Studio Fabric Shop – a Canadian Online Fabric Store

by Sherri Sylvester | Nov 22, 2013

Today I get to introduce you to the 6th Canadian Online Fabric Store to continue our series.  I met Devorah from Studio Fabric Shop, based in Toronto, at Creativ Festival a few weeks ago. She opened her fabric store a few months ago, and comes from a very fabric related background! She balances the shop with working full-time as a clothing designer for her children’s line Red Thread (sold across Canada). If that doesn’t keep her busy enough, she also has three girls at home – ages 8, 10 and 14!

Devorah has generously provided an amazing giveaway (*Update: Giveaway is closed) for you and a discount for her store (she ships world-wide!). Find them at the end of this post. When I met her at the Festival I was impressed with the range of great fabric featured at her booth. I got some from her that I’m hoping to make into a dress for my daughter – cross your fingers I can post it for Monday! Checking out her website is a treat of colour for your eyes! I would say more, but she has provided an amazing description of her fabric style in her interview. If you are intrigued, she enjoys teaching sewing and quilting workshops – you can contact her through her website. I also found Red Thread’s article about children’s clothing shops and trends in Paris (apparently Liberty prints and plaid are popping up everywhere!) very interesting. Lucky her, she got to go shopping there this past summer!

Thread Riding Hood: What inspired you to start Studio Fabric Shop?

Devorah: “I’ve been working as a children’s clothing designer for the past nine years, creating a line called Red Thread.  I spend a huge amount of time thinking about fabric – choosing it, designing with it, and making things with it. Many of the fabrics I use for my dresses are quilting fabrics, because I love the wide range of prints, the durability, and the feel of it. I also love designing and making quilts, and this has been a passion ever since I was a child. In university I studied the history of textiles and of craft (I have two very practical degrees in Art History and Japanese Studies) because I am endlessly curious and appreciative of beautiful fabric and the people who create with it.

Over the years many customers have asked me who designs my fabric, how I choose and combine it, and where they can find similar prints for their own projects.  After nine years I have amassed a very nice collection, including prints that I have imported, many fabrics that are long out-of-print, and some unusual fabrics that are hard to find elsewhere. My constant requests for fabric collided with my desire to share it, so I decided to open a shop.  Now I’m stocking the shop with new fabrics to supplement the collection, but everything is carefully chosen to reflect a particular aesthetic. The shop appeals to people who really like colour, Asian design, and fabulous prints, including larger scale prints than one usually finds in a quilt shop. There are many great basics as well, including some wonderful dots and stripes, but even those tend to be colourful.

When I opened the shop I was thinking of how difficult and expensive it can be to get great fabric in Canada, but I’ve been surprised to discover that although many Canadians have happily discovered the shop, orders have been coming from all over the world. I’m shipping fabric to Europe and Australia because in some cases, these prints (especially older designs) just can’t be found there.”

Thread Riding Hood: Where do you get the inspiration for your sewing?

Devorah: “For me the inspiration always comes from the fabric first. If I’m designing clothing with it, it’s all about how the fabric will make the wearer feel. Is it joyful, or beautiful? Will it make a child feel special or unique? When I’m making quilts it’s all about me and what my eye loves. I often will put fabrics together and come back to them a day, or even a week later, to see if I still love them. Unless of course I have fallen in love with something and need to make something with it right away. Some fabrics are simply irresistible!”

Thread Riding Hood: What is something coming up in the near future that you are especially excited about?

Devorah: “I’m excited about expanding my collection to include other lines that I love. Right now I’m working on bringing in Yuwa Japanese fabrics, and have Art Gallery Fabrics arriving soon. I’m also excited about offering downloadable patterns that I’m currently developing, as well as custom bundles of fabric. I love feedback, and hope that people will let me know what they’d like to see more of.”

(*Update: Giveaway is closed) You get a chance to win a stash-building collection of ten colourful fat quarters. They include fabrics by Kaffe Fassett, Anna Maria Horner, Heather Bailey and Liberty! Amazing and hooray – aren’t they pretty?! I’m imagining an amazing quilt from these! But of course there are so many more projects you could make. This giveaway is open to all Thread Riding Hood readers, internationally (No one gets left out, hooray!). The giveaway will be run from today, November 22nd, until Friday, December 6th, 2013 at midnight.

Enter by filling out as many sections as you wish in the Rafflecopter widget below. More points = more chances to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Devorah is also providing Thread Riding Hood readers with a discount code – YAY! Shop at Studio Fabric Shop throughout the giveaway (November 22-December 6, 2013) and get 10% off your order with the code: “taketen”!  Here are some of my favorites from her store… happy shopping!

