One of my greatest struggles when I first started quilting, is trying to figure out where to buy fabric, thread, needles, etc. Especially during a pandemic when going in person to stores was often not an option. It meant I had to shop online, and when I first began looking I was often dissatisfied. Either I was running into USA suppliers (which meant I might have to deal with duty tax), lack of selection (Etsy - Canadian side), or big brand names (like Fabricville). While I don’t have anything personally against brand names, I wanted to support smaller businesses. I also felt I had a better chance of getting higher quality items if I shopped at smaller places.

I did eventually stumble across some Canadian small businesses and have decided to create a list of them to not only help you, but hopefully direct more support to these businesses (especially since a few of them were hard to find when doing general google searches). I will be adding some personal notes on my experiences with each store. The only thing I won’t talk about is a store’s ability to keep items in stock. Since COVID has impacted supply chains and interest in certain hobbies, I’m not really sure if its fair to judge any of the stores on that.

As a side note, it you do plan to buy fabric solids online, it might be useful to get a color chart since colors on the computer screen are not always easy to judge. I personally use a Kona color chart and have it hanging up on my wall to help me pick out colors more accurately when buying Kona solids.

Businesses I’ve bought from (listed in no particular order)

Pins & Needles Fabrics

Vancouver, BC

https://www.pinsandneedlesfabrics.ca/

Instagram (@pinsandneedlesfabrics)

Pins & Needles Fabrics is one of the first stores I stumbled across and I’m really glad I did. They have a great selection of curated patterned fabric and I have never been disappointed when ordering fabric from them. In fact, for my first quilt I got all my patterned fabric from this store (Bright Rules and Animal Kingdom from Paintbrush Studio). And the fabric they stocked from the Tiger Lily Trail collection has inspired my second quilt. Pins & Needles Fabrics sells fabric by the half meter. You won’t find them stocking solids however they do give the option of shopping from the Trend-Tex warehouse using their store code (I haven’t personally tried this option). They also sell 50 wt Aurifil thread although they don’t carry a lot of colors. Depending on their supply you may also find some precuts/bundles available. Shipping is free over $150, below that and you will pay a $15 flat rate.

Keystone Modern Creative

Winnipeg, MB

https://keystonemoderncreative.com/

Instagram (@keystonemoderncreative)

In all honesty, I buy a lot of my Kona solids from this store since they have a good selection (although to be clear, they carry more than just solids). Fabric is sold by the 1/4th meter. I absolutely LOVE the color selection they have for their Aurifil 50 wt threads. They sell color builders where you can buy three spools of thread covering three different shades of a color. I would also recommend taking a look at their notions. I’ve found things I didn’t even know I needed like a bobbin storage ring, machine cleaning brushes, quilter’s balm, etc. They seem to also have a decent selection of patterns and hand sewing supplies. Shipping is free over $150, below that and you will pay anywhere from $9.99 to $16.99 (possible exception is bolts, it looks like those might have separate shipping rates).

Dinkydoo

Pitt Meadows, BC

https://www.dinkydoo.com/

Instagram (@dinkydoofabrics)

This store is the first store I’ve ever bought in bulk from and they made it so easy! Fabric is otherwise sold by the yard. I should mention that on their solid fabric bolts sales, their sale prices do seem comparable to other stores (however their batting bolt sales are one of the best I’ve ever seen). For example, as of writing this post, Dinkydoo is advertising a 15 yard bolt of Kona Wood Rose for $154.99 and Keystone Modern Creative is advertising 14 yard bolt of the same fabric for $134.39. Now that doesn’t account for possible shipping differences, but the reason I’m even bothering to bring this up is because I’ve noticed that Dinkydoo is more aggressive with advertising in social media and newsletters than some of the other stores, but that doesn’t necessarily always mean their prices are better.

With all that being said, they seem to have a really wide selection of fabric (solids and patterns), batting, patterns, types/colors of thread, notions, etc. I particularly like their solid fat quarter bundles and I should note they are the only store I’ve bought from so far that have a point rewards program. Shipping is free over $199, below that you will pay $11.99 (not clear if this covers bolts, although with my pre-order of a batting roll I experienced no shipping costs).

Piece Fabric Co.

Grande Prairie, AB

https://piecefabric.co/

Instagram (@piecefabricco)

Piece Fabric Co. doesn’t seem to have a physical storefront, but considering they established in 2020, it makes a lot of sense why they only have an online presence at the moment. Despite being a newer store, I’m pleasantly surprised by their selection. For example, I think Piece Fabric Co. is the one of the few shops I’ve seen carrying Aurifil 12 wt, 28 wt, and 80 wt thread. And while they are not the first shop I’ve seen carrying high quality flannel, I think the selection is quite good for the store’s size. I was also surprised to see the wide selection of Kona fabric this store carries (as well as offering orders on 15 yard bolts). Fabric is sold by the 1/4th yard (and a 10% discount is offered when ordering 1/2 yard or more). Shipping is free above $200, below that it is a flat rate of $15. While Piece Fabric Co. is not unique in regards to sending custom notes in their packages, I do think it should be mentioned that there were some nice touches in their packaging. For example, each cut of fabric had a sticker mentioning the name/collection and amount of 1/4th yardage.

