Rambling...

 Reflecting on the state of sewing in the US.  How did we get to the place we are in 2025?  

With the demise of JoAnn Fabrics, I find myself in a bewildering world.  To my knowledge, there is no good local thread sources.  Walmart and Hobby Lobby carry some commercial patterns (McCall's and maybe Simplicity).  They also carry wee bits of fabric.  Walmart is more of a muslin type fabric although once in while there are great finds.  Hobby Lobby, I have not spent much time looking at their fabrics.  I need to go by and see if what they are carrying - fabric, interfacing, etc.

Even 40 years ago, we still had great local options.  So what happen?  I can only guess that JoAnn Fabrics slowly pushed every one out or purchased them.  With JoAnn Fabric being the only game in town, why did they feel the need to have constant coupons?  Personally, I would rather be offered an honest price than one that have been inflated so the coupons can be offered.  

Pattern companies - 40 years ago, the big commercial pattern companies were doing relatively well. Probably not perfect but I do not remember hearing about issues.  Great designs were still being offered from all of them.  Now, we find that the company that had owned the commercial pattern companies sold them to a liquidator.  This was a result of tariffs and JoAnn Fabric closing.  Where does that leave the commercial pattern companies?  They are currently still operating.  Will there still be great designs created?  To be honest, there have not been a lot of great designs coming of the big commercial design companies and I suspect that is because no one wants to pay for the patterns.  Remember, it costs money to make a design.  There are lots of people involved in the process.  Somewhere along, we stopped paying for those patterns and were only willing to purchase them at JoAnn Fabrics hugely discounted prices. In the last 30 or so years, independent pattern companies have become a big thing.  Why are people willing to purchase independent patterns at $10, $15, $20, or so for each pattern but find it impossible to purchase the big commercial patterns for the same pricing structure?  Honestly, it is not the drafting.  I have found more poorly drafted patterns with independent companies than the big commercial companies.  Folks, I own hundreds of patterns.  Collecting patterns is just another hobby.

I will admit that many of the online fabric stores are stepping up and offering thread matching services.  I think all three of the companies that I generally purchase from are now offering this service.  The thing that I have found with the service is that you might not get enough thread and you end up having to order more and paying shipping.

I did purchase a thread chart from an online notions company.  This has helped except many times when purchasing online the numbers are not listed but a name.  So far, I have been able to locate charts with the commerical, wholesale, and thread names.  This has helped tremendously with locating thread but there is still the issue of paying large shipping costs.  I think in the future there will be less spontaneous purchases of fabric because the project needs to be planned start to finish and products received of them.

So, how is all the weirdness of the US sewing world affecting you?  We have not seen how the tariffs will change things but we can be assured that the prices will rise at least 25% and probably more.  

Happy Stitching!