Palmerston North

Thank you!

Thanks for all your support in 2025! We raised $6500 for Arohanui Hospice this year.

About Fabric-a-brac

The Fabric-a-brac in Palmy was held on Saturday 13 September 2025.

Fabric-a-brac is a fun fabric and sewing supplies market where you can shop for vintage and modern sewing and upholstery fabric, patterns, haberdashery and more. It brings the sewing community together to share stashes, stories and delight in our mutual love of textiles. The Palmerston North event started in 2010 – not long after the first event in Wellington was run.

Fabric-a-brac is volunteer-run, and is a fundraiser for hospice – in Palmerston North this is Arohanui Hospice. All profits from this event are donated to their work.

ON THE DAY

Parking

You may park in the Church St or Cook St carpark – but please note that the entrance will be from Church St only.

Koha

There will be a koha bucket at the front door – gold coin donation is optional. We will also have a raffle with some great prizes! All to raise money for Arohanui Hospice.

Pop-up cafe

We have wonderful barista-made coffee on the day! Yes the flat whites will be out in force in the pop up cafe as well as tea and sweet treats. Sit down and chat over your new projects and fabric purchases in our comfy cafe. All proceeds from the cafe also go to Hospice.

Cafe opens at 9.30am so you can grab a coffee while you wait for the doors to open. We have barista-made coffee and tea + scrumptious baking 🙂

Buying fabric

BRING CASH as many of the stallholders will be selling by cash only.

GOLD COIN ON ENTRY IS APPRECIATED.

If you are looking for some new inspiration for future projects, great bargains, fantastic vintage fabric and quirky sewing bits – Fabric-a-brac is for you. Come along and pick up some fantastic sewing-related bargains.

Selling fabric

Closer to the time of the event you can apply for a stall.

If you have fabric, haberdashery or patterns you’d like to move on, but don’t want to have a table, you can donate at any Arohanui Hospice shop. This will all go onto the hospice table on the day, and all profits will go to their wonderful work.

Why make the trip?

You may not know this, but Palmerston North has been a veritable hub of quilting and crafty activity since way back when. Ann Packer in her lovely book ‘Crafty Girls’ Road Trip’ testifies to this. There’re also some great op shops and material shops.

If you want to make a day of it, there are some great little treasure troves to explore once you’ve spent your Fabric-a-brac budget.

What to do in Palmy

Find out more about the event

Join the mailing list, Facebook or Instagram

To be kept up to date on Palmy news, join the Fabric-a-brac mailing list.
You can also join us on social – Facebook or Instagram.

2024

In 2024 we raised a huge total of over $8000 for Arohanui Hospice. We were in a new part of our venue for the first time, and it was awesome to have a great comfy sit-down cafe, and a carpeted, warm venue!

2023

In 2023 we raised $4,600 – all donated to Arohanui Hospice. We love this community and the fun vibe at these events and are so delighted to be able to help such a great cause. Special shout out to the Warrington whānau for donating all proceeds from their stall to Hospice. Thank you to our lovely stallholders, volunteers, fabric buyers and the support from Arohanui Hospice and Arohanui Hospice Shops.