You can buy weavers cloth at joann's on line.

I find that there is a lack of searsucker these days, at least I couldn't find any that was suitable this summer. I like it for summer shorts and capris and blouses--so cool to wear and no worry about wrinkles.

It may just be locally that I couldn't find it and maybe where you live there is lots--that's the way the cookie crumbles

Donna, when I saw your thread title, my first thought was "weavers cloth", LOL! I used to make skirts out of it way back when. I loved the texture and hand after several washings. Then somewhere along the way it disappeared and the only one I could find was called "weaver's K", whatever that means...and there were fewer color choices.
OP, I haven't checked out JoAnn's lately, but will do so.
Another one that comes to mind is sweater knits. They were abundant in the 70's(I'm showing my age), but I never see them anymore. I'm sure there is more, but those popped into my(old)head first.

No oilpainter we don't have seersucker either,and i'm also in S.Calif.Also can't find weavers cloth,or any nice t-shirt knits,including prints for both kids and adults.
Like Donna all we have is Joanns as well,and yardage town in another town not too awfully far away,but there's nothing else to go to that town for.
Kathi

I haven't seen weaver's cloth myself in years and I miss it. I used to make kids clothes and curtains with it. Fabric choice has really gone downhill since all the fabrics have come from China. And that happened after Joann's drove all the other fabric stores out of our area by offering good fabrics and then when the others were driven out or bought out, Joann's went to crap fabric and only about half the store was for apparel sewing. Thank heavens i still have some of those good fabrics left in my stash.

I am an avid garment sewer, and I disagree that JoAnn has only junk. In my store in the metro Milwaukee area the selection is wide and very good quality. I prefer to sew natural fabrics like cotton, silk, linen and wool, rarely use synthetics except rayon.

I'm 62 and I don't know what weaver's cloth is-I'll look it up online. I just bought a beautiful piece of loose-knit sweater knit at Hancock Fabrics in pink for one of my kids.

Sorry you are being deprived.

I used to live in LA and had a few favorite places to find fabrics. Unfortuately, one Mom-and-Pop store closed but I remember that F & S Fabrics in West Los Angeles was a good place to find fabrics. They are located on Pico Boulevard close to the Westside Pavilon and the freeway.

If you ever head up north Britex in San Francisco has a nice assortment of fabrics although they are a bit pricey. They also do mail orders. The 2nd or 3rd floor has the BEST selection of laces, trims, ribbons and buttons.

F&S Fabrics selection of old buttons is also worth the drive.

I wish I could offer more help but the pickins' are slim these days!

Susan @
www.OldDollPatterns.com

By SoCal ... like kathy, I'm in the San Diego area. We used to have Yardage City, as well as Yardage Town and what was then House of Fabrics. If you traveled over to Oceanside (30 miles from me), there was a Hancock Fabrics. YC and Hancock no longer exist. YT is about 10 miles from me and does carry some things - they were the only ones to have the fabric I needed to make a shawl for the matron of honor at my daughter's wedding last year. (The MOH did not care for the sleeveless dress.)

I looked at Joann's selection of weaver's cloth on line - poor color choices, IMHO. As with other fabrics online, I find it hard to "give them a hand" - I like to feel fabric before purchase! With weaver's cloth, I know what it's supposed to feel like.

Donna

So Fro went out of business by continuing to offer garment fabrics when other vendors switched to crafts and home dec - can't really blame Joann's for that.

Joann's in our area offers junk fabric, toys, lawn ornaments, Pez dispensers, the ever-growing Wall O'Fleece, and cds that are promoted by annoying, constant, repetitive 30 second snippets of each album in succession, with no break. There are at any given time perhaps a dozen bolts of natural fabric in the store. No, I'm not exaggerating. I suppose though, if they don't sell it when it comes in, there is no point stocking it in our location.

From the looks of the store, they do sell a lot of fleece and Pez dispensers.

I live in the middle of CA and we still have Hancock Fabrics, they're one of my favorite stores and they also offer a lot on line. My understanding is you can even request samples online. I have found (and let laps) several mail-order fabric clubs that send you samples each month of the newest fabrics they offer. You might try looking for Weaver's cloth at local home decorator's fabric stores or quilters fabrics stores. They may have connections for something other then their specialty, like our local quilter's store does.

