Flannel Fabric Stores

What Flannel Stores Offer

A fabric store sells cloth the way a maker actually uses it: by the yard or fraction of a yard, cut from the bolt while you watch or shipped from a warehouse shelf. For flannel that means yarn-dyed plaids for shirts, printed cotton flannels for quilts and children's clothes, and soft solids for blankets and linings, usually alongside the patterns, buttons and notions the project needs. Retail prices are higher per yard than wholesale, but there are no production minimums standing between you and a single shirt.

Stores also let you judge the things a screen cannot show. Flannel varies more by touch than almost any common fabric, since the depth of its nap decides both its warmth and its softness. In a shop you can brush the surface, check whether a plaid is woven in or printed on, and hold colors together. Online stores answer with range and convenience, plus customer reviews that often report honestly how a flannel washed and whether it pilled.

Chains, Outlets and Specialists in the Listings

Beverly's is an established craft and fabric chain. It sells flannel by the yard at discount prices — cozy, soft and light all year round — from mills including Robert Kaufman, Spectrix and Hoffman. Beverly's has operated since 1968 in crafts, fabrics and home decor, with 20 stores in California, part of one of the larger privately owned crafts chains in the nation.

The other listings show the range of retail models. Buy Fabrics is the online decorator fabric outlet for Richtex Fabrics, with stores on the Gulf Coast in Daphne, Alabama, selling designer decorative fabrics often at or near wholesale prices. Croft Mill, based in the United Kingdom, is fanatical about fabric, with over 40 years of sourcing experience and limited stock on many lines. FlannelWorld.com took the specialist route, aiming, as a division of ADSS Inc, to provide a strong selection of 100 percent cotton flannel.

The Woolen Mill Store Route

Pendleton appears twice in these listings, once as the company and once for its Woolen Mill Store, and the distinction is worth understanding. A mill store sells the producing company's own fabrics directly, including first quality Pendleton fabrics, remnants and notions for sewing and crafting. More than a fabric store, the Woolen Mill Store also sells Pendleton yarn, buttons, notions and patterns, with weekly deliveries from Pendleton's mills bringing multicolored selvage and blanket trimmings prized by crafters for rugs and other creative projects.

Mill stores suit buyers who want a known cloth with a known character, and they reward visitors who enjoy remnants and mill ends. The selection follows the mill's own production rather than the whole market, so a mill store complements rather than replaces a general fabric store. If you are researching retailers more broadly, see the fabric store section of Apparel Search, linked among this page's resources.

Buying Flannel Well at Retail

Buy a little more than the pattern states. Cotton flannel can shrink on its first wash, plaids need extra yardage for matching at seams, and the nap means pieces must all be cut in the same direction, which uses cloth less efficiently than a fabric with no directional surface. Pre-washing at home before cutting settles the shrinkage question, and checking the bolt end for fiber content and width prevents the classic mistake of planning a wide project on narrow cloth.

Finally, ask what the store knows about reorder. A flannel bought for a quilt back or a set of matching family pajamas may need a second visit, and prints disappear quickly in seasonal ranges. Note the mill and design name from the bolt end while you are still in the shop. Stores appreciate being told about gaps, too: suggestions for additional resources are welcome, and good local knowledge is still how a directory like this one stays useful.

Flannel Fabric Retailers in This Directory

The listings below give each retailer's details in brief.