Garment District Quilt Shop Cottons From $5: Mood Fabrics

Most people know Mood from Project Runway, where designers sprint through the aisles before a challenge. Quilters know it as the one Garment District store where a quilt shop near me search pays off with solids, backings and Liberty in the same trip. Mood Fabrics New York occupies the third floor of 225 W 37th Street, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, and its catalog now includes a full quilting department alongside the silks, wools and denims that built its reputation.

Mood calls the New York store its iconic flagship, and says the fashion world has sourced fabrics, trims and notions there for over 30 years. It is the original home of the company, and it is famously tied to Project Runway, where Mood serves as the show's official fabric supplier. That television fame turned a working trade shop into a destination for home sewists as well as professional designers.

The company has grown well beyond West 37th Street. Mood now runs stores in Los Angeles, Miami and Houston, plus showrooms in Atlanta and Chicago, but the Manhattan floor remains the densest. The store's own description promises designer textiles, everyday essentials, upholstery, buttons, zippers, ribbons and trims, so a quilting trip can also cover a lining or a tote bag project.

That apparel heritage is worth keeping in mind. Quilter and author Paula Nadelstern, in her guide to the Garment District, warned that most of the neighborhood's stores cater to the clothing industry, and quilters should come with an open mind rather than expect walls of calicoes. Mood is the exception that has leaned in, building out quilting cottons and precuts while keeping its designer apparel stock.

Start with solids, because that is where Mood's prices are easiest to read. On Mood's website, the house Sew Classic solid quilting cottons are listed at $5.00 in dozens of shades, from scarlet and burgundy to legion blue, rain forest and pansy. A step up, the Premium Solid Quilting Cotton by Northcott from the Colorworks collection is listed at $9.00, a good match when you want a crisp, consistent background for modern blocks.

Prints come from named quilting lines. The quilting collection on Mood's site includes Liberty Art Fabrics quilting cottons, Figo Studio, Northcott Studio and Stonehenge, which is useful if you want tonal blenders that read like stone or water. For finishing, Mood stocks wide backing quilting fabrics so you can back a bed quilt without a seam, and hand quilting cotton thread for anyone stitching by hand.

Precuts have their own shelf on the website too: fat quarters, strip rolls, micro strips, chips and tiles, plus quilting pins and quilting machine needles. If you are new to piecing, buy a fat-quarter bundle and a matching solid by the yard rather than trying to coordinate a dozen bolts, then come back for borders once your blocks are on the design wall.

The store is large and packed, so arrive with measurements written down. Know your backing width, your border yardage and how much binding you need before you step off the elevator, and bring a small swatch or a photo of your blocks to compare colors under the store lights. A paper list keeps you from wandering into the silk department and forgetting why you came.

Weekday mornings are the calmest time to browse. Mood opens at 9 am Monday to Friday, and an early visit leaves room to compare several solids side by side before the lunch crowd from nearby design studios arrives. Saturdays bring more visitors, and the store closes at 5 pm that day, so do not plan a late Saturday run.

If a particular quilting line is not on the floor, Mood's online catalog is the fallback. In person, ask staff by collection or designer name rather than describing a color, since many cottons look alike under store lighting, and keep your swatch in hand when you reach the cutting counter.

A practical way to use Mood is to treat it as a one-stop kit builder. Pick one print collection as the star, for example a Liberty Art Fabrics quilting cotton or a Stonehenge tonal, then choose two or three Sew Classic solids to frame it. Solids at the $5.00 listing make it affordable to buy an extra half yard of each, which gives you room for a scrappy binding or a pieced label later.

Finish the kit with a wide backing so the back of the quilt needs no seam, a spool of hand quilting cotton thread if you plan to big-stitch, and a pack of quilting pins. Mood also lists quilting machine needles and quilting hand needles, so a beginner can leave with every consumable a first throw quilt requires. Batting is the one item to buy closer to home, since a bulky roll is awkward to carry on the subway.

Step back out onto West 37th Street and you are in the middle of the district that gave Mood its customers. Walk east to Seventh Avenue, renamed Fashion Avenue on its street signs, and look down: the Fashion Walk of Fame sets bronze plaques for American designers into the sidewalk along several blocks. At West 39th Street, the giant needle threading a button marks the district's information kiosk, a favorite photo stop for sewists.

Keep going east and Bryant Park opens up behind the New York Public Library, with seasonal kiosks and plenty of chairs for a break. Quilters doing a full fabric day can also head nine blocks south to Keaton Quilts on West 28th Street, the dedicated quilt shop in the flower district, and pair Mood's solids with its Liberty and designer prints.

Mood Fabrics New York is at 225 W 37th Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10018. Hours: Monday to Friday 9 am to 6 pm, Saturday 10 am to 5 pm, closed Sunday.

Subway: the 1, 2 and 3 trains stop at 34th Street-Penn Station on Seventh Avenue, and the A, C and E trains stop at 34th Street-Penn Station on Eighth Avenue. Times Square-42nd Street is a short walk north. The prices quoted in this guide come from Mood's website listings.