For all the fact that I have an allergy to cutting things out, and I really like to start with a pre-made garment . . .I love fabric.  I love to look at it, I love to shop for it, I love to think about what I could make out of it, and I love to buy it.  Then I have lovely piles of the stuff sitting in my house .. begging for SOMEONE else to sew something out of them because, well, I can’t be bothered with patterns and cutting things out and starting from SCRATCH.  Where is the fun in THAT????

There is a relatively new online fabric supply outlet called Fabric5anddime.  This outlet came across my Facebook feed a year or so ago, promising quality, designer fabrics for $5/yard.  Cool.  And . . . if you order $99 you get free shipping (and who doesn’t love free shipping . . . for fabric . . . that you don’t need . . . . ).  What is even better is that if you sign up for their emails, they often run $3/yard sales.  Sometimes it is on everything, sometimes it is on certain colors or yardage.  Their website is set up with all sorts of search filters –color, pattern, weight, yardage, which is really helpful if you are shopping with a specific purpose in mind.

My first order was sort of a random “let’s-see-what-they-have” order.  I wanted to explore the quality of fabric, accuracy of cuts and how they described their fabric weight.  One of my favorite finds from that was this piece:

My mom (see how I do this?) used this to make a robe for one of the Political Figures in “Cinderella”.  Unfortunately, he forgot he was in that scene, so didn’t wear it, so I don’t have a picture.

I also picked up a piece of some linen-look stuff that made an awesome shirt, and some nice dress-weight fabric (it would make a great dress for “Carousel”  . . .if only . . . ), and some embroidered stuff I imagined would work for the front panel of underskirts for dresses.  Of course, we ended up doing “Legally Blonde” last year, and I had no need for any such thing.  But, I’m sure I will.  Someday.

They ran a $3/yd sale and I bought some upholstery fabric for my wicker furniture.  At 20-some yards, $3/yd was much better than the $12-15/yd fabric I had been looking at.

When I found out we were doing “Cinderella” I placed an order for fabrics that I (cough, cough) could use to make jackets for the guys to wear to the Ball.  As it turned out, we were able to rent those from an area school, so we dressed Buttercup, the horse, instead.  He really rocks his damask jacket.

See–here it is on my receipt.

The receipts are nice because they list it all–pictures of the fabric, the price and the yardage.  Love it.  The discount comes off at the end, so you can see I filled in the reduced price.

We (umm, a different volunteer, who LIKES new fabric and patterns . .  really . . . would I lie about that???) made the coat and hat for Jean-Michael out of the navy velvet listed below the damask.  This fabric did have a very faint flaw running through the middle of the piece.  For my purpose, it was fine, so I didn’t complain.  If you had wanted it for furniture or something, you might have had an issue with it.  This is the only flaw I have found in fabric I have ordered.

One time, I did have a piece that was only a yard if you squinted and blurred the numbers on the tape measure.  Usually, however, for those pieces that I have measured, the amounts have been generous.  Unless noted, all fabric is 54″ wide.  The fabric is only available in the lengths listed, so you better hope you don’t like the one that is 52 yards long.

This vest was made from a piece:

As well as the breeches the Raccoon & the Fox were wearing:

We used a number of pieces to make skirts, and I had a piece of faux leather that made a nice hat.  I have run all of the pieces through my washer before using them (well, not the faux leather or vinyl), and, as can be expected, some tolerate that better than others, but isn’t that the way of fabric?

The fabric that I have ordered has arrived wrapped on a cardboard tube, covered in heavy-duty plastic wrap.  It has been in great shape, and comes fairly quickly.  I have not tried to return anything, nor have I tried to contact Customer Service for any problems.  I think most of the fabric has been described fairly accurately in terms of weight and the FAQ section has a description of the weight terms.  The detailed info about the fabric shows the piece photographed with a ruler, which is helpful to determine pattern size.

Warning:  it can be a dangerous place to browse through . .you will probably find some things you don’t need.  But go ahead  . . . take a peek . . . and they take Paypal . . . could it get worse?

Disclaimer:  My only relationship with with company is as a consumer.