Liberty has been producing fabrics and textiles since the 1800s. They are best known for their floral prints, but also have masterful, gorgeous novelty and geometric prints in their catalog. Their classic prints never go out of style and their new prints are always fashion-forward and interesting. Of their various basecloths, Liberty’s Tana Lawn is the most popular and widely available. Lawn is a lightweight, semi-sheer, plain weave fabric, and Liberty’s version strikes a wonderful balance of drape and body that makes it versatile enough for a wide range of projects. It makes sublime clothing, and I’ve heard it works well for quilts too.

Want to know more? FuzzyLizzie Vintage has a nice history of Liberty fabrics here. I know no bigger proponent of Liberty prints than Erin of A Dress A Day (her Liberty posts are kept here). If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have known about the book Liberty & Co. in the Fifties and Sixties: A Taste for Design. Design*Sponge recently covered the history of Liberty of London here.

And now, the sources:

United Kingdom

Buying Liberty Tana Lawn directly from the Liberty of London website is about $30 US/meter at the current exchange rate, but standard delivery cost for overseas delivery is £25 (about $38 US). Standard UK delivery is £5.95. If the international delivery charge is prohibitive, and you don’t have a British friend to buy the fabrics to ship to you (hopefully at a lower rate!), try getting some sewing friends to go in on a larger order and split the shipping costs. If you go this route in the near future, you can pick up some of the gorgeous, limited edition V&A + Liberty quilting cottons.

Shaukat, established 1976, is “the largest stockist of Liberty cotton fabrics in London.” They offer several kinds of Liberty fabrics at a pretty steep discount — most of the Tana Lawn is £11/meter (just under $17) and they have online ordering with affordable international shipping rates too. Here’s your chance to try some Liberty silk and wool for around the same cost of Tana Lawn elsewhere. If you’re lucky enough to visit in person, their address is 170-172 Old Brompton Road, London SW5 0BA.

Kat’s Fabrics on eBay carries hundreds of Liberty Tana Lawn, poplin, and twill prints by the meter, as well as shorter cuts. Kat also has William Morris and Sanderson upholstery fabrics.

Alice Caroline Supply is an Etsy shop based in Cheltenham — no yardage here, only fat quarters and smaller cuts.

TillyCharles on Etsy has a small range of prints available for $26-29/meter.

Fabrics Galore reader Nathalie tells us that this Battersea/Clapham shop (52 Lavender Hill, SW11) stocks a small range of Liberty Tana Lawn, silk, Kingly corduroy, and others at very good prices (£12/m for the Tana Lawn, £18/m for the silks).

United States & Canada

Hyggeligt is a Danish word referring to a sense of feeling welcomed, loved, and content with friends, family and your own world. This shop focuses on Liberty of London fabrics (Tana Lawn $29.96 Canadian online) in addition to Westminster and FreeSpirit designers. The brick & mortar shop’s address is 4-515 Richmond Street, London Ontario – in the lane; phone # 519-679-4907.

Purl Soho has dozens of prints, including many lovely novelty prints (some from the Liberty Art Collection), $38/yard.

International Fabrics also carries dozens of prints (mostly the smaller-scale calico-like florals, and many of the classics) for $32/yard.

B&J Fabrics wins with their current stock of 246 Liberty Tana Lawn prints, priced at $36.95/yard. In addition to the Tana Lawn they also carry Liberty corduroy and jersey knits (both $42.95/yard).

Waechter’s Fine Fabrics aka Waechter’s Silk Shop of Asheville, North Carolina has a little over 40 Liberty Tana Lawn prints available through their website.

The Top Drawer is an Etsy shop specializing in Liberty. Currently there are 26 prints offered as yardage ($35-40/yard) and you can buy smaller cuts, too. Their blog offers a regular dose of Liberty love.

Glorious Color has the full collection of Kaffe Fassett-colored Liberty of London archival prints (the Liberty Art Collection), manufactured by Westminster. They are printed on a premium quality quilting cotton. The first collection out now is all paisley, and the next yet-to-be-announced collection is coming soon.

