While looking for ideas to make a Dickens costume for singing Christmas Carols with a local choir, I stumbled across this website, which specializes in wool, silk, linen, and cotton fabrics for the historical costumer. They also have historical trims, lace, buttons, and patterns. They have so many lovely natural fiber fabrics in patterns and colors and weights—things you don’t see in fabric stores. They have, for example, plain woven cottons, plus cotton damask, brocade, sateen, sheers, twill, velvet and velveteen and more. I asked about finishes and they said: “Most of our fabrics have some sort of finish on them but no permanent-press kinds that I know of.” They can tell because the fabrics need to be ironed. Even some of the trims are natural fiber—like silk ribbons. Fabric content noted on all items, so you can avoid the few that have synthetic fibers.
