Okay, so here is my list of good crafty places to visit in Toronto. I get asked occasionally by people coming to visit or people moving here to recommend where to go, and so I thought I would put together this list. It is by no means exhaustive, I know there are lots of other cool things in this city that I don’t know about (feel free to share them in the comments) but these are just the places I like to go. Don’t forget to check out Toronto Craft Alert for more local crafty info.
Fabric shops
textile district – along queen street from spadina to bathurst are numerous small fabric stores. You never know what you will find! My favorite is:
designer fabric showroom – 396 Queen Street West – cheap, cheap, everything is $3-$5 a metre, with a minimum cut of three metres
designer fabrics – 1360 Queen St. W – lots and lots of stuff, some designer, some quite affordable. See my post here
mac fab (Macdonald Faber) – 600 Queen St W – home dec fabrics, trims, notions
fabricland- Hudson Bay Center, 2-20 Bloor Street E – old standby
Bobrowski Textiles – 1306 St. Clair Ave W- an old, strange fabric shop. Nice vintage and imported european fabrics. See my post here. Might be kind of out of the way, but if you make the trip, be sure to stop for gelato at La Paloma across the street at Lansdowne.
Art/Craft Supplies
Curry’s – various locations – my favorite for art supplies, at good prices
Woolfits – 1153 Queen St. West – a great art supply store, screenprinting supplies
Loomis – arts and crafts supplies
Mokuba Ribbons and Trim – 575 Queen St. W
the paper place – 887 queen st. west
arton beads - 523 Queen St W – great selection of beads, I could spend a ton here!
various shops in Chinatown – tap phong is one of my favorites for dishware and odd items, others have some craft stuff and just interesting to look in! – spandina, dundas to college
Places to shop
fresh collective – 692 queen street west
preloved- 613 queen street west
skirt - 903 Dundas St. West
frock – 97 Roncesvalles Avenue
courage my love - kensington market
Yarn shops
lettuce knit – 66 1/2 nassau street (kensington market)
knit cafe – 1050 Queen st w
knit-o-matic – 1378 Bathurst
Romni Wools – 658 Queen street west
the Naked Sheep – 2144A Queen Street East
Other interesting stuff
textile museum of canada – 55 Centre Avenue
Harbourfront Centre
clothing show
creative sewing and needlework fair
one of a kind show
Flamboro and Aberfoyle antiques market – technically in Guelph not Toronto, about an hour or so (?) away, but well worth the visit!
Posts
Wow, now all I have to do is plan a trip to Toronto
6/5/2006 @ 2:00 pm
What a great guide! Thank you so much for sharing!
6/5/2006 @ 2:19 pm
Ive been waiting and waiting for your Toronto list, and its here!! Ive been to most of the places, but am excited to try some that I havent been to.
You are wonderful, thankyou!
6/5/2006 @ 5:23 pm
I forgot to mention, one of my fave places I always have to go to when in TO, The Beguiling!
http://www.beguiling.com/home.htm
Yeah, its a comic store really…but still, its a really great place.
6/5/2006 @ 6:50 pm
ok… so toronto here i come… {i wish}
6/5/2006 @ 7:08 pm
and Bling Bling across from Arton…stunning freshwater pearls in all shades for super cheap!
6/5/2006 @ 9:59 pm
For great shirts/sweaters etc. Hardboiled in Kensintgon Market….
http://www.hardboiledinc.com/
6/5/2006 @ 11:13 pm
Right On!!! My parents just moved to TO so heading out this July to visit (me & the 2 kids) Plan to visit a few of these crafty places. By the way, appreciated the Vancouver list as well – have lived here all my life but must admit, quite a few places I’d never been to or even heard of!!! I need to get out more…
6/5/2006 @ 11:33 pm
I want to move to your place, or at least come for a looong visit!
6/6/2006 @ 4:25 am
Hi!
I must tell you about Stella Luna located at 1627 Queen St. W. (at Roncesvalles Ave.). It’s a quaint little shop packed to the gills with clothing and accessories (shoes, purses, jewellery) and much more.
Now, if that Roncesvalles streetcar was a tad bit faster, I’d be inclined to frequent that neighbourhood more often…
Here’s an on-line blurb:
For truly fashionable vintage, follow the stylists and students to Stella Luna. Owner Crispian Underwood always keeps her eye on the catwalks and shies away from costumey vintage: “I try to stock things that people will actually wear.� And there are many designer items, all at fabulous I’ll-take-three prices.
6/6/2006 @ 9:14 am
You have to check out what I think is called Abelard or Abolard on Queen Street East near Coxwell – it’s kind of in the Leslieville area great for all kinds of Vintage Clothing going back to the 30′s and 40′s. She also has tons of vintage fabric.