Haberman Fabrics, a brick & mortar located in a suburb north of Detroit, Michigan, is a great all-around source for apparel fabrics. They carry Tana Lawn in their physical store and online for around $39.98/yard.

Bon Bon Atelier has a handful of Liberty Tana Lawn prints available online and through their Kansas City, MO, store. $36-38/yard, half-yard cuts available. Ask Betsy about her internship at Liberty!

Fancy Tiger in Denver (umm, classes with Brini Maxwell? Whaaaat?!?) is expecting a Liberty shipment soon.

Brooklyn General reportedly carries Liberty Tana Lawn in-store, but unfortunately I don’t see any on their website. 128 Union Street, Brooklyn, New York, 11231.

When you’re in San Francisco, look for Liberty Tana Lawn at Britex and Satin Moon. Hop over the bay to Piedmont Fabric in Oakland for even more.

In Portland, stop by Bolt Fabric Boutique for all your Liberty Tana Lawn needs. You were going to go there anyway, right?

Australia & New Zealand

Amitie Textiles (281 Centre Road, Bentleigh, Victoria, 3204) has a good selection of well selected Liberty Tana Lawn prints at $48 AU per meter. You can order online, over the phone, or by mail, international delivery available.

Calico & Ivy has a full stock of classic and new Liberty prints. They also offer mixed packs. $56 AUD/meter. International delivery available.

Christabels is a brick & mortar shop in New Zealand specializing in Liberty fabrics. They have an extensive range of Liberty Tana Lawn and a small range of Liberty Kingly Cord, Liberty Twill and Liberty Varuna Wool, and also sell sewn items. Their Tana Lawn ranges from 50-58 New Zealand dollars. Phone and mail order only but I’m not sure if they accept overseas orders.

Tessuti carries Liberty Tana Lawn in-store and online (about a dozen prints are available through their online shop) — $44.92 AUD/meter; reasonable international shipping rates.

Patchwork on Central Park (East Malvern, Victoria) has quite a few of the Tana Lawn prints, including the new season. They are $55 AU/meter and international shipping is available.

Continental Europe

La Plus Belle Collection de Tissus Liberty is the blog of Stragier Couture in Belgium, the biggest importer of Liberty in Europe. It looks like they have every Liberty fabric currently in print (!), and all the different fabric types (!!), and they do offer international shipping to the U.S. and beyond that starts at just over $15. I’ve copied their price list below — see here for ordering info (in French). Oui, je veux acheter!

Tana Lawn: 19,90 €-28 €/m ($27-37 US)
Coated Tana Lawn: 34,90 €/m
City Poplin: 28 €
Twill: 37,80 €/m
Classic Jubilee: 29 €/m
Varuna Wool: 58 €/m
Crepe de Chine: 48-58 €/m
Crepe Georgette: 48 €/m
Silk Mousseline: 58 €/m
Silk Satin: 48-58 €/m
Tana Jersey 38 €/m
Carnaby Jersey: 38€/m
King Corduroy: 38,00 €/m

La Farandole des tissus (France) has several new season Liberty Tana Lawn prints, sold as fat quarters (5,45 € T.T.C. ) and by the meter. They also have lots of contemporary designer quilting cottons from the U.S.

Tissus en Liberté (France) offers a wide selection of Tana Lawn for 23€/meter, as well as Liberty Varuna Wool and a small collection of American and Japanese fabrics too.

Asia

Lilymeru Apparently Liberty produces prints especially for the Japanese market! The Etsy shop Lilymeru has a range of Liberty Tana Lawn including classic prints and prints that combine Liberty and Hello Kitty (!). The Hello Kitty prints are $39/yard and the classics are $35/yard + $6 shipping. Thanks to Jen Duncan for the info.

Apparently the mother lode of Japan-only Liberty can be found in this shop in the famous Nippori Textile Town in Tokyo. (They have two other locations as well.) Erin of A Dress A Day visited and posted the shop’s business card and map in case you are lucky enough to visit. Some of her readers provide a translation in the comments.

