As much as I love playing with fabric and patterns, and all of the fun notions out there, I love shopping for them just as much. There are some many great things out there to sew with that it is sometimes difficult to decide where to shop, let alone what I actually want to buy. If you are new to sewing, it can be overwhelming to figure out what is worth your money and where is the best source to get it.
This is one of my goals with this blog – we are going to explore options for sourcing everything that will help you make your projects special. I am going to review brick and mortar stores as well as online stores, Etsy sellers, big box stores, and everywhere inbetween.
Let’s start with the big box craft stores – Joann, Hobby Lobby, and Michael’s.
Joann has been in the news due to their recent bankruptcy and restructuring. It seems like things are stabilizing and they aren’t going out of business. I’m glad because I do shop there, but I have a fairly specific shopping list for this store. Joann is my go-to for Gutermann Thread, basic garment-sewing notions, interfacing, and the big 4 patterns when they go on sale. As a teacher, I appreciate that they give a standard 15% discount for teachers (and they also discount for our military service members). I will be fabric there, but mainly some of their apparel fabrics or home dec. I’m not a big fan of their quilting cottons, but cheap flannel for pajama pants, sure. I watch their sales and coupons and buy interfacing (namely SF101, Fusible Flex Foam, Fusible Fleece, and Peltex) by the bolt. It is way more economical to buy it this way – especially if you sew a lot. Joann is definitely my favorite of the big box craft stores.
I was excited when Michael’s said they would start offering fabric in store. After all, I remembered that they had acquired Hancock Fabric stores, so I was hopeful. I can say I was overwhelmed when their fabric department debuted in store. The best sewing supplies I get from Michael’s are some of the storage boxes I have gotten there in multi-colored lidded sets. I used to get bigger tubs from other places, but the smaller ones are easy to sort and label and are much easier to manuever in my storage area. Michael’s is a good craft store, but really doesn’t have a lot to offer for actual quality sewing. Like Joann, Michael’s also gives teachers 15% off purchases,
Hobby Lobby is definitely in third place for me, even though I have one of these much closer to my house that I have a Joann or Michael’s. I have some issues with this store. First of all, their pricing is deceptive. If furniture is always 30% off, just lower the price to begin with! Their sewing department, while better than Michael’s pales in comparison to Joann and the quality is hit and miss. They have a rather limited pattern selection and too many of their own store brand supplies (such as thread) that would be hard to match up elsewhere. I’m not a fan of some of their politically motivated policies for how they run their stores, so I would rather take my money elsewhere.
In addition, there are other big box stores that sell items to help you sew. I can honestly say I have not been in a Walmart since early 2020, pre-pandemic. Clearly, I am not missing their tiny sewing department. Target doesn’t offer fabric and sewing supplies, but you can definitely find great organization options there. Ikea (if you have one near you) is also great for organizing your sewing room, plus it is a good place to buy pillows you can make covers for yourself and I know sometimes they have fabric (or did) – my nearest Ikea is two hours away.
As much as all of these stores have, I cannot imagine how limiting it would be if these were the only places I shopped. I want to explore and share with you some of my favorite small businesses where I get the best fabrics and patterns and notions.
Make sure you subscribe so you can find out about the many awesome resources out there. Aside from any Amazon recommendations I may share, at the moment I do not get any compensation from any of these businesses. I just want to share what I love! I’m going to also alternate, of course, with more sewing project content, but bear with me as I struggle through the first few weeks of the school year (and all of its accompanying extra tasks).
Let me know if you have any favorite sewing-related items that you like to get from the big boxes!.
Enchanted Pines Sewing 