Okay really what do we do with these fine people gone? Where has everyone started shopping at since they closed? The convenience they offered by having local stores to sample fabrics in person instead of ordering online hoping the color and material works was a blessing and I am lost without them
>>10972341the fashion district
Don't like all walmarts have fabric sections?
Does America really have no other fabric stores?
Michael's and WalMart have pitiful fabric selections. Thrift at local Goodwills and stores for bedsheets or pre-existing garments that you can alter. For trims and bits I'll search on Etsy (high quality but expensive), or I've heard Temu has everything you may need. I try to buy fewer, higher quality materials to continuously enhance the few cosplays I keep in my wardrobe.
I get my notions off AliExpress. Buttons, lace, ribbon, pins, pin cushions, bodkin threaders, sewing feet, bobbins, all that shit comes from China anyways. I don't buy fabric there though, because it's all polyester and sometimes they're fucking insane people that don't cut it in one continuous length and give you individually cut yards.Find an online fabric store that you like with good prices and shop from there. If you're in the US, Sarah Spaceman has a video "These Fabrics Will Change Your Cosplay Game" where to source fabrics online.
>>10972341Usually online though I'd be careful with using online stores as they're usually a flip of a coin between legit items and downright scams.
>>10972341I used to work at Michaels when joann's shut some of the customers immediately went to our store thinking their shit was there or we where going to take over their locations. many still complain that their gone.
>>10972341Reminder: You do not hate private equity enough.
>>10972347They have a tiny ass isle of "the basics", that also happens to be located in a Wal-Mart.
>>10972349CRE rent hikes post Covid basically crushed these kinds of businesses
>>10972341The closing of Joanns is a tragedy that will be remembered for decades
I'm at a real loss on this. JoAnn was the only dedicated fabric store in my city and nowhere else has anywhere close to the selection. I've been out of cosplay for a long time but want to get back into it and I guess I'm gonna have to drive 3 hours to the nearest big city to find anything. The costumes I want to do are gonna rely really heavily on fabric choices so using the bullshit I can get at Michaels, Hobby Lobby, or Walmart isn't an option, and I don't really trust buying online without being able to see and feel the materials either. (I guess maybe if I can get swatch books from the dealers? Dunno if they'll do that for a random though.)>>10972349Big cities do, small towns don't. It's probably the same everywhere, it's just that America is really fucking big so you're a lot further from places that DO have good fabric stores if you're somewhere that doesn't.
damn, it has to suck to not live near LA. People I've talked to at Fanime said they fly down here to get fabric from our stores.>>10972406That was crazy. They were so out of money they were selling the panels off the walls Imagine becoming this weird debt broodmare for a retail sector that already isn't doing too well. Why not do this to one of those coffee shops no one needs?
>>10973517I spent most of my life in LA. I sure as hell wouldn't go back for shit like fabric stores. Also haven't a lot of places in the fabric district closed in recent years too?
It is kinda crazy there's basically no dedicated fabric store chains left in the US. I wonder if a smaller format store focused just on fabric/sewing stuff could survive, or if the hobby is still too niche outside of quilting. There's plenty of small businesses selling quilting fabric, but apparel fabric is harder to find.I used to work at Joann and always felt like it was too huge and trying to cover every kind of craft and ended up with so much crap that didn't sell. Even the fabric selection was weird, like hundreds of those hideous "silky prints" and nobody ever bought that stuff.
>>10973535I wonder what it takes to start a fabric store.
>>10973535That was always weird to me as well, whole aisles of materials and prints that were really had to see a use for, and never got touched as far as I could tell as a customer. I do wonder how much of JoAnn's business was being propped up by cosplayers at the end there and how much of its downfall was related to the shift we saw from cosplay being mostly a crafting hobby to an amateur modeling hobby.
Just to add to the convo I've noticed a couple of combination fabric/re-use craft supply stores pop up and it's been nice to see. They're usually in smaller spaces, but I've noticed the fabric selections for these types of establishments are much higher quality (100% linen, silk, cotton, wool etc) and I additionally love digging through smaller supplies of notions and laces for various craft projects.
>>10973523well given that everyone comes to them for fabric I dont think many people share your sentiment. I dont like a lot of LA, but the fabric district is NOT one of those places.>Also haven't a lot of places in the fabric district closed in recent years too?Maybe; it hasnt affected my purchasing ability>>10973535>if the hobby is still too nicheIt's fucking crazy to me that people think sewing is a "niche" thing, as if everyone doesn't wear clothes or has a sewing machine their parents owned.>>10973573a lot of fabric
>>10973601>well given that everyone comes to them for fabric I dont think many people share your sentiment.I meant moving back to LA, not visiting for shopping. I wouldn't visit either these days though just because flight+hotel+car rental etc. would make the trip cost more than a trip to Japan does these days.
>>10973601>It's fucking crazy to me that people think sewing is a "niche" thing, as if everyone doesn't wear clothes or has a sewing machine their parents owned.And most of those people only use that machine once or twice a year to hem pants or curtains that they bought. Sewing your own clothing from scratch is far less common than it used to be, and stores like Joann always heavily favored quilting and "craft" fabrics over apparel fabric for that reason. Look at Hobby Lobby now, the tiny amount of apparel fabric they carry is just stuff for Halloween costumes and children's pajamas.
