This unassuming sign on a back road about 17 miles from the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I76) leads to a treasure trove of fabric. Owned by the Martin Family, there is more quilting fabric here than I have ever seen in one location – over 30,000 bolts!!
There are shelves of solids and blenders, and the area under the front cutting counter holds several hundred fat quarter packs. There are also fat quarters for the bolts shelved above the bolts themselves. There are shelves of Jelly Rolls and charms packs. Tone on tones are another shelf set, and the number of large and small prints needs to be seen. There are ten shelves just for the sale fabrics. Browse through over 200 different wide backings, from solids to amazing prints that I would use for focus fabric in a quilt. If you sew wool clothing, it is available in bolts. There are also 5″ square packs of hand dyed wool for applique. Designers include Henry Glass, Marcus Brothers, Bella Solids, and Northcott, to name a few. The Northcott blender selection is a shelf unit of its own. Batiks could keep me busy for weeks, and the panel selection is in the hundreds. Grunge is stocked in plain, dots, stars, and metallics. Check out the Christmas, Fall, and Patriotic sections. There is also clothing fabric, including a nice selection of bridal fabrics.
There are not a lot of samples, but with every wall taken up by shelves of fabric I’m not sure where they would put them. The staff clearly knows and understands quilting, so any question you have can easily be answered. There is a nice selection of patterns, and if you need help putting together a selection of fabrics to go with the pattern, just ask. There is also a wonderful selection of rulers and notions.
I would seriously plan this as a day trip if you live close enough, or get some friends together and take a road trip. I was here for about two hours, and I’m sure I missed things, but they were getting ready to close! I’m planning a trip back with friends just to shop – after my knee is working again!!
| Burkholder’s Fabrics | Hours: Mon – Fri 8-5 Sat 8-4 |
| 2155 PA-897 GPS: 1 Sportsman Road | Phone: 717-336-6692 |
| Denver, PA 17517 | burkfabrics@comcast.net |
| burkfabric.net | Mail Order: Yes Fabric Online: Yes |
Stop back on Monday and see where the North American Shop Hop is visiting next!