Somebody I know told me the other day that they had never bought fabric online, which I found very suprising. I wouldn't have been surprised had this been somebody like my mother who doesn't have a computer, but this was one of those "internet people" (as my mother likes to call them). I guess you'd have to say I was a fairly early adopter of online shopping - I know that I was buying on eBay (and then selling as well) in 1998. I'm not quite so sure when I first bought from other online stores, but I had definitely mastered the online shopping cart well before the dotcom bubble burst in 2000. I don't remember exactly when I started buying fabric online, either - probably not as long ago as that since I only started quilting much around that same time - but it was several years ago, at least.
So, here's some of my favorite online places to shop. -- Do I need to put up a disclaimer? Your mileage may vary. Unfortunately, stores change hands, etc. - yesterday's great store may not be so great tomorrow. Because of that, I'm categorizing these by how recently I've shopped there.
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I've ordered from all of these recently, and always had good experiences:
You have to order from Hancock's of Paducah once in a while just to make sure you keep getting their catalogs. I salivate just thinking about them. (Although you can go to the site and request a catalog without ordering, if you're feeling broke.) Their service is always excellent. Also - great clearance sales, from time to time.
Born to Quilt is under new management, but I've always liked them and hopefully the new management will have the sense not to screw things up. They have a wide variety of fabric, but their specialty is probably orientals. They have the best selection I've ever seen in that area.
I just ordered from A.H. Mercantile for the first time the other day, and my order isn't here yet, so I can't say for sure about their service, but they sure have a nice selection, and cheaper prices than most places, to boot.
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These are stores I have had good experiences with, but it's been a while since I ordered from them. (Don't infer anything bad about them from that; unfortunately I can't afford to buy fabric constantly, the way I'd like to!)
Cherry Lane Quilt Shop
Contemporary Cloth, aka the "funky fabric people"
Fabric Blowout, which specializes in discontinued fabric and the like
Sew-Sew Crazy (want cat fabric? boy, have they got it)
Virginia Quilter - one of my favorites, has good selection and frequent free shipping specials (hmm, why haven't I ordered from them lately?)
And there's also Web of Thread, which isn't actually a fabric shop, but specializes in thread and notions instead. Particularly when I go on a crazy-quilting binge, they are a great source for some items that are otherwise hard to find.
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eBay
It took me a ridiculously long time to think of looking for fabric on eBay, and it turns out there's a ton of it. I've mentioned my favorite seller Jane V. before - she's not the cheapest but she always has really nice stuff. Christa also has good selection and she is often considerably cheaper. Don't be afraid of eBay, really - as long as you stick with sellers who have good feedback, you're usually ok. (Just bear in mind that by "good feedback" I mean good feedback - I usually think if they're below 99-point-something-% positive, something's wrong.)
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I found a lot of these stores through QuiltIndex or the FabShopHop, both of which run periodic scavenger-hunt-type events as well as being good resources in general. (QI has the Mall Crawl, where you hunt for a quilt block, while FabShopHop is the one with the bunny. Don't sneer, I've won prizes from both of them in the past. If you have the patience to hunt through a lot of quilt sites - and the budget for all the fabric you can't resist buying in the process - it can be fun.)
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On a (more or less) related note, I was looking at the links in this entry and at least one of them has changed: Sharon's weblog is now here.
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6 comments:
That reminds me--I still haven't gotten hooked up with Hancock's. (Not that I NEED more fabric or anything.)
A couple other sites I like: eQuilter; I just ordered from them earlier this month. If they don't have what I'm looking for, I usually got to QuiltShops.com; I've ordered from a couple places through there and never had a problem.
Not surprisingly, I've had mixed results with eBay. I've gotten some excellent stuff, but a couple things have been disappointing--like an alphabet print on white that turned out to be very thin and not 100% cotton (I used it for a charity quilt--does that make me a bad person?)
One tip for Ebay is to make sure they say smoke-free home. Some fabric I got from a place that didn't specify; reeked. One day when I get a chance I'm going to lay it all out and Febreze it. I haven't had any problems when they specify smoke-free.
I meant to put eQuilter in there, Karen, I knew there were some I was forgetting! (My only gripe with them is that their weekly e-mails are too long.)
I just thought of another one - Big Horn Quilts, in Wyoming. I went blank about all of these the other night when I was writing the entry. (Naturally.)
Incidentally, I never got around to saying that the order from A.H. Mercantile came on time and as ordered. No problems there whatsoever.
One more thing: if you order from Hancock's of Paducah, note that the default setting on their shipping is next-day delivery, at $19.95. So if you fail to change it, that's what you'll get. I found this out the hard way.
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