Hawthorne Threads

Looking through Google Reader can be dangerous. Terri over at Sew-Fantastic posted about the new Hawthorne Threads (head to her blog for a giveaway). I've had good online fabric shopping experiences through a variety of vendors and, as a general rule, have found the ones from whom I purchase equal in terms of website, shipping, and selection, with the availability of the fabrics I need determining the place I spend money (too much money, usually). Sales and free shipping do lure me in.


Nevertheless, I think Hawthorne Threads (an evolution of Fabric Supplies on etsy) has made a large leap in terms of online fabric shopping. The site lured me into plunking down more money than I should have; however, I justified my decision to myself because I bought fabric that I've been lusting after for a while and plan on using it to make 2 quilts for myself over winter break, and that falls into the promise I made this summer to make something for myself. So, be forewarned about its power. Some of the things I really like about it:

*It's clean, well-designed, uncluttered, and yet chock full of information.
*You can buy in all sorts of different increments starting at a 1/2 yard.
*If you look at a collection, designer, or their picks, you see all of the fabrics on one page rather than needing to scroll through multiple pages.
*Your shopping cart updates the shipping price as you had fabric (and tells you it for the US, Canada, and the rest of the world).
*When you look at fabric already in your cart, the site tells you it's already in your cart.
*Tiered pricing and return-customer incentives: the more you buy, the more you save -- starting at 3 yards and determined by the total yardage, so 6 half-yard increments counts the same as 3 yards of one fabric. The discounts are additive, so you can get all discounts available to you.