Does what it says on the label!
Jas. Townshend & Son -- Fabric under "yard goods" in the lefthand column.
Common Threads Quilting -- Repro prints.
Dharma Trading -- Undyed yardage in natural (and rayon) fibers and also other things.
Silk Connection -- Undyed silk and cotton yardage.
Silk Road Fabrics -- Yet again, silk. But also cotton and linen.

Fashionable Fabrics -- Modern sewing, not historical.
Fabricworm -- Modern, lots of quilting.
Bunte Fabrics -- European import fabrics and notions. Modern, though you might find something useful for historical if you poke around.

Etsy sellers I like, who all sell mostly silk but sometimes other natural fibers: FabIndianFabric, Fabricana, silkfabric

They only have fat quarters listed in their shops, but they'll make custom listings for yardage if you message them.

Does anybody have any shops they want to add to the list?

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Stranded Waistcoat Analysis

Sun, 24 Oct 2010 07:17:44 GMT

I want to get this done before I forget about it, because the thank you gift that my sister got me for watching Ian was yarn for the 16th-century stranded knitting waistcoat I've been talking about making for like two years now. We ordered it from Colourmart, and I selected a silk/merino blend laceweight yarn, with a high silk content. It's in "light bottle" (a medium green) and "maize" (gold/yellow). Unfortunately, I will not be able to afford enough gold or silver-wrapped yarn to knit a waistcoat until I win the lottery. Let's just say that a thousand yards of that would probably be around a thousand dollars. Ha ha -- no.

Anyway, I want to get this written down in detail before I forget, so that I'm not scrambling later to remember why I made the decision to choose these colors. I did a preliminary list at Rachel's house when I was yarn shopping, but not in detail.

( Analysis of stranded knitted waistcoats available from online museum collections )

Yes, that was totally worth staying up until 2 AM to accomplish. My notes are now on the internet, and everyone knows the internet is forever. Comments welcome! Please argue with me over this if you have evidence to back your thoughts up. Also, if you know of any waistcoats or partial waistcoats which I've missed, please let me know so I can add them to my analysis here.

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Ta da!

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:00:12 GMT

And crossposting from DW to LJ is enabled!

What I've done for now is set it up so comments on LJ are disabled, and everyone who was on my friends list on LJ has commenting access on DW with Open ID. DW has a little guide to setting up Open ID here. Basically, what it does is allow you to comment on things using your ID from one site at other sites. It's super easy to set up -- do not be afraid of Open ID.

I'll still be reading my friends list at LJ and participating in comms, etc. there. It's just that all my entries will be posted at DW and mirrored on LJ without comments.

If you already have a DW account, please comment on this entry and I'll add you here. I have five DW codes to give out, so if you'd like a DW account, please comment and I'll pass a code along to you.

ETA: I unlocked this post at DW and I have anonymous commenting enabled, so if you don't want to do the Open ID thing and just want a journal creation code, comment anonymously, but let me know who you are on LJ.

Oh, and I apparently have SIX! journal codes to share at DW, so strike while the iron is hot, folks!

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