This place will have you screaming "YES YES YES" like Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally, you know…read morewhat scene I'm talking about. I looooove finding unique bespoke buttons and speaking with the fabulous and passionate staff. They are so informative, helpful and hypeful for your next project. I love these people!!

This is such a wonderful shop! The customer service was outstanding! Found what I wanted and…read morepleased with the friendliness of the staff

"Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled…read morespirit either." - Elizabeth Zimmermann I imagine even unpracticed knitting would soothe spirits and warm fingers and hearts if done within the confines of this cosy shop. The rainbow of yarn tucked away in the shelves covering all six walls of the two rooms in this shop could only make me smile and pleased the obsessive compulsive within. The shop keeper was packing up after a crocheting class but was still very welcoming without being intrusive or pushy. They have a regular schedule of knitting, embroidery, crocheting and patchwork classes which is held at the large wooden table in their second room and appear to be accompanied with tea served in china cups and saucers. Nanna would be proud.

Bolts of fabric line the walls and cover almost all available floorspace. The further you walk back…read moreinto the store, the further it seems to go on like some strange space-bending time warp. Amongst the truly hideous polyesters and sequinned monstrosities there is a wide range of beautiful shot silks and weird Korean laces that make me wish I was a better stitcher. The staff were helpful, and the prices are reasonable, although having Kyle & Jackie O playing is a definite turn-off for me. There is no excuse for being force-fed Katie Perry under any circumstances. I half expect that next time I go back, the back wall of the shop will have extended further into some weird other dimension. I suspect lime-green sequins will not be cool there either.

I was recommended by a friend who is a dance student to come here for fabrics for my year 12 major…read moreproject. The staff members are very nice and honest, and they have a huge range of bridal fabrics! Much cheaper than Spotlight and better service. I personally like Kyle & Jackie O. A shop with music is better than an awkward one with none... but that's just me.

I used Fabric Gardens to buy a Christmas present.The passion of the owner (Sue) & her attention to…read moredetail was very good. I recommend this company.

From the owner: Fabric Garden is an online business supplying modern quilting and patchwork fabric and is located…read moreon the lower north shore in Sydney, Australia.

One of Sydney's newest art spaces. Sew Make Create has been around for almost a couple of months…read morenow. The owner, top Sydney designer Melissa Tan-Lu and Sew Make Create's resident dog Pepper are just adorable. The whole shop is quite funky :) I was fortunate to have been invited (through another blog) to experience their beginners crochet course with Bronwen. I arrived on a Wednesday night at 7pm a little tired yet eager as anything to learn, and learn heaps. My manual dexterity skills deflated me for a while, yet I was amazed with the crochet stitch and getting into a granny square so soon with confidence. The class sizes are rather small which is great. Lindt chocolate balls were provided with water as stunning refreshments, as well as biscuits and tea. This course is also available on selected weekends. Sew Make Create also run a variety of other craft courses. After the beginners crochet course, if you wish to take things further, then the crochet clinic is for you. Instead of yarn, turn that yarn into 'plarn' with a plastic bag crochet course. Sew Make Create is a dynamic arts space that also rents out sewing machines, and hence provides ample working space to design some pretty clothes. Sew Make Create also sell sewing machines and craft supplies. Sew Make Create (from the request of many parents) have put together a fantastic course schedule for the kids school holidays coming up, as at the time of writing this. Beginners crochet is also covered, and kids can also learn cupcake decorating and also learn how to make these adorable felt brooches. Located in Chippendale right near the Broadway Shopping Centre. If you're curious (in more detail) as to how my beginners crochet experience went recently, then follow this link: http://www.weekendnotes.com/crochet-for-beginners-sew-make-create/ For more information on the various courses put on especially for kids these school holidays, then follow this link: http://www.weekendnotes.com/crafty-school-holiday-activities-sew-make-create/ With many initiatives to ensuring that Sydney is an arts and crafts focused city, when is now a better time to learn a new craft? Go on, unleash the craft master within!

From the owner: Sew Make Create aims to encourage learning and creativity through providing the right environment,…read moreassistance and facilities

When people want to buy a fabric, they have a certain idea of the item of clothing they want to…read moremake, its design, its colour, the pattern etc. Fabric stores should understand that and try to assist people in finding that particular fabric. Fabric stores significantly increase the possibilities of what can be created. It is not a dress shop where it has a limited number of dresses and if you do not find the style, colour of clothing etc. you are looking for there is nothing you can do but look elsewhere. Tessuti does not get this and their staff are too lazy to even look for a product that may suit you to help you. I called them and asked them for a certain fabric. The lady who answered the phone and had an accent told me just to search online. I looked online only to discover that they had very little of their stock online and she was not bothered looking for me. I travelled into the store and asked the sales lady whether she had this sort of fabric and showed her a dress with that sort of fabric I owned. Straight away she said we sold out. So I said ok, when are you getting some more? She said that is it, we sold out. I asked whether she can order some more or ask the supplier who else would sell it and she was not interested. I told her that she was very unhelpful and she told me to go to the store that I bought the dress from and ask them for their supplier. I thought it was ludicrous that she wanted me to ask a store that sells dresses made in China where they get their fabrics from. She was so lazy that she would not even get out the sample books they have of all the fabrics and provide me with the name of the fabric and the company that supplies it (which is on the sample book) so I could go directly to them. I was so turned off by their disinterest in providing custoner service that I will not go back again. It is really sad that they are one of the bigger fabric stores in Sydney and they are so unhelpful. I am better off just looking for it online and giving my business overseas like so much of Australia when the customer service is so poor.

Ouch. Bad pun pain. I walked in the door and was met by a sparkly orangutan card. And 'Stairway to…read moreHeaven' belting out over the stereo. I have a bit of a perverse fascination with patchwork stores. I sew other things, but don't quilt, and love the bolts of colourful fabrics piled up everywhere. This store has a bunch out the back of the more modern funky variety which you don't see elsewhere. Odd vintage inspired prints like 1950's illustrations, bizarre cat and poodle prints (good gracious) and enough fluffy fabric to keep my chenille-obsessed mother happy. But to get to them, you have to walk through the much larger scrapbooking section. I'm sorry, but I don't get scrapbooking at all. It's not craft if all you do is paste. And since much of the stuff you buy is self-adhesive, it's not even pasting. Craft for the creatively-illiterate? Really, Martha Stewart cupcake wrappers? There's a whole big world out there ladies.... So, scrapbooking and Led Zepplin. I could feel my brain going a bit fuzzy. Feared impending stroke as the poor overheated organ strained to compute. Walked past busy staffers and crocheted fish. Tiny alphabet stamps and enough ribbon to keep a few maypoles going. I'll be back for the retro prints after I've calmed down...