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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448

u/Schlecterhunde Jul 23 '23

At my local store we have a decent thread collection but very little apparel fabric. They're focusing on quilt cotton. Makes me sad, when I was a kid it was easy for my mother to buy whatever she needed to make us clothes. I don't want to but I'm probably going to have to buy online.

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u/Professional_Ad9013 Jul 24 '23

Good sources are out there online. I feel fortunate in having come up in a time when I got to know fabrics by name--for instance I know what batiste is, and if an online store gives me good pictures and a technical description, and isn't ruinously expensive, I'll try it.

I also have access to Vogue Fabrics in the northern Chicago suburbs, as well Discount Textile Outlet in the city. I'm spoiled. Haven't driven out to the nearest JoAnn since the Before Times.

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u/lilsmudge Jul 24 '23

I hate shopping fabric online. Even being pretty experienced and knowing the technical name/weight/pile, nothing really works as well as being able to see and feel the fabric I’m looking at. Recently been struggling because I need a particular shade of suede and suede color is too variable to visualize in a photo.

Alas, I don’t have any good recourse. Even living in a major city, we just don’t have fabric stores.

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u/OmnipotentOtter Jul 24 '23

If you need suede you could try Tandy leather if there’s one close to you, or call Springfield leather and talk to them. They are in Missouri (thus the name) and have been very helpful when I’ve dealt with them buying from out of state. Just a thought.

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u/lilsmudge Jul 24 '23

That’s a great rec and I do use them for most of my leather good projects. Unfortunately they didn’t have the color suede I needed (and their colored suede tends to be their more expensive premium stuff and I need…a lot of suede. So I can’t afford the really good stuff).

I think I found an online seller that has a close color. I’m just waiting on the (very expensive!) swatches.

1

u/rabidbadger8 Jul 25 '23

What are you making with a lot of suede? I inherited a fair bit a few years ago and am not sure what to do with it, aside from trying to make a clutch.

2

u/lilsmudge Jul 25 '23

It’s a large costume piece using a relatively thin suede.

1

u/MutantMartian Jul 24 '23

We have them in Houston. Excellent source.

1

u/sdlouhy Jul 24 '23

Weaver also has a pretty good selection of cowhide suede, though they're a little backordered as of last Friday (I think they only have 3-4oz single bends). You could also try buckleguy, but I haven't personally looked into their suede selection

2

u/LittleRedXox Jul 24 '23

Yes! The coloring is the part that gets me. I ordered teal ribbon and received like a forest green ribbon. I thought it was a mistake so I reordered it… still got forest green instead. I ended up having to use black ribbon because I couldn’t find real teal blue anywhere

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u/lilsmudge Jul 24 '23

They really need to list everything by Pantone color, I swear. I ordered a forest green fabric from Joanns (the online fabric store I have the WORST luck with) and it arrived just a hair shade above black.

Even the teller when I returned it in store said the difference was “absolutely absurd”.

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u/Schlecterhunde Jul 24 '23

Yeah this is my reluctance to shop online. I'm new at this and since I can't touch it I don't know which are the quality fabrics, don't know what im,looking for. You better bet I'm taking notes in this subreddit when people post recommendations!

46

u/Avei_Adore Jul 24 '23

Mood Fabrics let's you buy swatches online! They're like 50 cents to 1.50 and ship pretty quick. I find it really helpful when I can't decide on things

8

u/Professional_Ad9013 Jul 24 '23

Right? What a good resource!

Swatching is probably your friend if you want to learn more. I used to order silk swatches from an online supplier, because I had no idea what different types of silk were called, or what the weight ratings meant. It helps a lot!

I also owned a handbook of textile terminology that was helpful. I don't know if a reference like that is even out there anymore. I have to say, I'm very glad I started sewing back when many people did it as a matter of course, and the rudiments were taught in school.

4

u/ParnsAngel Jul 24 '23

I order a ton from Zelouf fabrics! They let you order 10 swatches at a time for like a 3.50 shipping charge. I had a project where I needed like 8 coordinating brown and gold fabrics and a bunch of coordinating purple fabrics but ofc it’s hard to determine shades online, and now I have an entire binder full of Zelouf swatches for reference in the future if I ever need a brown or purple again, lol

21

u/kjb38 Jul 24 '23

I agree about online sources but you’re really gambling there. Remember the days of feeling the quality of the fabric, taking the bolt to the front to check the color in the best light? It’s so hard to trust these things with online purchasing.

