My Fabric Wholesale Direct Review & Experiences So Far

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Once my children were born, I started buying more and more of my fabric online. While I used to enjoy the thrill of the hunt and the sweet victory of finding gorgeous bargain fabric in stores, online bargain fabric shopping has become my new norm. 

So, I decided to try out fabricwholesaledirect.com after reading several good Fabric Wholesale Direct reviews. I’m so glad I did!

In my opinion, it’s one of the best-kept secrets out there for budget-minded sewists and event decorators. 

Is Fabric Wholesale Direct Legit?

Yes, they are! I was wary at first because I’d never heard of them. And, their prices seemed too good to be true. 

Since the beginning of 2020, I’ve made probably 30 purchases from them, and the siren call of their excellent wholesale fabric deals will keep me buying more.

As you can see below, my stash is busting out of its storage. And, I just keep hoarding–there’s no way I’ll run out of fabric!

Quick Summary of My Experiences

I heartily recommend Fabric Wholesale Direct!

• You can get VERY inexpensive fabric, prices decrease if you buy in bulk, and the quality is much better than expected, given the price.
• There’s an incredible rewards program to help you save even more money.
• Out of my first 10 orders, I had one small “issue,” but customer service fixed it quickly and satisfactorily. 
• They don’t have much variety in printed fabrics, but they do have a large selection of African prints. They also have a large color selection of solid fabrics. 

The Ordering Process + Shipping Details

Every time I place an order, I always receive an immediate confirmation email and text message, which I’ve opted into. When the boxes ship (they ship from Farmingdale, NY, where I assume they are located), I also always received an email.

The maximum transit time for my boxes or fabric package has been 5 days from the time of shipping via FedEx or USPS. All boxes have shipped within five business days. I’ve gotten free shipping on all my orders because of the total, so this is the time frame without paying for expedited shipping.

Use Coupon Codes To Save Money!

If this is your first purchase, click here and subscribe to their emails in the pop-up or at the bottom of the page. Then, Fabric Wholesale Direct should send you a free $10 off coupon code within ~15 min for your first order! 

After you make your first purchase and are still subscribed to their email list, you will continue to get $5 or $10 Fabric Wholesale Direct coupons periodically sent to your inbox. I’ve never purchased any of my orders without a promo code before. They send that many, and it’s so awesome!

Every few months, they also seem to put their entire site on a small sale. Black Friday saw a site-wide percentage off all fabric, and so did Valentine’s Day recently.

The one caveat with the sale is you can’t combine coupon codes or rewards money with the percent off. While that would be incredibly awesome, they’d practically be throwing free fabric at buyers, I suppose. 

Unfortunately, I’ve never seen any free shipping codes in the last year. Shipping is free, though, with a minimum purchase amount. This amount depends on your rewards status. 

The Scrap Fabric Box Experience

Out of all of my orders, I’ve gotten 5 scrap fabric boxes so far. The boxes come in 10, 15, and 20 lb boxes.

If you do the math, the 15 and 20 lb boxes make the most sense financially. I’ve ordered four 15-lb boxes and one 20-lb box. My 20-lb box and one of my 15-lb boxes are shown above. 

The scrap fabric box is the BEST way to build a stash if you’re not looking for something particular. My boxes each average around $300-$400 in value and cost $60 or less.

I get a lot of basic solid knits but also fun fabrics like wool, sequined fabric, and even stretch velvet. Sometimes the scrap fabrics will have pieces cut out or parts sewn together, but that’s why they’re scrap fabric, after all. 

If you’re only interested in a specific type of fabric, you won’t like the scrap fabric box. Sometimes I get upholstery and event fabric, and other times I get all apparel fabric. My first box came with 5 yards of white cabaret mesh (among a lot of other fabrics) and I was a little upset because I’d never buy that if given the chance. 

However, I had to think outside the proverbial box, and I have made some REALLY cool sewing projects with it. Such as a raglan tee with cabaret mesh sleeves for my daughter.

Overall, I like how the scrap fabric boxes force me to sew outside my comfort zone!

The Videos are AWESOME

Every single fabric type has a video of someone demonstrating the fabric properties. Specifically, how the fabric folds, stretches, drapes, and more. This is SO helpful. 

Sometimes, I’ll come across a type of fabric in a pattern that is new to me. I’ll then find myself on their website watching the videos to get an idea of the fabric properties. This is something I wish more online fabric retailers would start doing. Way too often I end up with “surprises” when my fabric comes in the mail. 

My Favorite Fabrics

Over time, I’ve ordered a few yards of each of their most popular fabrics. That way, I could test out each type before purchasing more in different colors.

My absolute favorite fabric is their DTY double-sided brushed polyester fabric. This fabric is SO soft! The pink and the floral patterned DTY have made some really cute outfits for my girls. I have at least a few yards of a majority of the colors now sitting in my sewing room waiting for project inspiration. 

I also love their rayon challis, even though it wrinkles like typical challis. But, it drapes so well and is soft and comfy. 

The ITY knit stretch jersey is also a favorite. It’s a little too thin to make leggings that don’t show buns crack shadow when I bend over, but I’ve paired it with patterned ITY knit for many cute dresses, skirts, and tops for myself and my daughter. 

Their cotton jersey is also good quality, but I much more prefer the ease of working with the DTY knit. MUCH less rolling!

And lastly, the stretch satin made a great pair of old-man pajamas for my husband.

There are a lot of fabrics on the site, but these are just my favorites from my experiences so far!

Fabrics I Didn’t Like

Okay, so I have to say the interlock Denier lining was not a favorite. When stretched too fully, it did not recover well. 

The charmeuse satin also did not survive long as my husband’s pajama pants. It would be perfect for a delicate sewing project, but it was not meant for wear and tear. The stretch charmeuse satin, however, has a totally different feel and is much more amenable to being worn for more than a special event!

For Project Inspiration, Read Reviews for Each Fabric Type

Fabric Wholesale Direct gives reward incentives for users who write reviews for purchased fabrics. 

As such, you’ll find lots of pictures of projects sewn with each fabric type. If I receive an atypical (for me) type of fabric in my scrap fabric box, these picture reviews are the first place I go for inspiration. 

And, if I’m not sure what I’m ordering will work for my intended project, looking through reviews and glancing at pictures helps guide my selection. 

Customer Service Experience

When my first order arrived with a snagged fabric, I thought maybe I had made a mistake in purchasing from Fabric Wholesale Direct. 

However, after a simple email explaining what I was seeing, they had a replacement piece of fabric mailed immediately. It arrived at my door two days later! 

Since then, if I have any questions, they’re available in their online chat during business hours. A nice guy named Neil always seems to help me.

FWD Pros

So, just to compile my favorite things here if you’ve only scanned this review.

• Very inexpensive, and price decreases with bulk purchasing.
• Most fabrics are of surprisingly good quality.
• Fast shipping speed, and free shipping with a minimum order.
• Apparel fabric, upholstery, and event fabric are all available.

FWD Cons

And a few things I wish were different. 

• Limited prints fabrics. Mostly solids available. 
• Sometimes colors are out of stock for a few weeks.
• They did increase many of their fabrics by $1/yd recently. They’re still WAY cheaper than most other wholesale fabric distributors, though. 
• No free shipping codes I’ve ever seen come through, and you cannot combine rewards with sales. 

Final Notes

This wholesale fabric website is definitely legit, and it’s a great place to buy cheap fabric by the yard online. If you’re adventurous, try a scrap fabric box, but if not, stick to hand-picking fabric from their monstrous selection.

And, don’t forget to sign up for their emails for a $10 off coupon on your first purchase!