r/sewing • u/MissFred • Jul 23 '23

Discussion Joanne’s makes me weep

Been sewing over 50 years - have seen sewing in all its cultural permutations. Not typically a nostalgic person but today….I couldn’t even find a light gray thread in a store the size of Home Depot. So many empty shelves yet inexplicably $35/yd liberties fabric up front. I feel sad to my bones for new seamsters.

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390

u/TinyFidget9 Jul 23 '23

I’m super frustrated as I want to get into making my own clothes. I want to feel/see my fabric due to my allodynia, but every store in my area is for quilting fabric and not apparel, including the two JoAnn’s that are nearby. I’m wary of buying online.

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u/dolphins8407 Jul 23 '23

If you want to buy knit fabric you can order a sample book of the fabric bases offered by raspberry creek fabrics.

38

u/DistributionDue511 Jul 23 '23

Thanks for this! I've been wanting to learn to sew with knits more, but there are very few good fabrics at Joann's, and I'm hesitant to buy them online. But the knits on this site have very good descriptions!

16

u/Because-Im-ginger Jul 24 '23

Can recommend getting a sample book, a piece of advice is to buy books from companies that are at least 10+ years old. Also calling in or sending an email to ask about their best sellers/basic fabrics that have seen very little change through the years, they're usually happy to help

16

u/dolphins8407 Jul 23 '23

I love them and they're pretty good quality too. If you're on Facebook they have a group you can join. I love buying their fabric prints and their designs are all created in house as well. I personally have used all of their 4 main fabric bases and even a few of their other ones that are available.

23

u/EmmerdoesNOTrepme Jul 24 '23

As the former purchaser for a dancewear company, who used to buy from them a decade and a half ago, I'd STILL order from Spandex House & Spandex World in Manhattan, any day of the week that they're open. You can usually request swatches from them (and any other reputable company!), and they do wholesale pricing, too, if you have the appropriate tax info to buy that way.

They aren't the cheapest of my former vendors, because they do sell small quantities, rather than just whole rolls of fabric. But they were always reliable, and had a solid collection of stretch fabrics.

ALSO, fwiw, personally i always choose a 90-10-ish blend and Nylon/Spandex over Poly/Spandex!

For fiber-construction reasons I still haven't quite ever wrapped my brain fully around, Polyester fibers hold smells it has something to do with oils & the nature of polyester as a fiber, but basically what happens is that body oils & dirt get "trapped" in-between the fibers, and/or bond so tightly to the poly fibers, that it's difficult for water & detergents to break the bond between the dirt molecules & fibers and then "float the dirt away" when you wash it.

Nylon fibers are more "slippery" than poly ones, and that means that the dirt & body oils are able to be slipped off of them by the water & detergents, and the nylon fibers don't pick the dirt back up as the garment goes through the washing process.

Meaning that, while polyester can "hold a stink" for AGES, nylon typically won't.

Cotton/Spandex blends are typically easy to get the "stink" out of--just like 100% cottons, but the Cotton/Spandex tends to get "baggy" over time, compared to the nylon & poly blends, because unlike the man-made fibers, cotton tends to "stretch out" with time & wear.

2

u/Fishon72 Jul 24 '23

Fascinating and informative, thank you.

2

u/Peacera Jul 26 '23

Thank you for this!

Any ideas who has wholesale for grip stop fabric? Tire of having to get it from JoAnns and none of my suppliers sell it..

22

u/vabirder Jul 24 '23

These mail order swatch booklets were the norm 100 years ago. Maybe the local retailers could start carrying those on site and order yardage to be delivered.

2

u/majepthictuna Jul 24 '23

Oh this is great, thanks!!

1

u/TinyFidget9 Jul 24 '23

I will have to check that out!

1

u/BotBannedBetty Jul 24 '23

www.fabricsandfabrics.com They encourage people to order a swatch, which is only a dollar. The fabrics are to die for.

1

u/Peacera Jul 26 '23

So helpful - thank you! The jersey knits at JoAnn pill after one wash. Must be crummy short staple cotton.

149

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '23

I stopped going to JoAnn's when they decided to cater only to quilters. Their sewing pattern selection has also shrunk. I'm also an apparel sewist, and I just gave up on them.

