Fabric Warehouse is a great wee fabric store tucked away behind Mt Eden Road…read more When I was in high-school and had various school balls to attend, the Fabric Warehouse was a lifesaver. I've never been much of a girly girl and didn't want the same satin style ball gown as every other girl, so instead went to the Fabric Warehouse found the perfect white fabric with black flowers around the hem and had my own 1950s style gown made. Not only was it completely original, but it was also pretty cheap. The Fabric Warehouse is really fairly priced and the lovely couple that work there are more than happy to help you locate the ideal fabrics for whatever project you are working on. A great selection of fabrics, zippers, buttons and threads are available at Fabric Warehouse, as well as a brilliant variety of patterns. My favourite are the vintage Vogue patterns they stock up by the counter - so inspirational, and what better place to be inspired than in a fabric store?! If you endeavour to sew your own clothing or even whip up some cheap and funky curtains or pillow cases - the Fabric Warehouse will provide everything you need!

The stores you would find me lingering in most of my recent days especially last weekend, were…read moreFabric Stores. On the hunt for that perfect light, silky fabric enough to be used at an event to hide other curtains, was definetly a mission on its own. I found walking into Fabric Warehouse, actually a relief because they seemed to have lots of different options. It turns out that the perfect material they had was all I needed except had to be doubled over to do the job. Good thing is that they had a 40% sale on certain curtain materials, and my chosen chiffon just happened to be amongst it. The lady working at the front of the store, her name was Lily, a very helpful Asian women, who was great in showing me as many options as she had in store. I noticed that you had a variety of material options from budget to expenisive so something to suit all tastes.

My friends and I were only visiting Auckland for a short stay and HAD to purchase New Zealand yarn…read more (You know how it is. ;) This store had it all, yarn, notions, tools, patterns, and most important, knowledge! In a short time we had everything explained to us, purchased, and were on our way. It's well worth a visit!

An excellent range of NZ yarns, including Outlaw Yarns, Zealana and plenty of merino wool, possum…read moreand local alpaca blends. Heaps of NZ designed and themed quilting fabrics, if you're into that kind of thing. Great to have a place in the city to buy thread and other goodies, too!

Newmarket is home to a surprising number of fabric stores, so it's a good suburb to head to if…read moreyou're either looking for fabric for clothing or for interior design. Fabrics Direct is worth a look as it has some fabrics not found in the other outlets, but unless you're doing a massive job and want to spend a significant amount of coin, I wouldn't put it at the top of your list. I went looking for fabric for curtains for one room, and this is what happened: Me: "Hello, I'm looking for curtain fabric" (I then describe colours etc. I'm after) Shopkeeper 1: "How much do you need?" Me: "Well, one window is only about a metre wide." Shopkeeper 1: "Well, that's alright. You'll need quite a lot so it can go to the floor and sit on the wall." Me "I don't want it to go to the floor or be bunched on the wall though." Shopkeeper 1: "Oh. You want caravan curtains then." Me: (confused, pretty sure I want curtains for a window in my house)"Oh." Shopkeeper 2: (calling out from behind a stack of fabric; hidden from view): "What is she after?" Shopkeeper 1: "Some small curtains" Shopkeeper 2: "Oh, tell her to get some caravan curtains" It went on like this for a while longer, the two woman discussing my needs without any reference to me. I definitely got the vibe that they were only really interested in helping people who lived in Remuera and had hundreds of windows that needed hundreds of metres of heavy brocade curtaining. Suffice to say, I left empty handed.

This gorgeous little space very recently opened up in St Kevin's Arcade on K-Road, across from the…read moreAlleluya cafe. It's a crafting space/cute sewing supply shop, run by the lovely Sarah and her intern, Rosie. Maybe you want to use a sewing machine or an overlocker for a few hours, maybe you want to cut out some patterns, or do some handstitching. Maybe you don't know anything at all about sewing, but you'd love to learn. Or maybe you just want to pick up some gorgeous vintage fabrics, notions, or handcrafted items from local NZ craftspeople. You can do all of these things here, and if you need a helping hand, Sarah and Rosie are more than happy to give you a few pointers. Everything inside is reclaimed/recycled - the machines, the tools, the fabric - everything! The decor is really cute and cosy, with the mismatching stools, and the lovely sewing decorations hanging everywhere. They offer classes on how to start sewing, or how to make skirts/tops, or how to mend clothes you already have, and refashioning stuff from your wardrobe! They also offer knitting classes, all at very reasonable prices. If you order coffee from Alleluya, they'll even bring it over to you in the cafe!

I always get great fabric here. The staff is kind and helpful regardless of your level of skill…read more GF has patterns and thread on site for purchase as well but no extras like elastic or buttons. The fabric is on the more expensive side but the quality is consistently very good. GF has a blog to get you started with ideas and a newsletter. I highly recommend signing up to the newsletter, you get notifications on sales :)

From the owner: The Fabric Store was first established in 1995 in New Zealand as Global Fabrics with flagship…read morestores in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. The first Australian store opened in Surry Hills, Sydney in 2008 followed by stores in Fitzroy, Melbourne and Fortitude Valley, Brisbane in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Our flagship U.S. store opened in West Hollywood, Los Angeles in 2013.

