Important Tips for Buying Fabric Online

 As we are slowly approaching the sales period, I thought it might be interesting to guide you to make purchases on the internet. I am a seasoned virtual buyer after going through a learning period. So, to avoid you falling into the traps of beginners in online shopping, I have prepared a series of tips and warnings for you to make your purchases serenely.

1. The choice is huge.

You will therefore find everything: colors, textures, drapes, materials, elasticity...

This will save you from browsing or calling all the haberdasheries in your area looking for the fabrics you saw on the cool thingy blog or this jungle print fabric to make a sweatshirt... But too much choice kills choice. If you are likely to be rather indecisive, the internet showcase will not simplify your task and you risk wasting your time alone in front of your screen.

On the other hand, before embarking on your research and your purchases, have in mind the project you want to carry out and the footage required. This will help guide your searches and define the filters on merchant sites.

3. The moment of purchase versus the moment of manufacture

So you can shop anytime and anywhere from knitted fabric manufacturers. My specialty is buying my fabrics on the tram on my way to work; it saves me time compared to the trips I would have had to make to get to the haberdashery. If the purchase is immediate, you will still have to wait for the delivery... depending on where you ordered it can take quite a while: we can go from a range of 48 hours to 6 weeks.

Why this difference?

If you order fabrics in well referenced and serious shops the delivery time will be short.

If you buy on an Ebay store, on a less known site, on Wish... the fabric can come from much further away such as Vietnam, China,...

For my part, I have already ordered fabrics from English Ebay stores, delivery takes about 15 days; for Japanese shops count more 3 to 4 weeks and often 6 weeks for China via boat.

This also makes it possible to put the immediacy of the internet order into perspective; especially if you have a deadline to sew your project.

4. Advice on the internet

When you buy fabrics in (good) haberdashery, you can benefit from the wise advice of the sales staff and choose your fabrics knowingly.

Unfortunately, there are still too many haberdasheries online that misrepresent their fabric. The information is sometimes very incomplete or at least partial.

Also, if you are a beginner and you don't want to waste your savings on fabrics that you will never use in the end (I speak knowingly), find out. Good questions to ask yourself before buying fabric are:

- what type of fabric is needed for my project? (its weight, its elasticity, etc.)

- what is the visual rendering that I want (color, pattern, drape and therefore type of fabric...)

- what footage is needed?

5. Reflection time

Take the time to place your order online. Always check carefully if:

- I order the right fabrics for the right project

- I order the right footage for the chosen project.

Nothing worse than an impulse to buy, you order 1m of fabric and the blouse you dreamed of requires 1.3m.

In haberdashery, if you want this time to reflect, you will have to come back the next day or order (if it exists) via their online store.

6. Photos and colors

Pay attention on the internet to the colors of the fabrics which are sometimes quite different at the reception. Sometimes a fabric that looks bright in the photo is duller on receipt than you imagined.

However, in general, this is not a problem, especially if you are sewing a complete piece, so the only risk is to be a little disappointed. So pay attention to the specifications of the products and colors announced by the retailer. Some websites offer fairly well-made fabric combinations or collections that have already been thought out upstream by the designers to be associated.