Calling all Quilters!!

Check out this website for London, londonmodernquiltguild.co.uk for a listing of fabric stores that sell quilting supplies. Try googling quilting in Belgium…came up with a few quilt stores…depends where you are in Belgium. Guess the same could work for Cologne.

Canadian quilter here. Though I will admit that other than in the US, I don't seek out fabric stores....just quilt shows. You may want to search a calendar for one.
I believe the quilting cottons in Europe are pricey as the come from the US anyway....but a gander at their projects and a short visit where others speak your language may be quite restorative 😁

Well, you definitely have to visit Liberty of London on Regent Street (entrance is on Great Marlborough). The fabric in there will make your eyes pop - it is so gorgeous! Lots of fabric suitable for quilting although they have a lot of other stuff as well, like lawn and poplin. It's pricey - be warned - but so beautiful. I buy Liberty of London (usually online, although I've bought some in the store) for sewing apparel and it's great to work with. I've been to London twice and both times came here - you will not regret your visit!

The Cloth House is another good fabric store with some really nice fabric, including quilting. I did not make it here but a costume designer I used to work with recommended it highly.

One other place I found online by accident when I was looking up the Cloth House website was this blog about fabric shopping in London. She lists a few others in here that look really good - in fact I will be bookmarking them for my trip to England next year.

Can't help you with Belgium - I did not find any sewing shops when I was there but wasn't looking very hard. I did see a fabric shop in Cologne when I was there last year, but I don't remember the name.

One thing I would suggest you do is when you get to each city, go to Google maps on your phone (or something) and search for "fabric shops near me" - that's what I did in Berlin last year and came up with a number of them. I didn't make it to all of them, but did make it to 2 stores that were located close to me. In fact I just made a baby quilt out of some fabric I got at one store in Berlin. Germany has really incredible fabric, especially for quilting, but also other types as well.

One last thing to remember is that everything will be in meters, not yards, so you will get an extra 3 inches! Always a plus. :) And count me in for the Rick Steves Quilting Tour! I know Maria is a big quilter - I'm more into apparel, other than the occasional baby quilt or quilts for family - but I figure anyone who loves fabric and sewing is part of one big happy family!

By the way, Maria is right in that Europe imports a lot of US quilting fabrics. I was surprised to see many at the shops in Berlin, like Art Gallery, Anna Maria Horner, Dear Stella and so on. But they had plenty of European fabrics as well.

If you ever get to Amsterdam, make sure you hit some of their fabric markets. I went to the Albert Cuyp Market, which was near where I was staying and I couldn't believe how much fabric was on sale there. I bought way too much stuff and wound up having to ship some home. :) There is also Noordermarkt, which has a lot of regular and vintage fabric at the market. Lots of cool fabric and sewing shops as well in Amsterdam. I really want to go back just for a shopping trip. :)

OMG! Now I need to go to Amsterdam! Thanks for the tips & links. I did try google search while in Italy without much luck. Which is why I thought I’d start checking out locations prior to trip. I know fabric can be pricier in Europe but I really treasure the little bits I bought in Paris 20 years ago & incorporated into my own version of “French general” quilt.

Cheers!

Somewhere in the back of my mind I recall fellow quilters mentioning being able to get scraps or off cuts of Liberty cotton in London. Keep an eye out.
Yes, I quilt in a big way, but if I was going to buy special fabric to keep and use, it would be for clothing. To satisfy a quilting friend, I did once walk through a fabric store I came upon in Rome 22 years ago. Bad store choice. The fabric was displayed with the item made up and on the runway....they were all couture designer fabrics and running about 170€ a metre back then. It was a very quick in and out visit.
But I'll pass on the fabric based tour. I don't do them now, so wouldn't for Europe.

In the UK look for fabric shops or haberdashers - and branches of John Lewis are normally okay. You will find some places sell fat quarters - but it’s not a huge selection. Quilting isn’t quite so much the national craft as it is in the US.

I got into quilting during the pandemic and bought loads of great fat quarter packs online. I was really disappointed with the choice once I got back into shops!

You called?

In Germany, I discovered that the ubiquitous department store Karstadt/Galeria Kaufhof has a decent size fabric department. Every kind of fabric on bolts and flat fold - home dec, fashion and cottons. I have a very narrow botanical/storybook style that I’m usually looking for and I found lots of mushroom and strawberry patterns last fall. YMMV

I’m in Belgium right now looking for fabric stores. I’ll add to this thread if I find any good ones.

Absolutely do not miss Liberty of London! The building alone is beautiful and worth the trip.

For future reference, in Amsterdam, I visited 2 adorable quilt shops in one: Petra Prins is the downstairs store and Den Haan & Wagenmakers is upstairs. Both at Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 95.

The Liberty store on Regent Street was built with the timbers of two Royal Navy battleships!

I'm not a quilter, but I enjoy little sewing projects. I came across a sale on Liberty fabric in a Madrid fabric shop last year. Impulsively bought a few (different) yards/meters, thinking I'd make handkerchiefs with them. I still have to learn how to sew a hem that fine.

I’m a quilter and years ago in Paris I was looking for a shop to buy some fabric for a quilter friend. I discovered they call it patchwork, not quilting. I mention this so that if you want to do a search in your locations just remember that their terminology can be different so try different names for what you’re looking for.

Andrea, some of the first places I visited on my first trip to Paris were the fabric shops in Montmartre. Such gorgeous fabric - I bought some beautiful stuff for making curtains. Expensive but well worth it!

Scudder, the key to fine hemming is to (gently) press the heck out of it before you sew and use a Microtex needle on your machine, preferably one made by Schmetz.

Mardee, I agree that there are gorgeous fabrics to be found in Paris. Most of them won’t work for quilting though. I don’t sew clothes unfortunately.

Andrea, does Britex carry quilting fabric? I can't remember - I was mostly looking at linens and knits the last time I was there. Beautiful fabrics!

Mardee, I don’t have any idea. I’m not familiar with that place. I thought about looking for fabric during our two extended trips last year, but never got around to it. Maybe next time. 😉

You may like this link for all future quilting fixes in your travels https://www.all-about-quilts.com/quilt-stores.html
I'll be using it of I run out of hand work on an extended Italy stay next winter. Heaven forbid I have no hobby to keep my hands busy when the weather doesn't cooperate.