Join me as I open up my fabric haul from The Selvedge Society a Sydney independent fabric store based in Stanmore. It carries both garment and quilt making fabrics and when these popped up for sale I couldn’t resist!
This year Sydney has been host to a whole lot of international and interstate sewers and its been wonderful to show them the city. With more visitors coming soon I thought a round up of Sydney Fabric Stores would be useful for travelers and locals.
I’ve grouped it roughly by region and for ease have assumed that most people would be traveling from the city for approximate travel times. I’ve also edited it (May 2018 to take out stores which have since closed down).
City and Surry Hills
The Fabric store good for quality fabric, designer ends of rolls and the best selection of Merino in the city.
21 Cooper Street Surry Hills. Open 7 days a week: Monday – Friday: 9.30am – 5pm, Saturday: 10am – 4pm, Sunday: 11am – 4pm
Closest transport:5 minute walk from Central station, approx 20 min walk from the main area of the city.
Top Tip: Sign up to their newsletter so you can find out when sales are on as the sales on Merino are often fantastic.
Greenfields primarily a wholesale stockist but will sell to the general public. For haberdashery such as elastics, piping’s etc you need to buy the entire roll. Zips must be bought in batches of 5 (same length, style, colour) and fabric can be bought for as little as 1 metre but it will incur a cutting fee. The first floor is all trims, you can go in and look behind the counter and bring the rolls to the counter to purchase. There are virtually no prices on any of the rolls, check the end of the aisles for pricing or check at the counter. The second floor is fabrics, choose your fabric from the black folders in front of the counter. Pricing is on the cards. Almost all fabrics are solid colours as they do not often carry prints.
Good for stocking up on basics like threads, zips, elastics and plain coloured fabrics. Plain poplins, silk cottons, silks and satins. Greenfields is not necessarily the easiest place to shop as it is not set up for general browsing. If you have basics you use continuously and want to save a great deal of money then its great to come and buy in bulk, it’s not good for finding small amounts of trims.
30 Ann st Surry Hills. Open Monday to Thursday 8.30am to 4.45 Friday 8.30am to 4.00pm. Will close for a few weeks over the Christmas/New Year time.
Closest transport:5 minute walk from Central station, approx 20 min walk from the main area of the city.
Top Tip: on the first floor in front of the counters there are bags of trims and accessories for around $5 to $10 you can be lucky and get 50m of underwear elastic or piping for only a few dollars a bag.
Tessuti good for designer fabrics and special occasion fabrics. Stocks Liberty and Nani Iro.
110 Commonwealth st, Surry Hills. Open 6 days a week. Monday – Friday: 9.30am – 5.30pm Saturday: 9.30am – 5.00pm
Closest transport: 5 to 10 minute walk from Central station, approx 15 min walk from the main area of the city.
Top Tip: check the remnant table as there can be some bargains mixed in there.
Photios Bros – Sadly NOW CLOSED DOWN. good for beads, costume jewellery, original vintage trims, feathers and sequins. If you are stocking up on trims for dance, costume or vintage clothing then Photios Bros is a must. Many of their vintage trims are actually pieces they have had in stock since the 50’s or 60’s (or earlier) yet the prices are reasonable.
66 Druitt St Sydney (directly opposite the side of Town Hall). Open 6 days a week. Monday to Friday 9.00am – 5.00pm (closed for 1 hour between 1.00pm – 2.00pm) Saturdays 10.00am – 3.00pm
Closest Transport: Town Hall Station. Located in the city.
Top Tip: the costume jewellery is exquisite. If you need a bit of sparkle to add to an outfit by either a brooch, earrings or even tiara then this will be the best quality you can find at extremely affordable pricing.
Close to the City
Take a ferry from Circular Quay across to Balmain East and pop into Home Industry
Catering for homewares they specilaise in Upholstery Fabrics which make a perfect addition to your home and are fabulous for bag making too. It’s a beautiful store and well worth a pop into.
South of the City
Pitt Trading good for designer fabrics, high quality day and evening wear, amazing lace fabrics. Widest selection of coloured trims, elastic, laces etc in the city. I feel like Pitt Trading is one of Sydney’s hidden gems when it comes to fabric stores, well worth a look.
274 Rocky Point Road Ramsgate. Open 6 days a week. Monday to Friday 9am to 5.30 pm Saturdays 9am to 5pm.
Closest Transport: Catch a train to Kogarah station, head out of the station and turn right past the fruit store and walk about 300m up the road until you see the public toilets, cross over to the other side of the road to the bus stop in front of the Westpac bank and bakery. Catch the 476 or 477 bus, you will be on the bus for less than 10 minutes before you get off just a few stores down from Pitt Trading. Approx 40 to 50 min from the city.
Top Tip: allow yourself plenty of time to take a good look round as it’s like an Aladdin’s cave packed with pieces so you need a good few laps round the store to have a proper look.
The Remnant Warehouse good for dance and swim fabrics, kids fabrics, some designer offcuts and quilting fabrics
490-494 Botany Road, Alexandria. Open 6 days a week. Monday to Friday 9am to 4.30 pm Saturdays 9am to 4pm.
Closest Transport: Catch a train to Redfern Station and then walk to Regent street and catch the 309 bus. The store is on the right hand side and painted bright pink, you will be on the bus about 5 to 10 min. From the city the whole trip would be around 30 minutes.
Top Tip: check the remnant table as sometimes they have vintage fabrics on there which are quite unusual.
West of the city
Cabramatta not just one store but a whole selection of stores. Great for bridal, evening wear, bargains and general wackiness. It’s hard to do a trip to Cabramatta and not turn up at least one absolute must have bargain piece.
Open 7 days a week with the majority of the stores being open 9am to 5pm.
Closest Transport: catch a train to Cabramatta station. As you come out of the station head to John st. On both sides of John st you will find a selection of fabric stores.Approximately halfway down John street is a large open plaza area, if you go down this street there are a few more fabric stores just past the intersection. Time from the city approx 50 minutes.
Top Tip: It’s often a good idea to go through and check your prices at all stores and then come back and buy as some stores have the same stock at different prices. Cabramatta also has some amazing food, be sure to make some time for lunch while you are shopping and enjoy the delicious food on offer.
All over Sydney
All over Sydney in various suburbs you will find Spotlight stores. They are great for kids fabrics, craft supplies and dress fabrics. If you are looking for a one stop shop type store than seek out a Spotlight. They are all over Australia so if you are traveling to multiple places there is a pretty good chance you will come across a Spotlight somewhere in your travels.
Hopefully this helps you out if you are traveling to Sydney, I hope to add more to it at a later date but these would be my top picks. If you’d like a shopping guide or some friendly sewing faces to have a meet up with feel free to get in contact with the Sydney Spoolettes. We are always willing to take visiting sewers on shopping exhibitions or even just meet up for a meal and a chat.
Sydneysiders if I’ve missed out any favourite spots, add them in the comments and I can update the post as needed. Thanks!
