Fabric shopping in melbourne australia

I'm travelling to australia for christmas, and I was thinking that they might have some cool fabric stores to check out. How do I find out? I guess I post on austrialian newsgroups.

Reply to
BethInAK
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Beth,

I hope Melbourne has more fabric stores to check out. Here in Sydney, they are all closing down. :-(

Lincraft is a popular one in both States.

Katherine

"BethInAK"

Reply to
jones

Hi Beth

Hope you have a great time. It will either be freezing (the wind blows of the Sth Pole) or boiling (the wind blows off the desert). Sometimes that is am and pm!

As a visitor to the city, if you don't have anyone local to drive you around you may be interested in this

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that link gets messed up just strip it back to Melbourne then select household, then fabric and craft. Shopping spree tours like these are popular in Aus. They are used as fund raisers for schools etc. They can get a bit rowdy as people get more drunk as the day goes on. There is no alcohol involved though - it must be adrenalin! It is usually in a mini bus - so you can pull up in an alley. Remember to have your elbows outwards after exiting the bus - this is an important cultural consideration. :-)) (actually don't do that- but you'll think about it-must get that bargain first!). Even if you don't decide to do this there are 4 pages of fabric and craft stores for Melbourne all with address and phone numbers. Go on the tour, live out my fantasy - I have always wanted to do this. The fabric and clothing in Melbourne is of much better quality than in Sydney. Email these people with the dates you will be there and see if any group has booked a tour for when you are there. See how much it costs and if lunch is included. It would be a fun tiring day.

Lincraft and Spotlight are the two big chains for craft. Lincraft is a bit more upmarket, but a setback in trading meant that they moved a bit away from being fabric focused so there is more craft and curtains now. I find the fabric in Spotlight is poorly treated. My sister nearly cries to see $80m fabric jumbled and screwed around with the cheap stuff.

Hope some of this helps. I'm off to look at the Sydney shopping spree site....

chris

Reply to
ChrisW

But this website is AWESOME!

This tour sounds like fabulous fun!! I might have to ditch my husband for this.

Thank you!! We are very excited and now I am MORE excited!!

Reply to
Beth In Alaska

Thats sad. Why?

I'll be checking it out!

Reply to
Beth In Alaska

Not sure why they are closing Beth. We used to have "Home Yardage" - it closed down. Our "Spotlight" stores are few and far between now. We had a good fabric and sewing section in our Kmart store, but that section has gone. Only a few cottons are left :-(

It's ok if you are petite and very slim, you can get ready to wear clothes from a lot of places, but when you have lumps and bumps (like me), it is hard to find ready made clothes. Besides I do enjoy sewing. I found it very hard to find a dressmaker's dummy to suit my figure.

I may have to move to Melbourne :-)

Thanks to the poster who mentioned the Warehouses in Melb, I have found a couple of outlets in Sydney I am going to try (for ready made though :-( )

Katherine

Reply to
jones

Melbourne used to have some superb fabric shops but it's been years since I've been there. Give me a couple of days and I'll ask a friend who has more recent experience of shopping there (and if you don't hear back from me in a week, prompt me to get the info from you)

Will you be in the city area of the suburbs?

Reply to
FarmI

I remember the local one well - a great shop.

Our local one is sooooo appalling that I wish it would close. We might get something coming in to fill the vacuum then.

Reply to
FarmI

The old joke about Melbourne is that it has 4 seasons all in the same day. I believe it.

Reply to
FarmI

I spoke to my friend about fabric shops in Melbourne. She mentioned some of the ones that were covered in ChrisW's post where she gave the Bargain Shopper URL and some that weren't mentioned.

She said that Rathdowne Remnants is "unbelievable" and the sort of place that she and I would shop - that means it's good value. She said that Clegs in Elizabeth St is high end fabric but gorgeous. She also mentioned a place that looked like a warehouse and looked like it hadn't been opened for 40 years which was in at the 'top end' of Bouke St just up from a bookstore called "Hill of Content" and which has the most unelievable collection of fabric. I think this is a place that I used to go to about 25 years ago and if it is the same one, it is a 'must see'. I recall it as being called "Michaels" (but don't quote me on that as I only recall its location and I know it was on Bourke St just near Chinatown and on a corner). She also said that the good Italian knit fabric could be found in the Sydney Rd area.

I did a bit of a net hant and found this site which looks promising:

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Reply to
FarmI

check out the "downunder" forum on the PatternReview message boards.

have a look at

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Remnants have moved recently to Victoria St East Brunswick (near the corner of Lygon St) To add to the designerstitch list - Clear It in Brunswick St Fitzroy (the Alannah Hill outlet)

Lincraft and Spotlight are all over - they are a Joanns type shop.

Clegs - the main store is in Elizabeth St (near Collins St) in the city (the central business district) and a smaller store in Lygon St East Brunswick near GJ's and Rathdowne Remnants.

If you are looking for a specific suburb or area, let us know (or post over at Pattern Review) there are bound to be more. The Aust members of PatternReview are having their 2nd visit to Melbourne soon for a fabric shopping expedition. Members come from all over Australia and some are coming from New Zealand. I live 10 mins away from the Sydney Rd Brunswick strip and I guess I take it for granted.

Have fun on your visit

chris :-)

Reply to
chris

Thank her for me!! This sounds like a fun mix of places to check out !! I'm very excited now! I'm hoping to find some interesting stuff that I can't get here at TSWLTH!

oooh, it does! Thank you!

Reply to
Beth In Alaska

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