Geoff's is no longer the in-the-know Auckland hipster's secret. Go here on Halloween and you will…read moresee what I mean. Luckily, Halloween only happens once a year but year round Geoff's is the place that truly does have everything. I am most often here for random products like baby oil ($6 for a small bottle of branded petroleum by-product at a supermarket? $2 here), fabric dye, art supplies, sewing stuff and what must be Auckland's cheapest fabric. No offence to Spotlight, but go here first if you need anthing crafty. There's ribbon, cotton, buttons, sparkly bits, belt buckles, bra pads, googly eyes, appliques, patches.... on and on and on. The fabric selection is no small part of the shop and the pricing fairly freakin ridiculous. You'll also find toys, costume jewellery, probably Auckland's biggest range of wigs and "ready-costumes" for adults and kids, as well as such essential props as tiaras, plastic swords, feather boas, cowboys hats, gloves, face paint and garters. There are paints, brushes, canvases, dyes, sketch books...... You can even buy paperbacks, hardware, kitchen equipment, candles and it just goes on. What I love most about Geoff's is that it has been around as long as I can remember and as far as I know, Geoff himself is still around too. My kids love coming here with a handful of coins and leaving with treasures and so do I. The staff are awesome and Geoff's is such a wonderful reminder to me that some things don't ever change, they just get better with age.

This place is AWESOME. Recommended to me by a fellow sewing friend, I decided to check it out…read moretoday. Walked in the door and thought wow, this place is a bit...crappy. But then I walked in further, through the narrow door and into a huge space, filled with all manner of crafty supplies! I was there to buy interfacing, and buy it I did - 5m for $5! Incredible prices. I also got a zip for $1.05 and a belt buckle kit for $1. The prices are insane, even cheaper than what I paid living in the US. I saw some gorgeous fabrics in there, too, but I'm trying to watch my fabric budget right now so I sadly left it behind...for now. The woman who served me was really friendly, carefully rolled up my interfacing and asked about my projects. I can't wait to go back and browse their fabrics some more, and they will definitely be my go-to place for notions, too! I didn't explore the rest of the shop too closely, as I had a sick husband in tow, but they have a huge range of paint/art supplies, party supplies, incense and other trinkets, and heaps of other stuff too.

Martha's Fabrics and Little & Friday occupy the same large warehouse space on Melrose Road in…read moreNewmarket, therefore it is a magical place. Before or after enjoying what Little & Friday has on offer, continue to indulge your senses over on Martha's side. There are rows of beautiful exclusive curtain and upholstery fabrics to be found within these walls. Martha's source their fabrics from mills all over the world and the result is this amazing collection of prints, patterns, textures and colours that are unlike anything else that is available here. They also have samples you can take home. So if you're thinking of a change of interiors, take a trip to Martha's and prepare to get inspired.

Every time I go into Martha's Fabrics, I can almost convince myself I am an expert sewer and can…read moretransform my house by buying all the fabrics here and covering every item in my house with some of these beautiful fabrics. I can happily wander about the big stacks of material for quite some time. Martha's is a great treasure trove of upholstery/curtain/other-home-things fabric. I know at least one interior designer who uses it as her go-to place, not just for what they have in stock, but also as inspiration for colour trends and the like. The people who work here are always happy to help, and are good at showing you combinations of fabric you may not have considered, or can provide advice on the best sort of fabric for the type of item you want to make. They'll also leave you to wander around yourself if that's what you prefer. Finally, prices are pretty good too!

I was looking for a haberdashery shop near me and a year ago found The Remuera Wool shop. The shop…read moreis great with good selection of wools, threads and sewing items. Newish ownership with wonderful staff who also are knitters, crocheters and sewers so they know what they are talking about. On a Monday and Tuesday they have an informal group session where you can go with your project and get advice if it's needed or just craft. during the week they also give advice and will help you. prices are competitive.

I made the trek here last week (and I say trek, because I live in Newmarket and don't have a car,…read moreso I walked) in order to get some knitting needles. I did call first and ask if they had any, and they confirmed they did, so off I went. Firstly, it's a little hard to find, as it's tucked away at the back of a little arcade and the only sign it might be in there is an old Janome sign on the street. It's quite small, but seemed to have a decent range of yarn and sewing machines, fabric and notions. Unfortunately, their selection of knitting needles was quite small, and extremely overpriced. They were selling the same needles in there that I later saw in Knit World, only they wanted about $8 more for them! I'll go back to check out their sewing supplies, since I've heard good things, and hopefully their prices for fabric are more reasonable.

I don't really know what I was expecting from this store when I walked in. Maybe a shop full of…read moreelephant crafts. Elephant shaped things? Are there any elephants in this store? The answer is no, I couldn't find any. On the bright side they do have some other nice things that aren't elephant related. Lots of little knick knacks and crafts all specially handcrafted by Homegrown artisans. Now that can't be a bad thing! It's a really good place to come if you are looking for a very 'kiwi' gift to send to friends and families overseas. And there's a whole lot of kauri/ wood ware. I mean a WHOLE lot. I think maybe they should rename it to something with wood in the title. It might be more reflective of the product they do actually stock.

An absolute nightmare…read more I was excited when I read the reviews and decided to visit. However, when I shipped over $500 worth of gifts it arrived poorly packed and completely destroyed. It has been months and they say they will reimburse me, but never followed through. Also found their exact merchandise for a fraction of the cost elsewhere. Feel completely ripped off. Do yourself a favor. Go somewhere else!