I just cringe at the thought of only having what is on the racks at stores like Kohls as my only source of clothing!

I have the most comfortable and wonderful pants that I sew for myself. How sad to not have them.

I just can hardly believe that something that I have taken for granted my entire life is now no more. I have sewn most of my own clothes for most of my life. When I was growing up all of my friends sewed. We didnt have much shopping anywhere and so we all sewed. And I lived many different places, not just one part of the country. I remember when shopping malls came about, and now I have seen them pass on to oblivion as well.

So what are people doing with all of these inexpensive sewing machines that have been sold in the last years?

What I see on some of the sewing forums is that they are sewing lots of "plushies", (toys) and are trying to make skirts from their jeans and lots of corsets for flashy wear, and , for some darned reason, they want to make costumes and remake hoodies. What I dont see a lot of is just regular clothes being made.

But I really do see this fleece as being so undesirable in any way. Most of what gets made from this fleece requires few sewing skills. It is the nature of the fabric, since it lends itself poorly to tradtitional sewing and the types of things that require skills. It would never be appropriate for a shirt with a button placket and a shirt hem, for instance. I never did understand how one can "sew" a blanket, which seems to be the most usual thing for it. What do they "sew"?

I think it is just awful stuff and doesnt even make a nice blanket.

My houserobes are another thing that I am glad that I can sew. I want mine to be of something nice like a heavy cotton and would just hate to have to wear those synthetic fibers . I have also sewn all of hub's robes for the entire time lifetime that we have been together. He is currently wearing one of lumberjack flannel. It is a nice heavy flannel and he has had it for years and wears it a lot. It is good fabric and very well made. I got the fabric at Joanns many years ago, when the store was a sea of beautiful fabrics! All gone!

I will keep trying to find fabric for a few basic things, such as my pants . I go to the local resell venue and try to find tops.. There sure is a lot of trashy stuff that people have passed on down the line. There are a lot of really sad looking garments on those racks! I look for fabrics as I cruise the rack. I can usually spot a linen or cotton.

Thank you for offering your perspective.

That was my exact reaction the last time that I went to a Joannes Fabric Store. Sewing is going to be a lost art.

I am hearing rumor of Joanns going backrupt or whatever it is that drives companies to quit or reorganize. I highly suspect reorganizing. Probably not towards garment sewing.

I expect this to happen soon and I have often wondered if this is what is beginnig to happen as I see less and less restocks and less and less of any desirable fabric. It seems that the entire store is at a discount price that keeps you from using the coupon for it.

Lol claudia... I have seen you hate on Joanns in a bunch of threads, but starting a hate thread just to hate on them is a new one.

The fleece thing just cracks me up. A lot of it is not my speed, but it can easily be sewn into button down shirts, pants, robes, jackets if one knows how to use fleece.

The lack or underwhelming of patterns/catalog has nothing to do with Joanns. While costuming, celebratory, and crafting sewing is still rather common, it's less common for people to sew their own everyday wear. Like a large amount of other crafts, sewing tends to be more expensive to make your own than buy off the rack now.

Joanns is an average store, it carries some of most of the craft supplies commonly used, including sewing. They aren't trying to be a high end store, aren't trying to cater to a very small crafting group of people that sew their own everyday wear.

If they go under it will be no loss for anyone. It is the worst run place of business . I expect that they will reorganize into a craft store with no more fabric than Walmart and have some online presence.

I make no apologies for my disdain of promotion of forever fleece . It will outlast humanity.

Horrors!

Ya missed the boat on that one... Joanns already reorganized into a craft store a few years back. It's a craft store that is filled with half fabric and half other crafts. It's obviously not the store for you, but that's OK, because there are a couple dozen other crafters to take your place with them. In a way, it is like Walmart- some folks really don't like shopping there either, but there's always plenty of other folks that do.

I wouldn't expect or want you to apologize about your feelings on fleece- your crafting snobbery cracks me up. I've known folks that feel almost the same way about synthetic velvet and fur or non-natural and modern manufacture buttons. It's extra funny you hate Joanns so much, yet find reason to shop there despite all the fleece you know will be lurking. And then had to make a thread about it.

I have some magazines from the 70s that deal with the making of things, mostly home arts. What a remarkable diifference betweeen what people used to do with their creative moments and what they do now. Back then is was more the real needlearts of embroidery, lace and original piecing and, of course, needlepoint and , maybe, rug making, or some such as doing those Ukranian easter eggs and things like that. There was no glue and glitter and sheets of foam back then.

Of course there will be change. It all changes. But you hope that we grow forwards and onwards with new concepts and new values that have substance and goes beyound "making stuff".

If it is so easy that many can do it, it has lost it's status as an art form and becomes a mere act. Joanns offer only the craft part of "arts and crafts".

I think that the company is repositioning itself and morphing into a form that will leave behind the art of building, constructing and creating with beautiful fabric. They are exiting the building at this moment. Actually, they may go the way of Bed and Bath, who have emerged in name as an online store.