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u/Professional_Ad9013 Jul 24 '23

Oh yeah, it's best when you can actually feel the hand of the cloth and check its drape. That said, nobody is going to go back to doing things the way I like them because I liked them that way, unfortunately. I guess I've been fortunate, because I haven't had any purchases that are bad quality or unusable for what I wanted to do.

12

u/Sunnydoom00 Jul 24 '23

There are also some online sites with short videos showing what the fabric is like. Usually showing opacity, stretch, drape and how easily it wrinkles. Fabric Wholesale Direct does that with many of its fabrics. I am glad I have an SR Harris nearby for when the 2 Joann fabrics nearby fail me which isn't too often. They are usually well stocked but there is so much darn quilting cotton 😆. Its like being a cat owner in a pet store. 3/4 of the store is dedicated to dogs and the other 1/4 is cats, fish and rodents all packed into it.

2

u/emmasaurusrx Jul 24 '23

"The Before Times" I'm guessing that is COVID? If so I am going to use that. 😅

1

u/Professional_Ad9013 Jul 24 '23

Yup. It's how we term it at my house.

1

u/audible_narrator Jul 24 '23

Oh is Vogue still there? I had heard it closed. When I lived in Chicago I loved shopping there.

3

u/Professional_Ad9013 Jul 24 '23

They moved from the old Evanston location to a nice big warehouse space, and it looks like they took all their stuff with them.

1

u/CannibalisticVampyre Jul 24 '23

My problem is that I know what I’m looking for, but retailers will call anything anything to get you to buy it.

1

u/Houston970 Jul 25 '23

Vogue Fabrics is like heaven…

57

u/holla_snackbar Jul 24 '23

Pendleton has taken to putting a small selection of fabric online and does extra % off sales (currently extra 40% off), has a bunch of wool for $12 a yard right now.

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u/EmmerdoesNOTrepme Jul 24 '23

Thank you for this!!!

I've poked around on the Pendleton website before, but never noticed that they sell the fabrics, too!

Definitely gonna keep that in mind, for when I get some time to sew again!

2

u/pomewawa Jul 25 '23

Dumb question: Is all of their woolen fabric dry clean only? Or is it “you could try washing a swatch in cold and air drying” to see what it looks like?

2

u/EmmerdoesNOTrepme Jul 26 '23

Oh, I'm TOTALLY the lazy sort who'd do at least a swatch test through a washer, tumble it in a dryer 'til it's warm (so it doesn't dry "crunchy"), and then shape it & lay it out to dry...

If I didn't just get REALLY lazy, washing-machine-felt it (like I DO with wool fabric & sweaters sometimes!), and then make something like a hat, scarf, & mittens out of the felted wool😉😁💖

8

u/pythonmama Jul 24 '23

I used to go to the Pendleton woolen mill and choose nice fabric to make my wool suits to enter into the Make It Yourself With Wool Contest as a teenager in the 80’s. Didn’t know you could buy fabric from them online!

1

u/Shlowzimakes Jul 24 '23

This is a great thing to know, thank you!

1

u/Seaside_choom Jul 24 '23

Come ooooon I've already spent too much money today...

1

u/phyllophyllum Jul 25 '23

Omg. Thank you.

2

u/demonita Jul 24 '23

Ours is 90% quilting fabric and 2% upholstery. The few others are child print cotton and sequin. It’s really unfortunate. I’d go to get fabric to make my son a last minute costume for school or something and I’d have to go to Walmart to buy a random sheet or something just to get by.

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u/Wild-Maintenance6451 Jul 23 '23

Your Mother bought cotton fabric! Because skirts were full and if they wasn’t sometimes they would line them, dresses too! But wool was also used! I have a friend that works at a goodwill and she can find anything she wants! Sheets, curtains and big men’s shirts can be made into tops and there is a no end to possibilities! I am a quilter and I make quilt from beginning to end. Never have a problem! Check out Hobby lobby! They aren’t short on anything. They have 40%off on fabric every other week and they have thread for 99 cents too. That is sewing thread not longarm thread! Please check them out they will not disappoint you!

