Shopping with swatches: it’s what I do.
The biggest difference between sewers is location: I have access to resources here that people in the Midwest don’t, but friends in New York have the garment district, which is just a little too far for me. For a lot of my projects, I’m buying from the reputable sources we all know about: Burnley & Trowbridge and Wm Booth Draper. They’re supplying people who want accurate fabrics, they do their research, and the goods are well described. But how to choose among the offerings? And where else can you go?
Wools
The creme de la creme are Kochan and Philips wools. I have some bottle green I haven’t cut yet, which I got from Roy Najecki because he’s local, he’s got the stuff, and he has other stuff my household uses (like cartridge box clasps and quarter-inch mohair braid).
Wm Booth and B&T’s wools are also good, and you can get samples. What you buy will be dictated by what you are making. Broadcloth for suits and cloaks, stuff (worsteds) for gowns and waistcoats. Buy the best you can afford: this is an investment. Divide the cost of the fabric by the number of times you’ll wear a garment, and look at the per-wear cost, the way you might look at a suit for work. (I have no regrets about that Saratoga coat, which has now been worn on at least 5 separate occasions, making the per-wear cost $25 after 18 months, and I know it will be worn again.)
Once you’ve felt and seen good-quality, period-correct wools, shopping locally is easier. Take a swatch with you and compare to what’s in the stores and you’re likely to find yourself shopping online. You’ll want 100% wool, and that’s expensive pretty much everywhere. Here in Rhode Island, I do have access to mill stores and remnant tables that make a difference in my costs and allow me to be a little more frivolous in my sewing. Sewfisticated in Framingham and Somerville and Lorraine Fabrics in Pawtucket both have remnant tables with reasonably priced goods with pretty accurate fibre labels. They’ve been the source for many a garment, but have no online sales. I don’t recommend JoAnn’s wools: they’re not as tightly woven and they’re over-priced. Wm Booth and Burnley and Trowbridge are a better value.
Silks
Here again, it’s unfortunate, but my local sources come into play. Artee, Sewfisticated and Lorraine all have both discounted taffetas and tantalizing remnant tables, but Wm Booth and Burnley & Trowbridge have fabrics the local shops do not carry. I don’t have a local source for what Booth calls “persian,” but taffeta can be found– though color choices can be limited.
The trick with silks is slub. Much of what is sold today is silk dupioni. It is not universally bad for all historical applications, as by the 19th century, silks were being sold in several grades. If it’s right for your impression (i.e. not upper class), and you can find a pretty fine dupioni, you can use it. But the really slubby (bumpy) stuff should remain in this century.
Crisp taffetas from the bridal department can be your friend, though home decorating can also yield good results. Some higher-end home dec departments do stock wool, linen and silk fabrics, as the best designers and manufacturers use them. You’ll pay for it, but again: it’s an investment you’ll enjoy over time. Online, there’s Hyena Silks, too, which has supplied some friends. But my silks are pretty much locally bought, at $9/yard.
Cottons
Here’s the biggest trouble spot for a lot of people. The mantra is that today’s quilting cottons are nothing like the cottons of the past, and while that is true in part, it is not the whole, or nuanced, truth. Quilting cottons are stiff and crisp, and generally do not drape as well as apparel fabrics. But what’s more correct is to say that the range and hand of cottons available today in historically correct or acceptable prints do not come close enough to the cottons of the past. Still, you can find good analogues for late 18th and early 19th century cottons (1750-1825) if you’re careful.
Aside from Wm Booth and Burnley & Trowbridge, I buy from Reproductionfabrics.com. She has been a good source for Indian print cottons. Time Travel Textiles no longer has a functioning web store, but the articles are still there, and useful.
Regency Revisited sells via phone and Facebook now, and has an interesting range of prints, though I have not bought from them…yet…as I am trying hard to sew down the strategic fabric reserve.
But again, I buy locally from the bargain loft at the mill store where I can feel the goods. It’s worth ordering some swatches from Burnley & Trowbridge just to get a sense of the hand of different goods. That, along with printed resources, can serve you well in an actual store (presuming they still exist near you).
Linens
Again, much of my trade is with the main two sutlers, but I buy linen in quantity from Fabrics-store.com. It’s not the best of the best (see the main two) but it gets the basic job done.
For really nice and perfectly correct linen, in every sense, Justin Squizzero’s hand-woven linens are the way to go. I’ll get a hand-woven neckerchief one of these days– actually, I want one for February– but have yet to make the leap to buying hand woven linen shirts and shifts.
Kitty Calash 
Don’t you have an equivalent of our TORM in the states? A non public multi period trading event, I tend to find a lot of stuff I didn’t know I needed there, even though I’ve been going twice a year for over a decade.
Mind you I was naughty this morning, I went out for modern sewing supplies, and this being e heart of the Yorkshire mill area came home with nine metres of hainsworths best Melton for a bargain tenner a metre… ( it normally retails for fifty or so, so I feel entirely justified)
There is an annual Market Fair at Fort Frederick, with many sellers. Unfortunately, it’s in April when school is in session, and is a day’s drive from where we live. Still, you make an excellent point: there are market fairs, and sellers do attend them as well as larger events. Wm Booth’s in-person remnant table is even better than the online specials, and the conversation is always good. (That at the local mill store is always interesting to eavesdrop on, but not necessarily educational in a historical way…)
I would Hainsworth to the list of wools in the same category as the Kochan-Phillips–it costs an arm and a leg, but they will sell directly to the public and if you haunt the clearance, you might not have to sell your firstborn. When my husband ordered from them, they were exceptionally helpful and sent dozens of swatches.
