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I am often asked why I don't provide fabric sample books for customers, or include the cost of fabric in my pricing. I made the decision when I started Sew Susanna, that I wanted to be able to provide the best quality products I can for the most affordable price. Supplying fabrics hinders this in two ways:
Firstly, every fabric sample book, from every supplier has to be purchased from the manufacturer. In order to have a range wide enough to cater for all my customers' tastes the investment in books would be substantial and ongoing (as ranges become obsolete and trends change). This is an overhead that I would have to reflect in my prices.
Secondly, with fabric making up a large portion of the cost of soft furnishings, if I am able to exclude it from my prices, I am able to keep my annual turnover below the VAT threshold. I don't want to charge 20% tax or have the time-overhead of administering VAT, as again these are all costs that I would have to pass on to my customers.
Whilst I don't rule out offering fabric in the future, in my current circumstances, it doesn't make sense.
I do however know fabrics very well, and with a little bit of a brief from you, I can quickly point you in the right direction of particular brands that I think you will like. I have also listed below some of my favourite fabric sources, and have highlighted those that have great sample services. Click on the logos below to visit each supplier,
Jane Clayton has an extensive range of fabrics and is easy to search as you can filter by price range, colour, style and brand. They send out free samples too and often have sales events.
Your Stylish Home has a vast range and is easy to filter by price range, colour, style and brand. There are often great deals to be had on designer end of line styles and you can order samples, the cost of which can be redeemed against your eventual order
The Millshop Online is a great source of affordable fabrics, most of which are under an own brand and are therefore not available elsewhere. Particularly good for more classic designs, the shop can be filtered by price range, colour, brand and fabric type. Free sample are available too.
Ebay shouldn't be underrated as a fabric source. If you know exactly what fabric you want, its always worth a search here as many fabric merchants sell off remnants, slight seconds and end of line fabrics for a fraction of their normal cost. Additionally my fellow soft furnishing makers will sell off their excess remnants at a discount. It's a particularly great source of fabric for Roman Blinds as you will typically need much smaller quantities and are therefore able to pick up a remnant bargain - a great option for sustainably minded customers.