PSCo Picks: The Best Places to Shop for Swim Fabrics & Notions

Written by: Ashley Riley

May 1, 2024

Time to read 5 min

Introducing PSCo Picks- Swim Edition

Read along as we tell you the 6 best places to shop for your swim fabric and give you a round-up of our most used sewing notions!

What are we looking at?

Location
Shipping
Price ($-$$$)
Why we love this company
Designer Recommendations

Let's get it!

Table of Content

Introduction The Best in Swim Fabrics & Notions PSCo Picks: Swim Fabrics & Notions 1. Fabric + Flow 2. Raspberry Creek Fabric 3. Surge Fabrics 4. Shear Perfection Fabric 5. Mily Mae Fabrics 6. El Centenario Fabrics What about swim notions? Swim Sewing Notion Round-Up Swim Patterns to Pair Frequently Asked Questions Related Readings

The Best in Swim Fabrics & Notions!

PSCo Picks: Swim Fabrics & Notions

1. Fabric + Flow

As a Canadian fabric shop, they pride themselves on offering high-quality fabrics and supplies that inspire the creative soul within sewists. Every thread, every pattern, every texture is chosen with you in mind, ensuring that your next project is not just a creation, but an expression of who you are.

Edmonton, Canada
1-2 weeks to get order ready
- For shipping within Canada - Estimated 2-9 business days.
- For shipping to the U.S. - Estimate 3-7 business days.
Price ($-$$$)

Why we love Fabric + Flow: Everything on the F+F website feels so intentionally chosen and we can't argue with the quality of the fabrics!

Designer Picks: Check out some of our designer's favorite prints or fabrics from Fabric + Flow!

Shop Fabric + Flow

2. Raspberry Creek Fabrics

Raspberry Creek Fabrics has hundreds of apparel fabrics in stock and offers eco-friendly in-house textile printing. They offer fresh new CLUB designs for every season, have a huge designers studio collection or give you the option to upload your own.

Sandy, UT
5-7 business days
Price ($-$$)

Why we love RCF: Raspberry Creek offers tons of great and affordable prints and solids. We love the option to custom print fabrics to the scale that we need and the whole shopping at RCF feels very personal- they even print your name in the selvage of your fabrics!

Designer Picks: Check out some of our designer's favorite prints or fabrics from RCF!

Shop Raspberry Creek Fabrics

3. Surge Fabrics

Surge Fabric Shop is a small, family run business that offers quality fabrics and provides exceptional customer service to ensure that each customer is satisfied.

Located in Lebanon, MO
1-2 business days
Price ($-$)

Why we love Surge Fabrics: Surge is a one stop shop for all your swim sewing needs. You can find designer deadstock, elastic, powermesh, swim cups, clasps and closures!

Designer Picks: Check out some of our designer's favorite prints or fabrics from Surge!

Shop Surge Fabrics

4. Shear Perfection Fabrics

Online fabric shop specializing in knits and apparel fabrics!

Milestone Sask, Canada
2-4 business days
Price ($$)

Why we love Shear Perfection Fabrics: Shear always chooses the trendiest of colors and prints. Shear is another shop that feels intentional. They select all their textiles with current trends in mind and the quality of the fabrics is top notch!

Designer Picks: Check out some of our designer's favorite prints or fabrics from Shear!

Shop Shear Perfection Fabrics

5. Mily Mae Fabrics

Mily Mae is a small online fabric shop specializing in knit and apparel fabrics!

Arizona
5-7 business days
Price ($)

Why we love Mily Mae Fabrics: MMF is one of our go to fabric shops. They always have trendy prints and fabrics- like textured swim! Plus, they are one of the more affordable places to shop for your swim fabrics!

Designer Picks: Check out some of our designer's favorite prints or fabrics from MMF!

Shop Mily Mae Fabrics

6. El Centenario Fabrics

El Centenario Fabrics is a family owned fabric company in Los Angeles, California that specializes in retail and wholesale fabrics.

Los Angeles, California
Fast Shipping
Price ($)

Why we love El Centenario Fabrics: ECF carries a little bit of everything! They have been on our radar for over a year and our designers have bought everything from cotton lycra, to athletics, to swim! They offer a ton of colors in each of their bases and are very affordably priced!

Designer Picks: Check out some of our designer's favorite prints or fabrics from ECF!

Shop El Centenario Fabrics on Etsy

What about swim notions?

Swim Sewing Notion Round-Up

Check out our top 10 pick for some must have swim sewing notions and supplies!

1. Sewline Riolis Sewline Water-Soluble Fabric Glue Pen with Refill-Blue

2. Dritz Dual Purpose Disappearing Ink Marking Pen

3. Fiskars Self Healing Cutting Mat, 24inch x 36inch

4. Fiskars 45mm Rotary Cutter

5. Dritz 9438N Cotton Swimwear Braided Elastic, Natural, 3/8-Inch by 60-Yard

6. Premium Plastic Sewing Clips, 100 Pcs

7. Fiskars Thread Snip Scissors

8. Waterproof Swimsuit Bra Insert Pads

9. Stretch Machine Needles-Size 14/90 5/Pkg

10. Lightweight Clear Elastic 1/4'' Wide 10 Yards

Shop PSCo Picks on Amazon

Thank you for reading along!

Hopefully you learned a little something about where to shop for your swim fabrics & notions. Check back with us for more swim week content!

Shop PSCo Patterns

Swim Patterns to Pair!

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the first thing that I should look for when shopping for swim fabric?

First thing I look for is a high spandex content! Swim fabric needs to stretch, but more than that, it needs recovery! It needs to be able to hold up when it get's wet. I look for at least 15% spandex for my swim fabrics.

What does GSM mean?

GSM refers to "grams per squared meter" and is used to measure the weight of the fabric. You'll likely notice this unit of measurement on most fabrics but some may use ounces. For swim I like 200-220 GSM fabrics. They are nice and heavy, feel supportive, and are easier to work with. Plus, they're usually pretty opaque which is a big plus!

What about swim lining?

So I have a love hate relationship with traditional swim lining. You know the kind that feels like support hose lol

One thing I have been doing for a few years now is lining my swimsuits with swim fabric instead of a swim lining. I think it makes the swimsuit a lot more opaque, especially for light prints, and offers a lot more structure.

When I do decide to use swim lining, I usually opt for a micro nylon fabric versus traditional swim lining. It's light, dries quickly, and feels a lot less like scratchy pantyhose!

What do I do if my swimsuit feels too tight or the fit is not what I want?

First, always make a muslin! This will usually save you a lot of headaches in the long run.

Second, check your sizing. Make sure that you have made the correct size for your measurements.

And third, check your fabrics and notions. Make sure that your fabric (main and lining) has 4 way stretch, nothing was cut off grain, and your elastic has adequate stretch.

Lastly, make the grading and sizing decisions that are right for YOUR body! Designers do their best to try and cater to as many people and preferences as possible but at the end of the day all bodies are different and we are all looking for something different from our swimsuit. Do what feels right for you!