Found Fabric!

Have you ever tried to find a specific fabric and been unable to locate it ANYWHERE? You know what I mean--that one fabric that you really, really NEED for a project and can't do without? Maybe you got half way done making an older kit and found you didn't have enough of the background fabric. Maybe you wanted to match the upholstery Aunt Martha used on the dining room chairs. Well, do you know about Missing Fabrics dot com?

I've known about the existence of the website for quite a few years but I'd never used it until I was trying to find the border fabric used in the original Autumn House quilt--a piece from the Fig & Plum line by Fig Tree--and couldn't seem to find enough of it for all four of us who are making the quilt. Sure, I found a little under a yard at one internet shop, so I had enough for me, and one of the other ladies had found enough for her quilt, but the other two women would have to do without unless we located more. That's where the Missing Fabrics website came in handy. I posted an ad on the site and a day or two later, I heard from Wendy at BlackbirdCounty dot com.

The ads on Missing Fabrics are often browsed by quilt shops all over the world, so I wasn't too surprised to hear from Wendy, but then I learned she had only come across my ad by accident--she didn't normally look through the missing fabric ads but was checking for something in particular. As a further coincidence, we--our applique group--had seen the fabric on Wendy's shop's website the week before, but by the time I'd checked with the other ladies and was ready to order the fabric, the website showed there was no more in stock!

I later learned that someone in Australia had contacted the shop about purchasing the fabric but couldn't decide how much they needed, so Blackbird Country held the fabric back. After Wendy and I emailed each other, I had to wait a couple days before it was confirmed that the Australian buyer had not gotten back in touch and the fabric was ours, but before long, it was on its way to me, and it arrived from Canada yesterday.

Somehow, it feels a little like fate--we were obviously meant to have this fabric. Or maybe we were meant to "meet" Wendy, who was super great to deal with!

Placing an ad on the Missing Fabrics website is free but the woman who runs the site, Tricia, gladly accepts donations in payment for the work she does--it's very time consuming for her to upload all the ads she receives twice a week and maintain them until the customer's fabric is found and the ad can be removed.

If you're in need of that special fabric, check into Missing Fabrics by clicking HERE. I'm sure I'll try them again next time I can't find what I'm searching for.