Fabric Shopping in NYC: Mood Fabrics

Here are the three things I love most about Mood Fabrics:

 [Note: Please visit my web site Shop the Garment District for the most up-to-date information about fabric and trim shopping in the Garment District.]  

 

1. If you have a very specific fabric or look in mind, Mood will have it. With three floors of fabric, Mood has just about everything. The main reason to come here.
2. It's fun to eavesdrop on self-important FIT students and young designers-in-training as they ponder their fabric choices. And this is the store Project Runway sends its designer contestants to: Golly, you could be fondling the same silk that Christian Siriano touched!
3. Mood has restrooms. Usually by the time I get to Mood, after a morning or afternoon of shopping, finding a restroom is priority number one. (Mood's restrooms are located on its main level, toward the back of the store by the velvets.)

If you follow fabric discussions on PatternReview, you'll find PR members have mixed feelings about Mood. It is pricey. This is not the place to come if you are looking for bargains or seeing bolts of fabric with pricetags of $50 per yard (and up) scares you. Here's what I spent on recent fabric purchases at Mood (and I was buying at the lower end of Mood's prices):

• $6 per yard for pink china silk
• $12 per yard for gold silk charmeuse
• $10 per yard for a lightweight solid navy cotton with lycra
• $11 per yard for white cotton piqué
• $14 per yard for a print cotton knit
• $42 per yard for designer black wool bouclé

But I love everything I bought at Mood because it is exactly what I wanted: the right color, the right texture, the right fabric content. Normally when I shop for fabric with a pattern in mind, I am always compromising because I can't find specifically what I envisioned. At Mood you can actually create the garment that's in your head because they have such a wide selection of quality fabrics.

Italian sweater knits at Mood.

Speaking of quality fabrics, this is the place to go if you're looking for designer stuff. Marc Jacobs, Donna Karan, Calvin Klein and many more designers are represented here. The main floor (3rd floor) with the designer bolts seems to attract the most shoppers but I love the less-crowded fourth floor with its tweeds and bouclés. If you're looking to make that Chanel-style jacket you've always wanted, Mood's your store. The last time I looked they had several bolts of Chanel bouclés. (Note: Mood also carries home decor fabrics on its lowest level.)

This is just a small portion of the many bolts of bouclés and tweeds you'll find. Yummy!

(Here's a tip to make shopping at Mood a little less overwhelming: Print out one of their store floor plans and take it with you. Mood's signage is excellent but this will help you strategize a plan of attack.)

Service at Mood can range from cheerful and helpful to "I'm too cool to make eye contact with you." Fortunately my experience has largely been the former. My daughter needed some fabric swatches for her FIT class, so I told a Mood employee what the specific assignment was and asked for help. She grabbed her scissors and swatched her way through the store for me. Another time I visited the store wearing the bouclé jacket I made and the man who cut the fabric for me recognized me and made a big fuss over my jacket. The last time I was there the woman who helped me with the white piqué noticed a smudge on it, which I could tell would wash right out, and insisted on giving me 10 percent off. But it goes without saying though that the less crowded the store is, the better customer service you'll receive.

Bottom line: Get your bargain fabric shopping out of the way first, then visit Mood to find that cream-colored wool bouclé with the little gold metallic flecks or the Marc Jacobs floral georgette you need to make an outfit so stunning it will shut PatternReview's servers down when you post it on the Review Gallery.

STORE UPDATES
6/20/09: Mood has expanded its trim department. An employee told me trims were selling well at the store so they moved them into the nook where leather used to be and relocated leather downstairs to the home dec department.

5/26/10: Mood is now selling Vogue Patterns! 15% off the retail price.

Mood's signage makes finding the type of fabric you're looking for much easier—important because there is so much to see here.

The hub on the main floor. Mood does sell some buttons, trims and notions but you'll find better prices elsewhere on these items.

Mood Fabrics
225 W 37th St, 3rd Floor
(about the middle of the block; no sign outside what looks like an office building, go into the lobby and ride the ancient elevator [with an elevator operator] to the 3rd floor)
Phone: 212.730.5003
Hours: M-F 9-7, Sat 10-4, closed Sun