How far are you from San Fran? On vacation, I found Britex fabrics and loved it. They are also online. Have you tried G Street Fabric also online in Washington DC? I agree most JoAnn's have let the quality slip except for when they are near a large city. In Columbus, Ohio, I can sell buy ok wool fabric for most things. Best wishes.

I don't know how else to put it........big-box stores, overseas suppliers, decreased time/popularity of sewing......all seem to mean there is no way to buy beautiful fabric anymore. I live just outside a large midwestern city. There is one independent fabric store left. (For that matter....one yarn shop left. No DIY jewelry making/bead store left.) JoAnn's fabric and craft stuff is crap. I wish you all could have grown up when there were fabric stores everywhere full of the most inspiring, beautiful, quality fabrics.....affordable too! But then, knowing the difference only makes a person more depressed. I'm sure there are good fabrics online, but the prices tend to be high, and it's like buying the proverbial pig-in-a-poke. I only know what I like by seeing/feeling fabric on the bolt. So I buy garments at Goodwill and disassemble them, or look for vintage fabrics at yard/estate sales.

I am sorry to be so negative, but it's really an expression of grief and loss, as here where I live, choices in DIY materials and supplies really are just plain gone, and with them the inspiration for so much creativity I used to love.

Time to bring this up to date, almost 10 years later. I still feel the frustration with the fabrics. Joann's has improved by leaps and bounds with the amount and types of apparel fabric, but it still is nowhere near where I think it should be. Even in the height of summer 100 degree temperatures, there are a couple hundred bolts of fleece! (Mind you: I live in San Diego County.) The demand from some of our population has brought a serge of silkies and dressier fabrics...good. It's pricey, but if you can wait them out till a good 50-60-70% off coupon, it helps a lot.

Our nearest Yardage Town - YT - has only the flagship store left, down in the South Bay. The Escondido and Mira Mesa stores both closed. So did the Hancock's over in Oceanside. Walmart can't decide whether or not to have a fabric/sewing department. The numbers of bolts are disappearing quickly in exchange for 2-yard hunks of fabric and a few fat quarters.

I find myself shopping for fabric at the thrift stores, but even a lot of those in one town are going out of business. They are mostly run by churches, and the owner of the "shopping mall" has decided to sell it off so that city could put 400 condos in its place. Only one thrift store will be left in that particular town, Salvation Army.

Oh, BTW....still no Weaver's Cloth or Seersucker!

Donna

donna, here you are 10 years later and I tell you that I can completely relate to you.

I have been sewing for over 60 years, if you count the piece work snake that I sewed up when I was a girl! I have sewn most all of my clothes for most all of my life and I sewed for my now grown kids.

Fabric stores and garment sewing are dying a quick death. You said that you thought that Joanns improved, but I have the entire opposite opinion. I have almost quit going in there anymore because there is so very little of any value there. If I want to make a little skirt for grand daughter or a pillowcase for one of the grandkids, there will be something there. But, for sewing for myself I find very, very little.

That also means that I have quit buying patterns, buttons, zippers, interfacings, etc.

That darned fleece is everywhere! I have to admit that I did buy some this past season because little grand daughter wanted something specific in a blanket that I could not find. So, I did make her two blankets. But, instead of that silly tied fringe stuff, I put an actual blanket binding around just one layer. I thought it looked nicer and less "crafty" than that cut and tied stuff. I see people putting two layers of this stuff together and that is so very, very heavy! Especially if the blanket is a full sized one. If you live in a modern heated home that might be so excessive as to render it useless. I just don't understand the popularity of it. For her little brother I made a two sided little summer quilt from flannel. I liked that much better. He is still in a crib.

Most of the young people working in Joanns have no idea of what used to be there. I remember those fabrics, just like you do. And, I remember weavers cloth. I think it was also called kettle cloth. Good quality cottons are gone. Poly cotton blends are all gone. Real crepe fabrics are gone and a lot of twills that used to be cotton are now stretch with spandex. All of the nice prints are also gone. Mostly it is all dark solid colors or something really bright and ugly. And this scuba fabric that is so popular is pure spun plastic! Just awful!!!!

