When it comes to fabric shopping, nothing can quite replace the experience of visiting a local store, where the knowledge shared among staff and customers is almost as valuable as the fabric itself.
It's a lesson more people are learning as sewing at home becomes popular again, caused by the falling quality and environmental harm of fast fashion.
The local fabric shop isn't just a place to buy things; it's an important community resource. Neighbourhoods with a rich history of textiles, such as Montreal's St. Hubert Street, remain popular with makers. Fabricland, Canada's largest fabric store chain, is growing strong with around 100 stores across the country. Strong independent shops are also doing well.
Bobrowski Textile in Toronto is one such example. Ryka and Abraham Bobrowski opened the Corso Italia store in the early 1960s and ran the fabric shop for decades before closing the business in the early 2000s. The space stayed empty until 2024 when, after Ryka's death, her grandsons Adam and David Bobrowski opened the doors for customers once again.
Steadily selling old stock with their mother, Lisa, a few days a week has become a business that supports itself, drawing fashion students, hobby sewers, quilt makers, and designers both from the local area and across Canada.
"It's about getting lost in the store," Adam said. "It turns from a simple task into an experience, and that creates a lot of creativity in customers."
In Edmonton, Reimagined Fabrics, which specializes in second-hand fabric, grew out of founder Michelle Closs's wish for a way to continue her sewing hobby that was both affordable and good for the environment.
"We want to keep the craft of sewing affordable," she said. The shop's stock is priced at about half that of new fabric stores.
"There is a level of emotional comfort that comes with shopping in a store," Closs continued. "Especially for fabric – it's very much about touch, and we don't really get a lot of touch in our world right now. You're able to feel the difference in quality, what the fabric is made of, and how it hangs."
Online shopping also lacks the personal customer service and expert help that can meet people learning to sew at their skill level. At Reimagined Fabrics, staff take part in the whole process of sewing projects: customers are encouraged to return for tips.
Closs's customers come from many age groups, and she's noticed more young shoppers interested in reusing old fabric to make something new. They're also drawn to the individuality and customization that sewing offers. "That's the change in thinking we need to make: that fashion doesn't have to be store-bought," she said.
"Physical stores are the reason I started sewing," said Toronto designer Andrea Dixon. She came across her first collection of unused fabric – Liberty of London – more than 15 years ago while exploring the fabric stores at Queen and Spadina.
If anyone understands the creative possibilities – and practical necessity – of shopping for fabric in person, it's costume designers. Joanna Syrokomla searches the furniture fabric section at Len's Mill fabric store for ideas.
There are many problems with shopping for fabric online, Syrokomla said. "On a computer, the fabric is lying flat on the surface to be photographed. One person's idea of a shiny cotton fabric is different from another's, and fabrics reflect light differently. How it's going to move and reflect light is important."
Fabric stores are filled with nice people, Dixon said, adding that "everyone was very excited" during her first visit to Bobrowski.
"Everyone wants to know what each other person was making. It's an adventure."