2026 Fabric and Sewing Supply Sources

Ever since Joann’s went out of business I see people constantly asking where to buy fabric and notions now. I decided to share the sources I’ve used over the years. I have no affiliation with these places, I’m just giving my honest feedback as a customer. As a home sewer, sourcing materials is a constant challenge (especially if you are price sensitive like I am).

Fabric

Note that most of these places also carry various notions.

Fabric Mart

Fabric Mart has both a retail storefront as well as a robust online shop. I have not been to their retail store at this point.

I discovered Fabric Mart back in 2012. Fabric Mart is responsible for probably 80% of my stash. I’ve gotten some AWESOME deals from them. Things like double napped cotton flannel for $2.50 a yard, silks for under $10 a yard, etc. Fabric descriptions and photos tend to be very accurate, though sometimes I’ve found quirks like rib knit labeled as interlock. But overall they’re good about indicating weight, amount/type of stretch, and fiber content. I also appreciate how they have multiple photos and fairly detailed descriptions about weight and hand so you can get a better sense of drape and the scale of their print fabrics.

In recent years I’ve found their offerings and prices are generally not as good as they used to be. For example, it’s much harder to find 100% cotton sweatshirt fleece now. It tends to be more cotton/poly blends, for the price they used to sell their cotton sweatshirt fleece. In general I’m seeing a LOT more polyester. Their prices are still pretty good, but they don’t blow me away like they used to. The regular priced fabrics are often just as expensive or even more expensive than the more premium fabric stores. The key to shopping here is to have a general idea of what type and yardage of fabric you want and to keep monitoring the sales.

They used to have premium member deals where if you bought a single order over a certain amount (I think $150) you’d be granted premium member status and get access to special deals. They’ve since replaced that with a points system. You can redeem them for coupons which really help with covering the cost of shipping plus a bit more.

Selection

Fabric Mart is a jobber so it’s a wide, eclectic selection. There’s anything from $1 polyesters to $85 cashmere blend coatings. In addition to fabrics they have some interfacing, trims, buttons, zippers, etc. They also have the option of matching thread for whatever fabric you order. There are TONS of sales so make sure you sign up for their email list.

Shipping

Shipping is a flat rate of $10, though sometimes it’s reduced or waived entirely during a sale.

Fashion Fabrics Club

This place has had a reputation as “Fashion Fabrics Casino” for quite a long time. Prices are often very good but the quality can range from amazing to “what did I just buy?!” I find the descriptions vague and aren’t always accurate. Like I ordered a Sherpa fleece late last spring, and what arrived was so different from the description I had to double check my order. But the cotton/lycra jerseys I ordered were great quality! They do allow swatches.

Selection

They’re a jobber like Fabric Mart and similarly they have anything from super cheap polyester to high end wools and silks. However they have a decent selection of reorderable fabrics as well. I’ve been pleased with the quality of their reorderable cotton/lycra jerseys.

Shipping

Shipping is pretty reasonable. Orders over $99 ship free. I found shipping times are all over the place, and my order sometimes comes split in different shipments from different locations. Sometimes I’ve had to wait a couple of days and sometimes it’s been a couple of weeks before my order finally arrived.

Gorgeous Fabrics

Great for midrange and higher end fabrics. She has an outlet section where I’ve gotten some amazing deals. She regularly runs various sales throughout the year (usually during weekends). One thing I love and appreciate is she matches colors in the fabric to Pantone colors and thread colors, so you know exactly what shade of red it is for example (warm vs cool, brightness, etc).

Selection

Plenty of midrange and higher end fabrics. I think they’re entirely the result of regular trips to the NYC Garment District. I’m finding more polyester than I used to, but it tends to be the higher quality kind.

In addition to fabrics she also offers Mettler thread, various elastics and notions, lining, and interfacing. She also started offering wide format pattern printing, though I have not tried it yet.

Shipping

The shipping price often quotes pretty high but I’ve found that when it actually ships it gets reduced. Orders over $200 ship free.

