Heavy Brocades.....where?

Rikarus

Sr Member
Hello to my fellow sewers! Being relatively new I am having fabric finding trouble, I am doing doublets and frock coats and much of the fabric at places like Johannes and Hancock’s....wellllll sucks.


I am trying to search online for heavy brocade and jacquard fabrics that are woven and in cotton and Google is giving me so much to weed through that it’s becoming maddening.

DO any of you have any sites you could recommend for these types of fabric?


Gracias!
 
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I've been looking for the same thing (specifically in a blue-on-blue color) for months. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread.
 
I have a doublet I bought last year, and have been kicking myself in the arse for not getting extra Damask to make some slops. I've been cruising the material sites to match it up, and am having a hard time. I'll try and post a pic tonight and see if anyone recognizes it. Would love to get a head start on a new ren fest, Tudor style getup.

Here's what I'm looking for:
doublet.jpg
 
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same here, want to build a new crop of cavalier doublets.

I find all kinds of light weight brocades, but they are to flimsy even with an interliner of linen canvas, and just dont feel right.
 
Use jacquard instead of brocade when you search, and don't forget to specifically look in the upholstery and decorator fabric sections. Seriously. I figured if you're already constructing historical garb you'd know this, but sometimes it bears repeating.

Depending on where you live, you may be close to a fabric district with tiny hole-in-the-wall shops and warehouses that you don't know about unless you talk to the locals in the know. I'm positioned between the Twin Cities and Chicago and have access to SO MANY amazing warehouses with piles and piles of decorator fabric that my historical-costumer friends drool over.

Rikarus - interlining is period-accurate, though, isn't it? A pain in the ass, though, I concur.
 
Interior Mall is a good site for current fabrics and their search is pretty good.

Robert Allen is another great site for current fabrics. They have just about everything you can imagine.

For some really good bargains on some really exquisite fabrics especially for smaller items where you don't need yards and yards, try Fabric Guru. They carry discounted patterns from many of the major mills.

Oh, and while I was just gathering the links I found a couple of near matches to the fabric you were searching for in your other thread......

Castallini - Castallini Cafe - Crewel
Orion - Orion 3 Mushroom - Crewel

Shylaah
 
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Obi, tend to use both jacquard instead of brocade, but the massive volume of crappy sites with bad pictures and descriptions makes it tough to determine the quality and weight of fabrics, I live in Colorado and not really sure there is a fabric district to be had around Denver. Really was hoping for some solid resource from the pro’s as I am a relative rookie still with this stuff and have only been doing it about a year and a half.


Interlining isn’t to bad, I been using linen canvas, but the outer fabric always seems to flimsy compare to some of the museum doublets I have seen. So I have been hunting heavier brocades and fabrics.
 
Shylahh, I saw that, the second post one is awesome! And I am considering it as a replacement tyvm for the help, the greeen stuff was in the remnant bin again at Hancocks, but only a 1/2 yard, a 3 yard piece would have been perfect!
 
Shylahh, I saw that, the second post one is awesome! And I am considering it as a replacement tyvm for the help, the greeen stuff was in the remnant bin again at Hancocks, but only a 1/2 yard, a 3 yard piece would have been perfect!

Hope that works out for you! Yeah, that's the drawback of shopping the remnant bin, and the discounters, if you find something you absolutely LOVE, then you're miserable for the rest of your life :lol --ironic, isn't it!?

>>>clip<<< I live in Colorado and not really sure there is a fabric district to be had around Denver. Really was hoping for some solid resource from the pro’s as I am a relative rookie still with this stuff and have only been doing it about a year and a half >>>clip<<<.

Denver you say!! Well, you may be in luck. I have it on good authority from another costumer I know that Denver Fabrics in Littleton carries lot of excellent fabrics.
Denver Fabrics Location

Denver Fabrics Online

Worth checking out if it's not too terribly long of a drive for you. Nothing is as good as actually seeing and touching the fabric, it's such a tactile thing. Its wonders cannot really be conveyed via a picture on the Internet!

Shylaah
 
I can understand your pain. It really does make it harder when the online shops don't even use the correct terms and you're all "NOOO I wanted a real brocade not this stuff..."

But yes Denver should have stuff! Oh, Denver Fabrics, I hadn't even thought of that. I know a lot of people who buy from their online store and swear by it. I can poke at the folks running CostumeCon 31 to see if they have any other resources, as I assume they're making note of all the good fabric-shopping places for people planning to come in for the con next year.
 
Made it to Denver Fabrics yesterday......it was awesome!!!!! BEst place to go in the whle front range, and the ways hancocks and joannes are going away.....it may end up being the only place!
 
Glad to hear you made it to Denver Fabrics and happy for the confirmation of awesome!
Yeah, Joann's is barely hanging in there, and the Hancocks around here have such diminished
quality it's not even worth a visit except if you're in need of notions.

Shylaah
 
Do you have any Jo-Mar fabrics near you? They get left over industrial textiles so what they end up having is ad-hoc, but they end up with a lot of it.
 
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