My Favorite Fabric and Notion Sources / Beauties Pageant 127

Last call for the Love Boldly Quilt-Along, starting May 3. Learn more here!

I love a good quilt shop and continue to shop in person when I can. But with the dwindling number of such establishments in my area and the restrictions Covid has placed on life in general, I treasure the online resources I’ve found over the years. Each one is a little different and serves its purpose in my quest for the best quilting fabric and notions. Here’s my take on six of my favorites ...

Crosscut Sewing Co. is part sewing studio and part online retailer. I go there when I’m looking for cute fabric (the shop stocks tons of Riley Blake’s beauties in particular) or substrates other than quilting cotton. Waxed canvas, linen blends, and garment fabric are always available for purchase, as are necessary bag-making notions.

I’ve been shopping at Lark Cottons for years. What I like about it is its offering of new fabric collections alongside past favorites. I might go to the Lark Cottons site for the latest from Carolyn Friedlander, Heather Ross, or Ruby Star Society but know that I may be able to score something unexpected, like vintage Denyse Schmidt or an awesome OOP panel.

Sew Lux Fabric stocks the wares from a wide range of manufacturers—including Windham, Free Spirit, and Robert Kaufman—but I can sum up my motivation for shopping there in one word: Moda! I’m a Moda girl at heart, and the selection I find at Sew Lux Fabric is vast. The site also has a great sale section that I use to stock up on yardage for quilt backs.

Shabby Fabrics’ unique niche among online fabric retailers is its wide offering of kits. In addition to selling quilt designs in kit form, Shabby Fabrics also offers kits for everything from tote bags to jelly-roll rugs. (SF has kitted my Ridiculously Easy Jelly Roll Quilt multiple times, and each iteration has been just beautiful!) If you’re a fan of video tutorials, Shabby Fabrics also offers an extensive library on YouTube.

Stash Fabrics is another fabric site I’ve been using for years. I return time after time because I know Stash’s selection of must-have basics is thorough. My beloved Kona is stocked, as is bolt upon bolt of Art Gallery Fabrics’ Pure Solids. And whenever I contact the support team with a question of which background I should pick for the project at hand, they supplement my online-shopping experience with advice from a real person or two!

 

 

Quilt Pattern Mart is dedicated to selling PDF quilt patterns. What makes it special is the number of independent designers who list their patterns with QPM (including me!). So I might visit QPM to find a pattern from someone in particular but end up being introduced to names and designs that are new to me. (EDIT: QPM has since closed operations.)

Love Boldly Quilt-Along Sponsors

I think giveaways add an extra dose of fun to quilt-alongs. I approached each of these sites about sponsoring my upcoming Love Boldly Quilt-Along with a prize, and I’m happy to say that they are all on board! 

There will be giveaways on Instagram throughout the quilt-along. I’ll post a prompt each week to my Instagram feed with a specific hashtag. To be eligible for that week’s prize, you need to be sewing the Love Boldly pattern along with us and post an in-progress shot to your Instagram feed using the same hashtag. 

Please note: You don’t need to keep up with the schedule to win—this is supposed to be fun, so sew at a pace that works for you. However, your account has to be public during the quilt-along to be eligible for prizes.

If you want to sign up for the QAL, we start cutting and sewing on May 3. Sign up today!

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