Nature’s Fabrics

This is a great source for quality natural fiber knits. She has a ton of cotton and bamboo rib knit fabrics along with staples such as cotton jersey, cotton/lycra jersey, and bamboo/lycra jersey. I particularly like her cotton/spandex French terry. The sales are not as frequent as they were before tariffs but it’s pretty common for 15% or 20% when they do. I like how they offer a matching service and you can text real time for advice and photos. Fabric weight is usually indicated in GSM. Swatches are usually available for a nominal amount.

Selection

One of the best sources IMO for 100% cotton rib knits. Tons of cotton/lycra as well as bamboo jersey knits. Also lots of bamboo and cotton fleece fabrics along with some wool knits. I would say the selection is pretty consistent.

The PUL fabric selection is awesome. I think they started off specializing in diaper making supply so it makes sense they have such a wide selection of PUL for diaper covers.

She offers wholesale priced bolts of fabric, which are significantly cheaper than by the yard.

Shipping

Shipping is very fast and reasonable.

Apple Annie Fabrics

This is one of the few places I buy from that has a retail store and not just a website. I went to it a long time ago and hope to go again! I haven’t bought from here lately simply because her fabrics were more suitable when I was working in an office, not so much now that I’m at home taking care of my family all day.

Selection

Very similar to Gorgeous Fabrics and Sawyer Brook. You’re going to find good quality stuff here. She runs sales every so often, and that’s when I’ve made most of my purchases. Lots of batiks, linen, cottons, wools and silks, along with some polyesters and novelty fabrics. You will find some pretty amazing deals in the Clearance Corner of the website.

Shipping

Shipping was reasonable and on par what a smaller shop would be.

Sawyer Brook

Anytime I bought from Sawyer Brook I’ve never been disappointed. I would say they’re very similar to Apple Annie Fabrics in what they sell. I just haven’t bought from them recently because most of their fabrics aren’t what my current lifestyle demands.

Selection

I would say they’re on the same level as Gorgeous Fabrics. Mostly midrange to high end fabrics, though not quite as competitive pricing as Gorgeous Fabrics. Everything I’ve purchased from them has been really good quality.

They have a swatch club, and when I’ve ordered in the past I’ve gotten the most recent swatch newsletter included with my order.

I know before changing ownership Sawyer Brook used to carry interfacing and various other notions along with the most fantastic buttons, but I don’t see that on their website anymore. They also had a retail storefront but again, I don’t see any information about that anymore.

Shipping

Their shipping rates are ok. Not as insane as some of the outdoor fabric places, but they end up being a decent percentage of your order.

The Green Pepper

This is an awesome source for outdoor/outerwear fabrics. She recently purchased The Rain Shed so some of her recently inventory is a result of that acquisition.

Selection

She doesn’t have a huge inventory but you’re find Cordura, Ultrex, Supplex, etc in basic colors as well as some speciality notions for outerwear and gear making. I always check here first because the prices are often more reasonable than other sources, especially during a sale. Customer service is also very responsive.

The Green Pepper also has their own line of sewing patterns in both print and PDF formats.

Shipping

Shipping is fast and reasonable. The places that specialize in outdoor stuff often have absolutely insane shipping costs and I’m pleased to report that The Green Pepper does not.

I haven’t done a ton of orders through them, but the ones I’ve done I’ve been very pleased with the quality. Every so often they have good sales and that’s when I dive in.

Ripstop By the Roll

I ordered from this place late last year. This is a newer shop that specializes in outdoor and technical fabrics and materials. I oddly find their website difficult to navigate, so I use the search bar more often than not. They have a very active social media presence and do lots of videos and newsletters. I get the sense that they are trying to appeal to men and not so much women, which is unusual for a sewing materials website.

They don’t have a ton of ongoing sales, but I think they generally do one big one in the fall (which is when I placed my first order last year).

Selection

Lots and lots, if you’re looking for outdoor stuff. They have down if you’re looking to make a down coat or sleeping bag, different insulations, and all sorts of technical fabrics (Supplex, Cordura, etc). Lots of brand name stuff. All sorts of special notions as well. I find their prices are average. It helps to order during their sale.

They also offer custom cutting services and wholesale fabrics.

Shipping

Their shipping cost is about average. If you want you can request your fabric be shipped on a roll instead of cut and folded, though obviously you do pay more for this.

