Online fabric shopping

I have never shopped online for fabrics before, have you? Since I live in Canada most of the time, shopping from US online stores can be prohibitive because of international shipping. So, while I'm snowbirding in the US, I thought I'd give it a try.

Here's what I've learned so far:

• To get the most from your shipping dollar, you should try to buy between 7 and 9 yards of fabric.
• Most stores have a clearance section.
• If you don't want to spend any money on shipping, if you order over $50 some online stores don't charge you shipping. I found one highly recommended will ship free for over purchases over $35.
• Get a couple of references as to service, quality of fabrics and promptness. I have references from an online board that I look at every day.
• Not all online stores carry everything in the way of notions and threads. I'm looking for non-nylon invisible thread, and that is a problem.

So, I am going to pick out a pattern on the internet and buy the fabric online as a little experiment. I'm not sure what else I should look for in an online dealer, but I'm quite excited to do this little experiment. I'll let you know about my decision as to dealer, pattern, fabrics on Sunday, after I place the order. It'll be interesting to see when it will arrive. I hear that it only takes 2 or 3 days to get an order. We'll see.