While you are there you should also check out Winkle cute little store full of crafty stuff and fabrics, etc. cool oil cloth if you are into that. If you like Retro furniture check out Ethel, and the other various furniture and clothing shops in Leslieville.
If you can make it closer to the beaches check out Sticks and Stones one of the best antique jewellery and clothing stores…a little $$ but she has some grab boxes of costume jewellery for $5-10 range that are tons of fun.
If you can make it all the way into the beaches you should stop by Mira’s Boutique – she’s closed on Wednesdays though – she has some vintage fabric hiding at the back of her store –
If you ever venture up to the Danforth and like ice cream a lot and I mean a lot you should stop by at The St. Clair Ice Cream Factory Outlet – it’s cheap and they give you a lot for your money!
If you have the chance to stop by Little India you should! Fabric is very cheap there and you can also pick up some beautiful Indian jewellery and if you like spicy food try Sidartha – the best indian food restaurant in the city -
If you have a car and are coming down during the week there are some hidden warehouses on the outskirts of Toronto that have great deals on fabric. I would have to look through my info to find the addresses of these stores…and I’m moving so it’s not that accessible at the moment…but if you go to http://www.bestbuys.ca/ and look under fabrics and linens they are listed in there somewhere.
6/6/2006 @ 10:53 am
If only this was up last fall!!! I was able to find Lettuce Knit atleast to pick my souvenier yarn! Thanks!
6/6/2006 @ 11:10 pm
Perfect timing! I’m flying from Vancouver to Toronto today! Thanks, Thimble!
6/8/2006 @ 10:50 am
what an awesome guide, thank you Laural! I live here and I’ve only been to about half the places on your list so guess who’s planning a crafty day out in the city?
6/9/2006 @ 7:57 pm
Please tell me where the picture of the large thimble was taken, it is a question in our Guild paper asking where in Canada is this thimble.
Thank you,
Diana Radelet
6/11/2006 @ 6:56 pm
do you know if Bobrowski Textiles is still open?
7/6/2006 @ 5:39 pm
Last year at the Tranzac club in the annex, there was a really great craft show. Congratulations to Jen Anisef, the organizer. We wish we could have had her back but alas. I’ve been asked to get something together again for this year and I’m inviting vendors to apply. Web-sites would be great. The show is September 23rd. E-mail me at annetta@battey-pratt.com
8/30/2006 @ 4:27 pm
I hope you might consider adding our store to your list of Toronto fabric shops. We carry an exciting collection of fabric including Kaffe Fassett, Amy Butler, April Cornell and Robyn Pandolf as well as books, patterns, classes etc. This is not your grandmother’s quilt store! Thanks
10/30/2006 @ 11:28 am
Sew Sisters quilt shop is a local source for top quality quilt fabric at discount prices. You can visit us online at http://www.sew-sisters.com or in North York at 3881 Chesswood Drive. Our shop is opening September 12th, 2007. We hope you will find time to visit us! Judy
8/1/2007 @ 3:24 pm
The thimble is on the North West corner of Spadina and Richmond in Toronto’s fashion district. It’s a piece called “Uniform Measure/Stack” by Stephen Cruise. Street artist Victor Fraser later added a 25 metre tape measure painted on the sidewalk.
8/10/2007 @ 12:00 pm
Thanks so much for the great guide. I’m heading down to Toronto tomorrow for a fabric shop, just wondering if you know whether Bobrowski Textiles is still open, or no?
Thanks so much once again.
8/13/2007 @ 1:30 pm
Hello! My daughter in going to Ryerson University and living in residence at 240 Jarvis Street. She is taking Fashion communications and often has to go purchase fabric and notions. Do you know of a fabric store close enough to ILLC residence to walk?
10/18/2007 @ 10:52 pm
Sew Sisters quilt shop is a Toronto for top quality quilt fabric at discount prices and I thought I better update – we have moved to a new location at 3961 Chesswood – we have lots of terrific quilt fabric at discount prices — hope to see you soon – Judy http://www.sew-sisters.com
1/8/2008 @ 9:22 pm
Hi
I’m wondering if you know of a place I could buy a small quanity (25-50) of woven or embroidered clothing labels. I’m just starting out sewing childern’s clothing and I want to try my hand at selling it, but I don’t want to invest in a large quanity at first.
Thanks
Pam
10/19/2008 @ 8:13 pm
Just what I’ve been looking for! Thank you so much! Would you happen to know where I can find something similar for the durham region?
4/15/2009 @ 9:35 pm
Thanks! I was also wondering if you knew where to get wool felt? And the fabric places you mentioned, do they supply less than 3 metres as I’m just looking for fabrics to make cloth dolls?
12/17/2009 @ 1:48 pm
lets have some more information…on an ongoing basis,
6/25/2010 @ 3:01 pm