If you're a dressmaker or an upholsterer, using antique fabrics and textiles can be a great way to add a vintage look to your home and mix up the textures and patterns in your soft furnishings. While many fabric hunters love to trawl through piles at flea markets and in charity shops, there's now a much easier way of finding one-of-a-kind fabrics and textiles without having to leave your house. Whether it's 19th-century gingham or traditional Harris Tweed you're after, you'll find it online. Here are some of the best dealers and marketplaces to hunt for antique textiles and fabrics online.
Where to buy antique textiles and fabrics online
Parna
We have always loved Kath Griffiths’ well-chosen selection of beautiful folk textiles from Central and Eastern Europe. You may have stumbled upon her exquisite stands at antique textile fairs. She doesn’t have a shop but she does sell through her website. Click from piece to piece of vintage dyed indigo linen through to hemp grain sacks, then cushion covers made using Hungarian and Transylvanian embroidery – and much more.
Love Vintage
Cary Whitley changed roles from a vintage fair organiser to an Instagram dealer. A collector for over 20 years of all things vintage with a particular interest in textiles, buttons and trimmings, she now runs her own business buying, selling and sourcing vintage and antiques. Her online shop sells everything from haberdashery, fashion accessories and jewellery to handbags, ephemera and pictures.
Starched & Crumpled
Jennifer Bristow-Smith sells directly through timed Instagram sales from her base in Kirkcudbright. See page 128 for our guide to buying via Instagram, as this is where Jennifer sells her haul of antique French textiles and haberdashery. Incredible pelmets from French chateaux, antique chintz, lace, Ottoman textiles, block-printed panels, vintage silk thread, ribbons, trims and so much more. It’s the sort of account where you’ll really lose yourself down the Insta rabbit hole. Hurry – be the first to comment ‘sold’ to buy. Shipping is worldwide.
Phillips & Cheers
If you love the vintage chintz look, you’ll adore these handmade pieces by Liz Phillips. After a career in the heritage industry working in and around Britain’s finest houses, Liz now creates collections of furnishings and furniture from her home in Cheshire using rare vintage fabrics. As well as her uber-popular Morris & Co Christmas stockings, she sells gorgeous cushions and lampshades made from Sanderson florals.
