I had something entirely different planned for this blog. Entirely. But this week…well, this week was hard for a lot of reasons I will get into later (everyone is fine and I’m still quilting, but there’s a lot going on). Sometimes I have some topics that need to be written about, but I don’t have enough on each subject to write a 2,000 word blog. So I throw them into one blog with lines separating my thoughts. Due to time restraints this week, today’s blog is one of those mashups.
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There is a lot of stuff occurring in our quilting world. And when I look over the past almost forty years I’ve quilted, a lot has happened. We’ve lost local quilt shops. We’ve lost quilting magazines (the real-actual-paper-pages-you-have-to-turn kind). Quilting teachers have retired. Thanks to a pandemic, our guilds and groups can meet on Zoom and many non-retired teachers have moved to teaching only on this platform. Our quilting world has largely gone from brick-and-mortar shops to online stores where we can peruse the inventory in our pajamas with adult beverage in hand. While I’m adult enough to realize that nothing ever really stays the same, I still miss what we’ve lost.
We lost Hancock Fabrics on July 27, 2016. That was a heavy-hitter and a fan favorite. The most wonderful thing about Hanocks was they stayed open until 8 p.m., which meant if I needed needles, fabric, zippers, or stabilizer after work on a Friday night for a class early Saturday morning, I was covered. Didn’t have to think about it. Just zip in after dinner, pick up the supplies, and grab those few extra minutes of sleep on Saturday morning before class started. The Greensboro Hancocks was always within 10 minutes of my house (they moved three times), which meant anytime I just needed to get away from everything and pet fabric, I had an out.
Due to decreasing sales and underperforming retail locations and issues with pensions and retirement benefit costs, Hancock’s called it quits and filed for bankruptcy. Michael’s bought the rights to the Hancock brand, fabric, and trademark. Everything else – store fixtures, remaining inventory, etc. – was sold off. I could go through cost analysis, overshooting profits vs. actual costs, and all that spreadsheet nonsense Geeks like me geek over, but honestly, as a consumer and quilter and frankly a huge Hancock fan, I think their demise boiled down to this: They tried to be something they weren’t. If you had a Hancock Fabrics in your area for a while, try to remember what it was like when it first opened. All types of fabric, from dress goods to quilting, were sold. Simplicity patterns, Butterick, buttons, ribbon, batting – anything you needed to make garments, quilts, or sewing related projects was sold. Now remember what the store was like when it closed. Furniture. Lighting. Jewelry making supplies, yarn…and some fabric. However, as all the non-fabric or garment/quilt making paraphernalia occupied more and more floor space, the inventory of fabric for quilting and garment making shrunk. To add insult to a quilter’s injury, the quality of fabric sold declined (in my opinion). Much of it was lower-end and thin. This was probably an effort to bolster the bottom line, but I think it simply alienated (and angered) their customer base.
In short, I think Hancock Fabrics was trying to be something it wasn’t: Hobby Lobby. Hobby Lobby (love it or not), has fabric, yarn, flowers, furniture and all kinds and types of hobby and arts supplies but it doesn’t market itself as a fabric store. You go to Hancock Fabrics and you expect fabric.*
And while the door has firmly closed on Hancock Fabric’s, we are facing yet another closure – Joann’s Fabric.
Founded in 1943, Joann operates stores in 49 of the 50 states – the only state without a Joann’s is Hawaii. While I am not a regular Joann’s shopper, (the nearest one is across town and doesn’t cross any of my normal errand traffic) I do go there for notions, zippers, and Pellon SK135 White Sheer Knit Fusible Interfacing (my stabilizer of choice for machine applique). I’ve always found Joann’s to be neat, the customer service fairly good, and with their 40% off coupons, a great place to shop to pick up a bolt or two of that Pellon SK135 I love so much. It filed for bankruptcy once recently, but when it filed again this year, I opened my Joann app on my phone and purchased another bolt of the Pellon. The writing was on the wall. At present, there is one bid in for the company. Gordan Brothers Retail Partners (the same company that liquidated most of the Big Lot stores) has a preemptive bid in for the company in order to prevent any low-ball offers. I’ve heard unsubstantiated chatter about other buyers, but I can’t verify anything. Either way, in a couple of weeks, Joann’s may be no more, even though (as of this moment) they’re closing hundreds of their stores as a pro-active gesture.
