Learning to feel with our eyes and finding fabric online!

I have been talking with a lot of sewists coming into the store about buying fabric on line. Some have not made the leap because they have Stonemountain & Daughter Fabric nearby where they can come in to see and touch it in person. Most sewists do not live near by and need to figure out how to find fabric and patterns that inspires them.

While my store has had a website since the 1990’s, it has really been the last few years that Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics in Berkeley has made a jump to share the majority our fabrics with the world through our online store! Earlier this year we upgraded and put together an amazing website full of beautiful fabrics, patterns, and the notions you may need to confidently sew garments.

What has made it easier to shop online and push that button? What is fueling this growing trend? Are you able to confidently buy fabric through the web or do you need to go to a store and feel it in person?

People are beginning to be able to see a fabric image or a garment made out of that fabric and say YES, that will work for my project.

We are learning to feel with our eyes!

For a successful garment, we use three senses or questions when choosing fabric

1  How does it feel? 

2  How does it look?

3  Common sense - How much does it cost? Will it work for my project and budget? 

Before online choices, we could feel it in person or maybe got swatches.

We would never buy a fabric without feeling it. It has been our only way to see the true color, feel the softness and weight, and for the fabric to talk to us. 

Up until now! Yes, our brain is being rewired to feel the fabric using our vision function and make the leap with growing confidence to hear what the fabric wants to be. 

Yes, fabric talks to us right? I want to be a blouse, I would make a great dress. In fact, shopping in our store can be very tempting because each fabric is speaking and sometimes loudly. 

I am always encouraging our shoppers to walk around with their hands out and feel all the fabric as you walk by. We learn more about the various fibers and weaves that way also.

This is now becoming true with photos and videos that allow the fabric, clothes, and patterns to be seen and even felt in a brand new way - especially when shown with a good description.

Don't these photos just jump out at you? Our talented social media manager, Catherine Nolan is taking fabric photography to a new level! 

What has also changed is the where we buy fabric. The majority of the chains mostly sell a lesser grade of fabric to keep the price point low and often there is little consistency to what you find, so you are taking chances.

In our store, every piece we sell is hand picked and the highest quality. Having the right quality fabric for your project is key.

Way back in the 1980's, the last peak of garment sewing, there was no consistency for fabric quality. Unless you felt the fabric, you never really knew what you would get. At that point fabric stores started closing in each community and small quilt shops started popping up.

Finally the manufacturers of the quilting cottons shifted from making the lesser quality that the chains sold to a higher quality that was consistent throughout the market and quilters confidence rose. 

Much of this current indie pattern revolution started with making garments out of this higher quality imported quilter cotton. Fabric and quilt shops were able to sell online because of this new consistent quality that raised confidence to buy based on print and the knowing the quality was what they wanted along with a growing familiarity of brands.

It’s always been about the fabric talking to us and letting us know what it wants to be. If you are lucky to have an independent local fabric store nearby, like Stonemountain & Daughter (STMD), then it’s amazing to be able to walk the aisles and touch everything. Nowadays there are fewer and fewer quality garment fabric stores, so buying on line is the way to go, if you know where to go and what to look for! 

At my store, we are very careful about making sure the photographs we put out there on our email newsletters, Instagram, facebook, and our website are as color true as possible. Technology has really stepped up these last few years to make this more achievable. The photos featured here are examples from our Instagram page and newsletters. 

We do everything possible to help you find the right fabric for the indie pattern you are ready to make.

We have always made it a mission to help people find the right fabric for their projects. It’s all about the fabric, right?! It’s why I love my job and what we do. 

Our fabric choice is everything. Ask yourself: What does this fabric say to me?  How does it feel? Or more importantly, how will it make ME feel when I put it on?

So how do we make sure our garment will be a success and our fabric choice a right match?

First off look take some time and look through great websites, like STMD for fabric that gets you excited. Build a wish list! Then you can check through Instagram and follow hashtags like #stonemountainfabric and quality fabric stores for current inspiration. 

On the STMD Instagram page in our stories, we often show videos of the fabric being held and moved, so you get a deeper sense of if that fabric will work for a garment you have in mind.

If you are unsure, you can always email us at STMD and ask if your choices work for the pattern; if particular colors go together; fabric or pattern choices. We are happy to help and to guide you toward a more informed purchase.

If you are new to sewing or coming back to it after taking a break for decades, you are not alone! Let's have fun together exploring all the fabulous new independent patterns and the fabric we love finding.

Thanks for reading along! 
Suzan


email us at info@stonemountainfabric.com