SULTAN’S FINE FABRICS
I used to work in the garment district of New York City. I think that made me a bit spoiled for textile fabrics. I would spend hours after work wandering the aisles of my favourite shops – B&J Fabrics, Mood Fabrics, NY Elegant Fabrics, etc, etc. The selection was endless. Rows, upon rows of cotton shirtings, linens, wools and everything else under the moon. It was not uncommon for clerks to say ‘this was from Marc Jacob’s/Calvin Klein’s/Diane Von Furstenburg’s last collection’. This selection of fine fabric is one of the things I really miss about New York.
The closest thing I’ve found to that quality of fabrics here has been at the Lida Baday Showroom, on a much smaller scale. Until now.
A few weeks ago, a customer was working on a dress for his wife in the shop, he was using the most gorgeous red & blue plaid fabric. When I asked where he got it, he showed me the card for a shop that I had never heard of. I took a photo of the fabric & the business card and I’ve been obsessing over that fabric ever since. Today, I took a little adventure in a Zip car to check out Sultan’s Fine Fabrics.
Tucked away in a small industrial building was an absolute treasure of a fabric shop.
I was not expecting the sheer volume of fabric and I was so happy that I had a specific fabric in mind as my starting point otherwise I may still be walking the aisles. The owner, Sultan, greeted me when I entered and after I showed him the photo of the fabric I wanted, he took me directly to the bolt. Thank goodness! I would never have found it on my own. Sultan was so helpful and kept pointing out all the different types of fabrics he carried – cashmere, wool, linen, lining, cotton shirting. His main clientele are Harry Rosen & Holt Renfrew for their made-to-measure programs, so you can imagine how nice these bolts were. His selection is amazing & overwhelming. His fabrics range from $2/yard to $5500/yard! My selections were in the $16 – $22/yard range.
I highly recommend going with some specific projects in mind or maybe a time limit. I had to return my Zip car, so I just had an hour to agonize over what to get. I ended up with four fabrics – the cotton plaid shirting, a grey stripe cotton, a brown plaid linen and a mustard-y herringbone. I am excited to sew these up! While I adore printed quilting fabric (obviously!), there has been a bit of a hole in my heart for proper clothing textiles here and there. No more!
Oh yes, and there were ‘cashmeres from Tom Ford’ on the shelf.
If you go to visit Sultan, please tell him that I say ‘Hi!’. You can also shop a selection of their fabrics online!
Sultan’s Fine Fabrics
89 Bentworth Avenue, Unit 2A
Toronto, ON M6A 1P6
416-783-7786
18 comments
great fabrics! what a cool find. and love to hear that you used to work in the garment district, makes me curious about what job you had. 🙂
Wow, that place sounds amazing! Love the fabrics that came home with you 🙂
We left NYC seven years ago, and while I too love quilting cottons, they do not cut it for most garments. So every chance I get when visiting the city I take a trip to the garment district. And I always come back with armloads of fabric. I am quite envious that you have such a store in your own city. Enjoy!
I love love love your choices! The place looks totally overwhelming though!
Fantastic fabrics, perfect for some fall sewing. I love quilting cottons, but I’m more likely to wear something made out of “proper” clothing fabric. Unfortunately I don’t drive, so I may be dragging my husband fabric shopping (again!)
Can hardly wait to see what you make with them! Beautiful!
This isn’t good!
Tom Ford cashmere!!
Can’t wait to check it out. Thanks for sharing.
Love your fabric choices – cant wait to see them sewn up!
That sounds amazing and I am so excited to see they have an online shop.
Thank you for your kind comments. We look forward to servicing you again in the future. We have a new web-site that you can find many of our fabrics at http://www.sultansfinefabrics.com. SM
I’m moving (back) to Toronto in a few days and am excited to re-find all the amazing fabric stores Toronto has to offer!
Can’t wait…but also – can we just talk about the guy who was sewing a dress for his wife? Holy hanna that’s about the sweetest thing I ever did read.
cj – it’s true. he spent a few days in the shop working on making a few things for her! serious brownie points for him.
Hi Karyn! Melinda and I wanted to report that we had an transcendental fabric shopping experience at Sultan’s — directly inspired by your post! I had actually bought some gorgeous shorting from Sultan at the Creativ Festival a couple of years ago but had never visited his shop. OH. MY. GOODNESS. I knew in some kind of abstract way that such gorgeous fabric existed, but had never been immersed like this. WOW! Thanks so much for the tip, and Sultan thanks you too!!!
Thank you very much again for your kind comments. Just to update you, that we receive every 2-weeks new shipments from Italy and England… C’mon over and feel the fabrics.
IF it feels good – it is GOOD…
Best wishes,
Sultan.
I LOVE Sulatan’s fabrics. Recently I bought some great linen fabric there. The owner and his wife were so helpful!
I am interested in buying some linen (dress weight) to sew a dress. What is the price range? I have already checked Fabricland in February and the colours were not to my taste and then Designer Fabric Outlet.
I am so happy to have found SULTAN’S FINE FABRICS. They have the most incredible array of exquisite fabrics I have ever seen. I could spend hours looking at all the beautiful fabric the have stocked. I bought several luscious light wool fabrics in glorious colors.
Sultan is so knowledge, helpful and friendly, it is always a pleasure to spend some time with him while he shows me the fine Italian wools he has stocked.
Beautiful fabrics, incredible quality and great customer care; what else could a person hope for?
Emily Cassidy
I was wondering if the country of origin is noted on the fabric tags. I always want to know where my fabric is made because of allergies.