Shopping for Fabrics in Paris

By: Nicole

Wherever my travels may take me, I always make it a point to seek out a local fabric store. A couple yards of fabric can be the perfect souvenir. During a quick trip to Paris, I found myself exploring the fabric shops in the Paris neighborhood of Montemarte (18e); Anvers Metro stop. The Montemarte fabric shops are scattered over a couple blocks at the foot of the Sacré Coeur Basilica gardens. Many of the shops offer similar items but you can easily spend a good part of the day exploring this area.

Sacre-Coeur Basilica

Start your day at Sacre-Coeur and enjoy one of the best views of Paris from the Basilica’s front entrance. After your visit, walk down the stairs through the park and you have arrived! Montemarte – the discount fabric district!

Before you start shopping, familiarize yourself with some specifics:
Tissus = fabric
Coupons = remnants
vente en gros = wholesale only
vente en detail = open for retail customers

I started at Marché Saint-Pierre. Five floors of sewing heaven, everything and anything you could possibly be looking for as their website states.  Shop associates are standing by and ready to cut your fabric requirements.

2008-08-11_c_Déballage Marché Saint-Pierre-01 (Photo credit: pakitt)

Across the street from Marché Saint-Pierre is Tissus Reine. Also a large store, expect to peruse through 3 floors of fabric closeouts. What you see in the store today may not be there tomorrow, as with all of the remnant (“Coupons”) shops.

Tissus Reine

Just down the street from Tissus Reine at 2 Rue Livingstone, is Moline. Moline actually stretches the equilivent of several fabric shops. As with most of the fabric shops, bolts of fabric and bins of remnants stacked up near the shop entrances entice you into another fabric haven. It was here that I purchased finely woven pink & cocoa plaid wool that is reminiscent of Coco Chanel.

Moline

My last stop for the day was MBF Décoration at 10 rue d’Orsel. This is a tiny upholstery fabric shop where I purchased a gorgeous multi-color confetti pattern on a white background. I have plans on using this material for a festive summer clutch purse.

MBF Décoration

If you plan on traveling to Paris with the intention of fabric shopping, I recommend traveling to the Montemarte neighborhood. Tucked in between the fabric shops are your haberdasheries & notion speciality shops. You can easily spend the day here as there are many cafes and coffee shops to give you a good break before your next stop.

Be sure to say bonjour or merci to the shop assistant upon entering or exiting their establishment.

Traveling to Paris for some fabric shopping? I would love to know where you ventured, what you purchased and what you will be designing with your fabulous fabric from France!