Reader Suchita reports that Singapore’s Chinatown (near the People’s Park Complex) has a cluster of fabric shops offering Liberty of London, the biggest being Nicole Xavier.

…

Do you know of another source that I’m missing? Please let me know in the comments and I’ll be sure to add it.

{ all fabrics shown are from Liberty’s new season of Tana Lawn prints }

United States

AdornIt: Scrapbooking company that recently introduced fabrics to their product line. Located in Hyde Park, UT.

A.E. Nathan

Alexander Henry: Family-owned company known for their trendy, fashion-forward, out-of-the-box collections. Offers a home dec weight line, Fashion for Home, and has recently introduced cotton lawn. Located in Burbank, CA.

Andover: The ever-growing modern designer roster includes Melissa Averinos, Lizzy House, and Thomas Knauer. They print licensed collections of Eric Carle, Ian Falconer (Olivia), and Lucy Cousins (Maisy). Located in New York City.
Blog | Facebook | Youtube Channel

Anna Griffin: This pillar of the stationery world recently expanded into fabrics.
Blog | Facebook

Anthology Fabrics: This family-owned business, in operation for more than 30 years in the fashion/apparel screenprinting industry, just recently entered the quilting fabric industry in 2010. Their collections are equally divided between batiks and prints, the latter designed by Khristian Howell and Diane Kappa. Based in Norwalk, California.

Art Gallery Fabrics: Florida-based, family-owned and -operated business. All designs by owner Patricia Bravo. Known for their premium quality and lush, colorful, modern designs. Recently introduced a solids collection.
Blog | Pat Bravo’s Website | Art Gallery Fabrics’ Facebook | Pat Bravo’s Facebook

Avlyn: Largely traditional, mostly in-house designs, including several batiks, blenders, and textures. Also produces a plush fabric called Oh So Soft, available in textures and solids. Based in Phoenix, AZ.

Benartex: On their roster of contemporary designers is Kitty Yoshida, Michele d’Amore, and Jennifer Young. They also regularly introduce in-house collections with contemporary and/or retro flair. Based in New York City.
Youtube | Facebook

Blank Quilting: Most of their catalog is mainstream, with an emphasis on novelty prints. They are home to a few more contemporary designers like Yolanda Fundora, and have some nice traditional Asian designs too. Based in Irvington, NY.
Facebook

Blue Hill Fabrics: A recently-launched company whose initial collections are divided between contemporary designers like Mo Bedell and 1930s and Civil War reproductions. Based in New York City.

Camelot Cottons: The only (?) Canadian fabric manufacturer. This recently introduced company is a division of Eugene Textiles, which serves the garment industry. Their Art by Camelot lines bring fine art to quilting fabrics. Licensees include Marvel Comics, the U.S. Army, and Mr Men Little Miss.

Clothworks succeeds in their mission to provide a “diverse range of designs, styles, themes, and colors that will appeal to a multitude of quilters.” Their designers are all over the map and you’re sure to find a collection or three that suit your tastes. They have one of best designed websites in the industry and keep a frequently updated, always interesting blog. Recently introduced an organic brand called Organic Elements, and partners with the Japanese brand Kinkame to bring both their traditional and modern/cute collections to the U.S. Among their more modern designers are Alyssa Thomas, Erin Ries, Ellen Crimi-Trent, Jamie Wood, and Kathy York.
Blog | Facebook

Connecting Threads: This Vancouver, Washington-based company is unique in the business for selling retail direct to the public at below-market prices rather than wholesale to quilt shops. They produce a wide array of styles, with a healthy selection of modern collections, designed by by in-house and contract designers. Solids collection available; also flannels.
Facebook | Youtube Channel

David Textiles

Diamond Textiles

Elizabeth’s Studio

Exclusively Quilters: Also Classic Cottons

Fabri-Quilt

FreeSpirit Fabric: Along with parent company Westminster/Rowan (see below), FreeSpirit is the industry leader in contemporary, trend-setting fabric design. They have some of the biggest designer names in fabric on their roster: Anna Maria Horner, Denyse Schmidt, Heather Bailey, Tula Pink, Erin McMorris, Jay McCarroll, Jenean Morrison, Joel Dewberry, and MANY more. They are vanguards “lifestyle fabrics” industry for introducing new basecloths, including heavier home dec fabrics, flannel, knits, fleece, a cotton-linen blend, cotton laminates, velveteen, voile, corduroy, and printed aid cloth for needlework. An expanding solids collection is available in quilting cotton and several of their other basecloths. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Blog

