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Floss & Fabric Search

I am not complaining. I am not frustrated. I’ve accepted finding fabric and floss as a challenge and you know how I love a challenge. But, every good challenge takes a lot of time!

I’m only writing this because we all know about the challenges of finding the things we use every day but for those who don’t cross stitch, dang it . . you need to know what the cross stitchers are dealing with! Share the pain, right?

For the long time cross stitchers, they probably have a great selection of floss and fabric but it’s kinda funny for someone such as myself who usually buys everything one could possibly need but now, it just isn’t there to buy.

I’m not sure if it’s getting worse of, if I’ve already bought the things that are easy to find and now I’m searching for the “unfindable”. Is that a word? You know what I mean.

There’s the DMC and Anchor floss we’re all familiar with, and now there’s the overdyed – Gentle Arts, Classic Colorworks, Weeks . . and that’s just the cottons. There’s silk and wool but mostly I’m dealing with cotton threads. Think about a chart that calls for 6 colors of DMC, 6 colors of Gentle Arts, 6 colors of Classic Colorworks and 6 colors of Weeks. I’m finding that, for the most part, I can find most of the Weeks and Classic Colorworks colors if I look consistently at several shops over a month or so, except for a few colors that are very popular. Finding Gentle Arts .. next to impossible and two of the patterns I want to make only list Gentle Arts colors. Many also list DMC colors but even DMC . . I’m finding about half of what I need. There are four or five online shop I check and I hate paying shipping at four places just to get 10 skeins of floss. Worse, there are online shop that don’t show when they’re out of stock so I think I’m getting 10 skeins, pay shipping and only end up with two skeins.

Fabric – a whole ‘nother story! I have mostly brown/tans but I need some cream and yellowish colors. Yesterday I was determined to find one piece that would work for a chart. I didn’t even care about finding that particular color – just something close, and while looking at the fabric on one sight, there were 20 listings per page and 18 of them were out of stock.

Above is fabric I ordered a few weeks ago. Some of it will ship January 27. Some of it, they anticipate will ship May 3, but I’ve found that things don’t always ship when they say they will.

Of course, I can substitute fabric and floss. It’s much easier with fabric because I can look at the chart and if there’s a lot of tan colored floss, I know it’s not going to work on tan fabric so I need to go with cream or something. If a pattern calls for 36 count, I don’t mind using 32 or even 40 count

I’m not that great with subbing floss, especially when there may be four shades of tan in one motif. Since I don’t have the floss here, I have to order whatever I’m going to use and you know how that goes . . ordering four shades of tan, I may get three that look exactly the same or three where one is grayish tan, one is brownish tan and one is pinkish tan.

I’ve really spent as much time . . probably more . . trying to get the supplies I need than I’ve spent stitching.

In the end . . it’s floss and fabric. There are people who need important things (like drywall and roofing shingles in Louisiana) and they can’t get those; there are people who need vaccines and those are in short supply, so . . I’ll just keep hoping that finding floss and fabric are the worst of the problems I have.

But . . it doesn’t hurt to whine and hope for a little sympathy, right?

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. I’m sorry I did snicker and giggle when I read your post because many of us experiencing the same thing. So frustrating but there’s nothing we can do about it. Most of the fabric is made in Europe (I believe Zweigart is based in Germany) and since so many European countries are in lock down things are simply not shipping. I’m not sure where floss is overdyed. I’ve been converting from the overdyed flosses to regular DMC – there are conversion charts on line. And, have you considered dying your own fabric? Attic Needlework in Mesa, AZ (my LNS) seems to have a decent stock of overdyed threads however they are out of popular colors. Those are my thoughts! LOL I know I was no help!

    • I was told by a shop owner that the overdyes are done in the U.S. but for some reason, the maker of the dyes some of them used has changed the colors a bit so they’re having to reformulate their colors. I don’t know if that’s true but that’s what I was told.

      I have no interest in dying. I did that with quilting fabric and that’s just a mess I don’t want to make right now.

      I have had zero luck with The Attic and have totally given up on them. I’ve been writing back and forth with them since the middle of December and have yet to get the ball moving. I believe if you’re someone who’s somebody in the cross stitching world, you get service from The Attic but otherwise . . well, all I can say is I’ve given up on them. I do know they are very popular and very busy and business is business so I’m not knocking them, just not wasting any more time with them. If I could go into their shop and get what I need, that would be one thing . . but that’s not the way it is.

