Recently, we went to our local Wal-mart supercenter (there are 2 very close to us – literally 12.5 miles and 13 miles respectively) and discovered that it is Wal-Mart’s policy to remove the sewing department from all their stores. Apparently, the powers that be have decided that there is not enough money being made off of this department, so as new stores are being built or (as was the case with this store) older stores are being remodeled – they will not have a sewing department. That irked me.
I like to sew. Every year, we try to go to Ren-Faire and I always make elaborate costumes for us all. Yes, my son has worn kilts. The good news is that the other store (the one that is 13 miles from our house) doesn’t come up for remodeling for another 5 years, but still
Of course, the bad news is that Hancock Fabrics is also going out of business! WTF? I used to have to drive 20-some-odd miles to the Hancock store, but then they put one in about 10 miles from the house. Joy of joys! Now they’re going out of business. Not only that, but they are apparently shutting down all of the Hancock Fabric stores within about a 50 mile radius of us! I HATE that. The only good part of it is that I got some GORGEOUS pink silk brocade fabric for about $4/yd. Yup, I made that dress.
Surely, I am not the only person who still enjoys sewing? I am starting my Ren garb tonight, I think. It will be a burgundy silk flowy, clingy thing with gold organza sleeves. I will post a pic when I finish it. Here are my most recent creations:
You’re kidding! Wal-Mart is the only place you can go when you break your last needle at 2 AM! That really sucks, although I’ve always been suprised that they dedicate as much floor space to it as they do.
You do mean that only your Hancock Fabrics is going out of business, right? Not mine?
Dunno if it’s so much that nobody sews anymore, as that fabric stores for some reason carry 99% fugly fabric. My guess is that there are two contingents of sewers–the quilters and the garment-makers. The quilters were never particularly well-served by Wal-Mart’s sewing department, and lately, designer quilting fabric has exploded. Even Jo-Ann’s had to invent faux-designer fabric. The garment-makers… well, I’m not one and I no longer know any, but I do know that at several times in my life I’ve thought it would be fun to make clothes, but couldn’t find any fabric I was even able to contemplate buying. Of course, I was looking for everyday clothes fabric, not costume fabric.
I hope my Wal-Mart doesn’t get rid of their sewing dept. I’ve had quite a bit of luck there getting strange odds and ends for various projects. There’s a Joann’s Fabrics nearby but I find them a bit pricey.
I don’t think the whole of Hancock’s is going out of business, but at least 5-6 stores in our area are. They still have a few (albeit a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG drive away) that will be staying open – I should get the straight dope on this sitch.
TroubleAgain, you are very lucky. Perhaps the issue of removing the sewing department is just happening in our area? The store that lost its sewing department literally doesn’t even have anything for sewing anymore. It blew me away. I would have loved getting some of the fabric on clearance! We are stopping by Hancock’s every other day or so to take advantage of whatever additional markdowns we can.
Wow - my WalMart has a fairly big fabric section, and cheap, too. I go there when the project I’m doing doesn’t need to be seen, for example linings for my stuff, and things like that, or fabric that is only for the home. For special projects I go to JoAnne’s.
And I agree with the whole quilting/sewing divide. I tried quilting. BOR-ing.
I do think the everyday clothing sewing is making it’s last wheezy gasps, if not actually dead. There’s just no benefit to it, even for a stay-at-home Mom like me who knows how to sew and has the time for it. Hancock and even Wal-Mart fabric prices are just too ridiculous when I compare it to a t-shirt from Target (or Wal-Mart itself). Lesse, $8.99 a yard for a cute print and $6.99 for the “half-price” pattern (which, admittedly, I can reuse until the little squirt grows out of it) and three hours of labor…or I can buy a cute girl’s T at Target for $4. It’s pretty much a no-brainer. Unless there’s a very specific piece I want that I can’t find off the rack (say, fugly matching mom and daughter dresses shudder), there’s no reason to make my own.
