Hi! After my post about wearing all knits, a few fellow Canucks asked for advice on where to shop for knits online. I thought I’d start a list of my go-to places, and you can add your favourite recommendations in the comments!
L’Oiseau Fabrics: If you love high-quality European knits, cotton lycras, and cute prints, then this is the store for you! The prices are what you’d expect for quality knits – not cheap, but fair. I’ve ordered a few times from here, including cute prints and jegging fabric, and I would definitely order from them again! They are based in Calgary.
Blackbird Fabrics: The range isn’t huge, but the quality is always excellent! This is the place to shop if you like a curated collection, warm colours, and chic and modern fabrics. Free shipping in Canada over $100! I’ve made a top and a cardigan from Blackbird fabric, and I’ve got some more waiting in the stash. They are based in Vancouver.
Water Tower Textiles: This is an Ontario-based shop which has an active Facebook group. They stock a lot of double brushed poly, rayon knits, athletic and swim fabrics, cotton spandex, French terry, and more. If you sew a lot of casual knit clothing for yourself or kids, this is a good place to check out. I haven’t ordered from them, but I have browsed many times. The website is pretty clunky, but the selection is good! There is a $10 flat rate for shipping rate in Ontario, and $15 for the rest of Canada.
Distinctive Sewing Supplies: Another Ontario-based shop, which comes highly recommended by SewWhatYvette! They seem to have a nice selection of basics, like solid ITY and ponte, as well as some nice prints. (They stock wovens, too, and sell a range of what I’ll call the “original” indie patterns, like Islander, Jalie, Kwik-Sew and Folkwear.
Fabricville: Did you know that the Quebec/Maritime branch of Fabricland now sells fabric online? They do have decent sales, and the shipping prices are reasonable, especially compared to buying from the USA! They don’t put all the new fabrics up online each season, but if you don’t have a Fabricland near you, then the online store is a good option!
Thread Theory: In addition to patterns, Thread Theory carries a few knits, including some bamboo cotton, merino, hemp, and sweatshirt knits. Perfect if you also want to buy natural fibres!
Peak Fabrics: Are you sewing for an outdoorsy or athletic person? This is your one-stop-stop for high tech breathable, wicking or waterproof fabrics – plus they also carry a surprisingly huge supply of other knits! Definitely go check it out if you haven’t before. I bought a windproof fleece here two years ago and sewed my Dad a jacket for a 6-week hike along the Bruce Trail, and it has lasted perfectly to heavy wear ever since!
Finally, lots of brick-and-morter independent stores also sell fabric online, like The Workroom in Toronto, Needlework in Hamilton, and Spool and Spindle in Waterloo. Those are my local shops, but I assume that there are similar places across the country!
One thing I’ll mention is that some of these stores seem to order from the same distributor, so I sometimes see the same large-loop French terry, cotton/bamboo blends, merino blends, etc at several locations through the year. That is good because if it is sold out at one place, it might be in stock elsewhere!
*COMMUNITY RECOMMENDATIONS* Here are the places you recommended in the comments!
- Simplifi Fabric – specializing in organic fabrics
- Earth Indigo – knits and wovens, including gorgeous one-of-a-kind handwovens from southeast Asia
- Thread Count Fabrics – a big selection of cotton-lycra prints
- Fabrications – a lovey indie brick-and-morter store in Ottawa with an online shop
- Prairie Love Knits – an extensive range of high-quality knits
- Fabric Snob – lots of cute prints
- Fabric Spark – more cute prints, including some cat prints that are tempting me!
- Gala Fabrics – higher prices, so hopefully excellent quality!
- Club Tissus – How did I not know about this? It’s a chain of fabric stores in Quebec, now with online shopping! 20% off if you are a member, and a flat rate of $12-$15 for shipping to most of Canada. The website is available in French and English!
Do you have any (more) recommendations to add to the list? Or have your ordered from any of these shops? Please share below!
