🪡SEWING RESOURCES FOR NEW SEWISTS🧵
Rocky Mountain Sewing and Vacuum (RMSV)
Westminster, Littleton, Aurora & Colorado Springs
**Maintenance and repairs start at $229 for home sewing machines.
RMSV accepts trade ins! Essentially any home sewing machine with a needle that can be applied as a credit for a new machine!
Other benefits at RMSV:
- 6 month Trade-Up Program
- UNLIMITED New Owner Classes
- Professional Technical Service
- Low Price Guarentee
When starting out, all purpose sewing machine needles that fit your specific machine are a great place to start.
All Purpose Sewing Machine Needles from Wawak
- All purpose needles mean they can be used on a variety of fabrics, not that they are compatable with all machines. Check your machines manual to see which brand of sewing needles to use.
- Remember to change your needle every 6 - 8 hours of sewing or with every new project.
Ralph's Industrial Power Sew
2030 Clay St, Denver, CO 80211
Right by the Broncos stadium in Jefferson Park, Ralph's is the only dealer in Colorado for industrial sewing machines. We use industrial machines exclusively at Olive & Olde's.
Repair Shop: Reuben is the head of the repair shop (where I spend a lot of time 😊). He is so knowledgable, full of ingenuity and helpful, as are ALL of the mechanics. 10/10 highly recommend if you have an industrial machine.
**They are moving to Aurora this summer 2025, will update when I have an exact address**
YES! A great place to start with fabric is thrifted or repurposed fabric.
Non-profits selling art / craft supplies, machines and thrifted fabric:
ReCreative - Denver, CO
Art Parts - Boulder, CO
FabScrap - NYC & online
If you thrift fabric and want to know the exact contents, a burn test is a great way to do so!
If you thrift fabric and want to know the contents of it, you'll need to do a burn test. Learn more HERE
Tips to remember when buying fabric:
When purchasing remember to check the width and weight of the fabric. International retailers will sell fabric by the meter. US based retailers sell by the yard. Many retailers sell things by the half meter or half yard.
- 1 meter: 39 inches
- 1 yard: 36 inches
Anything that is labeled with OEKO-Tex means it is grown, milled and manufactured OUTSIDE of the US. India and China are the leading producers of all fabric in the world and they make incredible fabric, this is how it is tracked to meet internationally agreed upon standards.
- Blackbird Fabrics - incredible online Canadian retailer, great selection of all kinds of fabrics (high quality garment and quilting fabric). They are an amazing biz, if you have any questions, reach out and ask,
- Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics - based in Berkeley, California. Excellent selection of fabrics and patterns
- Lyrical Fabrics: gorgeous apparel fabrics, I bought some of their French Terry cloth and can attest, it is beautiful fabric. Price is reflective of that as well.
- Merchant & Mills - based in the UK, work directly with mills all over the world and produce / sell some of the most beautiful fabric ever. Prices are reflective of quality, without a doubt.
With all of these businesses, if you are struggling to get to a free shipping minimum, grab a friend and split the bill!
Overall, when ordering fabric, if you have any questions, reach out and ask. Be as kind as you can all of these businesses are small businesses that have been navigating the uncertainty of tariffs where things are literally changing hour by hour.
As of April 2025, the de minimis still applies to Canada and the UK, so anything under 800 USD is not subject to tariffs. As always, check with the retailer as they will have the most up to date information.
- SuayLA - Host a community dye bath is awesome, gives you a way to give new life to clothes that are still good but not bringing you joy anymore. You can purchase online and they will send you a bag to send your order in. All of their dyes are synthetic and can dye natural or synthetic fibers. They are currently working to repurpose over 120,000 pounds of textile waste (clothes donated after the LA fires that no one wanted into 10,000 new garments.) The drivers behind this company are the ones who helped Patagonia start their WornWear.
- Green Matters Natural Dye Co: Commercial plant dye application - they only dye with plant based dyes. They dye for individuals and businesses.