Where to Buy Fabric in San Diego CA: Our Top Fabric Stores
Sewing is fun. It can also be a very relaxing way to spend an afternoon. What makes it even more relaxing is when you know all the good stores to go to in order to purchase the fabric you need. Having that knowledge makes sewing a lot more fun as well.
As of July 2019, you can find about 5 Yardage Town Stores in the Sand Diego area. They are not extravagantly designed as the company spends its money on providing you with a great fabric selection including L.A. fashion District designs and fabrics.
When you are in the San Diego area you will want to visit the various stores carrying top fabrics. This is the way to find great selections you may not have in your home town. To find those stores just continue to read our article.
Where to Buy Fabric in San Diego
According to the San Diego Yellow Pages, there are about 61 locations where you can find fabric. One option is Paradise sewing and another is Merlin Embroidery. This link will take you to the map so you can plan your visits in a logical order.
Then there is always Joann’s Fabric and craft store. They seem to be in every major city and the should be after being n business for 50 years. Clicking on this link takes you to their web page, their address and a map to help guide you as you drive to their store.
Yelp is another good source for finding top fabric stores in the San Diego area. You can find reviews, directions for places like Threads, Sewing Hut, Sophia + Sam Design, and Rosie’s Calico Cupboard Quilt Shop and many more. All you have to do is click here to get to the Yelp listing and see all 17 locations they monitor.
Then some honorable mentions like Quilt in a Day, Cozy Creative Center and the aforementioned Yardage Town with actually 7 locations to serve you can be seen at this link.
When you go to San Diego you are going to have a full day searching the different fabric stores in the city. We are sure we are only touching the tip of the iceberg with this list.
Rosie's Fabric Store San Diego
One of the feature’s at Rosie’s Calico Cupboard Quilt Shop is its trunk full of buttons. You can get any shape, size, and color you want just by picking through their large selection. A level bucket costs $5 and the buttons are priced at 15 cents each if you do not use the bucket
Plus, there is a very large fabric display all organized by color. You can get a bolt of your favorite fabric or a few yards without having to waste a lot of time looking for what you need.
There is also a wide selection of designs so you can push the envelope, think outside the box, or just be normal in your creativity. There should be a design that fits your purpose, personality, and sense of humor.
To top it off Rosie’s has magazines and books to help you improve your technique, get new ideas and so on. With its selection of Janome sewing machines, you may even pick up a new machine to help your sewing projects turn out even better.
The shop is well organized and has several rooms separating the different items you can look at, touch and even purchase.
Fabric Stores in National City San Diego
Maybe you are one of those people who have heard about the fabric stores located in National City, San Diego and you plan your next trip around visiting that location. It would be a good move as there are a lot of fabric stores in that City.
While you have a few stores to look through, 1 is a wholesale and retail Yardage town outlet and another is a Joann Fabric and Craft store. Then there is the UFO-Upholstery Fabric Outlet and a Hobby Lobby.
There does not seem to be a large list of independent fabric outlet stores in the area. The reason may be that they do not want to compete with the National City Swap Meet. That is understandable.
But you can always wander the streets to see if there are local fabric stores that carry what you are looking for. If you happen to be looking for upholstery fabric there is the one already mentioned and the Contreras Custom Upholstery which has been around since 1995.
National City Swap Meet fabric
The main attraction in National City is its national City Swap meet. Forget the stores and save them for last while spending a day doing little driving as you tour the many different booths that hold a myriad of fabrics for you to look at and purchase.
The fabric is displayed however the vendor wants to have it look. You can find bits and pieces piled up making you search through to find a good design or color that will fit your next sewing project.
The search is beneficial not only to help you find what you are looking for but to avoid any damaged fabrics that may not be saved. The prices for this selection are cheap and you may come away with some very good deals.
Saturday morning is a good time to go and if you get there about 8 you should find most of the vendors set up and ready for customers. There a lot of fabric vendors so you can take your time and see what they have to offer.
Some selections come in bolts and may not be more than $2 a yard. Spending time here at the national swap meet is not a waste of your time as it seems that San Diego is losing a lot of its fabric stores.