There is, occassionaly, a length of linen to be found, But, only in solid colors. There used to be beautiful linen prints to be had.

All of these wonderful fabrics were readily available at most any fabric store and there were many fabric store to choose from in even small towns.

Joanns is going towards a new model for the store. It looks like what they are doing is trying to become a "maker" place where they have machines that you can come in and use for a fee and they are looking to sell more crafty type of things and offer craft type of classes. I am quite certain garment sewing is not a part of that agenda. One of the concept stores has opened a distance from me, but I have only read about it. I fully expect the old Joanns to go away.

I have also found that the online sources that used to be a backup have left me empty handed of late. So much of that good fabric is just not being made anymore.

I am actually going in there today for some muslin fabric to complete some home dec projects that I am finishing up. I need some lining materials. I always line a pillow cover.

What. do you think will happen to the big four pattern companies? I have noticed that they are recycling a lot of old patterns with a new look and even bringing back some of them as retro.. But, there is one really, really big obstacle to sewing something truly retro anymore and that is the fact that you are not going to find those old fashioned fabrics that those styles are based on. Look on the back of the envelope of one of the old patterns and you will see that those suggested fabrics are not even to be had anymore. And, most newly minted sewers probably lack the skill and knowledge of techniques to recreate most of these.

From my perspective, garment sewing is all but dead. Even I won't waste my time making a t-shirt, not even for a little one. I will buy a length of fabric and make a skirt and got out to WM where I can get a little shirt for about four bucks and I will add matching embellishment. I can't make it for that price. I can hardly even find a nice length of knit to make it from and the factory made one will have nice matching rib knit neck binding.

Tell me more about what you see is happening. This is my perspective. Some of the store fronts are bigger than others, but they all have the same lack of choice and quality in garment fabric.

I am downsizing my sewing room after a life time of sewing. Us old school people are giving it up. I guess they are looking to a new customer base.

San Francisco is about 500 miles from me, and we are rarely up there. More often I'm in Anaheim (about 1-1/2 hours) but with hubby along, driving over to the Garment District is not an option.

I, too, have found that ready-made beats sewing in many items, at least price-wise. I get a lot of my clothes at Ross and occasionally on a good sale at Kohl's. Another store no longer has a brick-and-mortar outlet near me, but I used to stop at their Yuma store on my way to visit immediate family in Phoenix. That immediate familty has moved to the Midwest. I can shop at their online store but am finding that they are changing their inventory to try to appeal to the younger folks -- and losing folks over 50 in the process. They had their "Basic Value" pants for $15 and I had quite a collection. Trying to replace it after losing 40 lbs, their color selection in BBV's has gone down to about 5 colors.

Occasionally I will make myself a dress, but like others, I was able to get "linen look" in solid (which was the closest I could come to the weaver's/kettle cloth I used to love) but finding a print to coordinate for the bolero jacket was impossible -- had to do it in cotton. Fortunately Joann's has a ton of quality cotton for quilters. Knit dresses? Cheaper online, frankly.

So I find myself sewing other things. I have made "eraser pockets" for dry erase markers, for my classroom, out of old t-shirts. I have a program in my classroom called "Literature Pals", which means a tote bag, a literature character (purchased or given to me), and the books to go with the character. I try to make the tote bag to match the character in some way -- Clifford's tote bag is red, for instance, with a white and red Clifford print lining. Now I'm tired of tote bags for awhile and am making doll clothes for the grandgirls' 18" dolls. That's been fun!

I did make myself a couple of pairs of elastic waist pants -- my favorite pants for work because of their comfort yet look at least a bit more professional. For one pair I made a pair that was too big, from an older pattern of mine. Had to really do some alterations along the way~

I too wonder what is going to happen with the Big 4 pattern companies. I see that they are starting to consolidate -- McCalls seems to own Kwik Sew, for instance -- and more styles seem to be coming into the $2.99 patterns because folks don't really want to pay $15 for a pattern (and therefore wait Joann's out until that brand comes on sale, like I'm waiting for Simplicity).

