Here’s an interesting article about changes in the market, specifically the decreasing number of fabric stores at the same time that sewing is becoming popular (at least with some people) again. The big issue for me is finding fabric, which is mentioned by some of the people interviewed for this article.

I’m in my 50’s so I’m not that old 🙂 but I do remember the resources that were available to my mom, almost all of which are now gone. My mom sewed a lot of my clothes and her own. In the sixties and seventies, every mall had a fabric store, as well as fabric and wool in the department stores that anchored the mall. When she was looking for something special, we’d go down to Queen Street in Toronto on a day trip, so she could shop at the flagship stores of Eatons and Simpsons, two big Canadian department stores. (That meant grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch at the Rainbow Cafe.) They both had huge fabric departments downtown.

We’d often go to Dressmakers’ Supply in Yorkville for buttons and I loved that place. I know they had a lot of things but all the boxes of buttons sorted by colour made me happy. They’ve been gone for years. (Yelp shows a Dressmaker Supply on Queen West but the original one was on Avenue Road north of Bloor, I think in a converted house.) It’s not a huge surprise that my second job ever was in a fabric store – a chain called Lizanne’s that (yup) doesn’t exist anymore.

I later discovered the fabric stores of Queen Street West, mostly Designer Fabrics, which closed in 2018. There was a guy in a little shop on the south side of Queen with buttons in boxes, just the way they’d had them at Dressmakers’ Supply. I don’t think I ever knew the name of the store – it was narrow and on the south side, so I’d always walk along until I found it, instead of looking at the signs. He’s gone, too. I love buttons and I love going through the possibilities for buttons for any garment, but that’s increasingly difficult.

At the same time, similar trends have happened in ready-made clothing. About 25 years ago, I used to go to the store in Mr. Leonard’s factory at King and Spadina. They sold new garments there, and I bought several suits, among other things. There was an elevator but I liked taking the stairs and hearing the sewing machines. They closed down in 1999. (They have a Wiki entry, though.) There used to be designers and pop-up fabric stores on Queen West and King West, where designers would sell off their bolt-ends. My mother-in-law would go fabric shopping with her dressmaker, then tell me where they’d gone. I bought a gorgeous piece of red silk from a pop-up store. The last time I was down on Queen West, it was pretty much all condos and retail chain stores. It’s great that people can live close to the core, but less great that it’s hard to buy quality garments made in Canada and quality fabrics for making our own.

I don’t want this blog to be all about nostalgia and woe over change. Change happens. But as I delve into my stash and remember where I bought lengths of fabric or skeins of yarn, it’s a bit sad to realize that so many of those retail outlets are gone. It’s also  frustrating to shop. There was a time when I knew where to go for what, or where to look first. Quilting fabric is often easier to find than garment fabric. I don’t love shopping online because I want to feel the drape of the fabric or test the spring of the yarn. I want to see the colours as they will appear to me, not as they photograph. All the same, online shopping has become a necessity. I love to buy fabric when I travel, too, but that’s also harder than it used to be.

But this is going to be the sum of my complaint on this subject. The article linked above makes me think that a lot of other makers share similar frustrations, so I’ll include the source of any fabric or yarn that I’ve used in my blog posts, and links when I can find them. I do have some new finds that I’m loving and will share their links when I sew from whatever I’ve bought from them. If you have suggestions for stores online or bricks-and-mortar, then please share them in the comments, and maybe we can all find some new places for supplies.