I hope you enjoyed finding out about another Canadian Shop. I found reading about Devorah’s background and attention to detail in her fabric choices inspiring! Be sure to check out her shop to use your discount! As always – you can find more Canadian stores on the Pinterest board.  Have a great weekend, see you on Monday!

Note: I have not received compensation for this post and as always, all opinions are my own. I would not recommend Devorah’s shop if I did not think you would like it!

Warp & Weft – a Canadian Online Fabric Store!

by Sherri Sylvester | Aug 9, 2013

Update: Thank you for entering – the giveaway is now closed.

Today we are on the 5th Canadian Online Fabric Store in our monthly series.  I am super excited to feature an interview with Esmari, owner of Warp and Weft! (I might have a small crush on her store… eek!)  Esmari’s store – located in Toronto, Ontario – has been open for almost a year.  She has been super generous in giving away some of her amazing fabric and has a discount code for you (she ships worldwide!). Plus she is including a coupon to be used at the Toronto Creativ Festival later this year! Amazing!

When I first saw her store I was immediately hooked, the graphic designer in me loves clean white website and great logo. Her fabric choices are unique and I really like how she puts together her custom bundles. I love how the packages arrive as well – wrapped in brown paper and twine with a tag telling you what you have received. Everything about her shop makes me more excited to receive what I’m ordering! It is easy to see that her background is in interior design – all of the details are perfect.

As well as a great selection of designer fabric, Esmari stocks notions from Merchant and Mills and is one of the only suppliers in Canada to do so. I was lucky enough to receive a bamboo point turner from a friend for my birthday, and it works really well – even though I don’t have the heart to remove the tag, it’s so pretty! You’ve got to check out this sewing box as well. I think I wouldn’t be able to use it, but might just sit and stare at it for a while, or display it on a shelf. (Of course eventually I would have to use it, I do like to sew you know!) She also stocks embroidery products, ribbons and more from Sajou – which are gorgeous as well. Maybe I should also take up embroidery just so I can have these Eiffel Tower scissors?!

Of course, I could talk about this shop all day, not to mention the Warp & Weft Sewing Society and upcoming appearance in Made In magazine… but you can check out more for yourself I’m sure! On to the interview…

Thread Riding Hood: What inspired you to start Warp & Weft?

Esmari: “After many years of working as an Interior Designer I had a niggling feeling that I needed to try my hand at something different although it wasn’t immediately apparent what that ‘something different’ would be. I had taken up sewing as a hobby when my husband and I immigrated from South Africa to Canada and was really enjoying using it as a different type of creative outlet from my work as a designer.  I soon realized that for me, the most exciting part of starting a new sewing project was the search for the right fabric. I would spend hours trying out different combinations and palettes long before I knew what I was going to make. So when the time came to make my next move my husband’s advice to me was to do what made me happiest and of course the answer was clear – fabric!! Before moving to Toronto we had lived in a more rural part of Ontario and I found it quite difficult to find anything that really suited my tastes as far as clothing, home décor and even hair styling went! Eventually I found a great hair stylist in town but I found that I was increasingly shopping online for designer furniture, clothing and eventually fabric too. So I started Warp & Weft with a very specific objective in mind – to bring a more design orientated selection of fabric to people in the same predicament as I was in.  As a designer I was taught by my mentors that one should never compromise on quality or aesthetics and in this age of e-commerce, whether you live in Toronto or Yellowknife you should be able to have access to products that reflect both those characteristics. I approach every purchase that I make for the Warp & Weft online store with this in mind. You can say I curate the collections and always try to find that one thing that stands out in the crowd, that piece that I would happily use in my own home and life.”

Thread Riding Hood: Can you tell us more about your (gorgeous!) Design Team fabrics?

Esmari: “Design Team is a textile design company based in South Africa which started out as a final year project in 2000 for the then students, Amanda Haupt and Lise Butler, and has flourished and grown into a business now employing 40 people, many of them previous unskilled workers who Amanda and Lise have trained over the years. There are so many amazing designers in South Africa who are committed to bringing unique and world class designs to the market whilst doing great work towards uplifting previously disadvantaged communities and Design Team is definitely one of the trailblazers today. Their textiles are all printed using a freehand silkscreen technique which renders each and every piece of cloth printed completely unique. Pigments are mixed by hand and printed on base cloths which are woven in South Africa and Lise and Amanda approach traditional and local iconography in a completely contemporary manner which is both internationally relevant as well as reflecting the socially dynamic South Africa of today. Their product line consists of upholstery grade cottons and linens as well as laminated cottons and wallpaper which can be used for just about any home decorating project from drapery and furniture to totes and other fashion accessories. The quality of their work and their approach to interior design in general seemed to be completely in line with what I aimed to achieve with Warp & Weft so I am absolutely thrilled to be the exclusive stockist of Design Team products in Canada.”

