| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| peapicker |
Posted - Jul 19 2009 : 3:05:56 PM
This topic has probably been discussed before I joined, but I just have to say it an maybe I will feel better. I went into our Walmart here in Corsicana and they are closing the fabric department to put in "party supplies". I am livid. We have no other place to buy fabric without traveling about forty or more miles. There is a party place downtown, so Walmart will probably force them to shut down by selling at a lower price. I remember when we used to have fabric stores and I miss them so much. Just wondering where all of you buy fabric. I am going to try my best to stop shopping there.
Sharlet |
| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| oldfashioned girl |
Posted - Jul 21 2009 : 9:34:57 PM
Grace, I checked out Sew Mama Sew and all I can say is that it's probably a good thing I can't afford most of it! I did remember another site that I looked at and I know it's not helping matters to post this, but they have TONS of fabric!!!!! http://www.craftconn.com/Main.asp?Task=Custom&Step=Home I am not sure if someone has already posted this or not! I have never ordered from them though!
Sharlet, I think it would be a great idea to start a thread about online fabric sites! It would be good to know if others have bought from places and how the service was!
Monica
farmgirls rule!
www.justducky48.etsy.com
www.justducky48.blogspot.com |
| 1badmamawolf |
Posted - Jul 21 2009 : 6:58:30 PM
Betty J., they closed the JoAnns fabrics in Lancaster about 2 years ago, Hancock fabrics in Lancaster is also gone, for at least 3 years, Micheals is gone too.
"Treat the earth well, it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children" |
| peapicker |
Posted - Jul 21 2009 : 6:52:56 PM
I just looked at Sew Mama Sew and it has the cutest patterns. I haven't looked at the fabric yet, but will in a few minutes. Thanks, this is a really cool site. The aprons are great too. |
| grace gerber |
Posted - Jul 21 2009 : 6:41:15 PM
Oh My - I went to equilter.com and I must have spent an hour looking at all the fabric I should not get. I think it is good bye to stores and HELLO to on line fabric - I am now going to a site called Sew Mama Sew - it is another site someone gave me. Bad, Bad, Bad Grace
Grace Gerber
Larkspur Funny Farm and Fiber Art Studio
Where the spirits are high and the fiber is deep
http://www.larkspurfunnyfarm.etsy.com
http://larkspurfunnyfarm.blogspot.com
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| oldfashioned girl |
Posted - Jul 21 2009 : 5:55:48 PM
Grace, I think you have gotten me into enough trouble so maybe now we are even!! hehe!! I actually have only found about 3 pieces of fabric that I am able to easily part with! I am trying to destash, but it's just not going that well because every time I start looking through boxed to sort stuff out, I am like a kid in a candy shop and I find things I had forgotten I had!
I am going to keep telling myself the same thing!
Monica
farmgirls rule!
www.justducky48.etsy.com
www.justducky48.blogspot.com |
| AmethystRose |
Posted - Jul 21 2009 : 1:18:26 PM
Claudia, there are two fabric stores in Belleville, and the Peight's store there has some fabric. The Lewistown Walmart still has a fabric department because of the Amish and Mennonites in the area, but it's been drastically downsized.
The availability of fabric has changed in the past thirty years. There is a generation or two of women who no longer make their clothing, because styles of dressing has changed. The fabric manufacturers are no longer here, and those remaining are making specialty cottons for quiltmakers. At my local JoAnn's (twenty five miles away) only half of the floorspace has fabrics, and most of that is devoted to quilting, novelty prints and bridal.
I'm not a fan of Walmart either. As my knees aged and their store expanded, I found myself worn out by the time that I reached the back of the store. My time is worth more than the fifty cents that I might save.
Rosemary |
| Amy Warwick |
Posted - Jul 21 2009 : 1:04:48 PM
My husband and I made a vow on our wedding day never to shop at walmart again since they are putting our little shops out of business. We thought we would end up spending more money, but in fact we ended up saving more money by not being enticed by all of the end cap items that they have in Walmart. I have never been happier!
Amy
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it ~Aristotle
please visit www.amywarwick.com. |
| peapicker |
Posted - Jul 21 2009 : 12:57:19 PM
Tanna,
I sent you an email. |
| Tanna |
Posted - Jul 21 2009 : 12:43:46 PM
Sharlet,
Let me know when you're up this way if you want to have tea, or coffee, or even lunch!
