A method and apparatus (10) are provided for forming a fabric (18), suitable for making a finished composite product, using one or more composite strands (16). One embodiment of the apparatus (10) comprises at least one bushing (12) for forming reinforcing fibers (14); supply equipment (60) for supplying matrix fibers (66a); at least one applicator (30) for applying bonding size (i.e., bonding chemical treatment) to the fibers; a gathering mechanism (50) for gathering the treated fibers into at least one composite strand (16); a pulling mechanism (54) for pulling the at least one composite strand (16); and a fabric-forming mechanism (52) for forming a fabric (18) using the at least one composite strand (16). One embodiment of the method comprises the steps of drawing a plurality of reinforcing fibers (14); supplying a plurality of preformed matrix fibers (66a); applying bonding size directly to the reinforcing fibers (14) and the matrix fibers (66a) from one or more applicators (30) at least before the reinforcing fibers (14) are gathered together into a strand (16); gathering the fibers together into at least one composite strand (16); and forming the at least one composite strand (16) into a unidirectional fabric (18). The resulting unidirectional fabric (18) comprises a plurality of stitching threads (19) and a continuous glass/polymer composite strand (16) in the form of a plurality of transverse loops (17). The loops (17) are stitched together by the threads (19). The composite strand (16) can comprise a plurality of first reinforcing fibers (14) drawn from a bushing (12) of molten glass, a plurality of preformed matrix fibers (66a) made from a polymer matrix material, and bonding size which bonds together the fibers of the composite strand (16).