Rockywoods Fabrics

Another outdoor/technical fabric supplier. I ordered from them quite a while ago.

Selection

They have more than The Green Pepper but probably less than Ripstop by the Roll.

Shipping

Their shipping can be very high. I never went through with an order last year because for a $120 order the shipping was going to be something like $50, and I just couldn’t go through with it.

Notions

Wawak

This is like the Costco of the sewing world. They tend to sell in large quantities, though many things are available by the yard. They produce a catalog, and I recommend requesting it if you’re new to Wawak as its easier to navigate than their website. I found Wawak over ten years ago and was able to use them to replace most of my purchases at Joann’s.

Selection

TONS. This is where I buy nearly all my thread, and have for many years. They have a Gutermann real thread chart which is super convenient for matching thread at home. Gutermann Mara 100 is basically the Gutermann Sew-All thread that Joann’s used to sell. Gutermann Mara 120 and 150 are lighter weight. Mara 70 is a heavier weight thread suitable for topstitching and heavier fabrics, perfect for projects on the Juki TL series machines. Gutermann Mara 30 is a thick thread that’s best reserved for those with compound walking foot industrial machines.

For zippers there’s the YKK color card. There’s also a ton of interfacing for both garment construction and crafts/bag making, needles for both machines and hand sewing, and basic buttons for shirts and blazers. There’s also every width and type of elastic along with grommets, rivets, boning, etc.

In addition to sewing notions they also sell industrial presser feet, which is useful for those with the Juki TL series.

Shipping

Shipping is a very reasonable $5.95 if the order is under $99, and free if over $99. Orders under $35 are given less priority. This is why I usually try to wait until I have at least $35 in my cart before placing an order.

Bias Bespoke

NYC based tailoring supplier that’s like a more modest Wawak, though they tend to have more specialty items. They do offer local pickup as well as online ordering. My main interest in Bias Bespoke was to try to find a new supplier for interfacing ever since Fashion Sewing Supply disappeared. Bias Bespoke does offer good quality interfacings at reasonable prices and has a fusible interfacing sample sheet available. (For some reason they call it interlining.) I recommend taking your time to go through the website as there’s a lot of unusual items, and not all of it is easy to find.

Selection

As I mentioned above, they have a good selection of interfacings. I recommend getting the sample packs. They also have great quality waistband elastic for men’s underwear as well as tons of buttons and all sorts of little haberdashery for tailoring and garment sewing.

Shipping

Their shipping was fast and reasonably priced.

Amazon

The retail giant we all love to hate! I tend to look here first when I need something quickly due to the free Prime shipping, and many of the items arrive next day.

Selection

Anything you can imagine. I’ve found quite a few shops with their own website also have an Amazon storefront with a more curated list of items. I found the Mandala Crafts store has decent quality elastic, though you do have to buy it in fairly large quantities. I’ve also gotten some nice buttons on Amazon as well as specialty things like the clear plastic ends for making drawstrings.

Shipping

All over the place. Many items are free overnight shipping with Prime, some are 2-3 day shipping, and some are free but take a while. A few charge shipping. I like the fact that its free and easy returns if it turns out to be disappointing or not what you’ve expected.

The Sewing Place

Selection

They have all sorts of nice little notions, but the main thing I order from them are the Design Plus stay tapes. These tapes are awesome for stabilizing shoulder seams, necklines, or holding pockets or double folded hems in place.

Shipping

I find it best to try to make the $50 minimum for free shipping.

Patterns

I have no patience for the current AI drafting trend in patterns (or AI in general), so I am very picky and tend to stick to just a few select tried and true pattern designers.

Jalie

I sew with a LOT of Jalie patterns now. I am a married mother and sew for my toddler son and occasionally my husband as well as myself. Jalie patterns are great because they come in an enormous size range (generally 2T all the way to 2X and beyond), and the styles are often unisex so they’re suitable for my whole family. In my opinion they are the king of everyday basics. There’s everything from pants and tshirts and underwear to activewear and outerwear, along with a few bag and accessory patterns.

