I am a Joann's shopper. Have been for years. As a wife and mother of three and having only one-income, I had to watch my pennies. If it had not been for Joann's I would not have been able to sew. I could not afford fabric that cost $10.00 a yard or even $5.00 a yard. I learned to sew on fabric that cost $3.99 a yard that was either on sale or with a 40% off coupon. I have only been these last 10 months buying other fabric. I have been able to go up in price. Still making sure it is on sale or I have that wonderful coupon. I did not even know about LQS's. When I started to learn more about quilting I learned about the different kinds of fabric. It is very seductive to be pulled into thinking Moda is the only fabric a serious quilters can use. I love Moda, do not get me wrong. If I could buy only Moda I would because I love it so much. But this country is struggling and every family is doing the best they can. If my budget says no Moda so my kids can have food it is an easy choice. If I can feed them and buy 2 yards of Kona White with a coupon I will. Some Moda I buy on line and some in LQS. For me the closest is 15 minutes away and the farthest shop is 45 miles. have found two great shops that when I have some special money I go there to buy special fabric. I think we all buy what we can and we make what we want. This is not my life. It is my passion. There is a difference. Now when this is my way to add money to my families budget things will change. But until then I will do what I can just to keep at my machine. It is not going to matter who is best at making beautiful works of fabric art. There will not be any "winners" or "losers". Just love for all things meant to make people happy. Every piece I make whether it is a block for a swap, a lunch bag for a child, or a quilt for a friend is made with love and hugs and warm fuzzy thought about hope and peace. In the end the quilts that we leave behind will be measured in the amount of love they gave.
OK OK OK enough. I hope that I have not offended anyone. I do not wish to make anyone feel bad about what they do with their time or money. These things are how I feel. Because I can't blog without a picture I hope this will help everybody smile. Now go play with something you love!!! FABRIC!!
This is my cat Spike. He sleeps with me every night. He is the one that was sick a while back.
He is doing fine now.
Very well put! There definitely are fabric snobs out there - but then they must not have to live on a budget. I quite often shop at Joann's and also shop online at connectingthreads.com (you can't hardly beat their clearance fabric prices).
ReplyDeleteWell said. Twenty years ago I could not shop anywhere but at JoAnn's with a coupon, either. I am at a point now where I can shop for the premium fabrics, but I am not above getting sucked from the notions wall over to the quilting fabrics at JoAnn's if something catches my eye. And frankly, if something is not intended to be a hand-me-down or a high-end show piece, why spend $80 on fabric for it when you can find cute, cute stuff for $20?
ReplyDeleteThat said, there are some things that I am grateful to be able not to compromise on anymore. For example, whites - you really need a good quality fabric with those if you can put the money out, because the cheaper ones are far too thin. Everything shows through them terribly. And you do want to watch the cheaper ones for terrible, terrible twist or just being way too thin (unless it's something that won't need washing or lots of handling).
But people should stop making others feel bad for shopping economically. We should buoy each other's creativity and encourage each other in our goals. Which is mostly what I see here in quilty blogland. :D Thanks, everyone!
Well said Shannon. The fabric companies (and their notions) better come to a reality check. We are not all sponsored, have our own fabric line, or have patterns published. The nuts and bolts of a quilter is going back to our heritage - our great grandmothers, grandmother, and mothers made quilts from what they had available, because it was a necessity to provide for the family.
ReplyDeleteI love some designer fabrics - not a lot of them, but some and when on sale, I will pick up some for a special project. I like to shop my LQS - we need to support our local businesses. But my local shop is more a 'Mom/Pop' style store and they really try to assist with prices, donate generously to many community projects, and even though they have paid classes, they have free sewing sessions, too.
Our own quilt shop (we don't sell fabric, but share what we have if needed) we have 3-4 classes a week - all FREE. It's the love of the heritage.
I agree completely and I'm thankful that some of the "high end" fabric designers have chosen to make lines for stores like JoAnns. I do love shopping in a quilt shop, but can't always afford all of my fabric from them. Sometimes I'll get a small amount of key fabrics from a LQS and supplement with stuff from places like JoAnns.
ReplyDeleteI'm a Joann's shopper too! and I love finding fabric for $1.50 or $2 on the bargain racks. I feel the quality and then make my decision. I have a small budget and have to shop economically...Joann's helps me to enjoy a hobby. =)
ReplyDeleteI agree with your post and all of your commenter's. I'm not made of money and appreciate that Joann's carries both nominally priced fabrics and the higher end fabrics. I also understand the pull of the higher priced fabrics but feel the need to keep my feet on the ground. :)
ReplyDeleteVery well said! There are different reasons that everyone quilts, sews, blogs, buys fabric and does everything else!
ReplyDeleteI am totally with you on this! I started quilting about 2 years ago and I have not "graduated" to the higher cost fabric.
ReplyDeleteI dont even know what my LQS carries- she has more expensive fabric but its not name brand as far as I can tell (not that I look hard)
Right now when I quilt- I look for cheap fabric that looks good and is fun!
I agree with you too. (you know me well enough to know that.) I'm a JoAnn's shopper and proud of it. I do appreciate quality but JoAnn's has some good quality there too. I'm selective and use my coupons like gold.
ReplyDeleteThanks for saying what needs to be said!