Hi, I’ve just joined the forum.

[Celia]

Welcome @Clduk to a great forum.

I am beginning to wish I live up north as they say round here you seem to have way more bricks and mortar stores.

[Ouryve]

Not all up north is equal in that respect, @Celia

[Lachica]

@Clduk I agree that a bit of poly mixed in makes for easy care/no iron but often the poly% isn't quoted and if there's too much they can be a bit sweaty/scratchy. Do you like knits? A good quality cotton lycra (95% cotton) is very comfortable and surprisingly cool in summer. I only buy CL if the weight is listed, at least 180 gsm but 200 or even 225 is lovely to make a t shirt dress for summer.

[Tamnymore]

It's not so much that we have more bricks and mortar fabric shops up north @Celia .  It's just that we have visited so many of them in our travels so we tend to know where they all are having plotted days out, weekends away etc round a fabric shop visit often surreptitiously so an unsuspecting partner gets a surprise when we accidentally stumble across a fabric emporium. 

And as @Ouryve says there's north and north. There are good shops in Lancashire and W Yorkshire and it might be a bit to do with cotton, silk and wool weaving traditions though maybe I'm stretching the historical imagination a bit there. Certainly Standfast and Barracks is a very old printing works who have printed for all sorts of high end suppliers. They did Liberty until a few years ago. Luckily I'd  stocked up on all the Liberty lawn I was ever going to need by then...

[Clduk]

Hello and welcome from me too. Has anyone mentioned that we like pics? 
I can't help with fabric shops in Lancashire but in Evesham we have a quilt shop and a small fabric shop and I try to support them both. I used to live in Kidderminster and I read today that a long standing fabric shop there is closing in March. It is situated on a big public carpark so was ideal to pop into whenever I went. So sad.
I also have short arms and legs and a unique torso ( ) so do a lot of pattern alteration before I even begin to cut out. I have made my own blocks but now I just tend to alter patterns to fit me using my pattern drafting knowledge.
Looking forward to getting to know you.

Yes it’s such a shame when more and more shops close. We used to have 3 or 4 good fabric shops including 2 good market stalls.

[Clduk]

Hello and welcome to the friendliest forum on the whole planet Carol. I'm in Bolton where we have as mentioned...Abakhan.
There is also Nortex Mill which is a nice place. There is also Gas Street Fabrics in Farnworth who deal mostly with fabrics of an eastern/asian look.
Another I've used is Always Knitting and Sewing which is in Chorley.

Thanks, more places to visit. I went to Chorley last year but timed in badly late on a Saturday afternoon and both were closed. And could do Farnworth on route to Manchester too. Do you go into Manchester for shops? I know Abakhan is in Manchester too, but not aware of anywhere else there.

[Clduk]

Welcome @Clduk Have you tried the Standfast and Barracks factory shop in Lancaster. It's on Caton Road. If you are coming from the south it's Jct 34 on the M6 so I usually mither DH into stopping there if we are on our way to Scotland. S&B print for lots of companies and also do their own range of cotton lawns. You can get some great bargains in there.

Immanuels in Burnley is a force of nature. It's in a disused chapel.hence the occasional references to visiting the fabric church. I think they still have a £1 a metre room. Any of the Abakhan branches will be worth visiting. They have remnant bins where the fabric is weighed. There will be some markets worth visiting. Although I've lived in Greater Manchester for years I didn't know about the fabric stalls  on Longsight market until.recently. Some very well priced cotton's and viscoses there.

And if you are prepared to nip over the border into West Yorkshire then Fabworks in Dewsbury is excellent.

Thanks there’s some really good suggestions there. And I didn’t realise Dewsbury wasn’t in Lancashire!🤣.

[Tamnymore]

Dewsbury in Lancashire?? You'll be rekindling the Wars of the Roses @Clduk .  In Manchester centre we just have Abakhan now but there's Leon's in Chorlton (take a tram from the city centre) and those stalls on Longsight market (192 bus from the centre). Nothing in Stockport now. There's the wonderful Shufflebothams in Macclesfield but we're getting right into Cheshire now!

[Bill]

Do you go into Manchester for shops? I know Abakhan is in Manchester too, but not aware of anywhere else there.

Nooo, too big and scary for the likes of me. Anxiety.
I'm a cyclist so my go to place is Nortex mill. Dead friendly and just down the road from me. Cheaper than abakhan too.

[Tamnymore]

And just to say in terms of online shops ... Too numerous to mention but I'd highlight Pound Fabrics (not the same as Pound a Metre) which is always cheapest. I've often seen the same fabric at a higher, sometimes much higher, price elsewhere. Also Pound fabrics know their fabric contents accurately. I've had some surprises from other places so I'm wary of anything that calls itself deadstock. Simple Life Fabrics is also very good - see what they say about deadstock not saving the planet as we might have thought.

@Bill as you are in Bolton you are almost a Manc! I'm an adopted Manc..... despite sounding like Miss Jean Brodie. 

[Bill]

Ouch! @Tamnymore you ought to be hung, drawn and quartered for that insult! 

[Ohsewsimple]

@Celia i have to agree with you about the shops up 'oop north'.  However, I’m afraid I’ve never fancied living north.  Ten years in Luton was enough.  And I’m sure lots of people might agree with that. 
I'm sure it’s because the mills were there.  We’ve never been an industrial area here. The only shops seem to be Fabric Land which I avoid as they often seem to have no idea of the composition of their fabrics.  I once bought some cotton there for a shirt.  Most uncomfortable thing, the fabric felt horrible and I ended up binning it.  John Lewis which is now a dead loss.  And they seem to be displaying their fabrics in a very strange way nowadays.  Dressmaking fabric on bolts is stood on its end, making it very difficult to get out and very messy to look at. 
We have one or two small places but they are generally quilting shops.  And that is it really. 

[SewRuthieSews]

My friend has bought a few things from Pound Fabrics and the prices were good and as per the description.
I am tempted myself, despite a good sized stash and several local(ish) shops.

[Tamnymore]

@Ohsewsimple Luton is north???    It's all relative!

Our John Lewis has stopped selling dress fabric and only has a few rolls of curtain fabric. I didn't know any John Lewis shops sold fabric now. John Lewis does have some of its own brand fabric which you can get (fairly expensively) on line and it's lovely stuff. Some, maybe even all of it is printed in Standfast and Barracks so rolls appear cheaply in their factory shop - another reason for a trip up the M6.

[Ohsewsimple]

@Tamnymore    no it isn’t but living that far up was enough for me.   However people down here usually say 'Anything past Watford is north'.  I’m originally from Portsmouth and you can’t get much further south. I remember the cold and the snow every year.  It was a major event if it snowed in Pompey. 

We have a big John Lewis in Southampton and it still has a fabric, habby and wool  section.  Also sell sewing machines.