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
