Online Fabric Shopping Tip: Swatches!
Fabric shopping can be extremely difficult for some cosplayers. Maybe the color you need isn’t at Joanns, or the fabric you’re looking for isn’t sold at that one quilting store. Maybe it’s a one-hour or more drive to anyplace that sells fabric. Or even worse: there is nothing nearby. This leaves a lot of cosplayer relying on online stores to get fabric.
But you can’t feel the fabric online. How can I tell what color the fabric really is? In sunlight? Indoors? Is it going to drape the way I need? Am I gambling buying online?
Fear not! There is one amazing solution to ensuring the fabric is what you need!
REQUEST OR BUY SWATCHES!
A swatch is a small square, triangle, or rectangle size of fabric that sellers may either send or sell of the fabric you are looking at.
Though these swatches may not be large, they serve the worries you have about your upcoming project. They…
Tell you how the fabric looks and feels
Or even how it drapes if you are looking for a certain fabric stiffness:
Some sellers may actually have a Swatch Collection in which buying the entire collection of colors is at discount then comparing and contrasting a few colors in between. This is especially good if purchases of a particular brand become a recurring thing.
Also be aware that a lack of a button or section to buying swatches does not meant that the seller will not provide them. Contact the store with the exact fabric you would like to get a swatch and see if they are willing to send a swatch directly to your home. This can also be applied to online sellers on large e-commerce sites like Ebay, Etsy, and many more.
Getting swatches can also be a huge help when hunting for a specific kind of fabric for your cosplay. It gives you a compare and contrast between multiple sellers to try and see if it what you’re 100% looking for.
Swatches aren’t reserved for just fabric! Swatch books are also made for threads!
Although slightly harder to find, many thread companies and thread sellers actually sell swatch booklets of threads.
This can be especially useful for buying threads for embroidery and appliqué where the top stitching color and the shine of the thread may actually matter.
Not sure where to start? Here are a few amazing places.
Syfabric = Good variety for great prices
Spoonflower = Great for custom fabric printing
Distinctive Fabrics = Variety at great prices + lots of fur
Beverly’s = Great variety of fabrics including quilting patterns
Fabric Empire = Lots of great fabrics and deals. Very easy nav search
NY Fashion Center Fabrics = Expansive color assortment, and very helpful staff. Ordering swatches can get you 15% off next order!
Mood Fabric = Higher end items, but lots of sales. Send ‘free swatches’ with orders
Spandex World = Spandex, stretch, and stretch pleather
Minky Boutique = Expansive range of minky furs
Silk Baron = Wide variety of dyed silks and duponi fabrics
Dharma Trading = Undyed Silks and lots of dying inks and tools
Fabrics-Store = Super amazing for linens
HouseFabric.com = Large variety for great prices, including lace and trim
All Stitch = Overwhelming supplies for hand + machine embroidery. Sells Madeira Thread
Wawak = Superstore of sewing supplies at low prices. Sales almost every day
ShineTrim = Large variety of trims and especially bridal trims
Pacific Trimming = Extremely large trimming and notations store
FYI here’s what’s left for us Canadians (and other people of non-USA)
International shipping
Spoonflower = Except Belarus, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Somalia, Yemen, Cuba, Iran, and Syria.
Beverly’s = Not everything on their site ships outside of the USA. $33.25 Flat rate to Canada, $49.50 to the United Kingdom… you get the picture.
NY Fashion Center Fabrics = International shipping handled by 3rd party (GlobalShopex). Starting price for Canada (1 yard) is around 30$, £30 to the United Kingdom.
Mood Fabric = International shipping handled by 3rd party (GlobalShopex). Starting price for Canada (1 yard) is around $30, £30 to the United Kingdom.
Spandex World = You can expect to pay $40 for shipping fabric to Canada, just a $0.75 swatch can cost $15 in shipping.
Minky Boutique = Starting price for Canada (1 yard) is around 30$, $45 to the United Kingdom.
Silk Baron = Ships to most but not all country (you must create an account to see the complete list). Shipping prices are a bit expensive but not the absolute worst.
Dharma Trading = Ships internationally. For legal reasons some products (mostly paint and dyes and things containing chemicals) cannot be sent outside ofthe USA. Really affordable shipping and great customer service.
Fabrics-Store = Worldwide shipping.
HouseFabric.com = Worldwide shipping.
All Stitch = Shipping to Canada starts around $35, to the United Kingdom around $45.
ShineTrim = Worldwide shipping.
Pacific Trimming = Affordable shipping compared to everything else on this list. Around $7 for 1 item to Canada and the United Kingdom.
Canada only
Syfabric = Flat $35 shipping charge.
Fabric Empire = Seems to ship to Canada?? Cart accepts Canadian postal codes but no mention of where they ship anywhere on the website.
For more info on swatches and how much you can expect to pay for them, please check out our blog post on the topic.
Note: the sites that don’t have a shipping estimate aren’t necesarly cheaper, I just coulnd’t get a quote without actually placing an order.
Note 2: If anyone’s wondering what’s the deal with the UK: just randomly picked them as an example of shipping to another continent because… uh… CANADA?!
THANK YOU FOR THE ADDED INTERNATIONAL INFO<3<3 Wow this is such amazing deep work <3 Needs more luv.