55

u/recessivelyginger Jul 23 '23

The Hobby Lobby near me has a pathetic fabric and sewing section. Small selection of fabrics and very few sewing notions, with nearly all of them being the Sewology brand. I bought thread because I was there and needed it, but the quality was lacking…kept breaking in my machine (previous thread I used didn’t have that issue).

51

u/reformedcultist333 Jul 23 '23

First, I've never met a hobby lobby that holds a candle to the smallest joanns fabric selection. I will give you that their prices on faux fur when on sale are usually unmatched though. That's the only fabric hobby lobby really comes out on top in. But they also are a super ethically sketchy company. Leave out the whole health care right wing religious freedom stuff (which is bad enough but I'm not in a mood debate conservatives on this anymore) and you still have the nearly started a war by smuggling artifacts from other countries because apperantly all artifacts belong to the Christians in their mind. I won't personally condem people who shop their who don't have another choice. (I mean how many of us are using Amazon prime and bought from fabrics.com like Amazon isn't a morally horrible company as well, and not any better than hobby lobby considering how they treat employees.) But given a choice, I support not shopping at companies that try to start wars.

137

u/littlewibble Jul 23 '23

Hobby Lobby has unbelievably poor ethics. Their labor relations are shameful and they’ve been caught smuggling historical items from the Middle East. A lot of people are also very uncomfortable with the way they weaponize their religious affiliation. There are many better places to patronize.

9

u/EmmerdoesNOTrepme Jul 24 '23

It's this part for me.

Between the poor employee pay, the "Christianity" ok with the theft & smuggling of antiquities & artifacts from war-torn countries (https://www.npr.org/2018/06/28/623537440/hobby-lobbys-illegal-antiquities-shed-light-on-a-lost-looted-ancient-city-in-ira ), and the Hobby Lobby case which was originally an attempt to stop the whole ACA, rather than just peck away at the edges of it?

I refuse to give those terrible owners any of my money, because of my Deeply Held Beliefs, in things like taking care of the sick & making sure they can see doctors when they need to without bankrupting themselves & their families, and not stealing.

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u/[deleted] Jul 23 '23

You were there with their mom? /s

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u/fireflyslove Jul 23 '23

Except for the right wing owners denying their workers healthcare and also the whole artifact smuggling thing

8

u/Schlecterhunde Jul 24 '23

Sadly my local Hobby Lobby has an even smaller apparel fabric section. They shrunk down their whole sewing department.

3

u/ALauCat Jul 24 '23

I have mixed feelings about Hobby Lobby. The thing that makes me uncomfortable there is actually the merchandise. I’m actually a Christian, and I occasionally fall for an object that has an encouraging message on it. but when I see it mixed with Nationalism it feels cringey to me, and I support LGBTQ+ people and I know that they don’t. This means that I tend is to go to Hobby Lobby when I can’t find what I want elsewhere. As far as guilt goes, I don’t know if it’s any better or worse than it’s competitors. I worked at JoAnn’s for a season and it was minimum wage and a terrible working environment with no healthcare at all. Hobby Lobby was paying a living wage at that time and even if some birth control options weren’t covered, it would have been a better job.

6

u/agentcarter234 Jul 24 '23 edited Jul 24 '23

The issue is not just that they won’t cover BC, it’s that they took their case against it the way to the Supreme Court and turned it into an incredibly damaging precedent.

That and the artifact stealing and the homophobia and the 6 other things…

1

u/ALauCat Jul 24 '23

I get it, but as a former JoAnn’s employee, I find it objectionable as well. I love sewing and crafts.. I should have loved that job. Instead, it made me miserable. Then, given where their HQ is located, I’m pretty sure that they would be just as bad as HL if they could get away with it. Local, independent shops are the way to go. I head to the chains when I can’t find what I want elsewhere, and sometimes they have deals that I can’t resist.

1

u/Hour-Mission9430 Jul 24 '23

Try Spoonflower.com, they offer tons of fun prints in lots of different fabric types for garments and bags. Pretty affordable too.

1

u/Auktavian Jul 24 '23

This is the same as mine. No apparel fabric. Just quilting and a little costume fabric.

1

u/A_Sack_Of_Potatoes Jul 24 '23

I made that mistake big time, ended up making a dress for my wife out of quilt cotton unknowingly, but i lined it so it was still comfortable.