Once upon a time, it was possible to run out to the local fabric store and grab notions if you needed them. There used to be a lot. Depending on your locale; Cloth World and So-fro Fabrics were two chains from my youth but there were a number of indy fabric stores. But, even if a fabric store wasn't close by, most department stores had a fabric and notions department; some even as late as the mid 1980's.
Alas, it is no more so.
I needed buttons for the green cardigan. The only fabric shop in town is Jo-Ann's, which is on the other side of town. But, I had a couple of errands to run so I decided to hop on the parkway to the interstate to the exit that would take me to the last standing retail space for serious home sewing enthusiasts.
I walked past the fleece and the craft supplies to the back rack of the store before I found what I was looking for.
Y'all, it's a fabric store. I expected one full aisle's worth of space dedicated to buttons.
You know, La Petite, JHB, La Mode, in a decent range of sizes and colors.
It was one short aisle, and 2/3 of it was dedicated to large quantity containers of crafting buttons.
What do people do with crafting buttons anyway?
There was not a single card of 1/2 inch green buttons. Not one. There was one w/ 9/16" buttons, but they were dark forest green, not the olive-y green I needed.
I ended up with two 6- button cards of 7/16" metal gold buttons at $5/card. They were La Mode buttons; at least I knew they were real garment buttons. It was the best I could do.
On the way home, I swung by Hobby Lobby since I had to go to another store in that shopping center. I didn't have high hopes for quality buttons there, but there was a package of various-sized green buttons w/ sparkle in them from Sewology. I counted at least 7 of the small, half-inch-looking ones. It was two bucks, but the packaging did not say how many buttons of what size were in the package. They will likely be what I use on the sparkly cardigan and I'll save the metal buttons for something with a little more backbone.
But as I drove home I wondered what was going to happen with the future. Fabric is pretty easy to buy online...but buttons are hard. The sites that offer buttons (at least the ones I've found) are not easy to navigate...I would like to be able to type in '1/2" green buttons' and see a selection of...1/2" green buttons. (Just for grins, repeat my little experiment and type '12 mm green buttons' in the search bar on the JoAnn's website).
Etsy and Ebay are possibilities, I suppose.
Do we need to start buying up thrift store clothing and salvaging the buttons for a stash? LOL.
I came here because I googled "I miss Hancocks fabric." Gosh I loved this store because of their great remnants section. I despise going to Joann Fabrics. Even finding real silk is getting tough and I have to go down to the industrial parts of my city where they have fabric warehouses to find it. I collect buttons here and there from antique shops. Good quality buttons made in France and Germany.
ReplyDelete95% of my fabric is purchased online now. I will occasionally find something useful at JA's...but it's on the order of once a year. There's a fabulous fabric store in Nashville but that's a two -hour drive away. So sad.
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