I know, there are plenty of people who look down on Jo-Ann’s (or any big box store for that matter). Those clearly are the lucky people who either have nice fabric stores nearby, or else they have no problem buying fabric online. These days with Craftsy entering the fabric sales in a big way I’m begining to hear the same grumblings about Jo-Ann’s being applied to Craftsy. Lesson is – don’t get to big and successful – certain people don’t like success.
As someone who lived in Israel for years, I love the choices I have in fabric stores and that includes Jo-Ann. Although I could find some decent garment fabric, any kind of quilting-cottons were simply non-existent. So I won’t knock any store that sells fabric.
Like everybody else in the home sewing industry, they pay attention to trends. There has been a Jo-Ann in my neighborhood for as long as I’ve lived here. (26 years), originally it was House of Fabric, but the name change didn’t change the fact that it was a convenient place to shop for sewing supplies.
A few years ago knit fabric was either solid or stripes, there was cotton jersey and ITY – or 100% polyester. Of course the same was true of the upper scale fabric stores. Today sewing with knits is all the rage and the selection at Jo-Anns’ has grown as well.
This vibrant knit print is 90% rayon and 10% spandex. It is sooo soft! It has a lovely drape and it is comfortable.
I still have a few ITY garments, but as I have written before, I’m not liking polyester these days. Rayon, on the other hand, is a manufactured fiber made from wood pulp – so it does react to body heat. It tends to be cool and good for warm weather garments. It breathes.
The dress is a Burda pattern, sure I can go to Michael Levine’s downtown and buy Burda patterns, but they are always less expensive at Jo-Anns’ and I can buy the pattern on a whim since it’s just a mile away. I often walk there instead of driving, combining exercise with fabric shopping.
I made the dress in an afternoon. Unfortunately, I thought 3 yards of fabric would be enough, it wasn’t, so I immediately went back and bought another half yard. Good thing, since I made a mistake I have made before, namely attaching the front neckline to the sleeve opening on the back piece. Yes, this is not the first time I have made that stupid mistake, it’s called not paying close attention to what I’m doing.
That evening we went to an event and I wore this dress. It was fun getting compliments, I love impressing people with my sewing skills.
This mosaic bird behind reminds me that it has been 3 years and I really need to get back to making mosaics. I owe my sons a project and of course this wall is rather bare. Meanwhile I am busy sewing a fall-winter wardrobe.