Many of the recent bags I’ve been making have been calling for Soft and Stable, which is a really great product that adds shape to bags, but it’s not very easy to find. Connecting Threads carries it though,  and they even have it on black or white!

Today I’m very excited to start a series here that I’ve decided to call the “Everything Else” Series. The typical scenario I see amongst fellow sewists goes something like this: 
“I found the perfect fabric to make this purse I have a pattern for!” 
*Runs off to look at pattern again, only to discover the fabric itself is actually just a small part of the bag*
“huh…where I do I find everything else?”

I buy almost all of my fabric from Canadian online shops; there are actually many really great ones, like Stay Home Fabrics and Fabricspark.com, and many more featured in Thread Riding Hood‘s series found here. So, finding fabric in Canada is getting a lot easier, but I find that locating everything else can still be a challenge.  I hope this series, featuring shops that carry some of these harder to find items, will help ease the challenge.

The series will actually start with an American online shop, Connecting Threads, and I’m featuring them because unlike many American shops that ship to Canada, this shop actually has the items shipped from Canada, so you aren’t hit with any surprise custom/duty fees. They even offer free shipping to Canada with orders over a certain amount from time to time (like, right now actually) 

In addition to their high quality, affordable thread, Connecting Threads carries a large variety of items.

When working with Soft and Stable, I find that Wonder Clips are much nicer to use than pins. Connecting Threads has a big selection of notions, including Wonder Clips. They’re even on sale right now. Have a look through their tools section for lots of fun tools that make the job easier.

In addition to all the great tools, thread and other extras, they have a pretty great selection of fabric too! I picked up some of the new Cotton + Steel Tokyo Train Ride.

Are there any really great Canadian shops I should know about? Send me an email, or let me know in the comments.