Denver Textiles, Fibers and Crafts

This is the “Big Kahuna” of fabric stores in Denver. Products include a terrific home-decorating section, a nice variety of woolens, linens and silks, and a broad selection of high-tech sports fabrics. Specialty fabrics include many hard-to-find items such as cotton batistes and organzas for fine French hand-sewing, cords, braids, and fine bridal trims & embellishments. There’s also a large selection of bargain fabrics.

My favorite area is the leather bin. I haven’t found any other place (except maybe Britex Fabrics in San Francisco) where I can paw through small, garment-weight leather hides. And Denver Fabrics’ prices are much better than Britex’s.

My favorite feature of the store is the ability to cut my own fabric and ribbons. This saves waiting time, and it’s fun! Plenty of staff are on hand to do the cutting and offer other assistance.

A couple of years ago, Denver Fabrics went through a major overhaul. They removed some categories of fabrics (such as quilting) because they wanted to focus on things that aren’t available elsewhere in Denver. Also, they converted most of the fabric displays from bolts to rolls. This allows them to present more fabrics in a smaller space, and in a format favored by the big fashion fabric houses like Mood in New York City. Although some of my sewing buddies haven’t had many complimentary things to say about the makeover, in my opinion, the change was a good one. It’s easier to review and compare fabrics without having to traverse a lot of floor space.

Although Denver Fabrics is only open until 6:00 most evenings, on Wednesdays they’re open until 8:00 p.m. This makes it easy for working people like me to get a “fabric fix” after work. They also have a website at http://www.denverfabrics.com/. The online store is serviced by a textile wholesaler, which means they have a broader selection of products than what’s available in the store.

Local fiber-art legend Dianne Denholm, former owner of the much-missed D’Lea’s Fabrics in North Cherry Creek, is the driving force behind the TACtile Textile Arts Center. This facility is a combination learning center, fiber art gallery, and fabric shop. It’s a Westword “Best of Denver” winner, and it is becoming a popular source of inspiration and support for craft enthusiasts across the city.

The TAC gallery has a broad range of fiber art garments and accessories. If you’re looking for unique gifts made by some of Denver’s best fiber artists, this is a very good resource.

In addition to weekly open-craft sessions, and talks with people who are in the craft business, the class schedule includes a broad variety of topics and techniques. Fiber art may be intimidating for beginners, but the teachers at TAC are excellent at helping everyone learn the skills and confidence to transform their ideas into material (ha) form.

TAC’s website is located at http://www.tactilearts.org/. The site includes class schedules, open sessions and special events.

Not only does Lambspun carry an excellent variety of yarns and weaving fibers, they also have their own line of high-quality alpaca, wool and silk yarns. The retail shop is stuffed with samples, books, projects, and delightful things you’re unlikely to find elsewhere. The staff are consistently helpful and knowledgeable, and there are usually a few knitters hanging around the cozy work room with a plate of cookies and something interesting on their needles.

The shop is north of Fort Collins, which is a major hike from Denver. However, this is one of the best of the many excellent yarn stores that line the Front Range. It’s well worth a day trip, especially since there’s a nice cafe on the premises, where you can get breakfast or lunch to fortify you for the long drive back home.

Fancy Tiger is a new fiber-arts mecca in the hip South Broadway area of Denver. Fancy Tiger sells high-quality and organic yarns, retro-inspired fabrics, felting and spinning fibers, and a nice variety of unique patterns and how-to classes.

The best thing about this shop is the inspiration it offers to beginners as well as experienced fiber junkies. I love the easy sewing and knitting projects that are displayed around the charming shop, as well as the hand-dyed, one-of-a-kind yarns. There’s a basement classroom that’s used for frequent classes and special events. The upstairs area is a cozy spot filled with wool roving and other felting & weaving supplies.

Fancy Tiger also has a clothing store on the same block. The shop serves as a venue for local fashion designers, and offers many beautiful, unique clothes and accessories. In fact, Fancy Tiger does a lot of community outreach with organizations such as the Denver Art Museum and the Denver Public Library. It’s great to see a new generation of fiber enthusiasts taking my beloved pastimes in new directions.

To see what’s up at Fancy Tiger, visit their website at http://www.fancytiger.com/. The Fancy Tiger blog (http://www.fancytiger.blogspot.com/) provides news and fun projects. It looks like they’re opening an Etsy shop soon, so please stay tuned for an update on that.

Ahh, Allyn’s…This shop is an Ali Baba’s cave of assorted bits and bobs. There are lots of things you didn’t know you needed, like fabulous beaded trims and Chinese brocades and thick, heavy peau de soie satin. The spools of ribbons and cord are stacked and jumbled together in an organized chaos that makes me feel like I’ll find the perfect trim if I dig far enough. (And I usually do!)

Allyn’s reminds me of the variety stores of my early childhood, when I fell in love with the treasure hunt of putting together a craft project. The shop carries simple trims, as well as beaded, rhinestoned and feathered specialty trims. Although they lack the types of products that typical fabric stores have (like denim or fleece), they have many things you can’t find elsewhere in Denver, such as brocades and batiks and, of course, bridal and bridesmaid fabrics.

Yummy, yummy yarns! The Lamb Shoppe offers a wide selection of high-quality yarns in a comfortable, inspiring shop. In addition to their lovely yarns, they have accessories, patterns, and a friendly staff who can help solve problems and provide inspiration.

On the Saturday I took Mom to this shop, the place was hopping. Sure, it was a winter weekend, when we all want to curl up with a woolly project and a cup of tea, but there’s a recession on! Why is all this yarn flying out the door?

Two words: Quality, and selection. The elegant displays contain a wide variety of Nordic, natural-fiber and novelty yarns. They have wool roving for spinning and felting, and some beautiful afghan kits. The retail space is very cozy and inviting.