Tanna |
| Claude09647 |
Posted - Jul 21 2009 : 11:14:45 AM
I was not all too happy about them shutting down the fabric dept either. Its on my way home from work and i would love to stop sometimes and just look at things to get some ideas... now its an hour and fifteen minute drive to fine something good, and even then their prices are high
"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door." |
| katmom |
Posted - Jul 21 2009 : 10:50:52 AM
It's funny, I am a 'tactile' kinda person when it comes to shopping for fabric...I need to look at & feel the fabric befor I buy it. But living out here in the country is not always simple, & our local Wally World doesn't sell fabric and I can't just hope in the car & run down the road to Joanns or other local fabric shop, so I find myself planning my "fabric shopping" trips bundled up with in town errands....I now am venturing out of my comfort zone & starting to buy fabric on line from both Frabric.com & e-quilter.com. In fact my latest order just arrived yesterday...I ordered some "I Love Lucy" print fabric for an I Love Lucy themed apron swap.
e-quilter's is wonderful! they communicate with you, ship promptly and even wrap the fabric up nicely in tissue paper. I am very pleased with them.
Well speaking of fabric, better get out side & water my garden so I can spend the rest of the afternoon sewing...
>^..^< Happiness is being a katmom.
"I've never met a sewing machine I didn't like!"
www.katmom4.blogspot.com & http://www.graciesvictorianrose.blogspot.com
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| grace gerber |
Posted - Jul 21 2009 : 09:39:42 AM
Monica
Now your getting me into trouble - I thought we where to destash and now I am finding more great fabric - Shame on you!!!
Just kidding - I do not think we can break our habits of fabric stashing but it is better then some habits... I am going to keep telling myself that to feel better.
Thanks for the new site.
Grace Gerber
Larkspur Funny Farm and Fiber Art Studio
Where the spirits are high and the fiber is deep
http://www.larkspurfunnyfarm.etsy.com
http://larkspurfunnyfarm.blogspot.com
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| oldfashioned girl |
Posted - Jul 21 2009 : 06:44:14 AM
Here is another place for fabric. www.voguefabricsstore.com I have not bought from them yet, but you can order swatches and they have deals all of the time. They also have a huge selection of fabrics.
One other thing about Walmart is that they don't always have the best prices. I shop a lot at a local grocery store and quite often their prices are better. Besides that so much of what you get at Walmart is chap quality so the money you save isn't really a savings at all!
Monica
farmgirls rule!
www.justducky48.etsy.com
www.justducky48.blogspot.com |
| mellaisbella |
Posted - Jul 21 2009 : 04:59:30 AM
hubby calls wallmart the devil store
"we must be the change we wish to see in the world"
farmgal #150 |
| peapicker |
Posted - Jul 20 2009 : 8:38:47 PM
I am so glad I'm not the only one that's had it with Walmart. I have threatened to stop going there for a long time, but now I really mean it.
I'm going to get a whole new education in ordering on line. I have bought a few things on line, but very few. I have never bought one piece of fabric though. I've been checking out some of the sites posted here and it looks like I will be able get most of what I want. So, my new adventure will start soon. I thought it might be good to start a thread with just the good websites posted for fabric and notions. What does anyone else think? I'm not sure if there are that many though. Could be all the good ones are already posted here. |
| laurzgot |
Posted - Jul 20 2009 : 8:25:59 PM
Sharlet, I know exactly what you mean. The Wal-Mart here in Alvin did the same thing ayear or so ago. So livid I was and still am.
Laurie
suburban countrygirl at heart |
| Betty J. |
Posted - Jul 20 2009 : 5:46:55 PM
Sharlet, I buy the majority of my fabric on line. Our Hancocks went out of business. Now our Jo-Ann's has closed their best store. There are only quilt shops to buy fabric in. I don't know what I will do when I really need something special. Internet, here I come.
There is one Jo-Ann's in Lancaster, CA and I do like it because it is so bright and airy. Of course I can only use it when I am visiting my kids.
Betty in Pasco |
| 1badmamawolf |
Posted - Jul 20 2009 : 5:14:16 PM
I get most of my fabic on-line also, JoAnns.com, and Fabic.com , and I have bought some thru ebay, other wise, the closest fabric store for me in down in L.A. and I refuse to go down there, scary, dirty, way crowded place!!
"Treat the earth well, it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children" |
| Faransgirl |
Posted - Jul 20 2009 : 3:41:32 PM
I live south of Houston and of the Wal-Marts close to my house only one has fabric. We are lucky though because in our area we have a JoAnn's a Hancock and 4 quilt shops where we can get fabric. I try to stay out of there if I can. I have purchased fabric on-line a few times and get alot of it at the International Quilt Fair that comes every year. I was in Wal-Mart for ant poison and decided to check the fabric department for embroidery thread and with 5 aisles of craft and sewing supplies they had none. GRRRRRRR.