Henry Glass: Henry Glass is another company that has been adding more eclectic and modern designers in recent years. Look out for collections by Amy Hamberlin (Kati Cupcake), Franchelle Contreras, Anne Sutton, Barbara Jones (Quilt Soup), Bev Proulx, Chelsea Anderson (Pink Fig Patterns), and Linda Lum DeBono. Unfortunately the low resolution images on their website don’t do justice to their fabrics. Based in New York City.
Blog

Hoffman California Fabrics

In the Beginning used to be a fabric shop in Seattle owned by Sharon Yenter — the fabric manufacturing side of the brand launched in 1996 and is also run by Sharon’s son Jason. The retail store has closed down but the fabric company lives on (and is still based in Seattle). The owners have designed a bulk of the collections, but their roster also includes Keri Beyer and Wendy Slotbloom.
Blog

Lakehouse Dry Goods: Blog

Marcus Fabrics is celebrating 100 years in business this year! They are home to Judie Rothermel, the designer behind the Aunt Grace line and dozens of Civil War era reproduction collections. Designer Laura Berringer has been adding some modern collections to the Marcus catalog. Also offers a flannels and a small solids collection. Located in New York City.
Blog

Maywood Studio

Michael Miller is not run by a man named Michael Miller but by partners Michael Steiner and Kathy Miller. Their catalog is all about bright, bold, and big, featuring lots of retro designs, cute reproductions from the 50s-60s, and fun, bold, contemporary prints. Several in-house lines per year are designed by Kathy Miller and others, but they also have a roster of licensed designers such as Sandi Henderson, Patty Young, Paula Prass, Laura Gunn, Violet Craft, Sarah Jane, and Emily Herrick. They also produce knits, cotton laminates, cotton lawn, flannel, shirting, and cotton-linen blends.
Blog | Facebook

Moda is the Dallas, TX based quilting juggernaut. They release around 8-12 new quilting collections monthly, by both in-house and licensed designers. They have recently tagged their collections “Classic” (traditional/antique reproduction lines), “Metro” (contemporary/modern), and “Style” (somewhere in between Classic and Metro, including 1900s reproductions). Amongst their designers are Oliver + S, Kate Spain, Bonnie & Camille, Aneela Hoey, Cosmo Cricket, American Jane, Urban Chicks, MoMo, Fig Tree & Co., and dozens more. Every collection is first introduced as pre-cuts with yardage following in the shops several weeks later. Offers extensive solids and other basics collections, as well as several specialty fabrics including chenille, cotton laminates, knits, flannels, linen, patchwork, jacquards and twills, pre-quilted cottons, wool, and toweling. Also look for the always irresistible Moda Home products in your local quilt shops.
General Blog | Moda Bakeshop Blog (tutorials using their pre-cut products)

Northcott

P & B Textiles: This Burlingame, CA-based manufacturer offers a mix of traditional and modern quilting cotton collections. For the latter, in addition to a few in-house collections, they contract with Lilla Rogers Studio artists Helen Dardick, Jenn Ski, Karen Tusinski, and Carolyn Gavin. P&B is also in a joint venture with a company called Stone Harbor, and together they’re debuting a new quilting fabric line under the Shabby Chic license. Look for P&B’s Color Spectrum solids and other basics collections too.
Blog

Print Concepts Fabrics

Quilting Treasures: Though they have just as many in-house and designer collections (with a growing modern representation), when I think of QT I think of licensed collections — they have dozens of them with classic and current children’s book and cartoon characters (including Little Golden Books and Paddington), games (Scrabble), and other pop culture institutions like Elvis and I Love Lucy. You’ll find some flannels in amongst the quilting cottons too. Based in Webster, Massachusetts.