Costuming and ethnic wear is another matter, of course. Personally, I don’t think I have much to worry about, being in a large urban area with lots of theater companies, a Ren Fair less than an hour away and lots of immigrants who still want to wear their sari, bubu or caftans and can’t get them at Target. And with Vogue’s dollar table, I actually can make a few everyday outfits for the little one cheaper than buying, although, honestly, it’s still usually not worth my time.
My wife sews on a regular basis although in her case, she does it as a purely recreational activity. She tends to make more formal dresses for herself since she has difficulty finding things in her size.
For anything that is casual, she doesn’t bother as it just isn’t cost effective in terms of material and time.
She does tend to get her fabrics at various ethnic stores as they have a good selection of cloth at reasonable prices.
Our Hancock’s is closing too; I heard that they’re shutting down about half of them. I’m annoyed because I buy all my batting at Hancock’s, but the fact is that their fabric is mostly pretty bad. I never sew for myself, because I can’t find any fabric that I want to wear. (Wait, I lied; I found some very nice corduroy last year.)
I also know some people who wrote to Wal-Mart over their fabric department closures, and the word was that most of them are going to close soon, and “party supply” stuff put in instead. I believe they called it “Celebrations.”
Same is true of JoAnn’s, though their fabric is a step up and I do buy it sometimes. I think it’s partly the lack of good fabric that has gotten me interested in heirloom sewing, a teeny niche market if ever there was one. The emphasis on good-quality, simple fabrics (which I mail-order) and good construction appeals to me, and I can leave the overly-fussy stuff alone.
It’s quite true that sewing as a money-saver is dead. It’s much more a luxury activity, or for people who want something better/more personalized than they can get at a department store. I sew dresses for my girls because I enjoy doing it, not because it saves me money–it costs more, but I figure I’m making memories and stuff too (I have put my girls into dresses that I or my sister wore, so maybe they’ll do that too)–and anyway I have to sew, I am a sewing person, end of story.
I also know teenage girls who are learning sewing because they are frustrated with the skimpy, tarty looks available at the department stores. Some girls want to look classy instead, and take to sewing to achieve that.
Oh, how I wish I lived near someplace like Chicago, where I could get neat fabric. Sacramento is a barren wasteland. San Francisco is distant and a huge pain and I would be OK if I never had to go there again. It’s just me, JoAnn’s, and two very nice quilt stores (which are great, but not if I want wool).
I love Wal-Mart’s sewing section. I scour the remnants. I have boxes of remnants and have made quilts, baby clothing, blankets, and cool accessories out of said remnants. I love their cheap thread that works, their cheap ribbons, their cheap zippers and accoutrements, and their cheap fabric. I hate shopping at Ben Franklins or JoAnne’s because it’s too damn expensive.
I love to sew and have occasionally made entire outfits (in fact, one of my favorite outfits involves this long, billowy skirt and a peasant blouse that I made…so pretty) and I love doing it on a budget. It gives me something to do and I have something interesting to wear afterward.
I’m going to go to Wal-Mart tonight and ask if they’re really phasing them out in this area. It’s a high retirement area around here and almost everyone I know that does crafts (and that’s a lot of people) goes to Wal-Mart in favor of everything else.
I’ve heard that not all Wal-Marts will have their fabric department permanently phased out, but of course who knows what they will eventually decide to do?
I’m lucky that I’ve got not only two surprisingly good Joanns nearby, but about 45 minutes away there’s a HUGE fabric store that still has all the classic stuff. I still think longingly about a fabric store I used to go to when I lived in L.A., though, that had rooms filled with every kind of fabric imaginable – want $250/yard suiting wool so fine it’s like butter? That’s your store. The only Wal-Marts in this area are far enough away that I don’t even bother checking them for fabric unless I’m already there for enough other things to make the trip worthwhile, and they tend to have pretty cheap and yucky fabrics.
