Ask Fashion Girl

Dear Fashion Girl,

Dear Fashion Girl,

I am taking a fashion design class in my high school, and we are putting on a fashion show where we design and make the clothes for the assembly. I have some outfits I've designed in mind, but I can't find any funky fabrics that I want to use. I live in Salt Lake City, Utah, and we just don't have very many fabric stores. They are all cutesy and conservative. Are there ways to buy fabrics off the Internet, or catalogs or anything? The fabrics I have in mind are some nice looking faux fur, velvet, and tiger and leopard prints. Things like that, but not cheap looking. If you could suggest something I'd really appreciate it! Thank you!

Sincerely, Cassie

Dear Cassie,

Fabric selection is one of the most important aspects of designing a line for a fashion show. So it's great that you are determined to find the fabrics you have in mind. A wonderful Internet fabric resource is www.fabrics.net. Fabrics.net does not sell fabrics, but they are a huge information, resource and referral network of fabric and fabric related sources. They offer a free posting service to place your fabric requests on the Internet. Once you post your fabric request with them, any store that carries that fabric will contact you directly. They also offer a great fabric search system, where you choose from a thorough list of fabric types and patterns, and then get a listing of vendors who sell those fabrics with phone numbers, addresses, and short descriptions of their mail-order policies. In fact, faux fur, velvet, and animal prints are included on this list. You can also search their database by area to find the vendors closest to you. You can request catalogs from most fabric vendors. Many of the stores will send you free fabric samples so you can get a sure sense of the texture, print, and color before ordering large quantities. Vintage fabrics are very funky and unique, and it seems they would fit perfectly in your fashion show. If you are interested in vintage fabrics, check out www.eureka-i-found-it.com/textile/textile.html. This site offers three pages of vintage textiles for sale at reasonable prices along with images of the fabric. Hope these sites help you in your fabric search! Good luck with your fashion show and keep those fabrics funky!

Sincerely,