Sew San Antonio - Virtual Fabric Shop Hop - Sew Special Quilts

Karla of Petite Chalet (home of super cute baby bibs and burp cloths - take a look and I know you'll agree) visited our third stop.

For our third stop on the Virtural Fabric Shop Hop, I visited Sew Special Quilts, and let me tell you, I think I’ve found my new favorite fabric store in San Antonio! From the moment I walked into the store I felt very welcomed. The staff was friendly, warm, and incredibly helpful. They are located at 5139 N. Loop 1604 West, Suite 110.

Sew Special Quilts is the perfect shop for quilters. They carry large amount of designer cotton fabric (perfect for quilting). Sew Special Quilts stock Michael Miller, Moda, and Riley Blake fabrics, just to name a few. Because they stock high quality fabrics, the prices are a bit higher than Joann’s, but they have a frequent buyers club program, that I think will help to make their prices more reasonable. The Frequent Buyers Club cost $20 a year, but you get 10% off your purchase every day, and on the 15^th of each month you get 20% off of your purchase. I joined the frequent buyers club when I visited, and I ended up saving the $20 that I spent on joining, so it has completely paid for itself already.

Sample of fabric offered at Sew Special Quilts:

• Cotton Fabrics
• Quilters Cotton
• Moda Solids
• Small selection of Flannel
• Batting
• Interfacing
• Cotton Apparel Fabric

 

Sample of Sewing and Quilting Accessories at Sew Special Quilts:

• Quilting Books
• Machine accessories for Bernina and Baby Lock Machines
• Scissors
• Quilting Gloves
• Stabilizers
• Rotary cutter
• Cutting Mat
• Rulers
• Zippers
• Thread
• Quilt patterns and other various patterns
• Precut fabric
  Fat quarters
  Jelly rolls
  Charm packs
  Mini charm packs
  Layer cakes
  Honeycomb
   
   
  Machines at Sew Special Quilts
• Bernina
• Baby Lock
• Sergers
• Embroidery machines

Classes at Sew Special Quilts

• Buy a Machine and you can attend free classes as many times as you wish, to learn your new machine.
• $5 quilt
  • Registration is $10 and with an additional $5.00 charge at your first class.
  • Meet once a month to collect your quilt kit and learn a new technique
  • Bring your completed quilt block to class the following month, and receive the next month’s kit free.
  • Class Starts in October and runs for 1 year.
  • At completion of the class you will have enough quilt blocks to construct a quilt top.
• Various classes
  • Embroidery
  • Serger Basics
  • Silhouette Cameo Cutter
  • Hand Applique
  • Bag Lady
  • Stitch ‘Till Midnight
• Visit their website for a schedule of classes available http://www.sewspecialsa.com/

 How to get a deal at Sew Special Quilts

• Shop their sale and clearance items
• Join the Frequent Buyers Club
  • Remember to shop on the 15^th for 20% off your purchase

 

My Favorite Features of Sew Special Quilts

• Very helpful and experienced employees
• Current and modern fabric choices
• Designer fabrics
  • I usually buy these fabrics online, but will be buying them from Sew Special Quilts using their Frequent Buyers Club.
• Variety of classes

Least Favorite Features of Sew Special Quilts

• Higher prices than Joann’s and Hobby Lobby
• Doesn’t have a variety of fabrics other than cotton fabrics
• They are only open until 6:00pm on Tuesday and Thursday, and 5:00 pm on Monday and Wednesday.

Thanks Karla for the amazing review. Be sure to check out Karla's fun and modern baby products. This one is my favorite at the moment (did I mention Karla's fun modern quilts too?). 

Sew San Antonio - Virtual Fabric Shop Hop - JoAnn Fabric

Welcome to the Sew San Antonio Virtual Fabric Shop Hop. I've teamed up with some local crafters to bring you a fabric store review every Friday (till we run out of stores).

If you're new to the area or new to sewing it's hard to know where to go for fabric sometimes.

We're starting with JoAnn Fabric. I have the most experience with this fabric store. (Disclaimer - a few years ago taught sewing classes at JoAnn. I am currently not affiliated with JoAnn in any way and I am not receiving any compensation for my time or opinions).

exterior shot - JoAnn fabric and crafts

 JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts is a national chain with two stores in the San Antonio area. According to my best guestimate (a quick survey of the large floor tile design) the store appears to be 50% fabric and 50% crafts. I won't even attempt to cover all the crafts!

JoAnn carries the widest variety of fabric in San Antonio - quilting fabrics of varying quality (see pic), home decor fabric, vinyl (great for protecting your table from youngsters), upholstery fabric and viny, silky fabrics, flannels, interfacing, burlap, fleece, etc.

different quality quilting fabric

Sample of the types of fabrics at JoAnn

• kona solids (great for quilting)
• fleece
• vinyl by the yard
• burlap
• formal wear type fabrics
• outdoor fabrics
• knit fabrics
• lace by the yard
• prequilted fabrics
• interfacing
• denim
• drapery fabric
• marine vinyl
• headliner (for cars - yep, really!)
• flannel
• licensed designs (Marvel, Disney, etc)
• batting
• special order interior design fabrics - samples in store



sample brand name quilting fabric - use coupon or sale!!

 Sample of Sewing and Quilting Accessories  at JoAnn

• quilting books
• quilting rulers
• small label quilting patterns
• block of the month kit (nationwide and rarely used)
• precuts (a few)
• fat quarters (precut and packaged - variable quality!)

• buttons
• zippers
• ribbon
• embroidery stabilizer

Machines at JoAnn

• Singer models
• no service available
• buy in box, no machine orientation or classes

Cricut at JoAnn

• Cricut brand machines (currently the Cricut Explorer) (if you're considering this machine you should really check out the Silhouette Cameo before making a decision - I own one and love it!) UPDATE - the silhouette cameo is now available at JoAnn!!
• Accu-Quilt - fabric die cutter

 Classes At JoAnn

Classroom at Bandera location

• taught by independent contractors or JoAnn employees
• "trend classes" are determined by local store
• classes in printed catalog are determined on a nationwide basis
• hand sewing/crafting classes for ages 5 and up
• classes with machines for ages 8 and up
• other crafting classes also available
• sewing machines available to use in sewing classes - just reserve one when you sign up for the class
• sewing and quilting classes are beginner to intermediate level, but I wouldn't consider any of the classes advanced

How to Get a Deal at JoAnn

• use coupons - JoAnn will accept competitor's coupons, and multiple coupons as long as they have different numbers on them (and aren't expired)
• sign up for the mailing list to get coupons in the mail and/or email
• bring in your Hobby Lobby coupon (usually a 40% off one item printable coupon every week)
• Hancock coupons are also accepted 
• visit the sales - I buy my flannel on Black Friday 
• buy remnants 50% off current sale price (so if something is 50% off from the bolt a remnant of that fabric would be 75% off) 

remnants

My Favorite Features of JoAnn

• I can get great deals by using sales and coupons.
• Variety of fabric
• And yes, I get stuck in the craft section frequently too!

My Least Favorite Features of JoAnn

• cotton quilting fabric and especially the fat quarters are sometimes low quality (especially hard to tell with the fat quarters because of they way they are folded onto a cardboard)
• fabric may not be cut straight on the bolt (employees use scissors not rotary cutter)
• take a ticket system (but my kids love taking a ticket)
• the lines - on sale days this is especially bad

So there you have it - my lengthy review of JoAnn Fabrics and Crafts. What would you add? What would you respectfully disagree with?  Come back next Friday for another fabric store review!