What a colossal mess this place is! They may do as well to dump it all into a big pile and let you cull through it. There are boxes of unpacked merchandise stacked everywhere and merchandise pulled off of the shelves and the pegs. Some shelves just have the stuff all piled on a shelf in a big pile or all over the floor, all a jumble of stuff. There is no incentive to do better as they are the only venue around that still poses as a fabric store.

My suspicion is that they will either redesign or close the store. It will get an upgrade or just close the doors. One of the acting CEOs describes the "positive performance in our

"sewing technology catagory". Unfortunatly , I think he means "fleece". I counted six cavernous aisles of fleece at the local store!!! and not one darned thing that I would want to sew a new blouse or pants from. Much of the rest of the store was given to costume.

And that Lucky Brand denim is said to be none other than what was already there with a label added to it. It is part of the strategy to buy and use the brand names.

I know for sure that I am not a lone voice here when I decry all of that fleece and the rest of the holiday junk, every holiday.

I remember in the past couple of years where they are left with so much holiday junk that they can hardly give it away afterwards. Seriously, I remember picking up a free item.

I have heard speculation that they are clearing out the warehouses and there was a flyer declaring how there were going to be thousand of yards of discoutned fabrics. But, there was nothing at my local one. So who knows what happened to that.

They, indeed, have declared bankruptcy and are severing employee hours and laying off employees right and left. They are ruderless with no one at the helm. I hear the flap of the vultures wings coming for them.

This struck me as a little humorous. I would have been stymied at picking out a store that consistantly disappointed me more than Joann's Claudia but then you mentioned

...Kohl's...whose tagline, in my opinion, should read "Walmart quality at Target prices."

We're fortunate to have a Macy's, Nordstrom Rack, and many factory outlets in a town not too far away. Haute couture it's not, but it serves the purpose of being clothed appropriately.

The difference between Joann's and Kohl's is that I will still walk into Joann's. Kohl's has everything on sale, all the time. Just admit your merchandise is overpriced.

I saw a video on YT yesterday by a young woman talking about Joanns and all of it's business problems and she got stuck on the fact that those who run the company are business people who have no knowledge or interest in sewing or crafting.

She seemed to have so much to say about this, but I could not help but think, what does it matter if they know how to sew? They are business exexs, managers, marketers and the like, not makers of things! She seemed to have a lot to say about it all but the idea that these people should also know something about fabric , threads and yarn is preposterous ! Of course they dont! Why should they?

This is not someones passion or art. This is pure business. And, those are people schooled in business and marketiing. Of course!

Her video was very long and after I just tuned it out and switched.

ct, as to Kohls....there is not much alternative to department store shopping other than Kohls. When I do buy something, Kohls is the most likely place to buy it. I dont see them the same way that you do, at all. I, personally, am not thrilled with the major part of what is in any store. I think it is all pretty awful.

I shop Kohls clearance mostly. I live in an affluent burb of DC and all of the local malls have shut the doors and are awaiting teh bulll dozers. That took away Macys and any of the local flagship stores that were still breathing.

There is an oultet mall real close but most of the storefronts are empty and the rest seem to sell shoes. It is a large and rather nice structure but mostly empty. A few years ago it thrived on bringing bus loads of tourist shoppers and they flocked in with suitcases to buy the designer items that they thought were of such value. I saw them out there. It was almost comical to watch them pile off the bus. They were anxious and giddy to get in there and be the first in line.

After covid, it went mostly dark and has never come back.

So, Kohls is my go to if I need something . I wonder if they are in trouble becasue so many times it seems that there are more employees than customers. Now they have given floor space to some cosmetic company and that is a big yawn! Really? Is there not already enough of that?

Actually, Joann's problems are no longer a rumor. It was the subject of a recent article in WSJ, that Joann has some rating so low that the next step is bankruptcy. Talking to my local Joann store employees, Joann is due for a "restructuring" after the first of the year. Personally, I'm glad I have a Joann at the moment, as they usually have what I need AND are the only craft/sewing store locally that's open on Sundays. (HL, a local quilt shop, and all of the Mennonite stores are closed on Sundays).

We are .in an area that used to have a 120+ store outlet center. It is now down to less than 20 stores, with 2 more leaving at the end of the year. We have Kohl's, thank goodness.

I used to make my own clothing as well, but found for the past 15 years that it really didn't do anything for me any more. But either the clearance racks at Kohl's, an occasional "find" at Target, or shopping from 3 different catalogue shops, usually gets me the clothes I need.

Donna

There is a lot of discussion online about the demise of Joanns. Joanns has been disappointing it's customer base for quite a while now. You can read so many stories of angry and disappointed customers.

I have never had a time in my life where there was not a fabric store locally. Joanns has served that very poorly for some time now, but at least it was there, for what ever good it was.

i may even sell my Babylock serger and just pack it all in.

Any bit of sewing I do now I can do with either of my two sewing machines.

I dont expect to be doing much sewing, and cant make peace with online purchase of things like clothes and fabric, or shoes.

Mostly it is an expensive hobby now.

I will still make my pants. i cant imagine wearing the things that I see in the stores.

What are they going to do with all that fleece! ugh!