I have found that recent Jalie patterns have much better instructions than the older patterns. They also added a lot of video tutorials which make construction even easier. They’ve been around a long time (I think they started in the 1980s). One thing I really like is they are very specific about types of fabric. They won’t just say stretchy knits, they will say for example a knit with 50% stretch minimum in all four directions, lightweight woven fabrics, denim with 15% stretch, etc. It really helps with getting a reliable result. I’ve found that while I may be a different Jalie size in newer vs older patterns (the older ones tend to not have such a wide size range), the drafting is pretty consistent and I make the same alterations.

Jalie patterns are available as PDFs. Newer and very popular patterns are usually still available on heavyweight paper. There’s a discount if you buy both the PDF and paper pattern, so that’s what I usually end up getting. I try to wait until sales or at least until I get the $75 minimum for free shipping, because otherwise shipping to the US adds quite a bit.

Customer support is very good. I emailed them with some questions before and they got right back to me.

Burda Style

I’ve been subscribing to Burda since September 2006, with a short break for a few years between now and then. It is one of the more fashion forward pattern companies out there. The magazine used to have more complex styles, with children’s patterns and crafts as well as plus size designs in every issue, with the occasional menswear patterns. They had everything from basic knit pants and jeans to wedding dresses. (In fact my own wedding dress was from Burda Style.) Styles ranged from simple to expert level. When I first started subscribing the pattern sheets weren’t the complicated road maps they are now.

I still subscribe to Burda, but every year I have to think about it. Its just not the same quality product as before. They often resurrect old styles (calling them “Best Of”) and now that I finally have a child, they have completely gotten rid of the children’s size patterns that used to be in every issue. (Good thing I have a ton of back issues.) The price has also gotten significantly more expensive. When I started subscribing I think it was around $86 for 12 issues. Now it is $190 for 12 issues, with less styles than they used to have. I really enjoy looking through it every month, but I don’t sew from it nearly as much as I used to because of the limited size range (my bottom half is in the plus size range now and their plus size patterns are much more limited) and the fact that many of the styles don’t suit my age nor my lifestyle anymore.

Style Arc

An Australian pattern company that’s been around for around 15 years or so. Their strength was (and still is) a RTW fit along with being on the cutting edge of fashion. I used to sew a TON of Style Arc patterns, but not so much in recent years. For a while the patterns just weren’t as appealing to me (they seemed to be too shapeless and oversized), but I think a lot of that was also due to the trends at the time. They’ve really grown as a company, from shipping their hand drawn single size patterns directly from Australia to offering projector and PDFs as well as printed multisize patterns through Amazon as well as through their own website.

In recent years they have gotten MUCH better about pattern instructions/tutorials. They also started offering children’s patterns. They used to offer fabrics like the much-elusive viscose/nylon/lycra stretch bengaline, but now they’re doing just patterns.

I’ve found their customer support very responsive.

Ottobre

Ottobre is a Finnish pattern company. They produce styles that are often basic yet have unusual or thoughtful details. They’re great for cold weather styles. I’ve found the drafting consistent and in a wide size range (women’s 34-52). I really liked how Ottobre used average everyday people instead of professional models to model their designs.

Unfortunately I can’t really recommend them anymore, as they haven’t offered shipping to the United States for almost a year now, and their “vacation” appears to be permanent thing now (their last issue was published in 2024). If you’re in the United States your best best is hunting on Etsy for back issues.

I don’t recommend them if you aren’t an experienced sewer, as the instructions can be rather cryptic and a lot of the styles have details that require more advanced sewing skills.

The Green Pepper

Lots of outerwear/activewear garments as well as bags/packs. They’re very reasonably priced and more and more are available as PDFs. They also have a great dog coat pattern, which I made with canvas and lined with fleece for my parents’ Great Dane years ago.

Sizes for most of the garments start from 4T, which is unfortunately still too large for my son.

Instructions are pretty good. I haven’t made a ton of these yet, but the ones I did make I didn’t have much trouble following.

“Semi Industrial” vs Industrial Sewing Machines

Calculating the Power of a Sewing Machine

Very good article I came across analyzing sewing machine power.

