Ahoy Sewists! Set Sail on This Ocean of Sewing Notions
above PEXELS
Whether building up your stash or treating yourself to a sneaky splurge, it can be tempting to blow your entire sewing budget on big-ticket items like exciting new patterns or fabulous fabric. But the astute shopping sewists among us should know better than to forget the intriguing notion of notions.
Sewing notions is the charming name given to all the bits and pieces that go into making your projects that aren’t fabric – think buttons, zips, elastic, ribbons, thread, hardware – as well as encompassing a wide range of the smaller sewing tools like pins and needles, rulers and cutting tools.
What a wonderful world of sewing essentials to consider! A perfect place to peruse for a little treat or to spark inspiration for your next project with the most darling set of statement buttons. We’ve collected some of our favourite spots to shop for marvellously nifty sewing notions.
PIGEON WISHES
Beginning as a sewing blog in 2015, Pigeon Wishes is a family business, founded by partners in love and life Megan Valero and Duan YuHao, that is dedicated to providing beautiful, sustainable and innovative sewing products to makers and businesses. While they do sell fabric – specialising in plant-based cellulose fabrics like Tencel, Bemberg Cupro, NAIA and Sorona – they are known for their bright and brilliant bio-resin buttons, which are, to coin a phrase, as cute as a button!
SOHMO
SOHMO is a Melbourne-based brand focused on fine-quality tools designed to last a lifetime of creativity. Founder Sonya Morris comes from a family of women who sewed professionally and personally, entangling her in the sounds and sensations of sewing since childhood. From scissors hand-crafted in Italy and Japanese milliner needles to Australian beeswax for strengthening thread, every SOHMO product is a work of art and craftsmanship that makes sewing a symphony of snips, slices and stitches.
KYLIE AND THE MACHINE
Kylie Brûlé hardly needs an introduction. She and her eponymous machine burst onto the sewing scene in 2017 when her whimsical sewn-in woven labels became a must-have for any sewist in the know. And, not only does Kylie and the Machine offer an expansive array of adorable labels (including collabs with DIY Daisy and Mel Stringer), but she also stocks a bunch of handy notions like magnetic pin dishes, tools and hardware kits for jeans, jean jackets and dungarees!
ARROW MOUNTAIN
Bring a touch of the trees to your makes with Arrow Mountain’s gorgeous assortment of wooden sewing goodies. Based in Melbourne, Ho-Mei, the one-woman powerhouse behind the brand, started making laser-cut wooden buttons to elevate her own sewing projects and unlocked a new passion. Soon in possession of more charming handmade buttons than even the most ambitious seamstress could ever hope to use, she started selling them online. Her store offers a wide range of super stylish buttons, as well as sewing gauges, rulers, wooden thread winders and more!
MERCHANT AND MILLS
Merchant and Mills is dedicated to the old-school craft of making and mending, and since 2010, it has been supplying quality patterns, fabrics and notions that “elevate sewing to its proper place in the creative world”. The brand’s stylish and sophisticated sewing goods include everything from trim, hardware and thread, to fancy tools like proper tailor’s chalk, point turners, bodkins, clappers and awls. Awl my!
CIRCULAR FACTORY
A.BCH, a circular fashion brand committed to sustainability, has launched a new venture, Circular Factory, which aims to help independent designers, makers, students and anybody else who might be interested, access sustainable sewing resources. From biodegradable elastics, organic tapes, and cellulose bias binding to Tencel threads, interfacing and fusing, Circular Factory is a means to share A.BCH’s industry sources and know-how with the common sewist. “Small businesses, home-sewers and craftspeople shouldn’t be excluded from the circular economy,” says founder Courtney Holmes. “They should be driving it.”
WEFT AND WARP
Weft and Warp’s proprietary partners Rebecca and Matthew Harper travelled the world for years, finding the finest fabrics and most superlative sewing shops, while dreaming of the day they would open their own. Reap the fruits of their labour online or in their charming Canberra storefront, and peruse the treasure trove of sweet sewing supplies and notions, including exclusive overseas brands!
SELVEDGE SOCIETY
Join a community of creative minds at The Selvedge Society. Whether shopping online or at their Stanmore store, the team offers everything you need to turn your creative ideas into reality – from essential sewing supplies to stock up on, workshops and classes to upscale your skills, and a friendly environment to connect with kindred spirits where inspiration, advice and notions abound.
THE FABRIC STORE
Aotearoan owned and operated textile treasure house, The Fabric Store, is a hot destination for its curated range of high-quality fabrics, designer deadstock and mill overruns. But did you know the brand also offers a curated selection of notions to help make your next project extra special? Shop everything from colour-matched thread to woven labels and, of course, the exquisite range of pre-made bias binding available in Liberty fabric and The Fabric Store’s own signature linens.
GOOD FABRIC
Polina Karbanova, founder of Good Fabric, took her decade-plus experience in the fashion supply chain and passion for sustainable crafting and turned it into an online independent fabric shop that specialises in sustainable fabrics that don’t limit quality, choice or price. This includes sustainable haberdashery options like corozo buttons, recycled sewing threads, organic cotton elastics and sewing notions.
MAAIDESIGN
From its home base in rural Victoria, Maaidesign operates as an online fabric store in Australia “for modern makers” – aiding the slow fashion movement by sourcing stunning sewing supplies from all over the world. Its notions range includes everything from A–Z – that’s Atelier Brunette Buttons to Invisible Zips.
THE GINGHAM STUDIO
Ensure your joy is me-made with The Gingham Studio, a boutique online store based in South East Queensland. Created and run by Carolyn McCormack and Pauline Harwood, two sisters with a shared love of slow fashion, the studio stocks unique, sustainable and natural textiles (with a penchant for gingham!), quality sewing notions, independent patterns and tempting trinkets.
STRAWBERRY THIEF
The Strawberry Thief are the connoisseurs of all things creative and colourful for your special sewing projects – the Southern Hemisphere’s largest online retailer and wholesaler of Liberty Tana Lawn to the quilt and craft industry. Founder, Robyn Shapiro, is an established sewist and quilt maker and stocks specialty sewing supplies like Lap App workspaces, English Paper Piecing Kits, and Bespoke Liberty Needle Minders.