Like Pins & Needles Fabrics, I think Piece Fabric Co. strikes a really good balance between have a great selection and having a small enough inventory that you can comfortably wander through it without getting overwhelmed. There are a couple stores on this list that are so large, that unless I’m checking out a specific subsection of the store, I’m only going to shop at if I have a fairly good idea of I want. Whereas, with the Piece Fabric Co. I definitely enjoy exploring the website.

The only thing I can find to complain about is some aspects of the website design. For example, I personally would prefer the item icons to be smaller so I could see more items at one time when scanning, and the Collections drop down menu seems to pushing some of the collections way down from view.

Woven Modern Fabric Gallery

Somewhere in B.C.?

https://wovenfabricgallery.ca/

Instagram (@wovenfabricgallery)

Like the Piece Fabric Co., Woven Modern Fabric Gallery also seems to be an exclusively online store. I actually came across this store quite by accident on google while I was looking for fabric by Charley Harper. While this store doesn’t seem to have a lot of inventory when it comes to notions and threads, where it really shines is when it comes to carrying high quality fabric from collections/designers that you may not find elsewhere. And their website has the nice feature of being able to sort fabrics by color or style. Shipping is free above $150, below is a flat rate of $15.95 (however subscriptions have free shipping). FYI, I did have to pay for my subscription with PayPal but that may be specific to the subscriptions.

Quilters Cupboard

Uxbridge, ON

https://quilterscupboard.ca/

Instagram (@quilterscupboard.ca)

To be honest, one of my first impressions of the Quilters Cupboard website was that the design and user interface was a bit out of date. And their fabric inventory was (and still is) confusing to me (they only carry 3 Kona cottons?). BUT DON’T BE FOOLED. There are things I’ve found here that I’ve had trouble finding at other places. My Westalee low shank ruler foot? Found here. My low shank quilting ruler? Found here. If you are looking for a specific type of equipment or tool, I would definitely recommend checking out this website. While I’ve never tried shopping fabrics or threads at this store, they do seem to have an okay selection of Aurifil thread (although colors outside of 50 wt seem to be very limited) and unlike some stores they do offer many colors in the smaller spools. Shipping is free on orders above $75, below that is between $6-$15.

In terms of customer service, I did have trouble getting in contact with them on one of my orders although there was ultimately nothing wrong with the order. On another order the item was out of stock despite it being listed as available on the website, however they did order more of the item so I still got it, I just had to wait a little longer than expected.

Businesses I haven’t bought from

Funky Monkey Fabrics

Watford, ON

https://funkymonkeyfabrics.com/

Instagram (@funkymonkeyfabrics)

I’ve never bought from Funky Monkey so I can’t really speak to any experience with their store, but I feel like it would be unfair to not mention them at all just because I haven’t bought from them. Looking back, I’m not entirely sure why I haven’t tried them. They seem to carry a decent selection of Kona solids as well as some fabric designers that I like. The only thing I can think of, is that when I first came across them, I was looking for Aurifil thread (Funky Monkey Fabrics doesn’t carry Aurifil, mostly focuses on Gutermann). And many of the patterned cotton fabrics featured on the front of the Funky Monkey Fabrics website was more funky than I was looking for (if that makes any sense). Now that I have a better idea of what designers I like and what I would look for, I think I will revisit Funky Monkey and give them a try. I will also keep an eye on their Color Master fat quarter bundles when they are restocked. Funky Monkey Fabrics sells fabric by the 1/2 yard. Shipping is free above $200, below that is flat rate shipping of $10-$14 (if you choose Canada Post). They also have a rewards program.

As a side note, Funky Monkey Fabrics’s website seems to have a unique compare feature to compare fabrics.

The Fabric Snob

Riverton, MB

https://www.thefabricsnob.com/

Instagram (@thefabricsnob)

I first noticed this store in my social media advertisements this last week. And like Funky Monkey, it seems a bit unfair to not at least give them a shout out for existing despite never having shopped at this store. In terms of first impressions, I find The Fabric Snob’s website aesthetically pleasing to the eye, although I don’t really like how the navigation bar of the website is set up. Where I think The Fabric Snob stands out a little bit is how it features box subscriptions. Now, other stores have monthly subscriptions of fabric (and I’ve also seen thread subscriptions), but Fabric Snob more prominently features its sew essentials box (project based), stash stocker box (FQ bundles), and mystery packs in the navigation bar. It even sells past subscription boxes (instead of just categorizing them as regular projects, pre-cuts or fat quarter bundles). For their notions, they seem to carry a lot of EverSewn products. In terms of threads they seem to be exclusively carrying Gutermann, and their cotton solids seem to be exclusively Pure Elements. They sell fabric by the 1/2 meter and shipping is free over $200 ($14.99 flat rate below). The Fabric Snob has a reward program.

In all honesty, I’m not sure if I will shop at The Fabric Snob in the near future. While the Fabric Snob carries some designers I like, it doesn’t carry either Kona solids or Aurifil thread. For me personally, I tend to shop Kona solids because I have a color chart to help guide me, and I like using Aurifil thread. Realistically, that means there would have to be a designer/collection that I would really want, that I can’t easily get elsewhere, for me to shop The Fabric Snob. And on top of that, with the current navigation, it is a bit difficult for me to organically explore if they have fabrics I would like that I’m not aware of. I do think the store has a good eye for curating fat quarter bundles and has one of the more well stocked mask making supply sections I’ve seen. So it might be worth a glance if you are looking around for a fabric store or a subscription box.