I’m in a lot of various Facebook sewing groups and one thing I see posted all the time, particular those that have a lot of people sewing bags, is if someone should get a higher end domestic, “semi-industrial”, or industrial machine. I have one from each group: a computerized domestic (Janome Memory Craft 6500P), a semi industrial (Juki TL-2010Q), and industrial (Seiko STH-8BLD-3 compound walking foot). My point of this post is to give honest feedback from someone who is an experienced home sewer of 20+ years and has absolutely nothing to gain from someone buying one type or brand of sewing machine vs another.

I also want to add that my focus is on new machines, not vintage. Yes, vintage machines are often great but you’re often taking a chance on their condition, not to mention it can be hard to find exactly what you want depending on where you live and when you want to buy.

Domestic Machines

These are the machines everyone who is a home sewer is familiar with and I assume you already have, so I don’t need to elaborate much further. I just wanted to note here that my Janome Memory Craft 6500P, which was probably a midrange to higher end model at its time, can do about 1000 stitches a minute and the motor works out to about 1/10 horsepower. I’ve sewn some heavier stuff on this machine, but one occasion have also pushed it to its limits and knocked it out of time in the process of doing so. My mechanic was able to fix it, but it was still a pain to get repaired. Just because it can fit under the presser foot it doesn’t mean your machine can necessarily handle it without a lot of extra help in the form of jump jumpers, slow speed, or even just manually turning the wheel yourself. The higher end models are probably stronger, but are stupidly expensive (think $10-20k) and IMO you’re primarily paying for more capabilities (like the ability to embroider) and more throat space rather than strength. People make a big deal about having a free arm too, but I’ve never seen the use for one. (Haven’t they heard of turning it inside out and working from the inside??)

Semi Industrial Machines

The Juki TL series falls under this, along with the Janome HD-9. There is sometimes some controversy about the term “semi industrial” (particularly among the prior but I think it is a fairly accurate term. These machines retain the lighter weight and portability of domestics (along with creature comforts like automatic thread cutting) while taking some of the features of industrials like the reverse stitch lever (SUPER handy to not have to look for a button when wanting to backstitch) and ability to use industrial machine feet. Industrial machine feet can be found very cheap if you go generic and often perform better than domestic machine feet. I bought a bunch of compensating feet from Amazon and they just work so much better than the regular topstitching feet on my Janome.

Many of the semi industrials, like my Juki TL-2010Q, also have speed control. These machines tend to be a bit faster and able to better handle heavier projects. They do just one thing but they do it well. I LOVE sewing shirts on this machine.

The disadvantage is that unlike an ordinary domestic they are straight stitch only, and not as strong and durable as an actual industrial. You can technically do buttonholes on the TL series, but you need a separate attachment. Then official Juki buttonhole attachment is $500, which is why a lot of people end up buying a separate domestic just for buttonholes if they don’t already have one. Vintage Griest/Singer etc buttonhole attachments can be found much cheaper (under $50) but since you’re depending on the secondhand market, you never know about availability and if all the pieces are included. These vintage buttonholers also depend on separate metal templates so you’re also limited to whatever size you have on hand instead of being able to set whatever size you want, like with the Juki buttonhole attachment or a domestic.

After using it for a couple of months, I find that the Juki TL-2010Q is not as strong as some claim. It is stronger and faster for sure than my Janome, and I think the motor works out to 1/6 horsepower (vs the 1/10 of the Janome). But when I was sewing a tote bag made from a tightly woven medium weight 100% cotton twill and nylon webbing straps, it tripped up. When sewing the section where the strap goes over a lot of layers of the twill, it just stopped. It didn’t steady to struggle, it outright stalled and would not go. I had to do the hand wheel to get it through that particular section. I know my industrial would have gone through this section without all this extra effort. I’ve seen various videos of how the TL series can “sew through anything” and pretty much all of them are going slowly and you can hear the machine motor working harder. That doesn’t mean it isn’t strong, but I do feel like many people overstate its capabilities because they’re coming from having only used a domestic before.

I also feel like the Juki is not as solidly built as some claim. Sure it doesn’t have as much plastic, but some of the parts (like the thread guide) feel a little bit delicate. The good thing though is that these machines are generally more user serviceable than the domestics, and as you can see Juki Junkies sells a lot of replacement parts and has information on how to replace them yourself. You’d probably still need a mechanic for something like a timing issue, but at least some issues can be resolved yourself.