Crafting A Rainbow 
Another one of my very favourites is Simplifabric in Quebec. They have a point system (you accumulate points which you can use to discount future purchases), excellent quality (most organic), reasonable shipping (and fast!) charges and pages of variety. Another place I’ve ordered from is the Bra Supply in Hamilton. Just because it’s marketed heavily as a bra supply company doesn’t mean you have to use her fabrics and elastics only for bras 🙂 Some of her knits are the finest quality!
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I love these kind of posts! So helpful for us Canadians! Earth Indigo is another good one, they carry so many beautiful handwoven textiles, but also have a great line of bamboo knit basics!
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Helen, thank you very much for recommending our shop! Much Appreciated!
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My pleasure! Your fabrics are beautiful!
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Good list. Some I haven’t seen. I recently found threadcount fabrics, an online store out of Winnepeg. They have a great selection of designer/novelty knits and they have a rayon blend ponte. Yay!
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Nothing to add to this not being in Canada but you top made up in the cactus knit fabric is lovely. 🙂 Xx
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Thank you so much for sharing! I’ve recently been searching for online stores selling knits in Canada, and your list has gotten me much farther than Google did. One store I found with a nice selection is Thread Count Fabrics, which is located in Manitoba but offers flat-rate shipping in Canada at a good price.
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Thanks for mentioning. I received my first order from Thread Count Fabrics today and it’s gorgeous!
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Fabrications in Ottawa has beautiful bamboo and other knits.
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Great list. I have ordered from prairie love knits as well. I mostly get knits for kids clothes there but I have also ordered for myself and been happy. I think quite comparable to l’oiseau fabrics.
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Fabric Snob in… Manitoba, I think? Mostly too cutesy/kiddy for me, but she stocks some fabrics I haven’t seen anywhere else.
Fabricspark in Toronto has been stocking more knits lately.
Patch Halifax always has some knits, not many, but good quality stuff.
If you can speak French, I just recently discovered Club Tissus when I moved to Québec and I looooove it. It’s a lot like Fabricville, with membership card and everything, but I find it to be better quality overall. Slightly more expensive though – I don’t think they have Buy 1m Get 2m Free sales like Fabricville does, but they have had two 40% off sales in the last few months. I actually haven’t bothered renewing my Fabricville card since I moved because Club Tissus has been stocking all of my dream sweater knits. My stash is completely out of hand! They even have the Cotton &Steel/Rifle Paper collection and I was super psyched to buy some of that with a membership discount.
Thanks for the post! I also prefer to sew mainly with knits and it used to be so frustrating to try and find. So grateful to all the Canadian entrepreneurs who are stepping up to fill in the void!
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Club Tissus is amazing! I visited the St-Hubert store recently and the selection is definitely a notch or two above Fabricville. I didn’t know they had a full online shop, I will need to exercize so major self-restraint now knowing it exists!
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I do no have any to add at this time, but just want to say thank you to you and the others who contributed store names. I now have a whole new set of bookmarks to look at over the holidays.
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I love Blackbird! This’ll be a very useful list to me when I finally get back to sewing…
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Quick…somebody take away my credit card!
I’ll be checking all of these out! I need me some good quality striped ponte….okay, striped anything knit, LOL.
Gillian, thanks for putting this list together! And those that have added via comments…thanks to you too.
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THANK YOU!
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There’s also Bra Makers Supply in Hamilton that sells patterns, notions, and fabric online – great source of swimwear, fabrics suitable for undergarments and workout wear, and some t-shirt suitable knits. Plus anything you’d ever need to make yourself a bra or corset.
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Len’s Mill Stores are in Southern Ontario. Great selection. Great prices.
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Have you checked out the Water Tower Textiles website recently? It’s much better than it used to be. 🙂
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Hi there! I just wanted to leave a store for an addition to your list if you wouldn’t mind adding us. We are Bibs And Boots Fabric. At https://www.bibsandbootsfabric.com we offer Custom and European in stock knits for quick shipping and high quality. Feel free to check out our reviews on our website and have a look at all of our imported and domestic fabrics. Thank you!
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Fabric Snob is 95% knit fabrics. Online and local shop in Manitoba with 2 locations.
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