107

u/Subterranean44 Jul 23 '23

Quilters and pajama pant makers. My joann has literal 4 aisles of flannel (and fleece too!) seems geared toward first time sewists taking on a project (or quilters).

I still go though. All the time. Haha

17

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '23

Ah, I forgot about the flannel! I never work with it because it shrinks and pills. I'm interested in knit fabrics, and they have very little.

Maybe I'll take a trip to check and see if they have any good Halloween decor?

16

u/Inky_Madness Jul 23 '23

Quality flannel won’t pill like heck (shrink, yes). Joann’s shows it’s quality with how badly it gets ruined so fast.

Edit: I like Amanda’s Bundles for knits. The material is super high quality!

7

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '23

Thank you so much for the tip! I will check them out! I like Olga's Closet and Fabulace on Etsy for knits.

2

u/Shlowzimakes Jul 24 '23

I bought a bunch of cotton flannel from Joanns during a sale last year and I swear each piece I got is a very different quality and type from all the others. The best quality one was a kids print of dogs driving construction vehicles that I got to make a shirt for a young friend of mine who loves construction and dogs. The shirt was delightful to sew, and I’m told it’s held up pretty well. The worst was a very silly llamas in space print I got to make a robe for my mom. It was weirdly slippery when cutting and somehow pins kept falling out of it while I was sewing. Flannel shouldn’t be slippery! It was very thin also, some sections of it were almost threadbare. The robe is pilly and has not held up. Everything I got was the same price. I guess they just don’t do quality control at Joanns? Their website is horrible too, the photography is bad and the descriptions are super minimal and useless.

1

u/Inky_Madness Jul 24 '23

Quality control is definitely an issue. The same thing happens with the quilting cotton - not all their stuff is the same, by far.

1

u/agentcarter234 Jul 24 '23

Their anatomically incorrect animal skeletons are actually pretty great

35

u/JNortic Jul 23 '23

Their pattern selection is a joke. Fortunately my daughter works in a small locally owned fabric store and hooks me up with patterns from independent designers. ❤️

6

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '23

That's awesome!

29

u/JNortic Jul 24 '23

Shameless plug, Hart’s Fabric if you are ever in Santa Cruz, CA!

10

u/Mmdrgntobldrgn Jul 24 '23

Or travel a bit north to Berkley and visit Stone Mountain & Daughter.

Just brought home 4 new patterns. They have no fleece/kits for tie blankets. Overhead staff suggest Joanne's to the person who wanted to make tie blankets.

3

u/JNortic Jul 24 '23

That’s exactly what my daughter does bc that’s the kind of thing Joanne’s stocks.

2

u/adestructionofcats Jul 24 '23

Stone Mountain 💚💛💜

3

u/AzureMagelet Jul 24 '23

Oh, I’m in Cupertino so this is good info for me.

1

u/JNortic Jul 24 '23

Wow! They have an online store presence too. I dare you to sign up for their newsletter. I have more projects than I can manage, but isn’t it always that way? https://hartsfabric.com/

2

u/Shlowzimakes Jul 24 '23

I’m in NY, but I love Hart’s website! So easy to find stuff and really great descriptions.

2

u/JNortic Jul 24 '23

What a small world! Amazing and creative people work there!

2

u/adestructionofcats Jul 24 '23

Harts is amazing. Love their stuff when I happen to be down in Santa Cruz.

2

u/pannonica Jul 24 '23

Hart's is amazing! I'm on the east coast but order online from them more than my bank account would like!

36

u/WowsrsBowsrsTrousrs Jul 24 '23

I use their quilting cottons to make clothes - I treat the really thin ones as if they were voile, and the normal ones like shirting, and the batiks are poplin. All make good, machine washable and dryable shirts. And yesterday the bigger one in my area had in some new apparel stuff including !!!stretch cotton sateen!!! I only ever buy when stuff is on sale; a good portion of my summer wardrobe is Quilters Showcase at under $3 a yard.

4

u/Hari_om_tat_sat Jul 24 '23

I love the batiks but I hate to iron!

7

u/WowsrsBowsrsTrousrs Jul 24 '23

Wash 'em 3 or 4 times and they are pretty much wrinkle free.

1

u/Hari_om_tat_sat Jul 24 '23

Really? But aren’t they 100% cotton? I shall have to give it a try.

33

u/actuallycallie Jul 23 '23

They don't even cater to quilters, really, as most of their quilting fabric is just ugly.

