About Us
1st for Fabrics is a family-run fabric retailer based in the North East, UK.
After 26 years of running a vibrant fabric shop we are making the move to Northumberland where we will ship our fabrics out from our beautiful studio. Once we are settled in our new home we will also be offering open days and events as well as sewing classes, workshops and retreats.
How it all began:
Established in 2000, we set up our first shop in the factory space of one of the last clothing manufacturers in the North East – Varahwear on Albert St in Blyth. As we were finding our feet, our customer base steadily increased to a loyal local following. Word soon began to spread among the region’s talented factory seamstresses, then onto teachers and budding artists, students and photographers – soon we had a huge variety of people traveling from far and wide.
Our fledgling stock swelled in-line with our customer’s demands, and (despite taking over more of the Varahwear factory floor) we soon out-grew our little shop and began the hunt for bigger premises.
In 2001 we took two units on North Tyne Industrial Estate in Benton. Over the next 10 years in Units 20 J & H we took the shop in some exciting new directions – not only did our stock expand to dress patterns, haberdashery and top branded soft furnishing fabrics, but we also began our Made To Measure curtain service.
As a new generation fell in love with creating and crafting for themselves, our reputation for being the one stop fabric shop spread and our popularity continued to grow. In 2011 we once again found ourselves in need of more space. We didn’t need to look too far – just across the car park in fact!
In the summer of 2011, we opened the doors of Unit 9B and transformed it into a shop bigger than any of us could have imagined.
Soon after that we launched our first website and began sending our beautiful fabrics to all corners of the UK.
Covid came in 2020 and our legendary ‘toot n come out’ service was born - later renamed as ‘Click and Collect’!
And as we now get ready to leave Unit 9B, our home for 15 years, we look forward to an exciting new chapter of 1st For Fabrics.