Fabric store questions

We are building an online shopping/classified/discussion site that will be ready for release the first week in September.

Today I am working on adding a Kitchen store and a Fabric store.

I wanted to see what type of terms ya'll use to search for your fabric at the online sites you use now.

Our store will be open to anyone, individuals or businesses, to list fabric they have for sale, one yard or thousands of yards.

Also, if you have a fabric store, and would like to advertise on the site, we are offering free advertising through the end of the year. It doesn't matter if you have an online store, just an image of your business card would work great for an ad and you can't never tell who might call to ask about your store stock.

We're are looking at this becoming a nationwide site so don't be shy about promoting your business.

So, if ya'll would be kind enough to give me some good pointers on the types of terms and criteria that you use to search I'll have a better idea of how to layout the search and sort areas.

Thanks everyone.

Debora

First fabric types (cottons, silks, etc.) then Fabric designers names, then colors.

Thank you! It would have not occurred to me to list the designer.

Deb.

'Use' terms like quilting, drapery, shirting, etc, then type such as 100% cotton. Designer names are a great help because we fabric shoppers recognize a quality of fabric by the designer name we have before.

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"... And what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" Micah 6:8

So far, these are the search terms I've thought of:

Fabric Type (with a text search box)

Color (with a text search box)

Solids (this would be a button to pick just to see the solids)
Patterned (same as solids)

Designer Name (would be a text search box)


We are using an incremental search that lets you type a name, say cotton, or a designer name, and the list of items brought back will narrow down until just items with the word cotton (or the designer name) are what you see.

Searching that way allows you to find anything in the entire database of the Fabric store without filling the search boxes up with drop down and nested search boxes. We can bring back thousands of items at once and you will never have to page forward or back to see the listings.

What we'll have is a list of a few search items on the left, and then across the top of the table with be other items that you can sort by. So I'm trying to get a good idea of what to put where so that it's in a logical layout.

What other things on the left do you think I should put? The way it works now, if you type "quilting" in the search box you'll see all the fabric listed as quilting fabric.

I had thought about putting notions, machines, patterns, etc but I think fabric is fabric and all the other stuff is more of a Sewing, Quilting, Crafting type store. So this is just going to be for fabric.

Anymore ideas? I have less than 2 weeks to get this done and I also have to do kitchen and decided to maybe do music. Plus I have to write the FAQ and the help files and I'm awfully slow lately.

Thank you all so much.

Deb.

Besides designer you need to include Manufacturer and possibly pattern name for the fabrics.

Sewing machine types--- antique/collectable, Electric, Treadle, manual, electronic, computerized, embroidery, combination embroidery, overlock/serger, and include embroidery design software and cabinets

Scissors are considered notions but I would make a section called cutting tools and accessories.

Sewtlm - you caught me in the middle of editing my post

After talking it over with the husband here (he's the software designer) we decided to separate the Fabric from anything that wasnt' Fabric. So there will probably be a Craft store or something more specific later on where machines, patterns, etc., would be listed.

What's the difference in the Manufacturer and the Designer of the fabric? I'm guessing it's like say Martha Stewart for the designer and Hope Mills for a manufacturer? Why would the manufacturer matter? Good idea but I'm curious why the manufacturer would matter.

edited to add - that's really a dumb question I asked. I'm assuming it like any other product, some manufacturers make good fabric and some don't.

Deb.

For me, manufacturer is far more important than designer.

Debbie Mumm, for example, designs quilt fabrics for South Seas Imports. A high quality cotton fabric.
She also designs fabrics for a lesser company (can't think of the name) that WM carries. Lower quality of fabric.

Moda, is a fabric manufacturer that is well known in the quilting world for their fabrics. They have a whole host of different designers, including in-house designers that just work under the name Moda. So people recognize the Moda name, often over the individual designer's name.
There are exceptions, of course. Thimbleberries (designer) is probably more well-known than the manufacturer she designs for, RJR. But generally the manufacturer is going to be better known than the designer.

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~*~Erin~*~
SAHM, ranch wife, sub and quilt shop proprietress
the Back Gate Country Quilt Shop

ErinP answered about the manufacturer.
Moda and RJR are very high end but popular brand/manufacturer. They actually advertise their brand name.

As to name of fabric a very common color choice is marble or "Playing with Marbles"

and sometimes the name of the fabric (not the designer or manufacture) is printed in the selvege that can be read so as to find more when you miss cut and/or run out before finishing your project.

I look for fabric types when I type in my wish...Like Flannel or Batiks. Then I like to narrow it by typing in, for instance, Florals, Panels, Children, Dogs, Cats, Orientals etc.

If you hop over to equilter.com you will see a great way to organize fabrics. And they are always ready to answer any questions via email. You can send a sample of a fabric and they will help you pick coordinates or find just that fabric if they can. If you aim for something similar you can't miss.

Its also very important that your fabric pages load FAST! Keep extraneous info off of the page, that slows down the loading.

Good luck and happy sailing! LQ

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