Farmgirl Sister 572
May the force of the horse be with you. |
| MrsDirtDoctor |
Posted - Jul 20 2009 : 3:14:05 PM
GRRRRRR at Wally world!!!! My mother in law came to visit last week and we strolled around the fabric and found some we wanted..we waited about 40 minutes for someone to come help us!!! that's when they also told me that the crafts in most stores are going...such a dumb idea |
| graciegreeneyes |
Posted - Jul 20 2009 : 10:25:48 AM
I try to shop at locally owned business wherever I can and I specifically avoid Walmart.
I'm lucky in that I live close to a city that has several good independent fabric stores so I try to patronize those. I have found some good websites for fabric and patterns though including sewmamasew, Rubyjane, Cia's Palette, and equilter.com. Hope that helps - I too would rather hold fabric in my hand but when it comes to cotton yardage, if I'm familiar with the designer or fabric company I know what I'm getting.
Amy Grace
Farmgirl #224
"use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without"
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| LauriP |
Posted - Jul 20 2009 : 09:03:51 AM
I've stayed away from wal mart for all the same reasons..and also because when the husband & I delivered the freight for them, all the store managers were pretty fried..burned out..and exhausted. Corporate Hdqt. would push them to get soo much into their stores, regardless of whether or not they had room on the floor for the product.
The sad and ugly thing about the store, is there is such a violent mentality to their overbearing prescence (sp) in a community. The corporate ideal is to price competition out, at whatever cost is necessary. No if's and's or buts. The distribution centers are horribly overcrowded, and once a tractor trailer arrives, there is usually a wait of up to an hour or more to unload the freight..with the corporate chiefs screaming to get the freight moving faster. A viscious cycle. We had to make 3 back-to-back delieveries up to Maryland in a 2 day time span. We made it, but that was near the end of hauling freight for them. Plus the distribution centers have a clever way of "losing" paperwork the truck company needed in order to pay the drivers..I can't count the weeks we got paid less than $120 for driving over 2200 miles.
I didnt go in a walmart for over 2 or 3 years, an' finally went last spring...I felt sick, an' will sit in the car in the parking lot if tom absolutely has to go into the store. The memory of all the ugllieee with them still gives me the creeps. The chain is the very picture of corporate greed gone into overdrive. Don't ask some truck drivers of their experience hauling freight for them..my reaction is pretty mild compared to some others. Some drivers have crashed trying to get the freight to the stores in their (wal mart's) alloted time frame..some companies that haul their products have stopped carrying their freight because of the time constraints placed on the drivers..it's just getting uglier and uglier.
Answer? -- stop shopping there. Plain and simple. When reading the business page, several articles have stated that some of the stores across the country are recording lower than expected sales. It makes the corporate office go into a tailspin. Good. Keep staying away from them, and they'll have to change the way they do business. The maybe/good thing about walmart closing their fabric departments is that now maybe some of the mom & pop stores can reopen and actually make a go of it. It may be awhile before that's a possibility. but it's something to think about.
This went too long,but the rant is sometimes just needed, know what I mean?!!
Laurianne |
| lilwing |
Posted - Jul 20 2009 : 08:46:35 AM
BTW, I wish I could cut Walmart out of my life but for us, it's a little bit impossible for certain things....
~~~~
http://nightbirdtrading.etsy.com
http://www.stevietribute.com |
| lilwing |
Posted - Jul 20 2009 : 08:42:10 AM
I have been upset because they are closing down (it seems) all the fabric departments.. :( here in Houston too ...
~~~~
http://nightbirdtrading.etsy.com
http://www.stevietribute.com |
| grace gerber |
Posted - Jul 20 2009 : 08:34:12 AM
I am so with you all - I HATE WalMart and for years have been telling folks that it will spell the end of small businesses as we know it - I know folks thought I was nuts but now they are singing a different tune. I am with you about wanting to feel things - heck my business is all about feeling fiber but I have also found that if you know the manufactures you can completely buy on line and get what you want. Also, the gas it takes to get to a store I save in shipping costs plus I am not ruining the environment. Also, I can shop at midnight and not have to step out of my pj's. I support many small businesses on line and on Etsy - great selection of vintage fabric which I could not reach in my truck. I also get in the habit of making lists and when on that rare occasion I go into town ( once a month if that) then I purchase those items in large quanities so when I am working late or snowed in I have everything I need.
A side note - really if we would all stand together on this big box issue we might not be swallowed whole... I will get off my soap box and get to work on creating something you will never find at WalMart.
Grace Gerber
Larkspur Funny Farm and Fiber Art Studio
Where the spirits are high and the fiber is deep
http://www.larkspurfunnyfarm.etsy.com
http://larkspurfunnyfarm.blogspot.com
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