I don’t do much sewing, but I still do it to save money – I can make myself a skirt for about 25% of what it would cost to buy. This was my latest effort – I made a lined skirt for under $20, including pattern. And it fits like a glove, and I got a nice basic pattern so I can reuse it. Speaking of which, maybe I need to make myself some nice comfy summer skirts.
We have JoAnn’s here too, but it seems that their fabric is always WAY overpriced. Maybe that’s just relative to the other stores I shop in (Wal-Mart and Hancock’s)? Honestly, I don’t know.
It is really frustrating. I agree that for day-to-day wear, it’s cheaper/easier to just buy stuff, I would never bother trying to make blue jeans. But for dressy/classy stuff? Way cheaper to make it myself. The pink silk brocade dress I made took me all of 2 hours (including cutting and sewing) and cost a total of about $18 + tax – the only specialty store I know of that carries Mandarin-style dresses like that would charge me $60 + tax for a synthetic silk brocade (printed, not stitched) for the full-length. Definitely better off making it.
I have always preferred making my own clothes, for several reasons, not the least of which being that I have odd proportions. Even after having 2 kids, I have no hips. Seriously, my measurements are 36-25-33 – even juniors’ sizing usually is too lenient in the hips for me! I designed and made both of my prom dresses in high school. I will probably do the same for my daughter when her prom comes up – she tends to like classier stuff than is commercially available.
Honestly, I hope this is not a trend that will be continuing. It scares me to think that my only options in the future will be quilting fabric or store-bought trash
Okay. I work there, so here’s the scoop on Hancock. Or at least part of it, and right now. They’ve declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Because of this they’re closing 104 stores, leaving open the most profitable. There are still more stores open than they are closing. We’re hoping reorganization will work, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
I’m hoping that with the reorganization will come some more forward-looking attitudes down there in Mississippi (headquarters), but I’m not holding my breath. Our CEO came to us from Joann, and we know what’s happened to those. At least around here, they’re turning into junky half craft stores that don’t carry anything that people really want. Of course, around here is all I see, so I don’t know if that’s the national chain, or just this district, but they all seem to have that rummage sale feel to them.
In the meantime I think sewing is coming back. We have a lot of new people coming in who are just learning and some who haven’t done any for years who are starting again. I don’t think it’s for the economics of it, but for the fun and for being able to make things personal.
Joann’s is a lot more tolerable if you sign up for emailed coupons from them. They issue 40% or 50% off coupons regularly, and even though a coupon is only good for one cut of fabric, I’ve found that you can print out the same coupon multiple times and go in the store repeatedly to use the same coupon for multiple purchases. I never, ever pay full price there.
Definitely good to know, I will do this ASAP. Thanks for the head’s up!
thirdwarning, thanks for the information. That is kind of what we suspected with the store closing. I know that this store is pretty profitable, but I guess not as much as others. I hope the re-org works. I would like to see Hancock stay around – mostly I loved how they always ran sales on the patterns (I have not paid more than $1.99 for patterns in that store since it opened!)
So…that petition all the local customers are signing isn’t going to help us? Bummer.
Joann’s here is half craftsy–I figure they do that to survive–but it’s not rummage-sale-y. Except in the back. I wish they would stock fabric I want to buy!
Thing is, I haven’t sewn in a long while, but my boyfriend is trying to start selling wet-plate portrait photography at Civil War reenactments. (Yeah, I know, we never do anything normal.) He’s gonna need help, which means I gotta polish up my skills and make some period corsets and goddamned petticoats and dresses from, IMHO, a pretty ugly age of fashion. Sigh.
I like sewing, but the stores are few and far between here. Wal-mart has a selection (maybe I’ll go stock up on the stuff I was eyeing for my halloween costume) but of course it’s not generally the nicest stuff. I know of two stores, both of which are out of my way. I miss the Fabricland that was up the road, but when it went out of business I got a few things.