Joann’s has always had craft items other than sewing/quilting related notions, so that’s not what caused their financial struggles. Citing inventory issues and sluggish retail sales, Joann’s decided to put this second Chapter 11 filing in motion and cut their losses. Since they technically don’t own any of their locations, and if Gordon Brothers does have the winning/lone bid, only left-over inventory, assets, and store fixtures can be sold.
Not exactly a comforting thought to crafters. It seems we quilters/sewists/crafters are losing our world a bit at the time. While there are hundreds of craft suppliers and sites we can purchase quilting supplies online, most of us like to touch, feel, and see our fabric in person, not through a screen. If you don’t think it can’t happen to you, let me give you a personal example. I live in Jamestown, a small town wedged between High Point and Greensboro. I’m actually closer to High Point (population approximately 117,000). There is nowhere in High Point to purchase fabric in person now except Hobby Lobby. The one quilt shop, Dragonfly, closed years ago. As of November 2024, we can no longer shop in person at Keepsake Quilting. They’ve moved to all online sales, with little chance of any additional warehouse sales. The three quilt stores in other cities nearest to me are 12, 20, and 40 miles away respectively.
Maybe we should all whisper a prayer for Michaels.
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In the past couple of months, I’ve written several blogs which mention “fusible webbing.” That’s a generic term for temporary fabric bonding agents such as Heat and Bond. I fielded a few question about types and kinds and considered writing this week’s blog on fusibles, when I remembered this blog https://sherriquiltsalot.com/2022/02/09/sticky-situations/ I wrote in 2022. It sums up fusibles nicely.
The only additional information I’d like to offer is there now a new fusible very similar to Soft Fuse. Soft Fuse is the fusible of choice for a lot of quilters. However, from what I understand, the developer of Soft Fuse passed away or has become seriously ill and no longer makes it (someone please correct me if I am wrong). While there is a lot of Soft Fuse in inventories, Wonder Fuse is a great substitute if you can’t find Soft Fuse.
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And finally, in closing this kind of random blog, I’d like to remind you that everything is a journey. We’re used to the saying that “Life is a journey.” But I would like to go one step further and state everything is a journey, or at the very least, a process. Need groceries? Make a list, go get them, come home, put them away. Need to clean house? Sweep, vacuum, mop, dust, clean the bathrooms and the kitchen.
Everything takes time. And what I would like to do is encourage you to take time with your quilting. This doesn’t mean you go as slow as a glacier, but it does mean you take the time to enjoy the process and learn what the quilt is trying to teach you. Some journeys are short and simply re-enforce skills you know – such as half-square triangles. Others are a little more detailed, like the hand-quilted, needle-turn one you’ve been working on for years. They all have something to tell us. Quite often it’s whispered over late-night quilting sessions, or caught in the middle of a laughter fest at a quilt meeting. Sometimes our fingers and our minds quickly pick up on it, and at other times, it may take more than one quilt to push us ahead on our quilt journey.
Cut accurately.
Sew consistent seam allowances.
Press.
Lights, mediums, and darks.
Recently there was a survey sent out to some quilt bloggers which directly asked which quilts were “journey” quilts – which ones served the most to push us ahead in our quilting life – and which ones were “just for fun.” Personally, I think all quilts should be made for fun because quilting is fun. But I also think all quilts have something to teach us – sometimes the lessons are about the craft and sometimes the lessons are about us. And if I had to get down to the nitty gritty, I’d offer that those quilts with details are the ones which teach us the most. The ones which make us slow down, watch our stitches, take our time, and park on some techniques are the ones which push us to be better quilters, make better quilts, and quiet us down so we can hear what the quilt is telling us.
In our quilting journey, we’ll make both kinds of quilts – the quick, easy fun ones and those which really stretch our abilities and test our mettle. Don’t shy away from either. They both serve different purposes as they ease us down our own Yellow Brick Road of Quilting.
Until Next Week,
Love and Stitches,
Sherri and Felix
*Please note that Hancock’s of Paducah is not the same as Hancock Fabrics. Two entirely different companies. Hancock’s of Paducah is still open and fabulous in Paducah, Kentucky. They have a great online store and if you’re ever near their area, it would be a wonderful idea to go in and do some shopping at their brick-and-mortar storefront. You will not be disappointed.
