Shopping for Fabric in Australia

One of the highlights of my trip to Australia last month was a day I spent in Cairns with fellow blogger Jill from Creating My Way to Success (Jembellish.com).  I've been following Jill's blog for quite some time and try to participate in her weekly linky party whenever I have a project to share, so I was thrilled when she agreed to meet up!

Jill from Creating My Way to Success & Me in Cairns, Australia!

 Jill was so lovely.  She even invited me to her home where we had a nice lunch and talked blogging and crafting. (I can't tell you how nice it is to talk to someone else who's into blogging and doesn't look at you like your nuts when you talk about things like linky parties, sponsors, and stats.)

Then I twisted her arm (pretty easily) and asked her to take me to her favourite fabric store in town, so we went to a place called Spotlight.

Spotlight is sort of like Micheals here in North America, except that Micheals doesn't have fabric and housewares like Spotlight does.

Look at this super cool fabric we found!

I know what you're thinking...Big deal, you found a crocheted throw...but no!  It's printed cotton!!

Isn't that cool?!?!?!  If the exchange rate on the Canadian dollar hadn't been so bad I definitely would've picked up a metre of this stuff.  You could make so many fun projects with it.

Luckily for Jill, I didn't turn out to be a big hairy and scary man (inside joke) and we had an awesome day.

Of course, I was on the lookout for fabric/craft stores everywhere I went though.

I just happened to glance up at the right time when I saw this sign in downtown Cairns.

It says "15 metres down the laneway"

Other than the massage sign, the laneway didn't look too scary so I went down to check it out.

JACKPOT!!!  Along with $3 fabric, this place is a trim lovers dream!

I broke my No New Supplies fast and bought a couple of metres of rainbow coloured stretchy elastic for more homemade undies.

I also found another great store in downtown Sydney.  For the life of me I can't remember the name but they  also had EVERYTHING you could ever need.

Love that pre-gathered, pre-shirred, pre-ruffled pink fabric at the top.  Just make it into a tube and you'll have a little girls dress lickety split.

I even managed to find the fabric store in Vanuatu!

The prices were great here but I only had a little bit of Vanuatu currency left so I had to settle for only 1 metre of the green floral in the bottom right corner.

The great thing about travelling with a backpack is that you really have to consider every purchase, because you'll be lugging it around with you everywhere you go.  So, even though I kept my purchases to a minimum I had a ball just checking things out.

Do you search out fabric stores when you travel?  Have you ever met up with a fellow blogger?  Tell us all about it below!

PS...thanks again to Jill for a wonderful day!  Make sure to check out her blog (she knows how to refashion an recycle like a pro) and join her linky party every Monday~