To get all the information you can about this top swap meet, just click on this link and go to their website. Once on the landing page click their shoppers’ button to find out the cost to enter, the cost of parking and the rules for attending.
If you have questions there is a contact page you can use to get the answers.
BREAKING NEWS
We just came across this little tidbit of important news after we already have written about Yardage Town. The announcement came January 31st, 2020 and sometime soon Yardage Town will be closing its 4 remaining stores in the San Diego area including the one found at its national City location.
The San Diego Union Tribune did not mention the exact closing date in their article so you should plan a visit as soon as you can and pick up some good deals. What this means is that San Diego, except for its National City Swap Meet is not going to be the best location to find your fabrics.
You may have to travel to L.A. to find those deals you have been looking for. Read the article as it is very informative and puts you on to video lessons you can buy if you want to learn how to sew.
Fashion Fabric Store in Chula Vista
If you still live or are planning to go to San Diego anyways, you may have to travel to Chula Vista to find a good selection of fabric stores to purchase those fabrics you like to work with.
Fashion Town is still open but it is closing. You may be able to get up to a 30% discount at this time. But be careful, one reviewer said they are not that honest when it comes to calculating that discount.
3 other places, Fabrics to Go, Fabric Hound and Fashion Fabric are still operating in the Chu]a Vista region. There are also Hobby Lobby, Designer Fabric, Threads, Eastlake Upholstery and Joann Fabric and Craft stores to look through.
To get their location just click here and look at the map Yelp provides to help you find your way to each one. To find more you can check the local Yellow Pages to see what stores have an ad inside that book.
So while Yardage Town is closing, you still have a fine selection of fabrics that should not be too far away from your home.
Fabric Stores Near San Marcos CA
Then there is always San Marcos and its fine selection of fabric stores. There is a Yardage Town there but you should call first to see what their status is and how much of a discount they are offering its customers.
To start your day of searching, you can begin at La Costa Upholstery to find any furniture fabric you may need. Then there is Grand Country Quilters, Quilt in a Day, Cathy’s Draperies to name a few.
But those are not the only ones you will find in San Marcos. Yelp has some of those stores as well as Swing Machines Plus, Dancing Bear Indian trader, The Hive quilt Shop, We R Fabrics of San Diego and Sickel’s Fabrics and Upholstery.
To get their locations just click on this link to find the map to guide you. An online search may turn up more for you or you can go to the many sewing forums and ask locals what fabric stores are there and where they are located.
Sewing Supplies in San Diego
While fabrics may be a little tough to get in San Diego, you shouldn’t have any trouble finding sewing supplies when you visit the city. There seems to be a dearth of these little stores that help meet your sewing needs.
To begin there is Sew Hut, Sew Elegant, Central Sewing Center, Omega Sewing Machines, Sew Loka A Modern Sewing Studio to name a few. The Omega Sewing Machine is next to Tijuana so you can do two things when visiting there.
Click on this link to see their locations. As usual, Yelp has a list of 10 best sewing supplies stores with some matching the list already given. In addition to those names, there is Michael’s, Paradise Sewing, Le Mesa Sew 7 Vac and Designer Fabric.
All you need to do to see their locations is click here. Finding your way should not be that difficult and as you go from place to place you can always make some stops at some famous San Diego tourist spots and have some fun.
Disclaimer
With the news that yardage Town is in the middle of closing its stores, we felt it was necessary to place this little notice here. We apologize in advance if any of the other stores mentioned in this article have closed before this writing.
Nothing has come up during our research that says they have closed and all are represented to be operating at this time. To avoid wasting your time and visiting a possible closed site, get the phone numbers of the stores you plan on visiting and call first.
One phone call can save you a lot of time and money. At the time of this writing, it is not known when Yardage Town will close its doors for good so you better hurry if you want to get some great sewing deals before they are gone forever.
Some Final Words
Finding fabric stores in San Diego is becoming like a treasure hunt. You never know where you will find one and X may or may not mark the spot. Right now you should still be able to get good fabric and sewing supply deals if you act fast.
We do recommend the national Swap Meet if you want to save money on some very good fabrics. Just be forewarned that those fabrics may not all be in an A-1 condition when you see them.
Happy fabric hunting when you are in San Diego.