  2. I totally understand your “whine” I am in the same boat. I have plenty of DMC from my old stash and my mom’s old stash, but I never really stock piled fabric. I ordered e different ones for Farmhouse Christmas and 2 were backordered and the one I got I didn’t like for that project. So I ordered a 4th one and I did get it. Now it looks like the 2 backorders will be here Friday or Monday. I am like you not angry just a bit frustrated because it is hard to get what I need/want. I miss having a local shop but mine went under about 10 years ago. I miss being able to lay floss on different fabrics to see which I like best. But all in all I think I have been lucky finding things that work that I like. And in getting some “misses” I am building some inventory. And since I am a slow stitcher I have enough to keep me busy for a while. Have you looked at any pot the gentle arts to DMC conversion charts out there? They might help you find substitutes.

    • I did spend some time today looking at conversions but out of the five colors I needed that had DMC conversions, I couldn’t find the DMC in four of the colors. Obviously, I’m not the only one looking! So many of the designs I like use the same colors over and over. It’s designs like Blackbird and Teresa Kogut that everyone is doing now. One of the colors I cannot find is Oscar and watching one Teresa Kogut’s flosstubes yesterday, she was apologizing for a mistake in one of her patterns. It says you need ONE skein of Oscar and you need FOUR! That’s not a chart I have but I thought . . I’ll NEVER be able to get Oscar at this rate.

  3. I had to chuckle because that’s exactly what I’ve been trying to do online. I thought I would be fine with DMC but then read that the plaid look wouldn’t match the image if I didn’t use Classic Colorworks so have ordered from two different shops just now. At least they do show when it’s not in stock with an option at one to send an email when they have it back in stock. I was just thinking that if someone wanted to start a business at home this might be a good one. Gone are the days when the designers just used aida cloth! This may drive me to drink! Just kidding. All I do is find another chart I like and that is getting me nowhere. At least we’re all having the same issue.

  4. One of my local store carries wdw and they have tons. You might email them. Or you can give me the list and I can check for you if you want. I also have 3 stores with tons of dmc. Just let me know if you need assistance. Also fqs. Has lots of fabric in stock. Ruth’s stitchery is the store.

  5. I was at Cross Stitch Peddler in Decatur, AL on Saturday. She had a nice stock of floss. I don’t think she has an online store, but I’m sure she would be happy to ship to you. Not sure about her fabric stock as I didn’t look at that. Very nice owner! There is also Patches & Stitches in Huntsville, AL. Haven’t been there in a while.

    • Thanks. I’ll call them tomorrow. I think the stores that don’t have a website are more likely to have some of the sold out colors.

  6. Judy, for floss try The Stitchery Nock in Osage Iowa. They are online. They are a “known” shop but now “known ” in a way everyone looks there first. I’ve had good luck with them having most of what I need for floss. They are sweet and easy to work with too. Turn around on orders is awesome!!

  7. I just watched a YouTube video from Sassy Jacks. They said they have the largest supply of fabrics and most are not listed on their site, so you need to call. I wonder if floss is the same. I have a truckload of DMC from my mom, but when I need a color it is not exact. I am using it for smalls. I just ordered $80 worth of Weeks last night. I am finished ordering…yet they all send me their ads and I shop like I’m buying ?

    • Shopping without buying is cheap entertainment but, too often, I end up buying. I haven’t heard of Sassy Jacks.

      • I guess I had heard of them. Just went to their site and have stuff in my cart! 🙂

  9. I’ve seen a lot for sale lately on Facebook Marketplace. I might have colors you want if you list the #’s. You can have them.

  10. Judy, if you can let me know what DMC colors you need, I have a small stash and could send you some. I also have a couple local shops I could check here in NC. One of them is mostly needlepoint but she sells some cross stitch stuff also. Just let me know.

  11. Judy, you might want to try stitching on the higher count fabric before you buy any more of it. Hopefully you won’t have the issues I’m having, but just in case…..I started cross stitching a few years ago, but only did 3 pieces till I recently discovered flosstube. Now (that it’s hard to find) I want it all! My first 3 pieces were done on 32-count linen…it’s what I started with and I’m very comfortable with it. I just started using 36-count and it is proving very difficult. I bought higher strength readers, a magnifying floor lamp, and I’m still having problems with it. Even if I am able to use the pieces I have, which is questionable at best, I plan to go back to 32-count, because this is just not enjoyable.

    • Thanks for that reminder. I always assume I can do everything and don’t stop to make sure I like it before buying everything. The reason I’m hoping to like 40 count is that I dislike stitching with two strands of floss and I think I’d much prefer just one strand.

  12. Hmm, why is there a photo beside this post that talks about Bluetooth beginnings? It is interesting, but has nothing to do with embroidery. It only shows up on the first page of the blog, not on the actual blogpost page.

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