Finally - I stumbled by a great fabric store in Nashville, TN while we were there celebrating #1 grandson's 18th birthday! It is: TEXTILE FABRIC STORE 471 Craighead St. 615-297-5346.
This is a family-owned store, but don't expect to order online, as they only have an informational 'presence' online. Here's the description of their lovely store from their website.
Having owned my own fabric store (1990-2003 in Champaign, IL), it always makes my heart throb to find one of the few remaining family-owned fabric shops that so obviously appreciate quality goods! They had everything - from menswear woolens to the finest heirloom laces and even buttons sold singly from tubes just like I offered in my store. (Have you noticed how much reduced the button selection at JoAnn Fabrics has become of late? I'm sure glad I have a good button 'stash'.) I thought i'd snapped a pic of their buttons, but darned if I can find it...
I'll post some pictures I took here below...
Believe me - this store had something for ALL the Music Stars who make Nashvill their home.
Menswear woolens were AMAZING!!! These were suit-like, many tropical weight wools that would be FAR more cooler to wear even in the summer than polyester. I have a pair of menswear tropical weight wool with some lycra that I've worn steadily year-round for at least 15 years now - truly! And yes - they go in the washer and dryer.
The linen selection was to die for!
It was gratifying to find Wool JersEy as well. But - oh my, the price: $39.98/yard.
Nice ribbon - and by the yard instead of those pre-packaged 3 yard bolts we are stuck with at JoAnn Fabrics these days.
The prices on French heirloom laces boggled my mind! $19.95 for 1" lace edgings. I suppose I'm glad that I'm no longer doing heirloom sewing.
A customer there shared that they have a huge store-wide 40-50% off sale in June, so be assured, I've signed up on their email list - both in the store AND online. I'll be sure to let you know if I get an official SALE notification.
Well... what did I buy?? It's not real exciting, but since I had picked up both a lilac and a soft green pair of summer Floria Vanderbilt 'jeans' at Belk for just $16 each, and need some tops to go with the green - I took the back belt loop off and took it along for matching. I settled on this charming cotton woven print and I do believe I've settled on an unused pattern hanging around to make it up as. Fabric is all pre-shrunk and ready to go.
Promise - I'll take some pics as I work it up and also some of my little grandkids in their 'horse' and dinosaur bath towels that I've been at work on. We get to go 'play' with them up in northern IN next weekend and I'm counting the days. A French egg gathering apron out of ticking is on my 'maybe to do yet this week' list.
Comment with what YOU are sewing these days!