Donna

I just got the new flyer for Joanns. It looks like, here on the the East coast, Simplicity sale starts Feb 14. I don't think that they run as many pattern sales as they used to. Use to be that every week was a different pattern company on sale.

Your literature tote bags sound cute and clever.

I bought grand daughter one of the Well Wisher dolls last Christmas and I sewed for her. My grand daughter is half Chinese so I got her Emerson who I think really looks more Japanese to me.

Surprising how small the Welli clothes are! It would be easier to sew for the larger dolls. So much fun to sew cute things for a little one that cannot complain or squirm. The dolls are so adorable!

I had to go into Joanns yesterday for muslin lining for home dec and the state of that store is just getting worse and worse. What an unkept and awful store. Stuff is piled all around in a mess, not an interesting mess where you just might find something of note. It is just a big piled up on the shelf, on the floor and in the aisles type of a mess. The thread display is almost empty and I could find only one single package of Velcro, sew in. There is stuff scattered everywhere!!!!

They were just giving away Christmas stuff that did not sell., for free. I have never seen a store do that. I suspect that there is some change coming. They are probably either going to close entirely or close and reopen at some other location as a new concept store.

I saw a line of what I think I remember being simplicity that were featured in display boxes on top of the pattern cabinet. I seemed to note that they were selling for a low price and the envelopes were printed in basic blank and white images.

I flipped open the simplicity catalog and took a very brief look/see and it had more the tone and layout of a ready to wear catalog. It is much smaller than the old fashioned ones that we used to browse through.

We will see just what the pattern companies are positioning themselves for. I just don't know.

If this Joanns closes, the next nearest one will be too far for me to want to go there very often.

No free fabric here, though post-Christmas is often marked down to 50% or 60% off.

My mom, now in the Midwest, got her Joann flyer yesterday for next week. She didn't see any patterns on sale at all. I probably won't get my flyer until just before the sale starts -- our post office is slow that way. I'd love it if Simplicity came on sale, there are 5 doll clothes patterns I would like.

One of these days, I'll get in my car and drive down to the flagship Yardage Town, and see what's happened there. It's a good 30+ mile drive, one way. I understand that by March, the remaining locations (including the one in National City) will be closing. So sad, that will leave Joann's as the remaining chain in San Diego.

Donna

Donna, it isn't free fabric at JoAnn, it's free small stuff like easter baskets, Xmas ribbons, bows, and small decor items, small stuffed pumpkins, little brooms, plastic eggs, things like that. I've never seen free fabric, but you're right, the markdowns are big on post season fabrics.

check the online weekly sales ad. They may offer differently in different parts of the country but my sales flyer has it as Feb 14.

Thank you. The online one in my area is still for Jan to Feb 12. My flyer for Feb 13--> has yet to arrive.

And, sheesh, we don't have free stuff at all. It's marked way down, but definitely not free.

Donna

donna, have you googled for free doll clothing patterns? I found quite a few of them when I was sewing for Emerson. I found more for the larger dolls than the Wellies. You get a simple bodice, sleeve, tights, etc, and go from there.

The hardest part was the shoes. I am tempted to buy a package of those pre cut soles and make a few. I tried winging if for the shoes and it was a hit or miss.

I am tempted to buy one of the knock off dolls from WM or Target. I actually liked the ones from Target. Really, what does it ultimately matter? I do see that there is better articulation of the AG doll. And, the hair is better rooted. It really is a bit better made, but I wonder just how much it really matters.

When I was a girl I remember playing with baby dolls up until about 8 years old or so. Then, the fashion dolls took us into a couple more years when we sewed for them. I don't even think that my grand daughter gets out her Wellie much. Perhaps if she had a friend to play with, but she doesn't. There is no kid culture on the street where they live and her parents. have not cultured a friendship with any of the kids she spends the day with at day care. I do see that the girls at day care will gravitate to the dolls that they have there while the boys are usually shoving something around or chasing each other. There is a camera and I can watch her and her little brother at day care.

