Where can I buy trench coat fabric?

April 29, 2005 8:28 AM

Where can I buy trench coat fabric?

I want to make myself a spring coat, but I can’t find suitable fabric. I’d like the kind of fabric they use to make trench coats – water resistant fabric, not nylon or anything that will make me feel like I’m wearing a sandwich baggie. I’m told one brand name for this type of fabric is Thunderbolt. I live in Toronto and have tried Fabriclands, BouClair, Finer Fabrics, the Fabric Factory Outlet Showroom, the Designer Fabric Outlet, one other store at Keele and St. Clair (the name of which I can’t recall), and every store in the Queen Street fabric district. Only the Designer Fabric Outlet carried it, and I didn’t like any of the colours they had. I’m hoping for a cream, rather than that ubiquitous and ugly trench coat tan.

I thought perhaps I could order it online, but I can’t seem to find any on the (admittedly few) sites I looked at. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can get my hands on 3 metres of this fabric?

posted by orange swan to Shopping (4 answers total)

You might want to try Seattle Fabrics. If you're near a good bookstore, grab a copy of Threads Magazine and check out the ads. That's the place where all the serious (i.e., non-JoAnn's) fabric stores advertise.

Do you have a pattern? I think Folkwear used to have a good trench coat pattern, very Casablanca.
posted by esperluette at 8:55 AM on April 29, 2005

I read this as, "Where can I buy french toast fabric." Sorry I don't have an answer for that question, or for yours ;-)
posted by autojack at 5:31 PM on April 29, 2005

As an employee of said company, I assure you that JoAnn does not carry it. (But we do have magazines - like Threads - that may help you along the way. Probably patterns, too.)
posted by itchie at 7:30 PM on April 29, 2005

Response by poster: I do have a pattern - one for a simple top coat with princess seams that was meant to be made in tweed. (It's Burda 8292 if you can find it on the web anywhere- I couldn't.) Vogue seems to be the only pattern company that has a trench coat pattern, and after looking at the superflous buckles and flaps I decided something simpler would be more flattering and attractive.

Liked the Folkwear site though they didn't have a trench coat pattern that I could find.
posted by orange swan at 8:13 PM on April 29, 2005