Rainbow Fabrics Crafts & Things

Specialties

We have the widest selection of ‘things’, side by side with fabrics, patterns, buttons, scissors and notions. Our fabrics include hemp, silk, cotton, rayon and other natural fibers. Many feature hand dyed or batik designs.

Looking for oil cloth? Felt for your children’s costumes? Or the hard to find wool felt? We have them along with trims and ribbons, both sedate and outrageous.

Is the knitter/​crocheter in the family having a birthday? You have to see the gorgeous yarns we carry, as well as patterns, books and needles.

Gifts? This is one fabric store that carries interesting and unusual gifts for all ages, including sterling silver charms, chains and bracelets. For the bead worker we have all kinds of beads and the jewelry fittings to make it all come together.

We carry quilting supplies; wide muslin, batting, frames, needles and threads.

Talk about one-​stop-​shopping! You just have to see this place! Sign up for our mostly monthly newsletters with monthly discounts and specials!

History

Established in 1978.

Rainbow Fabrics is one of the oldest single-​owned businesses in Fairfax.

One day in 1978, Rose Taber walked in to the original store and decided, overnight, to buy it. Rose has lived in Fairfax since 1965 and at the time was an OR nurse at Marin General and Children’s Hospital in San Francisco. Besides working full time as a nurse, she had her own children, and with her husband was foster parent to teens.

When she bought the store, there were 22 fabric stores in Marin County; now there are only a handful. Fabrics have changed since 1978. Polyester is much better than it used to be, and stretch has been introduced in many fabrics from cotton to satin to denim. Rainbow Fabrics carries environmentally friendly 100% cotton and hemp fabrics, as well as 100% wool felt — not found elsewhere in the Bay Area.

Rose now runs the store mostly via telephone, relying on several wonderful trustworthy women who know a great deal about sewing and crafting themselves.