The Secret to Fabric Shopping on Amazon
Last year I wrote a post about how to shop for fabric at Hobby Lobby. It turned out to be a very popular post because so many people thought of Hobby Lobby fabric as being all novelty cottons. Not so! Many were surprised to learn they carry much more than that, including the most beautiful collections of seasonal garment fabrics. You just have to know where to look for them.
Fast forward to last week when in one of the Facebook sewing groups I belong to, someone was asking about where to buy a particular fabric online, “because Amazon is crazy expensive”. I knew I had to write this post, because a few years ago, I learned the secret to buying amazing fabrics on Amazon with Prime shipping!
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Here’s the secret to buying fabric on Amazon:
When you’re searching for fabric on Amazon, type in what you’re looking for, followed by the phrase, “fabric by the yard”. If you are searching for denim, for example, and just type in “denim”, you’ll see results for items made from denim, from duvet covers to jeans. But if you type in “denim fabric by the yard,” your search results will be actual fabric yardage.
Before I tell you this next part, let me say that since the fabric store I’m about to talk about is a U.S. company, this trick is applicable in the U.S., but I don’t think it’s true in other countries and I’m so sorry about that. If you’re one of my non-U.S. readers, I would so love to hear from you about fabric shopping on Amazon where you live! Please, please, drop me a line or a comment. Maybe we can get the word out to others in your country if you know any location specific info! That said, you may still be able to use this tip, but disregard the Fabric.com specific part.
Let me tell you about Fabric.com. Of all my online fabric shopping experiences, Fabric.com has consistently been the best. Their prices work for me, I receive what I’m expecting (meaning, their descriptions are accurate), and they have never not had something I’m looking for. It’s huge and they have it all. I’ve never been disappointed with the quality of the fabrics I’ve received either, which has occasionally been the case with some other shops. The price being a big factor for me in fabric shopping, though, I don’t like to pay a lot in shipping when I’m only ordering one fabric.
So, here’s what I do…
Fabric.com was acquired by Amazon a few years ago, so they are a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amazon, but they do all their own shipping fulfillment. What this means for me and you is that you can purchase the same fabrics you find on the Fabric.com website on Amazon.com with Prime shipping. BUT, finding the exact fabric is where people get hung up. It can be very hard to find something specific, or even narrow it down to a type of fabric, which is why I first shop on Fabric.com’s site, then go over to Amazon and buy the fabric there.
To find the exact fabric you’re looking for, simply copy the title from Fabric.com’s website and type it into Amazon, but follow it with, “fabric by the yard”. This will bring up the exact fabric.
As an example, I recently bought the linen for a dress I was making on Amazon after first shopping for it on Fabric.com. I knew I wanted a linen and one with a print, but I once I found this fabric on Fabric.com (for $9.98 a yard) and added it to my cart, I noticed the shipping would cost $8 and it would take several days to arrive.
I went over to Amazon.com and typed into the search bar, “Watercolor linen blend flower navy fabric by the yard”. The same fabric came right up. The price was $11.48 per yard and it had Prime shipping, so it would arrive in two days.
I’m sure you noticed the price for my linen fabric was slightly more on Amazon. I was willing to pay $1.50 more per yard because I didn’t have to pay for shipping and I only needed those two yards, so I still saved money. If I were buying several fabrics, it might have made more sense to hop back over to Fabric.com to take advantage of their free shipping on orders over $50.
Another instance where it would make more sense to order directly from Fabric.com is when you’re shopping a sale. They have sales very often and the prices get pretty low, so definitely join their email list to be notified of those!
Of course you can shop for all kinds of fabrics this way on Amazon, not only ones from Fabric.com. I think the thing most people don’t know is to include the phrase “fabric by the yard”. Otherwise, you’ll get all kinds of search results from shower curtains to table linens when you search less specifically.
I recently made a coat using a beautiful wool blend coating from Fabric.com. This was an instance when I did break the $50 minimum for free shipping, since I ordered several things during a sale and didn’t go through Amazon. I love, love how this coat turned out! I’m planning to show it to you in detail in a blog post next week, along with some other recent makes. My daughter’s Easter dress fabric was another Fabric.com/Amazon purchase. So was the Swiss dot I used for the blouse of her Eliza Dolittle costume (still one of my top favorite things I’ve ever made!)
I hope this was helpful for some of you! Online fabric shopping has never been my preference, but this past year, since the pandemic restrictions, I’ve had to get more comfortable with it. I have had good experiences with some other shops too, but Fabric.com has become my go-to.
Cheers!
Nikki