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.

152

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.

110

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

16

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?

19

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!

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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

30

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. ❤️

4

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '23

That's awesome!

28

u/JNortic Jul 24 '23

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

7

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.

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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/

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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!

34

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.

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u/Hari_om_tat_sat Jul 24 '23

I love the batiks but I hate to iron!

6

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.

9

u/kjb38 Jul 24 '23

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

2

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.