Probably the biggest question I get about Lady Virginia Vintage Fabrics is, “Where do you get all your fabrics?”
Especially when visitors come to my showroom in historic downtown Staunton, Virginia they see all the fabrics in one location and just have to know where I got so many pieces. BTW, my showroom has much more fabric than you’ll find on our Etsy shop: we keep about 500 listings on Etsy out of 5,000 or more items at the Lady Virginia Vintage World Headquarters. (You should come to visit!)
A Passion for Collecting
I’ve been collecting vintage fabrics since I was in high school. Back then, I didn’t know why I was collecting them really — I was just so drawn to textiles. When an irresistible piece crossed my path at a bargain, I just had to have it. I probably thought that when I spent more time being a “maker” in the future I would do something with it one day.
Treasure hunting on my own, decades before I started Lady Virginia Vintage Fabrics, my go-to places to acquire vintage fabrics were at yard sales, church tag sales, and thrift stores. That was in my bohemian twenties and early thirties when it didn’t matter that these places offered so little treasure buried under so much trash. Of course, these are not really good suppliers today from a business perspective. But I wasn’t thinking about business back then, 20-30 years ago. I some ways I wasn’t thinking at all — just collecting from pure attraction.
Fast forward to today, and I almost never go to yard sales or thrift stores because it is too time consuming, and utterly hit or miss. Mostly miss. Yard sales and thrift stores seldom specialize and since I’d only be going there for one thing now, the time and effort just aren’t worth it.
Even when invited to go through a pile of random fabric pieces that may have spent a half century in grandma’s attic takes time and there’s no guarantee that I’ll find anything worthwhile at the end. So when solicited about buying up vintage fabric I usually ask for pics first to see if there’s something I can quickly idenitfy as worth it to me or my customers.
Now, if I happen to be somewhere and I feel like just pickin’ for fun — like when on a vacation, on the road to somewhere, or some spontaneous charity or church yard sale pops up in my path — sure, I’ll stop in hoping for those old-school deals and finds. But this is only about twice a year, and not at all a part of my official business acquisition strategy.
A Network of Suppliers
My vintage fabric purchases today are much more driven by what my hubby jokingly refers to as my “Network of Suppliers™.” (Ha ha!)
My Network of Suppliers are folks who consistently acquire vintage fabrics on the frontlines themselves and get in contact with me about what they’ve found. Or I stop by when I’m passing through their town to see what they’ve found lately. It’s more one-stop-shopping for me since these are trusted and reliable sources who know what I’m seeking and the condition I expect for vintage fabric purchases. This network of people who let me know when they want to sell special vintage textiles in good condition that they think I might like is a valuable asset that I’m grateful to have built up over the years of sourcing vintage fabric.
Here’s an example. One fine fellow in rural Virginia — let’s call him Jack — was who I got my first collection of over 300 20th-century vintage fabric samples from. He was a humble buyer and seller of estates and he had collected a few dozen boxes of these samples from the top fabric houses in the world, pieces that dated back as far as the 1920s. He’s also how I then scored another 500 of these treasures of 20th-century interior design history.
In many ways, this vintage fabric samples collection is what launched Lady Virginia Vintage Fabrics. Seeing this range of textiles, textures, and distinct design trends all in one place spurred me to take my knowledge of fabrics from decades of collecting into a much more focused realm as I pursued serious research into the top fabric houses, eras of decorating styles, and historic influences.
Whenever I light onto more samples I, of course, snap them up.
Cold Callers
The other way I’ve built up the Network of Suppliers™ is that now I’m fortunate enough for folks to come to me to sell what they have.
I have people reaching out to me all the time as they seek to unload a stash from a deceased relative or one who no longer collects or sews. This is a great option for me because from a practical business perspective, I don’t have the time to run around looking for fabric anymore. That said, I naturally pay sellers wholesale or estate clearance sales prices. It’s the way I can offer really special items to Lady Virginia Vintage customers at a good value.
The Downside of Most Online Finds
Finally, I’ve sometimes bought vintage fabric online, either because someone reached out to me via my website, or because I’ve seen a piece of vintage fabric on a place like eBay. The problems with eBay, though, are many.
Many online marketplaces, especially eBay, are more like a yard sale than a vintage boutique. There’s certainly some treasure among all the trash. But it takes savvy and luck and endless time and searching to find the good stuff. Again, that much labor doesn’t translate into a solid business strategy.
And even with the best due diligence, there’s still a lot of risk in buying fabric on eBay as what’s promised doesn’t always match what’s delivered.
I’ve wasted money on eBay pieces that are not as described. They may come reeking of cigarette smoke or covered in pet hair. They might be fakes. Or they could just be a wrinkled, stained or faded mess. This results in either losses for me, or a significant new investment in time and cleaning services to bring the piece to market, raising its cost to my customers in the end. It’s also time consuming, lacks any standards, has no brand recognition, and eBay sellers typically charge double the shipping costs of what is realistic in order to seemingly gain another source of revenue beyond an asking price. In the end it’s usually too big a gamble for me and takes way too much time.
Four Decades of Stash-Building
The thing is, right now, I don’t actually need to buy another piece of fabric — I have SO MUCH that’s unlisted that I could shop from my own shop for the next five years and still have new pieces to add to my vintage fabric shop on Etsy every single day.
But it’s hard to say no. Fabric is addictive, which you probably know if you’re reading this far! I find it very hard to resist a vintage fabric acquisition once I feel that swoon of love for something I’ve never seen before or if I’m re-acquiring a piece that I know my customers seek out. Sigh.
I also do a lot of sourcing for customers who come to me asking for a very specific piece. This puts me on the hunt. I keep a “watch list” and if I’m resourceful enough or lucky enough to find the fabric in question, I then check with the customer to see if they’re still looking and if the price will work for them.
I’m always thrilled when I hear from a customer that they were able to restore a beloved quilt, pillow, piece of furniture, or other project because we were the only vintage fabric shop online who had the precise fabric they needed or we specifically sourced it for them. This makes a job I love even more thrilling!
Vintage Fabrics You Can Trust
A big part of what motivates my curation is to get clean and restored pieces to old and new customers in a way that lets them shop for vintage fabrics with confidence.
I strive for accuracy in my research of not only the design period but also in fiber content and fabric hand, weight, and drape. I focus on clarity in my writing about vintage fabrics so that what my customer receives is what they were hoping for or expected. And I post multiple photos and even videos as part of each listing to help the customer see what a fabric looks like. It’s frustrating when different phone or laptop screens render colors differently, but over years of trial-and-error, I’ve developed the best lighting to capture those colors in pixels for most viewers. And in the “Item details” section on Etsy (always click through to read the WHOLE listing) I always describe the colors in as precise detail as I can. I’m always happy to answer questions about colors, design, or texture to give customers the most accurate idea of what a fabric looks and feels like.
Vintage fabrics are a very niche business but in many ways they are also just fabric that anyone can use whether they’re interested in vintage fabrics or not. The sustainability and conservation aspects of vintage fabrics are a huge motivator for me. But I also simply want fabric shoppers to find something unique, engaging, and delightful for their projects and if that just happens to be vintage, that’s fine, too.
With this huge of a collection I am glad that I landed in the role of being a conduit to fabric lovers — I curate with a love for fabric, design, historic preservation, and the desire to make an eco-contribution that helps lower the impact on Mother Earth. Thanks to my Network of Suppliers, outreach from strangers, and random but often synchronistic — almost magnetic — vintage fabric finds, we make it happen for you!
And that’s how you build a vintage fabric collection!
— Lindsay Curren, Lady VIrginia Vintage Fabrics
