We put together a list of brick and mortar fabric stores in Chicago that we and the students in classes use not long ago and thought we would put together a list of fabric stores online that students have used. As before: None of the stores listed are compensating us in any way whatsoever for the listing here.
We’ll start with this: All of the major fabric stores in Chicago have an online presence. Oak Fabrics, New Rainbow, Fishman’s, Vogue, and Jo-Ann Fabrics. So there is that. Work your way down that list if you are wanting to buy local.
Let’s get to it:
Fabric.com
Fabric.com is a website for all kinds of basic fabric. They operate like a better version of any of the larger fabric and craft stores that have an online presence. Our students have found them really good with customer service and their delivery dates are on-time and packaged well.
Blue Moon Fabrics
Blue Moon fabrics is a Los Angeles based fabric store that specializes in apparel fabrics and has been a big hit with our students doing their own design work as well as some of our pageant folks. You can find all kinds of faux fur, sparkly stuff, and wild knit prints. You can buy by the yard, the bolt (10 yards), or the roll (50 yards). They also do custom printing from your own Photoshop or Illustrator files.
Planet Rhinestone
Planet Rhinestone has been popular with our folks who do a lot of costumes, evening, and pageant work up here. You can get all kinds of sparkly notions and findings as well as beaded/studded panels, loose rhinestones to set or glue, and yardage. Their prices are good, but their website takes some time to get through. You are initially faced with what seems like an endless parade (barrage?) of glint and glamour rather than sectioned, well-defined groupings. Use the selection drop-down after the “Shopping:” header to sort things better. Debbie said that they ship well and fairly fast.
Harts Fabrics
Harts Fabrics is another online store that has its base in Santa Cruz, California. They are a wide-range store, but we’ve had really nice knits and rayons show up in class that are slightly nicer than what you’d get locally (except for Oak). Definitely worth a look. Delivery and shipping was good, according to the two folks we’ve had use them.
Mood Fabrics
Mood fabrics is essentially Vogue, Fishman, and New Rainbow Fabrics with hints of Oak Fabrics combined. You can get pretty much whatever you need without leaving the house. We’ve had some stunningly beautiful stuff come through the workrooms both for class projects and for our own work that came from Mood. The consensus is that you have to wait longer for swatches than yardage, so keep that in mind when you order swatches from them. Customer service is good, though, just don’t try to rush things.
Whenever you are shopping online for fabrics you should try to get a swatch if possible. You can’t count on the color and texture from just your screen. Be aware of this and plan your project’s timeline accordingly.
We’ll add to / amend / update this list as things come across the cutting tables, but we can tell you that after writing this and poking around online we’ll never (ahem) curate (eyeroll) a list. These are stores that have come through and given good service to our people.