Thread Riding Hood: What is something coming up in the near future that you are especially excited about?

Esmari: “Warp & Weft will be teaming up with RE:Style Studio and exhibiting at the Fall edition of Creativ Festival this year. It is the largest exhibit of its kind in Canada and this will be my first chance to take Warp & Weft directly to the public and I look forward to meeting some existing and new clients there in person. E-commerce can be a bit impersonal at times and I always try to engage with clients as much as I can but nothing beats hanging out in a fabric store (or booth, in this case!) and having a big old chit chat about shared passions! We’ll be bringing the full product line which is available on the Warp & Weft website to the exhibit, including an extensive collection of Design Team fabric samples from which you’ll be able to make selections for special orders, as well as upholstery tool kits and supplies and ottoman, headboard and ‘Bring Your Own Piece’ workshop sign-ups from RE:Style Studio. So do please drop in at booth #624 on October 25 – 27th at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and come say hi!”

You do not want to miss out on this one! Esmari is giving away a 1/2 metre cut of 3 different Design Team fabrics (pictured below) – an approximate value of $120.00 – to one (very fortunate) Thread Riding Hood reader. Seriously, this is the good stuff, freehand silk screened fabric with hand-mixed pigments means you get fabric that is totally unique. Aside from the great quality, take a look at the designs. They would look great as throw pillows in my house, and I’m sure you can think of a million ways to use them as well. I’m imagining an amazing tote bag or a small upholstery project… hmmmm… oh, sorry – you want to know how to win these?! UPDATE: Thank you for entering – the giveaway is now closed.

Wonderland,Teal on Earth

Polka Dot – Lumo Pink on Fuscia

Fairy tale – Lime and Teal on Latte

This giveaway is open to all Thread Riding Hood readers, internationally (No one gets left out, hooray!). The giveaway will be run from today, August 9th, until Friday, August 23rd at 10pm.

Here’s how to win: (Make sure to leave one comment per entry on this post so we can count them all properly.)

1. Leave a comment on this post and tell us your favorite Warp and Weft fabric, notion, embroidery product or kit!
2. Social Media Extra Entries: You can get one giveaway entry for each of the following: (1) Like Warp & Weft on Facebook and/or (2) Follow on Twitter and/or (3) Follow on Pinterest. Leave a comment on this post for each like or follow to say that you did so we can count them all!
3. Newsletter Extra Entry: Sign up to receive the Warp & Weft Newsletter. Leave a comment on this post to say that you did.
4. Pinterest Extra Entry: Pin the giveaway official pic below. Leave a comment on this post to say that you did. 

Choose your favorite ways to win from the list above and leave a comment below for each one – you just might win… and that’s not all!

Esmari is also providing Thread Riding Hood readers with a discount code. Thank you Esmari! Shop at Warp & Weft throughout the giveaway (August 9 – August 23, 2013) and get 10% off your order with the code: “THREAD10″! This discount can also be used to purchase her exclusive Design Team special order fabrics – lucky you! Here are some of my favorites… off you go shopping now!

I’m very excited to be visiting the Creativ Festival this fall, and was glad to hear that Esmari would be there as well! For all of those in the Toronto area, this Festival is not to be missed. You can find more information on their website – and my review of this year’s spring Creativ Festival here. Just in case you need more incentive to visit – Esmari is providing a printable coupon that you can use during the show! Click on the coupon image below to access the pdf printable coupon. It will provide you with 10% off any Warp & Weft products at the booth, including Design Team special order fabrics!  Bring the printout with you to the show, one coupon can be used per customer per day at the festival.

Thanks for hanging in to the end of this one! Enter the contest – and check out Esmari’s shop, you won’t be disappointed. Have a great weekend, see you on Monday!

Note: I have not received compensation for this post. As always, all opinions are my own.

Fridays Off – a Canadian Online Fabric Store!

by Sherri Sylvester | Jun 14, 2013

*** The giveaway is now closed. Thanks to all those who entered! *** 

I haven’t had a Canadian Online Fabric Store feature in a while, so today I am happy to introduce Alanna, owner of Friday’s Off Fabric Shop located in Toronto, Ontario. She started her shop recently and has a great (and growing!) selection of 100% cotton designer fabrics. Her fabric is available by the metre, in fat quarter bundles, and in quilt kits. She also sells patterns if you need some inspiration!

