Welcome to the Montreal edition of The Selfish Seamstress! (Wow, go Rachel- first person to guess, and nailed it!) Having a great time in this lovely city after having been whisked off to it in a most mysterious fashion.
So far we’ve eaten our fair share of poutine, and wandered around the charming cobblestone streets, which on first glance look very much like textbook old Europe:
But when you look closer, you realize that all of the shop windows are packed with Native Canadian crafts, Montreal Canadiens reproduction hockey jerseys, and other bits of Canadiana:
Just by chance, we happened by Fabricville (Quebec’s version of Fabricland), and I couldn’t help but take a quick jaunt through it. No pictures of the store (trust me, it just looks like a Hancock but with all of the signage in French), but I found this gorgeous vintage-inspired rose-print dull satin (with just a tiny bit of stretch) that I couldn’t walk away without;
A close look at the beautiful smudgy navy flowers:
Three meters of it are already tucked into my suitcase and begging to be made into a late 50’s/early-60’s style cocktail dress with a bit of Mad Men flavor.
But now the Selfish Seamstress is hungry for more! Where are your favorite fabric haunts in Montreal? Tell me quick because I get whisked back home tomorrow!
The Selfish Seamstress 
23 comments
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April 25, 2010 at 6:37 am
isabelle DesRosier
St-Hubert Street, all fabric stores are there!!! Enjoy, I would like to be there myself with loads of money!!!
April 25, 2010 at 6:42 am
Kathi
I have never been there, so I am of absolutely no help. Have fun, though!
April 25, 2010 at 6:44 am
woolcat
Hey! You’re in my city! Did you go to Fabricville on Ste Catherine? See if I’d only known, you could have borrowed my membership card for a discount! :)
I’ve only been here a few months, and I hear there are a number of great fabric stores on St Hubert and St Laurent. I found Madeleine Soie et Laine on St Hubert, which isn’t exactly full of bargains but has some really nice wools and silks (as you’d guess from the name) and is really close to Effliloche, which is a fabulous yarn store (that also has a small selection of really nice fabrics, and they sell the dress pattern from the first issue of Twist Collective, which I covet greatly). I’ve also heard that Davetex on St Laurent is good but I’ve not been there.
Glad you’re enjoying Montreal! What do you plan to do today?
April 25, 2010 at 6:53 am
dw
Well, I know there is an entire street devoted to fabric warehouses in Mtl, but I have never visited any of them.
It is supposedly located on Saint-Hubert street between Jean-Talon and Villeray. Saint-Hubert is parallel to St.Denis (another awesome street), about 4 blocks N-E. I will e-mail you the Google maps link.
The one place I do love, though, is Simons. It’s a department store on the corner of Rue Ste. Catherine and Mansfield (I think). It is fabulous. I buy socks and hats and sweaters and “unmentionables” and scarves and all sorts of other things there. You will probably not be impressed with the quality of the garments, seeing as you sew your own clothing, but the second floor has designer collections that will definitely pique your interest.
Have fun! Montreal is the BEST!!
April 25, 2010 at 7:48 am
Belly
I LOVE that the fabric is floral, but not overly princess-y. Enjoy!
April 25, 2010 at 7:48 am
Nicole
When I lived in Montreal I was sans sewing machine, so I don’t know too much about fabric stores there. But, I can tell you where you should have lunch! Either have a nut burger with blue cheese at La Paryse:
http://www.montrealfood.com/restos/laparyse.html
Or, a minted ham sandwich at Cafe Santropol:
http://www.yelp.ca/biz/cafe-santropol-montreal-3
I miss Montreal. I am definitely le jealous now!
April 25, 2010 at 8:31 am
nanflan
Ooh, lovely fabric! I can so visualize a 60’s inspired cocktail dress from it.
April 25, 2010 at 8:46 am
Kay
Dang! I’m headed to Montreal later today; I would have loved to make time to meet the illustrious Selfish Seamstress, but it will have to wait until the next time. In the meantime, get into the Metro and head to the Jean Talon stop. Head to St. Hubert Street (one block east) and then north. There are a number of lovely stores; my favorites: Couture-elle, Sams, Tissus Tuéni. Madeleine Soie et Laine is on the same street but about 6-8 blocks further south.
