Wow! This post marks the 10th Canadian Online Fabric Store in our series! Now… only about 48 more shops to go – yikes! Alright… We’ve got a fun one for you today! I’d like to introduce you to Karyn, owner of Duncan & Kate Fabrics. This PEI based shop sells organic cotton knits (and ships internationally) – hooray for apparel fabric! And it’s c-uuute! (P.S. There’s a super generous giveaway and a discount code for this shop at the end of the post – scroll down if you can’t wait.)

When Karyn contacted me I was so excited to see her shop and hear her story. She stocks Lillestoff, Stenzo, and their own range of exclusive Duncan & Kate Fabrics in both her Etsy Shop and on her Facebook page. If you love the European style knits, you are in for a treat. She’s even got some stripes to choose from – and you know how hard those are to find! Her story is amazing, and she’s designing some of the fabrics herself! I had such a hard time narrowing my favorites down… here are only a few of them.

In a little bio about her shop, this is what Karyn had to say: I am a Mum of two young children, and I love to sew for them! Our family moved at the end of 2013 from Scotland to PEI, Canada, to be closer to my family (I’m originally from PEI) and its been so wonderful being back in Canada again. It was a hard year for us as my husband was only able to join us (due to the immigration process) in September of this year – and we are pretty ecstatic to be back together as a family again now! In fact, my Love Home fabric design is all about childhood memories of “home”, and I look forward to sharing all of these amazing childhood traditions and memories with my children, and hopefully with their children too some day.

Thread Riding Hood: Why did you decide to start Duncan & Kate Fabrics?

Karyn: When my daughter was born, we lived in a really rural area of Scotland, so I started sewing things for her as there were no shops nearby, and I fell instantly in love with all the amazing organic knits available in Europe. I got a lot of compliments about the clothing I made, and people started asking me to make things for them. Which of course, meant I got to order more fabric; it became my husband’s favourite thing to say (while rolling his eyes!) “You have so much fabric, you should open your own shop.” I took his advice and opened my shop selling organic European knit fabrics in early 2013. We have since moved to Canada, and I am so pleased to be able to offer amazing European sourced organic knit fabrics that are not readily available in North America.

Thread Riding Hood: What is your favorite type of sewing project?

Karyn: I usually sew clothing for children and women from knit fabrics at the moment. But, high on my list of things I want to learn to sew is a quilt. I think they are just so beautiful, and I am totally in awe of people who can make quilts. My grandmother started to put together pieces for a quilt in the early 1950s but she never got to finish it. I have all the pieces and some day I will finish it, and then pass it down to my daughter. The colours in the fabrics are so amazing and bright, and its really special to me to have the pieces that my Grandmother had hand stitched together.

Thread Riding Hood: What is something coming up in the near future that you are especially excited about?

Karyn: In addition to some new fabric designs I am currently working on for our own range of organic cotton knits, I will also be stocking a new range of amazing European organic sweat shirt fabric and a range of solid colour organic cotton knit fabrics in the next couple of months. I am also excited to be introducing a new program for small business owners who sew items for sale; eligible members will receive a discount on all purchases, special offers from time to time, and flat rate shipping. Anyone who is interested in applying for this new program, please send an email to hello@duncanandkatefabrics.com.

Did you catch that bit about her grandmother’s quilt? What a great project – and all of you handmade sellers won’t want to miss her new program (with discounts!) either!

Karyn has generously given us a “Choose Your Own Prize” giveaway. These are the best because you can pick whatever you’d like from the Duncan & Kate shop! One very fortunate reader will win a $50 Gift Certificate to the Duncan & Kate Fabrics Etsy shop… just imagine what you could buy with that!

This giveaway is open to everyone, internationally from today until midnight on Tuesday evening, November 25th. Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter – and if you don’t have Facebook to sign in with, just use your name and email address. There’s a “click to enter” no social media login entry too!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ok… so you’re ready to start shopping? Many thanks to Karyn, you can click over to Duncan & Kate Fabrics and use the code “THREADRIDINGHOOD10” to get 10% off your purchase. This discount is valid all of the way up until December 10th, 2014. Hooray! Here are a few more fabrics to get you started.