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Canadian Quilters and Online Fabric Stores

14 years ago

I am new here but have been a lurker for quite some time. I have enjoyed the posts and especially the pictures of the beautiful and stunning quilts which have been shown here. I have a great LQS but sometimes I am looking for some themed fabrics and specialty fabrics that they do not carry.

I was wondering if any of the Canadian quilters on this forum have ordered fabric from Canadian online sources. Barring that, what US online fabric sources have you used and found good to deal with.

Thank you for your help and guidance.

Barbara

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Comments (5)

day2day
14 years ago
Barbara, I have also been wondering about this. I will be watching for responses from others. I have never ordered anything online.

~Geraldine
love2sew
14 years ago
I shop online all the time. I order from US stores more than Cdn. stores because in Canada you have to pay the 2 taxes. When you shop US there are no taxes, no duty so you only pay their shipping fee ($13.00) average and then the conversion to CDN dollars. My orders are usually 2 weeks but can take up to 24 days so you do need to plan ahead. I find adding $2.00/yd works out pretty close to CDN dollars.

I have only a WM in my area which is closing their fabric soon. I think another shop could open due to the number of quilters and sewers in our area, however, people like me don`t help the local economy. If I didn`t shop online, I would not be quilting.

I hope this is helpful and if you have any other questions, I`ll try to answer them for you.
Jeane
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barbara3
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks, Jeane. That's good to know. Which US sites do you order from? Do you find them reliable to deal with? Which are the best ones and which ones should I avoid?
love2sew
14 years ago
I have only shopped at Hamels Fabrics in Chilliwack BC. They are wonderful to deal with have high quality fabric and very good sales. I got a 16pc FQ bundle Reg. $74.00 for $34.98. The online shops treat us shoppers just as if we were in their store. You will find good quality and great service from 99%.

I didn`t mention using your credit card or PayPal. Many are moving to PayPal. You must sign up with them and they do all the credit card transactions in a safe way. If you use your credit card, the good stores will indicate your are entering a secure area where you enter your card information. In 5 years, I have never had a problem.

When I started shopping, I used the shops advertised in magazines. I just looked around until I found ones I liked and that catered to my needs. You will find one shop may favor flannels, another novelty, another reproduction, etc. Another spot Quiltshops.com has a membership of 200 stores and you can browse through those.
Shops I have shopped at with great results are:
Connecting threads
Quilters Quarter - selling out
Stitch-N-Frame
Contemporary Cloth
AAA Quilters Supply
Quiltville Creations

If you sign up for a shop's free newsletter, then you will get their sale dates and new items they bring in. I am not associated with any of these shops in any way.

Jeane
barbara3
Original Author
14 years ago
Geraldine, I went to FF today and I was not impressed. They have a very small selection of quilting cottons, lots of solid colours and not much else.

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