Please help me find some fabric!

[JackBauerKilledTheEasterBunny]

I managed to get some Michael Miller Merryville fabric from ebay awhile ago and have used it to make car bag/playmats for DD and her friends to play with but I have run out!
It was quite expensive so I am looking for any fabric that has this sort of street scene, or parks, or anything that a child can use as a playmat, kind of like those giant rugs you get but in cotton.
Help? anyone?

hmm worth looking in Ikea perhaps other than that I think you'd have to look in Fabric Shops. Take a look under patchwork shops and they normally do lots of different material.

Dunelm Mill? One of the big ones that does curtain and bedding fabrics by the metre.

please tell me more about how you made your car bags Jack? That sounds like a fab idea

Thanks, I;ve found a few foresty or ocean scenes in quilting/patchwork shops but I think I may just have to import some more michael miller!
kiwibella, I actually (after a request elsewhere) did a tutorial here

These are all good sites selling funky US fabrics...

FabricRehab
seamstar
www.fancymoon.co.uk/

Or I have found this
US etsy seller but haven't yet built up the courage to order from the US.

I have some road map fabric that I bought from ebay but doesn't look like you can buy by the metre/yard anymore.

Just had another look & the Etsy seller has an airport, Robot Park and a few others that would work.

Would be grateful for some tips for buying from the US if you have ever done it.

I have bought fabric from the USA loads of times and never had a problem with it. I usually pay by Paypal. It usually works out cheaper than buying from the UK, even taking postage into account.

There is so much more choice when buying from the USA. Using www.quiltshops.com you can search hundreds of American quiltshops for the type of fabric you are looking for.

Something to watch out for when buying from the USA - if your order is for more than £18 you will need to pay import taxes. Make sure your order does not come to more than £18 using a currency converter such as www.xe.com/ucc/

Ikea have got some nice new designs in for around 5.99 a metre. They have some outdoors scenes.

I am not letting myself buy any until I have a project.

I have used a children's duvet as a playmat before, sometimes you can get a design that suits a road city scene or

have you seen this play mat from Ikea?
playmat

sorry that Ikea mat isn't cotton ofcourse

I find that everything I order now from the states gets done for import duty -top tips for minimising it:

• Most of the fee is actually the £8 (or whatever it is now) handling fee imposed by royal mail/parcelforce (depending on how the parcel is sent), so bigger orders are actually cheaper per yard than smaller ones.
• absolutely fill the flat rate envelope/box that the fabric is being mailed in - most websites have a shipping rate calculator, keep adding yardage until the rate goes up to the next rate, then subtract a bit.
• if you're ordering loads, contact the store and make sure they use one flat rate box rather than a couple of flat rate envelopes - the envelopes work out a buck or two cheaper for them, but if you pay that extra postage you'll save £8 in handling fees at import time.

hopefully

Most US sellers seem to do an envelope for 3-7 yards of fabric for around $12 or 8- 14 yards for $25.

Do I still need to make sure that my order is below £18 to avoid further taxes?

If your order is over £18 you'll almost certainly get charged for import regardless of how much over it is. If you contact the seller you might find that the $25 is simply 2 flat rate envelopes, so you would get stung with the £8 handling fee twice, iykwim. If they use one flat rate box, you'll only pay the handling fee once. (Obviously the actual import tax is the same whichever method you use, but mine usually is only a few quid after the handling fee)

Thanks very much hopefully

hi there - it's not quite what you're after but I wonder if you've ever seen spoonflower. www.spoonflower.com/welcome It's US again, but you can use it to make your own fabric, so if you're creative you can upload your own design and get it made and sent to you. I've tried it with some samples and they were really nice, but I don't have any sewing skills to make anything out of it!

The other thing is that people can make the things that they've uploaded available to buy, so you might be able to find someone who's made something similar already. I found this one but it's not the prettiest! www.spoonflower.com/fabric/134722

hi there, we used www.kidscurtaincompany.co.uk/ for some blinds and a laundry bag recently and absolutely loved it, they are based in dorset I think and are very efficient and have a beautiful range of kiddy fabrics!
They will send you samples etc..
Hope that helps!

this request was from 2009, dont know why revived?

hmm didnt notice the date - wondered why the op hadnt returned!

I did notice that sophia32 whose post has now been deleted had posted the same reccomendation on virtually every sewing related thread, so there must be many revived threads on here now.

Still this thread has helped me out if not the OP lol

oh was she advertising? Didn't see it.