Dance Fabric

[iluvballroom]

Hey Everyone,
I'm looking for some really pretty soft chiffon fabric. Does anyone know any websites for ballroom fabric? Thank you!
~iluvballroom~

[and123]

"Pretty" as in pretty colors, pretty patterns, florals, what?

[iluvballroom]

anything. i want anything thats a print.

[and123]

I've seen a lot of nice prints on eBay by searching "silk chiffon yard" or "silk charmeuse yard" (adding "yard" helps to weed out the listings for clothing items). Many prints, florals, and burn-out patterns.

[Laura]

I like denverfabrics . com . I've bought a bunch of stuff from them over the years. Their selection changes over time, so you have to keep going back and looking to see what they have.

If you want "real" "ballroom" fabric, there's Chrisanne, Choice, and a few others in the UK, but with the dollar in the absolute tank there's no point of buying from Europe if you can avoid it.

Also google for people who sell stuff for figure skating. They use the same kinds of fabrics ballroom dancers do.

[Me]

This is a great thread. Thanks for posting the question. I will keep reading it. ;)

Recently I learned that some of these premium ballgown fabrics can fade or run on the first wash. Does anybody here know what types of fabrics do this? (Textures, dyes, brands, etc.) I would like to avoid them, of course!

[Laura]

Anything has the potential to run or fade, with polyester being the least likely and silk being th most likely.

The best thing to do is to wash the fabric before sewing. If the dress is meant to be dry clean only, then dry clean the fabric before sewing. This way whatever fading might happen will mostly happen before the dress is even made.

[Me]

Ahh... I see.

Smart. :cool:

[fascination]

have purchased very nice chiffon through fabrics @ fabrics . net

[Gumby]

For a great selection of lycra's - and nets - not to mention elastic, bra cups and pretty much everything else try fabricdepotco.com - The material is good quality - the serivce is great and color range is truly impressive. I've got a small gown biz and they have been one of my main suppliers for a couple of years now.

[Joe]

I've also purchased from Denver Fabrics.

Problem with non-dance places, though, is color-matching. :(

[Laura]

Heck Joe, color matching is a problem even for the dance places. I remember you posting pictures years ago of a mango gown made of Chrisanne fabric that looked two-tone. And I currently have three different shades of jade, all from Chrisanne :) Fortunately the shades will all work together :)

[dressgirl]

just a note re: silk vs. poly in the running/fading area. There are significant ballroom fabrics that run due to the dye process not being finished. I use silk all the time and have yet to have one of my silks run. I would test any silk you are planning to wash, but there is no way to know when you buy "real" ballroom fabric. Once the fabric is cut, thats it, no return. And its not really easy to do when most of it comes from Europe. I don't want to discourage anyone from working with these fabrics. as the benefits outway the issues, but you have to be prepared for it. The most wonderful fabric in the world is the dancecrepe and it is the worst offender. I have washed several crepe gowns only to find out they aren't fast and although its not my favorite thing to do, it is relatively easy to deal with if you aren't dealing with alot of different fabrics and colors.

Most domestic lycras and microfibers are fast as their original market is swimwear, so if you are buying from most of the aforementioned sites, you will probably be ok. But I will tell you there is a huge difference between a domestic lycra and a european lycra and an even bigger difference between a domestic poly chiffon and a euro poly chiffon.

I started sewing for myself and explored the same sources you have.....although we didn't have the internet:0. It was obviously a long time ago! We have ability to buy from anywhere in the world now and quality of fabric is directionally proportional to the quality of movement on the dancefloor.

I made my first competition dresses out of all silk. Silk taffeta, silk chiffon, silk organza, silk jersey - I thought you had to spend a lot of money on the fabric, because it was a "ball". OMG. I think I spent $1300 on fabric for 2 hideously weird dresses. The only poly on either of them was 40ft of gold lame ruffle on my latin dress. 20 years later, and I can honestly, and thankfully say, I have come a long way. But the next ones went too far in the other direction..........way too much cheap poly and spandex. Fortunately, I covered up all that cheap fabric with 8 ostrich boas. And 32 rhinestones. I am not kidding. I truly couldn't make it up. There are photos somewhere in this world to prove it. And my hair........it looked just like Katusha Wilders does now......I noticed this at Heritage........in an upside down ice cream cone. I thought I had invented that look and retired it forever.

So good luck!

[Joe]

Did you start dancing in the early '90s?

[iluvballroom]

Still haven't had any luck finding fabric. I guess im just very picky.

[Laura]

I've got to write a little treatise on fabric for that sewing thread....but I'm doing my taxes right now. ICK!

[dressgirl]

I started in late 80"s, but my conehead look was debuted in '91. And I swear.... I was the only one in my circle wearing it that way. And as my only photo source was the final of the ohio star ball on championship ballroom dancing, I thought I was the original and the only. My hairdresser in NC did it the first time and she had NEVER seen any ballroom dancing.

Seeing Katusha's hair made me want to dance again. That is until I took the next step and tried to bend my left knee. Sucks getting old and decrepit.

[Lorelei]

Still haven't had any luck finding fabric. I guess im just very picky.

Try farale.com -- They have some nice extra sparkly pearl chiffon. They do take time to ship, so if you go with their regular shipping, which is estimated to arrive in a week, it would be there in a month.

[Joe]

Yeah, they're also $$$...

[iluvballroom]

Ah! Finding fabric for a dress is so stressful. I really want to do a print but i can't find any pretty soft prints.

[fire_dancer]

If there's a seamstress in your town (or nearby) who makes ballroom gowns you may want to talk to them - they may know of some great places locally that have a good selection of ballroom dance-quality fabric. Saves on shipping cost and time, and lets you pick out the fabric in person.