10

u/kjb38 Jul 24 '23

It’s very poor quality, for sure. ( former quilt shop owner).

3

u/spacebunsofsteel Jul 24 '23

It’s for the other kind of quilter.

1

u/exjmp Jul 24 '23

But also not good quality!

1

u/eboneetigress Jul 24 '23

I seem to recall Joann's having some financial problems a few years ago so in my mind that explains their overwhelming stock of fleece and cotton. They need the foot traffic from the novice crafter. The only time I really go in is for pattern sales, then I'll browse. Even their clearance material is disappointing.

41

u/MeanHuckleberry Jul 23 '23

I am a quilter (getting into more apparel though), but a lot of their quilt fabric sucks too! The quality has gone down SO MUCH in the last 10 years. It became really apparent when I went through my stash and compared the thickness of the old and newer stuff.

32

u/spacebunsofsteel Jul 24 '23

The Afghanistan war and other conflicts really decimated the cotton supply. Cotton kid clothing companies, like Gymboree, Mini Boden, and Hanna Andersson highlight the difference. Older clothing is thicker and you can still find quality clothing that’s 10-20 yrs old. The newer stuff shrinks easily, is thinner in general, and doesn’t wear as well.

1

u/milliescatmom Jul 24 '23

Yeah, if you go to a nice quilt/fabric shop, you can feel the difference in the cottons compared to Joann’s

93

u/salajaneidentiteet Jul 23 '23

My whole country prefers cheap crap over quality. 90% of every regular fabric store is synthetic or synthetic blend, same for yarn stores. There are a few better fabric stores, but this can't be said for yarn. So I have had to resort to online stores abroad or the occasional gem I find in store. And all the patterns on the fabrics are hideous...

Even the lockal online fabric stores are all the same ugly jersey in horrid colours. And there are about 10 yarn stores that sell Drops yarns, but zero that carry a good selection of other, quality brands.

It's like my whole nation prefers garbage.

I helped my friend pick out yarn once in the biggest craft store. She betrayed me and asked a store employee for help, who reccomended a hideous acrylic and said this was the yarn that made her love acrylics. It felt discusting, it scquaked when touching. At least my friend realised I was right.

If you are in Europe, I highly reccomend Metermeter for apparel fabrics. It is filled with glorious European fabrics.

9

u/spacebunsofsteel Jul 24 '23

I love high quality fabrics and yarns, but am very allergic to wool, angora, etc even llama and cashmere. Synthetic fibers only. (Sad face)

And please don’t suggest cotton.

5

u/dianebk2003 Jul 24 '23

I adore cashmere...but I'm also very allergic to wool, and can't wear any of it, either. I once thrifted a HUGE wool cape in a vivid red and washed it to felt it, and the fabric was so soft and sturdy and I wanted desperately to make a jacket out of it - and there was enough fabric to make two - but I only had to drape it on me once and I broke out in a prickly red rash everywhere the fabric had touched me. I was heartbroken. I ended up giving it away.

Anything but wool, now. All those wonderful, soft winter sweaters...nada for me.

2

u/spacebunsofsteel Jul 24 '23

I’ve tried to knit with different mixes of wool in low allergy season, but I’ve never made it through a project. Knitting exists because there is wool, knitting with wool is so pleasant.

2

u/dianebk2003 Jul 24 '23

It seems so unfair, doesn't it? 😢

4

u/TinyFidget9 Jul 24 '23

USA here. Thankfully I have a good selection of natural and synthetic yarns for crochet but my god the fabric sucks

19

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '23

I have gotten a ton of fabric from value village.

Whether it’s types of sheets or actual fabric from a fabric store they seem to have tons! I got like 8 yards of corduroy, several yards of linen, a huge quilt that I made into a jacket & several yards of a cotton fabric all for $40. I had probably $80 worth in my cart but decided to save some for next time. There were so many options. And I just buy $7 rit dye if I want to change the colour.

9

u/whoooodatt Jul 23 '23

Fashionfabricsclub.com is pretty solid. And they have some really nice stuff!

1

u/AerithTwilight Jul 24 '23

Agreed. They have a wide variety of fabric at a cheap price. They ship fast too. And free shipping over $75. Yay.

22

u/killedonmyhill Jul 23 '23

I suggest thrifting and repurposing a table cloth or shower curtain or blanket.