I’m very lucky to have Wm Booth practically in my backyard and so attending many of the events I do–I can get lost in their wares 🙂
I’ve had good luck with PureSilks.us for silk–but as you said, you have to know what you’re looking for in advance. I was pleased with the taffeta I bought from them–not at all slubby, nice hand, excellent color selection. One (sad) thing I’ve found–for silk found in the fabric store, especially big-name stores, do a burn test. I’ve discovered that some “silks” were actually silk blends.
Ulster Linens, too, but a little better if buying in quantity.
The more one feels, the more one knows, I think. Silks in the shops can be tricky and anything I buy on the remnant table gets a burn test, even if it says wool and feels wool. Sometimes I’m surprised (the grey double faced I’m sewing now smells and behaves 100% sheep) and sometimes there’s some 2% or 5% of unknown fibre that puts a length into the “not near a fire” category.
With silks online, I know that “art silk” saris are artificial silk– you probably know that too, but I mention it here in case someone else is new to the term.
With some workshops coming up, this discussion has been *really* useful for me, and makes me think I will bring lengths of differ fabrics. There’s nothing like feeling good, indifferent, and awful fabrics. Happily, I have some of each for different purposes.
best,
Kitty
Thank you for this excellent, informative posting.
Thank you for reading!
I found it helpful to sort through what I know, and how I learned it.
Kitty
It’s largely swatches and mail order, here. I don’t know of many events truly near at hand that are not primarily Civil War. I believe we do have a few Rendezvous events in the Missouri region. My limited experience so far indicates these are, as Kitty says, “musket-centric” and not over-concerned with accuracy, with rather limited sutler selection. I would be glad of information on events that would serve the purpose better!
“The Midwest” is a large place. Wm. Booth is a six hour drive one way–though certainly worth the trip next time I make it as far north as Chicago! Especially as the Racine Art Museum is a lovely spot, and one can also visit the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed SC Johnson headquarters. All that, plus a trip to the Irish pub would make a great vacation, in my book!
And, Kitty–thank you again for such wonderfully informative and detailed response to my questions!!
You’re welcome!
I have a general notion of where you are, and I can tell you where I went for fabrics, but it was 15 years ago! Jackman’s on Lindbergh Blvd in St Louis County used to have fabrics to serve the local bridal-wear and dressmakers. There used to be real linens, silks and wools there. (They also had an excellent home dec department.) There was a place on Clayton Road in Ladue with sewing machines and very fine fabrics, but I never could afford anything there, and I expect it’s gone.
There was a Fashion Fabrics Club in Olivette, in an industrial park; they might have had a Dogtown-area location, too, but as I say, it was a long time ago.
Winston’s Fabrics in U City (not the sewing center in St Charles) also had good, real, silks, linens, and wools.
I never knew where the fashion majors at Wash U went, but you could try calling the school and asking.
Chicago fabrics are out of my range, but I would think there are places; I think there are a couple of fashion design programs up there.
I think it’s RISD’s fashion program that saves the fabric stores here, and a large immigrant population that sews for many kinds of events. One woman sees christening or first communion in that cotton organdy, another sees a Regency ball gown.
Happy shopping!
You have my location pinned exactly, Kitty! Sadly, national trends have overtaken us, too. Quilting cotton rules the day, and the fine fabric shops are failing.
Eunice Farmer (the one in Ladue) closed perhaps a decade ago, Winston’s has long since been replaced by a cupcake shop, and Fashion Fabrics no longer allows people to shop the warehouse in person (all that fabric, and no way to get at it!). Jackman’s is still there and still has some silk, wool, and linen, but is about 3/4 quilting cotton these days (they’re so proud of having one of the best selections in the midwest). Out in Kansas City, the venerable Kaplan’s closed in March.
I hear Sarah’s in Lawrence, KS is good, but have not made that trip yet. It, too, seems like mostly quilting cotton, but perhaps a good addition to a trip to see the Steamboat Arabia in KC!
The fashion designers around here use a lot of cotton and synthetics. Depressing.
That is some sad news! (Though I didn’t think Eunice Farmer would be around much longer when I last visited 15 years ago…)
I can remember fabrics I bought and things I made from all of those places. It’s a shame that home sewing has fallen off so much.
But: I have been thinking about this issue, because the best way to learn is to look and feel fabrics, and if you can’t, what then? How can you tell from thumbnails online just what that wool might do? A longer series will take some time, but I’m thinking about how to illustrate and explain what I know about what I’m buying.
In the meantime, Kansas City would be a fun trip, and I wouldn’t rule out calling Wash U. I found out about two fabric shops I had no idea existed when a friend took a tailoring class. The teacher knew about them. Apple Annie’s in Swansea (does do internet sales, expensive, though, and you have to be careful because it is for modern dress making) and Bedford Fabrics in Fall River (no web sales).
Sometimes word of mouth is all there is…
Good luck!
Kitty