Britex Fabrics Union Square: Quilt Shop Cottons From $24.99

Britex Fabrics, at 117 Post Street between Grant and Kearny near Union Square, is not a quilt shop in the strict sense, but it is where San Francisco quilters go for the one extraordinary cotton that turns a quilt into an heirloom. Japanese cotton lawns start at $24.99 a yard, and Italian poplins run $34.99. The store opens Monday to Friday from 11 am to 4 pm and on the first Saturday of every month.

Martin and Lucy Spector moved their store from New York to the heart of Union Square in 1952, and more than seven decades later Britex remains family-owned and run. The shop follows the European tradition of organizing every group of fabric by color, so the walls read like a paint chart from floor to ceiling, and longtime customers describe it as a visual candy store.

That color sorting is exactly what makes Britex useful for quilters, who usually shop by palette rather than by fiber. Walk the cottons first, then look sideways into silks, linens and wool suitings in the same color family, and a single strip of shot silk or Italian shirting can lift a block built mostly from familiar quilting cotton.

The store's own pitch is that if you can dream it, you will find it at Britex, and the range backs that up: special-occasion silks and brocades, home decor fabric in strong colors and patterns, and new arrivals posted online almost daily. For quilters, that breadth means one visit can cover a feature print, a backing-weight canvas and a ribbon for the label.

The Japanese prints are the quilter's section. Road Trip Postcards, an airy 100 percent cotton lawn at 45 inches wide with retro cars, hibiscus and tropical landscapes in black, white, grey and green, is $24.99 a yard. Two textured Japanese dobbies, one with lucky cats and good-luck charms on plum and one with koi and cherry blossoms on black, are $34.99 a yard at 44 inches.

For solids, the crisp Italian cotton poplins in hot pink, mandarin orange, royal blue, pencil yellow and neon lime are $34.99 a yard, far brighter than most quilting solids. A lighter-weight Japanese canvas printed with lucky charms is $29.99 a yard and makes a sturdy quilt-as-you-go bag. Buy a quarter more than the pattern calls for, because the prints here are rarely restocked.

These prints shine as feature fabric rather than background. Fussy-cut a single lucky cat or koi for the center of a sawtooth star, or frame a postcard motif from the lawn as the middle square of a log cabin block. A half yard of one print, set against solids from your own stash, gives a whole throw a focal point without the cost of a full designer bundle.

Skip the brocades, laces and sequined fabrics unless you are making an art quilt meant for a wall. They are gorgeous on the bolt, but metallic threads and heavy jacquards pucker in a quarter-inch seam and do not survive a washing machine. Lawns, on the other hand, are finer than quilting cotton, so pair them with a lightweight fusible interfacing before piecing.

The hours are short and specific: 11 am to 4 pm Monday through Friday, plus 11 am to 4 pm on the first Saturday of the month, which falls on November 7. Britex also closes the full week between Christmas and January 2 and on Memorial Day, July Fourth, Labor Day and Thanksgiving. If you can only shop on a weekend, Mendels on Haight Street opens Saturdays.

Most fabrics are one-of-a-kind and cannot be reordered once they leave the website, according to the store's own FAQ, so buy when you see it. Many more fabrics, notions and embellishments sit in the store than appear online. For remote shoppers, a customized swatch service connects you with the full in-store selection, and online product pages let you order up to 10 swatches.

Britex is also known for ribbons and trims: Petersham grosgrain, silk ribbon from bridal weights to hand-dyed, passementerie, handmade silk flowers and appliqués, plus a full supply of notions. A Japanese double-faced satin ribbon at $3.95 a yard makes a neat hanging loop or label tab for a finished quilt, and a few inches of hand-dyed silk ribbon is a lovely detail on a baby quilt.

Staff will help estimate yardage if you share project details, though the store notes it cannot be held responsible for estimates, so bring your pattern's cutting chart. Apple Pay and Google Pay work at the register. Bring your own measurements for any wide backing, because Britex does not specialize in 108-inch widebacks the way a dedicated quilt shop does.

From Montgomery Street BART, exit through the Post Street Plaza and walk one block up Post Street. Drivers can use the Britex white zone to pull up to the door, or the Union Square Garage on Geary at Stockton, the White House Garage on Kearny at Sutter, or the Sutter-Stockton Garage. The Powell Street cable car turnaround is a ten-minute walk southwest.

Union Square is two short blocks west for a bench and a look at your purchases, and Maiden Lane, the pedestrian alley off Grant, holds the brick Frank Lloyd Wright building that was once a gallery. For a deeper quilting stash on the same day, ride Muni to City Made Quilts in the Excelsior, which opens at noon from Wednesday to Friday.

Britex Fabrics is at 117 Post Street, San Francisco, CA 94108, email service@britexfabrics.com. Store hours are Monday to Friday 11 am to 4 pm and the first Saturday of every month 11 am to 4 pm. Online payment accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Amazon Pay, and the store will ship in-store items that are not listed on the website.

Swatch orders from the website take 3 to 7 days to process, and large-pattern or panel fabrics may be sent as photos instead of cut samples, so allow a week if you are matching a print to an existing quilt top before your visit.