The windows of Fabric Land never cease to amaze me…read more Everytime I walk past, I usually gasp in horror. Seriously. Who-ever designs the displays obviously thinks the best way to attract potential customers is with eye-catching outfits. The problem is, the ensembles they put on the models always look like they were made for blind goths, disco bunnies and transsexuals. We're talking the most trashy, mis-matching, ill fitting, unisex, halloween outfits I've seen in years. If you can get past the window, Fabric Land has everything you need to make your own more tasteful clothes. Spread over two floors, they have rolls and rolls of cotton, satin, chiffon, calico, denim, cord, velvet, velour, felt, gingham, hessian, lace, leather, patchwork, suede and towelling. They also have zips, buttons, boning, hooping and for those that love the window displays, PVC and fake-fur!

Fabric land is the best fabric shop in brighton. The others are ok, but the ones in the north laine…read morereally are for people who don't know how much fabric ACTUALLY costs, and like to wander around pretty looking shops. Fabric Land is for people who actually want to buy fabric. Fabric land has exceptionally good pricing, a massive range of fabrics, and helpful and fast, qualified staff. Go there first then, if you can't find what your are looking for, go to the others. But ALWAYS go there first. You'll find that the prices are very competitive and, particularly if you are making things to sell, this can drastically affect your margins. The only thing it could do with is a better website, as it's definitely a bit 1998!

As a crafting aficionado I'm often found wandering the aisles of this brilliant fabric store on…read moreWestern Road. It's a vast cavern with pretty much everything you could need to fashion something for yourself and if you run out of ideas, don't fear, because there's also a whole section of gifts from picture frames to vases. My favourite place is the second floor though which is an Aladdin's cave of fabrics and haberdashery as well as wools as well as crafting items: beads, paper, canvases and more. I bought myself a couple of feather cushions, buttons and cotton fabric from here for less than £12 recently, just need to find the time to make them now!

I don't know the first thing about sewing or anything like that, but I often find myself in C&H…read morewhen I'm looking for some bits and pieces to add to a fancy dress costume (big fancy dress fan here) I always find the staff extremely helpful when I visit, I always ask a dozen questions when I'm there but I'm never made to feel silly about it. I believe they have started doing sewing/knitting etc classes so it's something I would definitely consider when I get the time. I'm sick of using a hot glue gun for everything!

C & H Fabrics were founded in 1933 and are now concentrated in the south coast area. They are a…read moretraditional, old-fashioned fabric store, selling all sorts of things for the home. As others have said, the ground floor is a total mish-mash of things - a well ordered curtain section on the left, and an opportunistic mess on the right at the front, which can sell anything from women's shoes to hand-bags depending on what they've got in. Very strange. The Brighton store is set over three floors, and keeps a huge range of fabrics in stock, although the patterns tend to be traditional (lots of florals) rather than up-to-the-moment stylish. That said, they stock plenty of plain materials if you have a more minimalist flat: and anyway, chintzes are essential for gifts for great aunts. In the past I'd found service to be a strong point, but recently it seems to have become more of a mixed bag; when trying to buy curtains recently, I encountered an incredibly snotty saleswoman who could not have patronised me more if she had tried. Needless to say, it completely put me off buying anything here. Others are more helpful, but service can be a bit slow if they have a mini rush on (ie three people in one department at once). Getting in can be a problem, though: their very traditional opening hours feel rather limited these days - most shops in the area are open later (at least until 18h) and on Sundays, too. Good website, though.

A lovely, old fashioned shop. One of those places you go to as a last restort when you're looking…read morefor something, and find you should have come here first. They sell all kinds of curtains and fabrics, as well as a few other home decor related items,. and have a good sized craft section too. Anything to do with fabrics or sewing can be found here, and there's even an in store cafe.

I hate to break anyone's heart but Ditto Fabrics is not a store owned and run by Gossip singer Beth…read moreDitto. It's a specialist fabric store which stocks a wide range of high quality cotton, jersey, polyester, calico, silk, cord and wool fabrics. As well as the usual spots, stripes and checks, they sell buttons, threads and limited edition shirtings from certain high end, high street designers. Prices are reasonable and there's a special cheap section with offcuts and end of roll materials. Now, who can knock me up a copy of the dress Beth Ditto wore at Glastonbury a few years back?

Roll upon roll of material fill this North Lanes fabric and haberdashery shop. They have every type…read moreof fabric you can imagine...cotton, cord, cotton jersey, shot silk, wool...you name it, they'll have it. The prints are endless and its well worth a look, even if you have something incredibly specific in mind, as they might just stock what you're after. When I was last in I noticed they have a good selection of printed cotton jerseys...striped, floral and spotty...perfect for making a top or really soft pillow cases! As well as the reams of colourful, pretty and even sparkly fabrics, they stock more practical items too, such as heavy durable fabrics for home furnishings and upholstery and laminate table coverings for those with small messy children! If you're looking for the finishing touch to a textile project, Ditto also has a 'bits and bobs' section near the till, where you can find sequins, patches and coloured cotton etc. It's worth a look if you need to jazz up an outfit- I picked up lots of sparkly decorations for my Bestival costume here. The button collection by the door is also well worth investigating...the choice is endless- with an such an extensive assortment of colours, styles and sizes, you're bound to find what you're looking for!

I came here looking for some nice bright thread to do a gentle bit of stitching (I'm certainly far…read morefrom skilled with a needle) and was pleasantly surprised to find a great variety of tones and such for a perfectly reasonable 50p. On top of that, I found a trio of helpful, warm and fun loving staff that found laughing very easy, and gave Mostyns an extremely atmosphere. Although my beds tog factor (love that word) is to my liking, and I'm not going to be needing any new sheets anytime soon unless I decide to adopt a kitten and keep it in my pillow case, I couldn't help but browse what was on offer here. Very much sticking with traditional and soft, contemporary designs, its very orientated towards the family shopper. But at such reasonable prices for the quality, I may find myself coming back when I pack in my student lodgings and go and get a "proper" home. As a final note, I found myself particularly impressed by the range of curtains (a sentence I never expected to write at any point in my life)

An area like London Road always needs a fabric shop, especially the type of one that always has…read moresigns saying "closing down, all stock must go". That is one of the classic signs you will find here, that or "massive savings, up to 70% off". To their credit, Mostyns is a lot cheaper than I had expected to pay, I managed to buy a 2x2 metre piece of off white fabric for £2.50, which is about 25% then I would normally expect to pay. The store itself is pretty grotty and has certainly seen better days, but then you can't expect discount prices in luxurious surroundings.

I'm really not much of a crafty kind of person. Me and sewing machines certainly don't have a good…read morerelaionship. However, even the likes of me occasionally need to buy some fabric - in my case it's generally to accessorise some fancy dress outfit or other. Fabric Fair is stacked high with roll after roll of any kind of material you can imagine - it's hard to see how they fit so much into such a small shop. Prices are really reasonable, and staff are always helpful. They even managed to advise me on how to make a vampire cape.

There are two fabric shops in the Laines- Ditto Fabrics and New Fabric Fair. New Fabric Fair is the…read moremore chaotic of the two! There is loads of good stuff here- chiffons, cotton prints, wool, tweed- you just need to have a bit of time to hunt through to see what you might uncover. If you despair at finding the exact right fabric for that dress pattern then the staff are super helpful and seem to uncannily know what is piled under what. The chaos extends outside where they have rows of ends of lines that you can get for a bargain- you can negotiate on most prices actually but the stuff out front is really reasonable. They also have an excellent stock of ribbons and finishes. If ordered chaos inspires you then this is the place for you!