Community Chat

[jaxs mom]

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@ALRATIBA wrote:

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@151949 wrote:

(snip) .... Plus, like everything now, things like knitting and sewing have gotten very expensive. I remember patterns costing $1.25 - now they are $7 or $8 or more. Even inexpensive fabric is way up as well.

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That's for sure!   ... actually shopping at QVC is cheaper than making it yourself.

Vogue patterns now sell for about $20.  Butterick usually under $15.  Fabrics are expensive.  Add the cost of facing/interfacing/thread/buttons.  

The price range for yarn is fairly wide ... depends on fiber / dyer / manufacturer.  There was a crocheted duster at Nordtrom's website ... it was a hand-made Rosetta Getty design - made with "premium Italian spun yarn."  It was priced at $2795 and sold out.  I made a similar duster for less than $100 user ordinary wool yarns - not counting labor and overhead and notions.  

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My biggest problem is find high quality fabric. I no longer live in a major city and even then you really had to look hard and the selection is limited. For yarn, I've bought online but where I used to live there was a fabulous independent yarn shop with lots of natural fiber yarns. I also used to live a community with a high LDS population and crafting is huge with them, as are all home arts so we had great quilting shops. 

[Kachina624]

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@Noel7 wrote:

Having been to Michael's this morning, I can tell you crafting is not a dying art.  It may be bigger than ever. 

I still crochet, I still have my sewing machine and my spinning wheel.  We decorate big time for holidays and I make a lot of the decorations.

I also cook from scratch just about every day.  Last night we were a mother/daughter team making our first Thai spring rolls.  You can learn to do just about anything by way of video instruction online, including how to roll those spring rolls 😃

Probably most people don't have time to make things they need or use anymore.  It's a different world now where most families have a working mother and father.

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I agree with @Noel7.  I think the art of handcrafting is alive and well.  All you have to do is browse through the thousands of vendors on Etsy to see how many people are interested in hand crafting.  Consider also the popularity of arts and crafts shows around the country.  People come from all over the world to buy at the annual Indian Market in Santa Fe and the New Mexico Arts & Crafts Fair.

[tansy]

@jaxs mom, I get the thrill of browsing fabrics in person but you might check out Hancock's of Paducha online.  I used to buy fabric from that site and others.  

[Mom2Dogs]

@Annabellethecat66...I agree.  For many years I have been attending the same juried art show.  The vendors made beautiful things, dressed in period costume, and the food and drink had to be from that period of time as well.  It is a great show but, over the last five years the vendors are dwindling. The show has 1/2 as many vendors as it did years ago.  It has been sad to see it go down hill. 

A few years ago I wrote a letter to the head of the show and asked what was going on and he replied that vendors are getting old/dying and no longer participate, getting the product to make their specialty peices were getting harder and harder to find and the younger generation was not interested in taking up the craft.  Nothing that the vendors used could come from china, their products had to be from that period of time.  I still attend the show but purchase very little.  I  saved  my money all year for that weekend....I could purchase what ever I wanted, and I did....gifts for Christmas, for my home, etc.  Now I can get thru the show in a couple of hours and don't buy much anymore.

[MyGirlsMom]

Here's an interesting f.y.i. During the turn of the 20th century, the "Arts & Crafts Movement" was started because people had a fear of handcrafts being a lost art because of the advent of machine/factory made goods.

There are still many handcrafted items being offered for sale, hard lines and soft lines.

[Blahblahvampemer]

2 1/2 years ago we started going to art/craft shows, and I've done more than my share to shore up the economy.  As we either renovate this house or build a new one, virtually every accessory is going to be handmade, and I have a lot down in the basement ready to be used.  Or at least rotated.

When we go to these shows, I'm usually one of the youngest people in the room, and I'm middle aged.  There's the odd younger person, they might be one of the vendors, or they're dragged there the way I was when I was a kid, but it doesn't bode well for the future of craft.

It's ironic that the people who have been indoctrinated to be green are the least likely to buy lasting quality.  For the most part, they really don't know what quality is anyway, and if it's something you can't recognize, you won't consider a purchase.

[BalletBabe]

Do any o f you ladies know where I can get irregular fabric?  I need flannel (My parrot loves to chew on it)  I tie it in knots and she has a blast playing with it .  I don't want to pay full price if I can help it for her to chew it up. 

[Susan in California]

It is nice to read all the responses.  It looks like a lot of people are still making a lot of wonderful things.  That is good to know.  In my area, fabric stores have gone out of business. 

[Noel7]

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@Blahblahvampemer wrote:

2 1/2 years ago we started going to art/craft shows, and I've done more than my share to shore up the economy.  As we either renovate this house or build a new one, virtually every accessory is going to be handmade, and I have a lot down in the basement ready to be used.  Or at least rotated.

When we go to these shows, I'm usually one of the youngest people in the room, and I'm middle aged.  There's the odd younger person, they might be one of the vendors, or they're dragged there the way I was when I was a kid, but it doesn't bode well for the future of craft.

It's ironic that the people who have been indoctrinated to be green are the least likely to buy lasting quality.  For the most part, they really don't know what quality is anyway, and if it's something you can't recognize, you won't consider a purchase.

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Where do you get that stuff?  

I'm green and I make and buy nothing but quality.

[Blahblahvampemer]

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@MyGirlsMom wrote:

Here's an interesting f.y.i. During the turn of the 20th century, the "Arts & Crafts Movement" was started because people had a fear of handcrafts being a lost art because of the advent of machine/factory made goods.

There are still many handcrafted items being offered for sale, hard lines and soft lines.

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Yes, but the under 40s aren't the regular customers.  I've been in small and large galleries, tiny craft stores, sizable co-ops, museums, artist's studios...and a huge chunk of the business is from 55+.  The age of people LEARNING these skills is also way up.  

Elton John was big on collecting fine antiques until a museum curator told him to also collect new pieces to keep the skills alive.  I wish that attitude was spreading like a grassfire, but it isn't.