I do not know if the St. Hubert St. stores are open on Sunday. There are details of some of these at http://prinmontreal.blogspot.com/.
April 25, 2010 at 9:48 am
JillyB
Oh if I had known you were coming to Montreal, I could have prepared you for all of the wonderful fabric adventures to be had here! Fabricville is not the best place to go for fabric…I definitely second woolcat’s suggestions–St. Hubert is the place to go. Madeleine Soie et Laine has great service, and if you dig around you can find some nice bargains. Effiloché is great, too–for both fabric and wool. However, I fear that both of these places are closed on Monday (and Madeleine is closed on Sundays). Davetex no longer exists (which is too bad, because it was right next door to me!)
Farther north on St. Hubert (north of Jean Talon) are a few overwhelming huge stores (I never remember their names, but they are hard to miss). Don’t be fooled by the sequined fabrics they hang in the window–there is some really nice stuff inside. There is also another store devoted entirely to buttons! Have fun!!
If you want a more authentic Montreal than the souvenir shops of Old Montreal, check out St. Denis between Duluth and Mont-Royal. Basically it is the area around the Mont-Royal Métro stop.
April 25, 2010 at 10:41 am
Megan
Colabrijay on Saint Laurent Boulevard….
http://maps.google.ca/maps/place?client=safari&rls=en&oe=UTF-8&redir_esc=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=fabric+montreal&fb=1&gl=ca&hq=fabric&hnear=montreal&cid=4462546814517220863
Crazy crammed space, a room full of knits last time I was there. Knits were $5 a meter, very good prices and good quality.
April 25, 2010 at 10:44 am
sugarduck
I love that the restaurant menu in the first photo has a section called “Le Smoked Meat”. How very Pepe Le Pew. haha.
And I can’t wait to see what you make out of that gorgeous floral fabric.
April 25, 2010 at 2:49 pm
Wendybee
What a great weekend to be in Montreal!
I second all the suggestions above, and would add to the list a great fabric shop on the corner of Ave. Mont Royal and Montana. It’s run by a great old couple and their selection of fabrics never fails to please. Easily reachable on foot without the trek out to St. Hubert if you are going to be in the Plateau vicinity. Definitely a venue for outlandish selfish indulgence – enjoy Montreal!
April 25, 2010 at 3:37 pm
Anonymous
Oooh la la . . . love your new fabric!!! I’ve never been to Montreal, but hope to get there one of these days!
April 25, 2010 at 7:59 pm
Sarah N
I think everyone’s mentioned the best places. I just wanted to chime in with my love for Montreal and the hopes that your voyage est merveilleux!
April 26, 2010 at 12:21 am
Katherine
Love your fabric ;-)
Funnily enough I bought the exact same one here in Melbourne (Australia) from the shop that features in our Project Runway.
I, too, made a dress (BurdaStyle’s Heidi dress) from it which I call my ‘Mad Men’ dress.
Great minds think alike!
April 26, 2010 at 4:41 am
Erin
Get thee to St. Hubert! Most of the stores are located on the couple of blocks north of Jean Talon. My favourite is Sam Textiles, one of the first on the street. The rest of the street is a real mix between high and low quality and price. Couture-Elle and Tissus St. Hubert (I think?) have some higher quality stuff. There are some crazy old notion stores that are fun to cruise through too. Effiloche and Madelaine are nice stores, but a little further south of Jean Talon, so if you have to choose, I’d go north. Effiloche has mostly (really nice) quilting cottons in terms of fabric if I’m not mistaken.
April 26, 2010 at 11:26 am
The Slapdash Sewist
You’re the advance team for PR Weekend! I expect you to unselfishly share all your knowledge. I am so excited to go to Montreal in June!
April 26, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Good Blog Queen
Hey I just honored you on my new website goodblogqueen.blogspot.com. Go check it out! And i hope you had fun on your fabulous trip!
April 27, 2010 at 7:55 am
Hoosiermama
I had to look up poutine…fries AND cheese and GRAVY? Don’t know what its reputation is in Canada, but if they ate that in, say, Wisconsin, it would definitely be made fun of far and wide.
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