Alanna has a full time job, a toddler at home and a baby on the way, she blogs for UrbanMoms.ca (which has some really great information on it) and she decided to start Fridays Off Fabric Shop too! She’s not busy at all – ha!

So, with all that going on she’s also generously offered to give away a Valori Wells Wrenly fat quarter bundle to one very fortunate Thread Riding Hood reader! Hooray! I love this fabric and am so jealous of you guys… it makes such a pretty quilt. And (of course!) Alanna stocks the Valori Wells Wrenly Christmas Quilt kit – so you can get started on your gifts for this year!

Let’s meet Alanna!

Thread Riding Hood: What inspired you to start Fridays Off?

Alanna: It was kind of one of those light bulb moments. I’ve been sewing a lot over the last 10 years and buying really great fabrics at shops in my neighborhood downtown Toronto. People always admire the fabrics I buy because they’re modern and fresh and not available at large fabric stores like Fabricland and Fabricville. I also started buying fabrics online from US sources (which are expensive!) and that’s when I realized there was a huge lack of online fabric shops catering to the Canadian market. So,  I just went for it and set up my own shop online. It’s still a work in progress, but I’m having so much fun with it and I’ll be continuing to stock beautiful designer fabrics as we move forward. Most of my customers live in rural areas or in cities that don’t have great quality fabric stores.

Thread Riding Hood: What is your best trick for making sure you find time to sew?

Alanna: With a toddler running around, a full time job, a budding business and a baby on the way (4 more weeks!) I don’t have very much time at all to sew at the moment. I try to sneak in time by sharing the bath and bed routine with my husband, so some nights he does bath and bed with my son and I’ll sneak downstairs and do some sewing or I take advantage of my son’s nap time on the weekends. Now that I’m on maternity leave I’ve got my days free to get a bit in here and there. I often have to make something in stages though. Like I’ll cut a pattern one weekend and then sew it up in parts the next weekend.

Thread Riding Hood: Which of your upcoming fabric lines are you most excited about right now?

Alanna: I’ve got lots of great lines coming in over the summer. Like Lotta Jansdotter’s Glimma collection, Madhurri Cottons, Hooty Hoot Returns, Ashbury Heights Cottons

Thread Riding Hood: Ooohhh, nice selections, I’m excited! Thanks Alanna.

Alright – so you’d like to win some fabric?! The prize consists of 8 fat quarters, 1 each of 8 different fabrics from Valori Wells’ Wrenly collection. This giveaway will run from June 14th (today!)- Friday, June 21st at 10pm. Canadian and US residents are free to enter.

Here’s how to win: (Make sure to leave one comment per entry on this post so we can count them all properly.)

1. Check out Friday’s Off Fabric Shop. Pick your favorite fabric/bundle/kit/pattern and leave a comment on this post to tell us how you would use it!
2. Optional Extra Entry: Like Fridays Off on Facebook and/or follow on Twitter. Leave a comment on this post to say that you did, include your Facebook name or Twitter handle.
3. Optional Extra Entry: Like Thread Riding Hood on Facebook and/or follow on Twitter. Leave a comment on this post to say that you did, include your Facebook name or Twitter handle. (If you already like Thread Riding Hood on Facebook or follow on Twitter this is an easy entry for you – Leave a comment!)

Here are some of my favorite fabrics from Alanna’s shop, what do you think? While you are commenting, let’s leave Alanna some well wishes on the coming of her baby!

Fabric Spot – a Canadian Online Fabric Store!

by Sherri Sylvester | Apr 26, 2013

*** The giveaway is now closed. Thanks for entering! Find out who won here. ***

Today we are welcoming Karen from Fabric Spot. She left a comment on my Canadian Online Fabric Stores post and I was blown away when I visited her site.  She has the most gorgeous shot of solid fabrics she stocks on her front page, a great selection of modern designer fabrics and (save the best for last) a large organic fabric selection! Karen’s shop is a family run business with, as she says, “three of us under the age of eight” (How she manages this I don’t know!)

Karen is a believer in organic fabrics and respecting our planet. Her fabric selection shows that and she has stocked the largest online selection of organic fabrics in Canada. You may think that all organics must be more expensive – think again. Hooray for all of us – Karen believes everyone should not have to choose between organic and non-organic fabrics by price, so she stocks her organic solids at the same price as her non-organic solids – amazing!

My Fabric Spot Purchase: Comma Intersecting Circles in Slate, Comma Asterisk in Chalk and Kona Cotton in Carrot

If you read through her FAQ’s you can see just how much she concentrates on customer service. I had an amazing experience when I ordered some fabric for an upcoming tutorial (this diaper bag (with Sew Much Ado), coming soon!). I love the Comma collection and emailed her to ask the best matching orange from her large stock of solids. She emailed me back within the hour and I was able to place my order the next day. Because I live fairly close to her Markham, Ontario shop, the fabric was in my mailbox a day and a half later! 

