I live in Germany, so I'd like to purchase my fabrics either locally or at least from a shop within the EU. Unfortunately, my town doesn't have a fabric store, and I think the closest ones would probably be over an hour away in Stuttgart or Ulm. That said, I've been to a shop in Karlsruhe, and they didn't really have what I was looking for anyway, so I'm hesitant to go to another major city just to investigate.

I was taught to create muslin mockups for garments, and I would like to do this again as I'm looking to make several quality pieces for my new wardrobe. Finding inexpensive muslin like is standard for these mockups in the US had been my challenge.

Does anyone have any sources of muslin they use to create mockups, or advice on how you go about this affordably? Finding non-stretchy sheets might be a challenge, and I don't have any to sacrifice to this endeavor.

  • I'm in the Netherlands. "Muslin" is often more expensive than whatever is in the sale bin, so I generally raid the sale bin. It'll mean my mockups have some weird kids fabric print of 20 years ago, but...

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    This is smart tbh. I tend to pick fabrics i still kinda like for my test runs, but then i get angry when i mess up because that was nice looking fabric damn it 😂

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  • Do you have thrift stores near you? Old bedsheets can be used for making mockups.

    For online sources, I recently got some fabrics from wastedfabrics.com when they went on sale for 80% off (which is also pretty often) I've gotten some fabrics for like 3-4€/m after discounts. They ship from Belgium. Could also be an alternative for making mockups, and you can even get the type of fabric closest to your final fabric instead of the typical muslin material or the cotton bedsheets.

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    I second both of these methods.

    I’ve got a pile of old bedsheets off of Vinted for my mockups and use WastedFabrics rediculous sales (there is one running now at -70%) for thicker fabrics and stretch fabrics when the bedsheets just won’t do.

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  • Your mockups should be close to the material you later want to use for the finished garment. In many cases bedsheets work quite well for dresses and button down shirts.

    Ebay and Kleinanzeigen are quite good to buy large amounts of fabric, but these are often not high fashion.

    Many cities have a dutch fabric market once or twice a year. There are several different ones, which you can find on stoffmarkt-expo or stoffmarkt-holland. Here you can usually find cheap fabric but be aware of the quality - some stalls are great, others not so much.

    And then there are always the big online stores Stoffe.de, stoffe-hemmers, snaply, etc. Personally I only buy there when I know exactly what I am looking for. I prefer to touch the material to understand its weight and quality. Online is difficult when you are not that well acquainted with the different types of fabric to understand the differences between jeans and twill and gabardine.

    Oh, I forgot one: IKEA sometimes has great cheap materials for mockups and certain types of garments

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  • You can get super cheap muslin at ikea :)

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  • My time has come to recommend my favourite fabric store.

    https://mahlerstoffe.de/webshop-startseite/

    I recently got some of this for mockups, but its a little stiff. They have a ton of stuff though, and if youre on a budget the 5€ futterstoff works quite well for mockups too in my experience.

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  • For mock-ups I tend to get old bed covers from the thrift stores; unlike the bedsheets they are rarely stretchy.  Other sources for fabric could be traveling fabric markets (e.g. stoffmarkt-expo.de or stoffmarktholland.de) which often also have cheap fabric which is not in season.

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  • I used "ongebleekte katoen" from textielstad, this is a dutch webshop that also delivers to Germany. Another webshop that will sent fabric to Germany is Driessen.

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  • Check 'Holland Stoffmarkt'. They are all over Germany twice a year (spring and fall), one day per city, and you can find great stuff there. They're often in smaller places, or in a little bit bigger ones that might be closer to you than Karlsruhe or Stuttgart.

    As for 'muslin', what's meant by that word isn't the actual muslin fabric (the gauzy, baby clothes one). Like others have said, you want fabric that's relatively similar to whatever fabric you'll work with, so any old cotton plain woven fabric or knitted fabric will work for most projects, including old bed sheets.

    A good option for cheaper fabric than in Germany is the Netherlands (a lot of sellers at the Holland Stoffmarkt, as implied by the name, come from the Netherlands). A super cheap store with good fabrics and fast delivery that I've ordered from is driessenstoffen.nl, so you could start there.

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    (Ironically, the gauzy ‘musselin’ double gauze fabric is in fact a gauze weave but the misnomer has thoroughly stuck by now.)

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  • Op, you seem to be in a similar region as me. What I've been doing so far has been to go to Heidenheim at tedox and get whatever is on discount. I practice on those fabrics before I cut into the more expensive ones.

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  • This place is great if you're looking for something different: https://www.frautulpe.de/stoffe.html

    They have a lot of Japanese, British, and French fabrics, and they select the stock with care. Stoffe.de and mt tissues are good for more basic, affordable stuff. Stofferia would be my recommendation for more high end upholstery and decor fabrics.

    I just use old bed sheets and similar for mockups, you can find a lot on Kleinanzeigen. Depending on the nature of your final garment, second hand curtains can also work. There's even places selling second hand/vintage Meterware. 

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  • For fashion fabric have a look at dresowka.pl. They have nice prints including a print your own design option. Matching solids i.e. cuff and solids in identical colours. Some nice biological sourced fabrics as well. They ship from Poland so it may take some time but thus far I am happy with them.

    For mockups indeed bedsheets second hand or ikea.

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  • I usually buy muslin when I'm on vacation in Italy or France - like 2€/meter. Otherwise it's like 15 CHF for me... No thanks!

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  • Check for fabric expos. I periodically go to a fabric expo organized by Dutch retailers, it's every 3 months. Unfortunately it would be too far for you, because they serve only the BENELUX, but you might want to check if something similar happens near Stuttgart.

    For reference here is the link to the expo I mentioned. You might also check if some of the vendors sell also online with shipping to DE.

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  • Where I live (not EU) cotton poplin is extremely cheap p/m, which is what I like to use. In general it’s best to use a fabric similar to what your final material will be, if you can buy a cheap version or similar weight alternative for the fabric you’ll be using for your final garment, that’s the ideal scenario.

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  • not me being confused about why you're trying to source fabric that's been in a sewer

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    Oh no, now you’ve done it 😊 before you know it, we’re back at the endless sewer/sewist/other debate 🫣

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    😂 I was literally SO CONFUSED for like 30 seconds though

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  • You can get relatively cheap plain cotton woven fabric at buttinette for like 6/7€ per meter. However, old bedsheets will be similar but cheaper to get second hand sometimes.

    For quality fabric I really like naturstoff.de The prices are quite high depending on the fabric but they have regular sales and the quality really matches the prices since it's mostly EU production (often Italy & Germany).

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