Fabric Shopping in NYC

I was lucky enough to go fabric shopping for my birthday a few weeks back in NYC!  Let me show you what my favorite stores are and the haul I picked up (some of which you’ve already seen on the blog).

First stop: Mood Fabrics

(I really could have taken a better picture but I felt like such a dork taking one in the store.  This was taken from the entrance where no one could see me snap a quick pic.)

What is there to say about Mood that hasn’t been said already?  They were crowded when we got there around noon and even a tour group was making their way in when we were leaving.  I always try to hit up Mood first before any of the other stores in the garment district since they have everything you’d need for a project in one place.  Plus, if you can’t find it at Mood, it probably doesn’t exist!  I love perusing their cottons and wools as well as the designer fabric.

I found two fabrics: a navy blue and white twill fabric that I just unfortunately used for this dress and a multi-colored striped cotton that I’m planning on using for a McCall’s 6554 sundress.

Since it’s right down the street from Mood, we then went to Metro Textile.

So it doesn’t look like much from the outside, but let me tell you: this store is fantastic.  It’s a hidden gem, way up on the 9th floor on 37th street, and I never walk out with empty hands (more like empty pockets!). Kashi, the owner, is incredibly helpful and doesn’t leave your side when you’re looking through fabrics.  It helps to know ahead of time what exactly it is that you’re looking for since he can dig and pull out from the shelves exactly the kind of fabric you need.  I went in with the idea that I was looking for knits (his selection is awesome, I go their specifically for that) and I walked out with a ton of knit fabric as well as a cotton.  His prices are incredibly reasonable for the quality of the fabric he sells, too – I was amazed at what I got for what I spent.  Plus, he can even ship your fabric to you if you don’t want to carry it around.  I can’t recommend this place highly enough

Look at all of that!!  They’re all beautiful knit fabrics, except for the blue and green floral at the top which is a  woven cotton.  I’ve got plans for maxi dresses, wrap dresses, summer skirts, and knit tops out of that lot.  It should keep me busy for a good chunk of the summer I should think!
(Psst: a lot of this fabric is sold on Gorgeous Fabrics)

The last place we went to was a place my mom wanted to go to: The City Quilter

I’ve never been, but after this trip, this store is on my “must-go” list.  It’s such a comprehensive and beautiful quilt shop and has a quilt gallery located next door.  Their website says that they stock around 4,000 bolts of fabric, and I definitely believe that.

This is just one section of the store, btw.

I wish I had a project in mind when we were there because the selection and assortment of fabrics was amazing.  You name it, they carry it.  I loved their section of Japanese fabrics from Echino, Kokka, and Yuwa – most of those fabrics I’ve only seen online, and it was neat to see and feel them in person.

Since they’re also a Bernina dealer, I took a look at the feet they had and picked up a rolled hem foot for my 1005.  I haven’t tried it out yet, but it’s one of those feet that I’ve been meaning to get.  They also had a great selection of books, many of which made me really want to start quilting, but I decided to get Sue Kim’s Bags book.

So those are some of my favorite places to shop in the Garment District in NYC!  It looks like I need to go to New Jersey for work in two weeks, so it would give me a good excuse to swing by and get some more fabric…