Thread Riding Hood: What inspired you to start Fabric Spot?

Karen: “The biggest motivation for starting Fabric Spot was that I couldn’t find the fabrics that I wanted in my local quilt shops. The only places I saw cool, modern fabrics were on U.S. based fabric websites. But, I was turned off from buying from them because of the U.S dollar conversion, the shipping costs and the duties/customs charges. It seemed ridiculous to me that in Canada we couldn’t get these fabrics. Another reason for starting Fabric Spot was that not only could I not get modern fabrics here in Canada, but getting organic fabrics was even harder! My children were quite young (and still are!) and I wanted to sew things for them out of organic fabrics. When I went to the quilt shops asking about organic fabrics, they told me that there was no demand for it. This again, I couldn’t believe. I had debated about opening Fabric Spot for a couple of years until finally, I decided that I had to go for it. Life is short.  I decided that I had to stop being afraid of the future and instead, embrace the adventure that the future could bring. I had to live according to Karen and not to what others expected of me. And so, Fabric Spot started!”

Thread Riding Hood: What are your favorite types of projects to sew?

Karen: “My favourite thing to sew are quilts. The idea that I’m making something that is wrapping my child in love is very comforting to me. As well, the idea that this object is not only beautiful to look at but practical too, is great! I’m also very sentimental. And so, I hope that one day, when my children look back in time, they can say that their mom made this quilt especially for them because she loved me. Now, if it’s made out of organic cotton, then that’s an extra bonus! ”

Thread Riding Hood: Which of your upcoming fabric lines are you most excited about right now?

Karen: “One of my problems is that there are too many fabric collections that I am excited about!! But, if I had to pick one, it would be Eiko by Jay-Cyn Designs. It’s organic and made by Birch Fabrics. I love love love Asian inspired fabrics (like the Tsuru Collection)! [Eiko is] due to be released in July or August.”

Karen has generously offered to give away an organic fat quarter set of (my current favorite) Tsuru! This Asian inspired fabric was designed by Rashida Coleman-Hale and is made of 100% OE certified cotton printed with low impact dyes. Okay – and it’s also gorgeous! Check out what Made By Rae did with them here. I’ve been dreaming of a set of those little dresses for my girls – but where to get the time to sew them?! Anyhow, I’m getting off track. Here’s a photo of what you could win.

This giveaway is open to all Thread Riding Hood readers from Canada and the US. The giveaway will be run from today, April 26th, until Friday May 17th, 2013 at 10pm Friday, May 24th, 2013 at 10pm (The contest has been extended!). Three weeks to enter!

Here’s how to win: (Make sure to leave one comment per entry on this post so we can count them all properly.)

1. Leave a comment on this post – easy peasy!
2. Optional Extra Entry: Like Fabric Spot on Facebook. Leave a comment on this post to say that you did, include your Facebook name.
3. Optional Extra Entry: Like Thread Riding Hood on Facebook. Leave a comment on this post to say that you did, include your Facebook name. (If you have already liked Thread Riding Hood on Facebook this is a free entry for you – Leave a comment!)
4. Optional Extra Entry: Comment about this giveaway on Facebook – be sure to link back to this post! Leave a comment on this post to say that you did, include your facebook name.
5. Optional Extra Entry: Follow Fabric Spot on Twitter. Leave a comment on this post to say that you did, include your Twitter name.
6. Optional Extra Entry: Follow Thread Riding Hood on Twitter. Leave a comment on this post to say that you did, include your Twitter name. (If you already followed Thread Riding Hood on Twitter this is a free entry for you – Leave a comment!)
7. Optional Extra Entry: Tweet about this giveaway using the hashtags #TRHGiveaway and #fabricspot. Leave a comment on this post to say that you did. Include your twitter name or url.
8. Optional Extra Entry: Check out Fabric Spot. Leave a comment on this post that includes your favorite fabric from Karen’s shop!
9. Optional Extra Entry: Check out the Thread Riding Hood Tutorials page. Leave a comment on this post that includes the tutorial you’d like to try next!
10. Optional Extra Entry: Pin the Official Giveaway Pic (directly below this list). Leave a comment on this post to say that you did, include your Pinterest name.

If you live near Toronto, you can visit Karen’s booth today and tomorrow at Creativ Festival. I’m going to be there – it should be amazing! Good luck to everyone that enters the giveaway, have a wonderful weekend.