I am a bit confused by the nature of the AG dolls. On the one hand, they are not toddlers, yet they don't really seem much like young girls, either. There is something about the hair that puts them into an odd age relation.

Still I can see that they are fun to sew for and so darned cute!!!! I am tempted to buy one just because it is fun to sew for them. I am a grandmother now and I still want to play with dolls!

it is a lot easier to find something sew for a doll than for a real person.

When I was sewing for the Wellie one thing that I found was so different from times past is that it is almost impossible to buy ribbon by the yard anymore. Used to be that you could go into the store and have them cut any length of various ribbons that you wanted. Now, you have to buy a reel of cheap quality ribbon when what you might want is one foot of three different ones. I ended up buying a bag of ribbons on Amazon.

Much the same is true with the small trims. My local store is so badly kept and so badly stocked, so it may be better at some others. You see these lovely little creations that some have sewn for the dolls but finding those little embellishments is often difficult.

Seriously, my local store has shelves that are falling down and merchandise that is spilling off of them, empty dislplays and shopping carts full of fabric bolts, buttons all over the floor and it is stacked to the ceiling with fleece. It really is awful. The corporation just does not invest enough in hired help to keep things running. There is no competition, so what does it matter?

I think it matters in that it turns away customers who are just going to go online for what they want, not just fabric, but notions and crafty things as well.

Absolutely, I have found the free patterns on several sites. From those, I've made doll undies, t-shirts, and a couple of baseball shirts. I paid for a "ballet flat shoes" pattern, on Etsy, and with cheap vinyl that I found in the remnant bin at Joann's for 1/2 off, have made two pair. I also downloaded a free swimsuit pattern. There are a few others that I *might* get, later. The free ones I've gotten came from chellywood.com, Pixie Faire, and yetanothermomblog.com (which was the underwear pattern). I've also read their hints, which has been very helpful!

My granddaughters have the Target knock-off dolls, the Our Generation dolls. They are happy with them. Their daddy works for Target Corp so it was a natural thing. Those darned Amn Girl dolls are so expensive, I don't blame my daughter and son-I-L for going the Target OG route. One of my friends showed me that, size-wise, there's little to no difference in the two dolls for sewing clothes for them.

I found similar issues with the little bitty trims. My Joann store does have some smaller ribbons and trims available by the yard. But they also have the packaged stuff. So does Walmart.

Donna

I actually think that I like the knock off AG more than the originals. For all of the attention the dolls will actually get, why pay so much for an original AG? I think that the biggest difference in how the hair is rooted. They all look so cute in their little outfits.

Our Joann's has expanded its fleece offerings. Where stores used to offer remnants at 30- 40- 50% off, (or more, we used to mark them down each month at So-fro) rems are now full price. Frankly, nothing there that looks current, or like anything anyone over 13 would wear. There are a handful of bridal fabrics, maybe more that can be obtained by special order. I get it though: if the only things people buy are fleece for no-sew blankets and cheap quilting cotton, stiff with dye, there's no point in stocking garment fabric.

I rarely stop in at Joann's any more. I don't make things of fleece, and I don't quilt.

Oddly, I stopped at Walmart (of all places) and bought a couple yards of cotton to make napkins. They're just napkins, after all, so I didn't wash it first, just stitched them up. Surprisingly, they've washed really nicely.

Some of the premium piecing cottons at Joanns are decent enough for things like napkins and pillowcases. But, there sure is little there to sew garments with.

That fleece is extremely limited in desirability.

I did buy some for something that I did last year, but it was a one time thing and it did not involve "no sew, tie some knots" stuff. Some buy that fleece and put two layers of it together and tie it and it is soooooo heavy! Too heavy!!

There is an online linen source that looks to have a nice array of linen. I am going to narrow my sewing and my desires down to just a few good things and make just a few good things from some of this better linen. I would rather have than than most of what is on the racks at the store. Ready to wear is a wasteland, literally, waste and landfill. I would much rather have less, but of good quality. Just a few good things....................

I have very little use for Joanns now.