Transition Your Quilt Store to Apparel Fabric!
Since JOANN closed, independent fabric and quilt shops have become the go to destination for apparel fabrics, whether they planned it or not. Customers are asking for chambray, linen, jersey, and more.
We’ve helped many stores make this transition and we are here to help you make the move and grow your business.
After 25 years of supplying the finest apparel fabrics to retailers across North America and around the world. We know exactly which fabrics fly off the floor, which colors your customers will reach for first, and what a new apparel department needs to look credible, exciting, and profitable from day one.
Introducing the Apparel Studio Pre-Packs...
We did the work for you 🙂. No guessing. No research. No wasted inventory. Every bolt in this pack was hand-selected from Fabric Merchants’ own top-selling apparel fabrics — the styles and colors that consistently move in independent retail stores just like yours.
All Pre-Packs come with FREE SHIPPING!
Choose A Pre-Pack To Suit Your Needs
The Starter Collection (260 Yds)
Perfect for emerging brands, independent designers, and first-time Fabric Merchants customers. This curated introduction includes a carefully selected range of our most requested apparel fabrics.
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The Delux Pre-Pack (520 Yds)
Expands on the core collection with additional categories, colorways, and specialty fabrics including activewear poly spandex, flannel plaids, satin charmeuse, expanded corduroy selections, and a wider range of fashion-forward options.
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Or Create Your Own Individual Pack
Prefer to create you own customized order? Here are the top categories that we recommend stores have on their shelves.
Chambray
Reads like a softer, drapier denim. One of the most requested apparel fabrics from former JOANN customers, perfect for shirts, dresses, children's wear, and bias cut details.
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Denim
From soft 6oz chambray-weight to a heavy 12oz rigid. Stock one mid-weight (8–10oz) and watch it move for skirts, jackets, and quilted denim throws.
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Flannel Plaids
Yarn dyed plaids brushed on both sides. The category your customers will be asking for by the second week of October, perfect for pajamas, robes, and rag quilts.
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Corduroy
Pinwale for shirts and baby pants; mid-wale for skirts and jumpers; wide-wale for jackets. A 16-wale mid is the safe single bolt to start.
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Cotton Quilting
Your existing core. We list it here because it's the bridge. Every apparel project starts with a customer who already trusts your quilting cotton.
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Eyelet
Embroidered punched hole cotton. Two SKUs sell a season, one white and one soft color. Brides and summer dressmakers will drive every yard.
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Linen Blend Fabric
The realistic entry to the linen category wrinkles less, drapes softer, sews like a cotton. If you stock only one linen, stock this one.
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100% Linen Fabric
The fabric your apparel customers ask for before they walk in. Stock 3 to 4 colors: natural, white, black, and a deep tone. That covers 80% of requests.
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Irish Linen
Woven in Northern Ireland. A single bolt elevates your whole linen wall and gives you something the big-box closure can't replicate.
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Cotton Spandex
The crossover fabric that introduces your shop to knits. Sells for t-shirts, leggings, baby clothes, headbands. Black and white move first.
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Cotton Flannel
Brushed cotton. The pajama-and-baby workhorse. Pair the bolt with a coordinating quilting cotton from your existing section.
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Cotton Interlock
More stable than jersey, less stretch than spandex. The gentle on-ramp to knits — sews on a regular machine with minimal protest.
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Double Brushed Poly
Buttery, four-way stretch. Loungewear, leggings, maxi dresses. The print library here is massive — rotate 4 SKUs a season.
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Polar Fleece
No fraying, no hemming, sews on any machine. The Q4 hero — blankets, hats, vests, dog coats. A reliable seasonal spike.
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Wool
One bolt of wool melton repositions your store from 'fabric shop' to 'apparel resource'. Stock charcoal or camel; do not stock five.
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Getting to grips with apparel fabrics?
Our team is helping many independent fabric stores walk through the transition to selling apparel fabric, so if you need some advice then please call us. We’ll help you build a starter pack that fits your store and your customer.