Paris Fabric District, 2025

I visited the Paris fabric district about 20 years ago and it was charming. It’s changed a lot now and many of the small fabric stores have been replaced by tacky-tourist shops. The main big store is still there, though, along with a few bargain shops.

The large store we visited has a great view of Sacre Coeur.

There are five floors and you’re supposed to pay for your purchases on each floor, before continuing on. (Which I didn’t know on my first visit.)

Nearly all the fabric is on large rolls and you have to purchase at least half a meter. I figured out to ask for demi-mètre.

This is what the table of statin fabrics looked like.

But, I was struck by the black threads showing the cross weave of these fabrics. Isn’t it interesting?

One of the fun things about shopping here – for me – is that they don’t speak English. It was a nice change to get away from the tourist areas, where the opposite was true. I was able to muddle through with my very LIMITED French, and some serious pointing.

Of course, they had an abundance of notions. And I bought my favorite brand of thread, which is not readily available locally. (I had to learn the word for basket, in order to gather them.)

[Note: when I was there earlier this same store did not carry notions. Those were sold at smaller stores all around. This large store was for fabric only.]

Worth a stop, if you’re a sewer. Then, up the furnicular to Sacre Couer.

If you’re interested, my 2006 post about this same area can be found here.

Ellen Lindner