I am trying to locate fabric stores in the following cites: Edinburgh near the Royal Mile, London, Paris, Rome.

I googled and found the following:

1. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Fabrics, St. Patrick Square.
2. London: Berwick Street, also Macculloch & Wallis on Dering
3. Paris: Marche Saint Pierre and Tissus Moline
4. Rome: Bassetti Tessuti

Are there better choices in each city I should research? We are looking for dress fabrics, trim, lace, etc., as souvenirs from each city. I am in the US and we have Joann's Fabric and Crafts -- I am looking for similar stores for my mom to visit while abroad.

And speaking of fabric, I have pondered mailing back her purchases to avoid having to travel with it. What's the best way to handle that? Will the store do it? Will the hotel do it?

The wonderful fabric stores in Paris are located in Montmartre on Rue St. Pierre (take a right at the top of the hill before the finicular. Reims is amazing, as is the one across the street whose name escapes me. A little pricy, but if you love fabric you will spend hours wandering in this market AND you'll find wonderful bargains set up outside the doors. I bought some unique and lovely french linen last October and I can't wait to visit again this October. The stores will be happy to ship, but beware that mailing is very expensive. Unless you are buying entire bolts, I'd recommend you just fold it carefully--perhaps with tissue paper-- and buy a cheap shopping bag to carry on the plane.

In London, a famous place for fabric (and clothing) is Liberty of London. It's worth a trip to the Liberty store for pure pleasure, even if she doesn't buy a thing. Store directions are at:
http://www.liberty.co.uk/fcp/content/find_us/content

If she likes small, quirky specialty shops (not at all like Joann's), there's a great shop called The Button Queen near Bond Street station. Many many funky and antique buttons.
http://www.thebuttonqueen.co.uk/

Marche St Pierre is 7 floors of fabric.....I'm certain your mom could have fun shopping there!

On my last trip to Paris I tried to visit this store but it was closed at the time and I couldn't fit in a later stop. I am going to Paris in October and definitely will visit at that time(after confirming hours on their website). The store is in the Marais.

http://www.entreedesfournisseurs.fr/index.php

I was able to visit La Droguerie in the Les Halles area and thoroughly enjoyed it. I don't remember if they have fabric, but they have lots of craft items.
http://www.ladroguerie.com/

Here's a link that might interest you:
http://craftzine.com/travelcrafty/paris/

I can only speak for Edinburgh.the fabric shop at St Patricks square is very good,used mainly by the asian community it has a vast arrange of cloths.it is just s few niutes walk from the main city center.
Remnant Kings on Bonnington Road,a bit away from the city centre also has a wide range of fabrics.
Jenner's on Princes Street and Lewis's in the St James center are large department stores both have large fabric departments and are well worth a look.

By the way, in British stores, look for a department labelled "haberdashery." In American English, that means a store or department that sells men's clothing, but in British English, it means a store or department that sells notions (e.g., buttons, zippers, trims).

Also, Raven01, I meant to say: kudos to you and your mom for personalizing her trip. When I travel, I love hunting out shops and other places that are specific to my own hobbies and interests; tracking those down has taken me to many non-touristed spots that I never otherwise would have visited.

All above are good suggestions-- but don't expect anything like her hometown JoAnn's - they'll mostly be much more interesting and less "suburban" craft store-ish.

Liberty for instance is a 135 year old department store w/ some very high end things.

Thanks for all the great replies. I wanted to check to make sure I was not looking at decorator fabric stores versus dress fabric stores. There is a good chance it will sit in a closet for a long, long time, but I at least want there to be a chance she'll use it!! (We recently went through her stash, where we found fabric from 20 years ago, albeit in good shape, and multiple copies of the same patterns.)

Raven, I sympathize entirely; I have some lovely Harris tweed in my sewing room, some cut out and some whole, from my honeymoon 25 years ago (bought on the isle of Skye); I also bought a lovely assortment of fabric from Liberty's in London (they specialize in gorgeous cotton lawn, with prints, often by William Morris; there are also heavier weight wools and silks; and they carry yarn and needlework supplies, as well), which I pieced to make a quilt but never finished. They are expensive fabrics, but when I was there in February I found they did have quarters which would make good souvenirs. They also have lovely scarves, although not as many that appealed to me as they used to have--they have gone very upscale and trendy.

Hmmm, maybe I'll fish out that quilt and work on it again.

Oh, and the Berwick street stores specialize in gorgeous silks, beautiful, deep colors and prints. Also not cheap, of course, but sumptuous, and almost impossible to find in America, in my experience.

This is not in one of your cities but is such an amazing place I shall mention it. Linton Fabrics are a mill in Carlisle. They weave for all the major fashion houses and send samples and orders by mail order. Their fabrics are simply exquisite.

http://www.lintondirect.co.uk/about.cfm

saving for future reference! Thanks.

I imagine Liberty will mail material for you but I don't think the others would have that service. Thin material doesn't take much room.

Do Jenners and John Lewis really still sell cloth? Reminds me of home ec at Firrhill High School. I still remember the apron I (my mother) made.

Unfortuately much of the wool production that was prevalent in that area 20 years ago has gone overseas. You will have to look. It seems silly going to the UK to buy something made somewhere else. Does your mother knit? You might have better luck finding wool to make a scarf.

Are you going to be out in the countryside at all - or just in those cities?

West of Oxford is the Cotswold Woolen Weavers where they shear the sheep, spin the wool, weave gorgeous fabric and make some clothing/accessories/furnishings

http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/town/plaza/hk67/

Yes - liberty sell via their website.

John Lewis have a lousy dress fabric department but are excellent for furnishing fabrics.

I can understand the desire to purchase fabrics on a trip - I do the same. Athens was surprisingly good on fabrics, semi precious stones and haberdashery, as was unusual fabrics in Madrid and Seville.

My Mum bought some amazing furnishing fabric in Rome - I know its not what you are looking for but for general reference its called Paganini on the Via d'Aracoeli.

Just those cities - I want to make sure we visit at least one shop in each, which is why I wanted to ensure I had options.

I checked Liberty out online - 20 GBP is a bit more than Wal-mart's dollar bin, but she can browse . Oh, and I also LOVE the word haberdashery!