Red Rooster Fabrics is a youngish company (founded in 2002) with an ever-growing roster of modern designers. In addition to Amy Barickman (of Indygo Junction)’s vintage-inspired collections, check out the collections by Jessica Swift, Amy Blay, and Lisa DeJohn. Headquartered in New York City’s garment district.
Facebook

Riley Blake Designs: This Draper, Utah-based newcomer has grown like gangbusters since entering the quilt fabric scene just a few years ago after starting life as a manufacturer of flannels (Alpine Fabrics, which is still in operation). A majority of their fabrics have a contemporary look, with several of their designers coming from the scrapbooking world. Their designer roster includes Amanda Herring (The Quilted Fish), Lila Tueller, Doohikey Designs, and Sheri Berry. Offers a small solids collection, plus cotton laminates, flannels, notions and trims that coordinate with their fabric collections, and precuts.
Blog | Facebook

RJR produces primarily traditional quilting cotton print collections, including the lush, gorgeous designs of Robyn Pandolph, Yuko Hasegawa, and Thimbleberries. Modern designers do pop up amongst them every so often. Look for their Cotton Supreme solids and Crazy for Dots & Stripes basics collections too. The company also offers brushed flannels, cotton sateens, and specialty fabrics, including PFD (prepared for dyeing) silk and micro-polyester fleece. Based in Torrance, CA.
Facebook

Robert Kaufman: Though well known for their quilting cottons (designers include Ann Kelle, Caleb Gray, Josephine Kimberling, Monaluna, Nancy Mims, Amy Schimler, Laurie Wisbrun, and Darlene Zimmerman), Robert Kaufman Co. is a fabric supplier to many types of manufacturers, including apparel and home decor.
They offer all kinds of woven printed and solid fabrics, including flannel, poplin, twill, denim, corduroy, canvas, crepe, velveteen, voile, lawn, satin, georgette, organza, chenille, stretch woven, yarn-dyes, and more, in natural and synthetic fibers and blends. Their Kona cotton range is the largest range of solids on the market. In 2010 they were the first major fabric manufacturer to introduce a 100% organic cotton quilting collection, and have continued to expand their organics line since. The company is based in Los Angeles, CA.
Swatch & Switch Blog | Facebook

South Sea Imports A Rancho Dominguez, CA focusing on quilting cotton collections, mainly traditional designs and lots of blenders and basics. They are under the umbrella of parent company MMFab along with sister company is Wilmington Prints.

StudioE

Timeless Treasures This NYC-based company is home to designers Alice Kennedy, and Hoodie, Rashida Coleman-Hale. They are known for their wide range of in-house collections and one-off prints covering a variety of styles, with an ever-growing contemporary/modern designs. They have also recently introduced cotton lawn, a cotton-linen blend, and organic quilting cottons to their basecloths.
Sew Timeless Blog | Facebook

Westminster Fabrics‘ sister brands are Rowan Fabrics , FreeSpirit (see above), and the new Ty Pennington Impressions brand. They are home to a smallish but powerful group of designers, including Amy Butler, Kaffe Fassett, Philip Jacobs, Brandon Mably, Liberty Art Fabrics, Martha Negley, and more recently, Dan Bennett and Melissa White. The “Lifestyle Fabrics” brand produces fabrics for apparel (voile, rayon, corduroy), home decor (laminates, heavier sateen), and of course quilting (printed and yarn-dyed quilting cottons, flannel). The company is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Windham Fabrics

Japan

Cosmo

Daiwabo

Hokkoh

Kei

Kiyohara

Kokka

Lecien (Japanese website): Headquartered in Japan with a U.S. office in Emeryville, CA.

Quilt Gate

Yuwa

Organic

Birch Fabrics
Blog | Facebook

Cloud9
Blog | Facebook

Daisy Janie
Blog | Facebook

HarmonyArt
Blog | Facebook

Mod Green Pod: Organic fabrics for the home, based in Austin, TX!
Blog | Facebook

Monaluna
Blog | Facebook

Europe

Hilco

Stenzo

Australia

MS Textiles