You know how you feel when you’ve been looking for something FOREVER and you finally find it?  J*A*C*K*P*O*T  (Even though the ironic thing is . . .you’ve probably moved on and now don’t even need it?)  Yep, that was me and Urquid Linens.  I happened to be reading online reviews about a type of fabric on one of my “go to” fabric sources, and happened to see a reviewer mention Urquid Linens.  I wasn’t thrilled with the options I was finding where I was looing, so I figured, why not check them out?

And RIGHT THERE . . . I found the 2″ striped fabric in **17 COLORS** that my sister and I had spent hours looking for online to make dresses for the Candy Shop scene in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”.  Too late for her  . . . she’s moved on to Plan B . . . but, still good to know . . I guess.  Why did this not show up in all the google searches I did?  I wonder what the keywords are . . . who knows.

At any rate, that day I was looking for some red and black fabric to supplement  my base Bombie Samba costumes, and specifically I wanted red lace by the yard.  They had it, so I decided to give them a shot.

Urquid Linens makes their products to order, so they do not have many ready-made linens available.  They did have a clearance section and some of the prices were quite good–some were probably really good, if, say, you needed 500 table runners. I like to get “free” shipping if I can, so I was willing to browse around enough to make a qualifying order.  What I will say, before going further, is that while I was generally happy with the products that I got, their website is not up-to-date.  I created an order  visualizing a couple of projects and several days later I got a phone call telling me that the red lace (!!! the thing I REALLY wanted and the reason I place the order!!) was out of stock, as well as one of the clearance items I had purchased.   Since the red lace was my reason for ordering, I suggested I might want to cancel the entire order, at which point I was informed the rest of the order was cut and ready-to-go.  I did appreciate the phone call, and the opportunity to perhaps replace the items, but I was a little frustrated that the items were still available online (and still are–over two weeks later).  I don’t know if ordering over the phone would give a more accurate real-time availability of products, but, if I were wanting to order clearance items, and my order/project hinged on their availability, I might suggest trying to call.

Their fabric selection offers a large variety of solids in tons of colors.  They also have some really gorgous sequin and embroidered fabrics (I resisted), and an assortment of prints.

That said, I’ll tell you what I got (these are kind of boring pictures since they are pretty much all red and black).

I ordered the crystal organza in red and black which is $2.39/yd.  This was a really nice weight, it has a nice sheen, and it held a pinked edge quite well.  This is comparable to more expensive organza that I have purchased in the past.  I have not put the pinked edge through the wash, but I plan to in the future to see how it holds up (and I’ll update here).

 

I also ordered a pack of clearance table runners in the Bridal Satin.  The Satin is a nice heavy weight.  The texture is such that you know up close it is inexpensive satin, but from a distance it is good stuff.  The best way I can describe it is that it feels like satin ribbon–a little bit stiffer than some (I have not tried washing it to see what happens with the texture).  I loved having the pre-hemmed pieces.  It made this upcycle SO easy (post will be coming in the future).   The Bridal Satin starts at $2.29/yd and comes in 70 colors.  The minimum order is 1 yard, which is nice.

I also ordered a piece of the “Scuba, Wrinkle-free, fabric”.  It runs $2.99/yd and comes in many colors.  It is a nice lightweight knit with just a bit of two-way stretch.  I do like this and would order it again.  It is a bit heavier than the comparable product that I have been ordering from another source.  It is not the heavier fabric that I would call “scuba”.  I really love knits for costuming.  They are easy sew, easy wash and best of all, no fraying.  They aren’t suitable for everything, but I like them.

I also ordered a piece of the polyester poplin fabric which starts at $2.39/yd and comes in 106 colors.  It is fine fabric, nothing that sets it apart from similar fabrics, but the color range is impressive.  This definitely DOES fray.

Just for fun I picked up a piece of the “Confetti Metallic” Fabric.  It runs $4.20/yd and comes in seven colors.  I was quite impressed with this stuff.  Back when I was looking for something from which to create the Knight costumes for “Cinderella” I was looking for fabric similar to this.  This has a nice weight and is less loopy (aka inclined to get caught and pulled) than some similar fabrics I’ve seen.  I probably won’t use this in my current project, but, I was glad I ordered a piece so I could see it.

I also picked up a piece of red chiffon for $3.89/yd.  It comes in 68 colors.  I haven’t tried sewing with it yet.  It seems like a nice piece of fabric, decent quality, about what I would expect.  I’m hoping I might get to use this, we’ll see how the dresses turn out, and they add dancers to the scene.

The last piece I ordered was a clearance tablecloth made from the Lamour dull satin fabric.  This satin is a bit more per yard, starting at $3.25/yd and “only” comes in the limited selection of 51 colors.  This fabric has a softer feel and a nicer drape than the Bridal Satin . . at least just coming out of the box.  I had purchased this, along with a pack of glittery organza table runners to make a Belle ball skirt . . unfortunately, the table runners were one of the out-of-stock items, so now I have to figure out Plan B for my tablecloth.  So, this is kind of the situation I was talking about where one purchase drives another . . .  had they not had the combination of tablecloth and table runners, I would have purchased neither, now I’m stuck with an oddball and no current plan (and, almost two weeks later, the tablerunners are still listed on the website, despite the customer service agent assuring me they would be coming off soon since a customer came in and bought all of them).

Currently, the company is offering “free” shipping with orders over $99, although they still charge a $5 handling fee.  My phone call about out-of-stock items came 2 days after my online order was placed, and the package got here a week after my initial order was placed.  They do say upfront that “free shipping” orders will be filled with lowest priority.  I did not remeasure any of the fabric to check the cuts.

Good luck with your costuming . . and if anyone has any great resources or places you think I should know about . . . write them in the comments.

If you like the post, please consider liking, following and/or making a comment. I write these posts for fun and to help fellow costumers.  Sometimes I feel like it is a waste of time, and I am questioning whether it is worth my time.  I’d love some feedback about what you like, don’t like, or what I could do to be more helpful.  Thanks in advance!