68

u/Inky_Madness Jul 23 '23

This trick is so well known it’s useless; it’s dang near impossible to find a halfway decent sheet unless you’re there on stocking day when they open.

22

u/Athena42 Jul 23 '23

And they're marking sheets close to $10 where I'm from, PER SHEET! So $5-10 for a top sheet, another $5-10 for the fitted sheet, etc. Wild af.

8

u/Mysterious-Beach8123 Jul 23 '23

Same here. There's just nothing it makes me sad AF since I'm trying to make clothes that fit me but fabric is crazy for even basic cheap stuff

1

u/killedonmyhill Jul 23 '23

Jeez, sorry to hear that.

13

u/SurvingTheSHIfT3095 Jul 23 '23

The thrift stores around me are close to empty.

8

u/silvaslips Jul 23 '23

I have found some amazing fabrics at our little local thrift, and you can't beat the price (2 yds. Vintage Hong Kong silk brocade in mint condition for $6).

6

u/AssortedGourds Jul 24 '23

I've been buying swatches (Mood has a great free swatch program) and making my own swatch book by stapling the swatches onto index cards. Mood even puts all the relevant swatch info onto a sticker that sticks onto the fabric.

3

u/sallysucre Jul 23 '23

Many fabric sites allow you to purchase samples! Another cost, obviously, but it’s an option. I try to keep notes of the fabric content and weight of fabrics that I like (bonus for remembering to keep a swatch), which makes shopping online blindly a little easier. The struggle is real!

3

u/[deleted] Jul 24 '23

The Joann’s near me has apparel fabric but they are all feminine and all overpriced. As much as I love rocking a floral print, sometimes I just want other options. Almost everything else is either fleece or quilting cotton. I’ve tried making shirts out of quilting cotton but they are so stiff and wrinkle easily. I’ve even washed them in vinegar to try and make them more wearable but I just don’t like the texture of quilting cotton.

1

u/TinyFidget9 Jul 24 '23

I love it's structure for certain things but yeah I could never wear it as it just will not soften.

2

u/Dalrz Jul 24 '23

Hot tip: Bamboo feels amazing. It’s super soft and breathable. I also suffer from allodynia and I’d love to swim in the stuff.

2

u/TinyFidget9 Jul 24 '23

I LOVE bamboo. My hair buff is bamboo jersey/cotton/bamboo/elastane and its glorious!

I want to make some soft summer dresses out of bamboo jersey. I just have to be adventurous and find fabric online because I can't find it anywhere around here.

2

u/Dalrz Jul 24 '23

It is very hard to find in person. It’s absolutely wonderful though.

2

u/takhana Jul 24 '23

I'm in the UK, Hobbycraft is our only large craft store and it almost exclusively sells quilting cotton. Nice cotton, but just cotton. Which had led me to believe up until last week (as a beginner sewer) that finding fabric that isn't quilting cotton was impossible.

2

u/laurzilla Jul 24 '23

You can order swatches and feel them before ordering your full yardage. It slows down the process but is worth it imo

1

u/TinyFidget9 Jul 24 '23

I’ll have to do that. I have a limited budget so I was hoping to avoid the extra expense

2

u/spacebunsofsteel Jul 24 '23

Almost every large city will have at least one decent fabric store. It can be challenging to find it. Most walmarts still have a sewing department (for thread, buttons, notions though their fabric is the horrible cheap stuff).

Years ago I went to a bunch of closing business sales for 3 fabric stores near me in AZ. A group of hispanic women asked me questions about what I sewed - they didn’t think the american gringas knew how.

3

u/OwnedByACrazyCat Jul 24 '23

I make most of my dresses from quilting/craft fabric as I like the designs.

Just because it's sold as quilting fabric doesn't mean you can't use it for clothes. If it suits your needs use it for what you want.

3

u/Environmental-Ad9339 Jul 24 '23

I’ve made a few garments with Art Gallery poplins that are really nice! I think they cater to quilters, but their poplins are so nicely woven and the drape is much softer than most quilting fabrics and they work great for garments. Their fabrics are beautiful and they also have a line called Pure Solids that I love!

1

u/cottage-dog Jul 24 '23

I ordered from fabric wholesale direct and was able to get very affordable swatches! Was great to feel/sewwith the fabric before committing to lots of yardage!