Fabric Stores

B&J Fabrics - 525 7th Ave 2nd Floor

Observations: 

• Not super busy, but busiest of the stores I went to (I went at 2pm right before they closed for Rosh Hashana, so that might be why it wasn't too full)

• Most organized fabric store in existence

• Most of the fabrics were high-end/expensive- even simple unicolor fabrics were expensive

• All the employees were super sweet (this was the only place it was like that)

Mood Fabrics - 225 W 37th St 3rd floor

Employee was helping someone out and I was starving, so I didn't end up getting swatches from here.

Spandex House - 263 W 38th St

Observations: 

• Everything was practically the same material in the main area

• They had a separate part for more decorated fabrics (with beads and gems), but none looked very high end

257 DBA FABRICS (39th St)

Observations: 

• The employee (owner?) did NOT want me in the store

• He said swatches were very limited. I was able to get 2 but left quickly to not further bother him

John Paul Ataker - 525 Seventh Ave

Observations: 

• Very high end / luxury

• Had an employee following me around to help

• Most fabrics originated from Asian/Arabic countries (mostly Turkey)

• Store was completely empty of customers except me

• They had a sample sale upstairs for ball gowns / elegant dresses, but no tailor in NYC

Trim Stores

SiL Thread - 257 W 38th St #1

Had LOTS of different types of zippers and tools. Will be coming back for the zippers when I learn how to sow. 

B&Q Trim - 102 W 38th St

Didn't have a lot I could use for my project, but did have a lot of rolls of interesting fabric. Could be better/more useful/cheaper than buying by the yard. 

Pacific Trimming - 220 West 38th st

Was thinking I could use a large pendant from here as an earring, since it's larger than regular earrings and could fit a lot of electronics

New Tools

(All tools are ones I found in store and took pics of, as can be seen above, but the pics in this section will be from Google so I can clearly see what they look like when I reference this)

French Knitter

A spool used for knitting. The one I found (and put a picture of here) is mainly used to create bracelets. The clover (brand) website shows how. 

Final Thoughts

I wouldn't go back to the fabric stores without already knowing what I want (except B&J, but it was super expensive so I doubt I'll be buying from them soon). It's overwhelming to simply look at fabrics without having a general idea of what your project will look like, mostly when they're all on top of each other. Most of the stores had organization systems that didn't make sense to me, where prices, colors, and textures were all mixed. For example, B&J did have headings to show what type of fabric (content-wise) was in each section, but within these same content fabrics there was different weaves, colors, accessories, etc. Most of the store employees did NOT want to help out unless you were ready to pay. They frequently would ask "how many yards" when I said I wanted a swatch of a specific fabric. 

As for the trim stores- they were a lot less scary! I felt like I was at a reasonably-priced Michael's. I'll likely be returning to 38th st. for my Halloween costume. I also liked all the zipper options at SiL Threads! They varied in quality but all were pretty cheap ($4-10 per foot). I was looking to replace all my pillow covers with ones with zippers since my pillows slide out in the middle of the night and I don't think I need to anymore. I'll be learning to sow on zippers with the machine and save some money and the environment (shipping) that way instead!

Link to Assignment 5 (also due this week)