Monday, October 8, 2012

A Sad Time for Boise Textile-o-philes

We just heard last week that our sister-business and supplier of all things touchable, Caledonia Fine Fabrics, will be closing its doors in a month or so. 

The Sewing School will journey on with the heavy hearts and added complications of having to shop for fine fabrics out of town or online. We've had some questions about whether the School will now be selling fabric. Although the sewing school doesn’t have a lot of retail space and it’s not our goal to be a fabric store, we will likely carry just a handful of bolts of fabrics that are directly related to the classes we are offering, and we’ll also place occasional orders for our students (specialty supplies, tools, interfacings, etc.). After all, how are we going to have a silk sheath dress class without any silk, or a wool cape class with just the crappy wool blends from JoAnn? We already offer a few specialty tailoring tools and books in our puny retail foyer and through our website, and as we hear of our students' needs and desires, we'll add more.

We are so sad to lose our friend, neighbor and provider of tactile treasures. Hopefully our personal stashes and small orders can hold us over until somebody picks up the mantle and opens up another fine fabric store nearby. 

 If you do need to shop online, please try to patronize independent fine fabric shops like Caledonia Fine Fabrics was. If we don't demand the quality goods and service provided by these merchants, the supply of beautiful and high-quality fabrics and specialty sewing tools will continue to dry up and we'll all lose access to them forever. Here is a link to an e-mail service that connects you to 25+ independent fine fabric shops across the US and Canada: http://finefabricstores.com. Note the names of these stores as well, and make a point to visit (and BUY) during your travels.

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