Constant Change
“Change is the only constant” said Heraclitus of Ephesus around three thousand years ago. Strangely it makes me feel better knowing that it has been this way for always, but still, it does seem the pace of monumental change is picking up speed.
I have still been thinking about the sewing patterns I talked about last time and such things seem to be on the minds of lots of people. There have been a couple of massive changes in the past six months or so that have brought all this to the forefront of people’s minds. First, the JoAnn’s chain of fabric (and craft) stores went under a few months ago after struggling with insolvency for a few years. The second is that the company that had consolidated the “Big Four” pattern companies (Simplicity, Butterick, McCalls, and Vogue) sort of went under a few months ago as well. There were other brands owned by this same company and, really unfortunately, the only tissue pattern printing company in the western world was a part of the company, too. Thankfully, although the pattern conglomerate was sold to a liquidation company, it was fairly quickly sold on to a group of people who had been employees of the pattern company. Now I am hearing that there are more investors and they are changing around business practices to try to make the Big Four (and associated) companies profitable into the future.
Sadly, I think we will never go back to the days of being able to go to a fabric department of a store or to a chain fabric store to peruse the fabrics, the racks of buttons and notions, or the pattern books for a leisurely look at all the things we may want to sew up. There are still fabric stores and the good news is they are nearly all independently owned but the bad news is there are not many of them. Another bit of good news, in my opinion, is that these independent stores and small chains are starting to fill the gaps left by the demise of the big chains like JoAnn’s. For example, Mood Fabrics, which started out in the Garment District in New York City, now has an outlet in Los Angeles and a very recently opened outlet in Houston. I was really disappointed when Golden D’Or in the Dallas Garment District closed in 2020, but have heard of several similar but smaller stores opening in Austin and San Antonio. I have also noticed that quilt shops are starting to carry more garment-type fabrics and notions. Online sewing supply shopping is growing all the time, as well.
The very best news is that sewing and related things are far from being “dying arts.” Change is afoot, for sure, but it is still a thriving and active practice, recruiting new and younger people all the time. Still, I would love to be able to time travel back to the old Piece Goods Shop and spend an afternoon flipping through those pattern books and dreaming of all the projects I could make. SpringCreekArtsGuild@gmail.com