One last annoyance with the TL series is that you can’t stick a magnetic seam guide past the needle plate. With my industrial I can stick the seam guide anywhere on the machine.

While it has limitations my TL-2010Q is my favorite machine to sew on. I feel like I have the most control over it, and it feeds the fabric beautifully. I love the automatic needle position down and the ability to cut the thread from the foot pedal. It has a decent amount of speed and I have far less issues topstitching collar bands now. Even though I feel it is overrated for heavy projects, I can see why it has such a cult following. It is heavily marketers towards bag makers and quilters, but I also think it is a great machine for garment sewers in my position that want to step up their game but don’t have the room for an industrial.

Industrials

These machines are strong and powerful. They have a dedicated table (typically 48” x 20”) the machine head sits into, and the motor, which is around 1/2 horsepower, is bolted under the table on the side. I’m focusing on lockstitch machines (straight stitch) but there is also dedicated double needle, zig zag, etc industrials. They are not only for heavy materials! Plenty of them, like the Juki DDL-8700, are designed just for light to medium weight fabrics. (Think about it: the factories pushing out silk blouses and crisp buttondown shirts are using industrials, not domestic or Juki TLs.)

My Seiko STH-8BLD-3 is a compound walking foot machine. These machines are designed for medium to very heavy materials. The foot is actually a two section foot with a small inner foot and larger outer foot. The foot, needle, and bottom feed dogs all synchronize to feed the fabric through. It is awesome for thick layers and sewing things like canvas, multiple layers of foam, and cowhide leather. Unlike my Janome and Juki, I don’t have to baby it at all. It just sews through everything as fast as I want without needing hump jumpers or stopping and using the hand wheel. I’ve hemmed bull denim weight jeans for my dad with flat felled seams on this machine before and there was no need to slow down. It just punched right through even the flat felled section without any struggle at all. When I sewed my denim Jalie tote I was able to turn on a dime and fly through whatever section was being sewn without having to do anything special. I think it can do 2000-2500 stitches per minute, with that range depending on the stitch length.

While the Juki TL series maxes out at a size 18 needle, my Seiko can take up to a size 24 needle. I have to use at least 40 Tex weight thread (Gutermann Mara 70) because the tension simply isn’t made to handle lighter thread like Gutermann Mara 100/120. Unlike the Juki TL series or a domestic it excels at handling the really thick stuff like Gutermann Mara 30 (Tex 100 weight).

Another nice thing about industrials is that there’s none of the gatekeeping of domestics. You can tweak them however you want and can make it last a lifetime. My owners manual for the Seiko has sections on how to adjust the timing, adjust the height of the feed dogs (not just drop them but actually adjust how high they are), and all sorts of other stuff that a domestic manual would need, ever show you how to do. Check out the post by Wizcrafts for an example of just how much you can do to customize a machine like this for whatever it is you want to sew. There is a decent amount of information out there on maintaining and repairing industrials yourself, and parts are typically not difficult to get if you have one of the more common models.

My Seiko is around 14 years old now and uses the old fashioned clutch style motor. Clutch motors suck because speed control is difficult (though I’ve gotten better) and they are running whether you are sewing or not, which is noisy and energy consuming. I don’t think they even sell new machines with them anymore. Fortunately industrial motors are pretty easy to swap out. My plan in the next year or so is to swap out the current clutch motor for the Kinedyne 750SL. The Kinedyne 750SL, in addition to letting me sew more easily at a much slower pace while keeping the same torque, also has a needle position sensor option which would allow me to always stop with the needle up or down (a feature I love on my Juki and Janome).

As far as price, it depends on the type of machine you get but in general they are not that much more than the Juki TL series, especially considering the table is usually included. However shipping costs push it up another $200-300 because they tend to be drop shipped by freight. The flipside is that depending on your market you can find these used for much less. Look around for tailors that are retiring or sewing factories going out of business.

The main disadvantage to industrials is the size and lack of portability and versatility.

As I mentioned before, the machine head sits into a dedicated table. The table top is custom cut to fit the machine head and can only be used for that machine. While you can get casters to help with moving it around, this is not a situation like with the Juki TL series or a domestic where you can easily bring it up or down stairs or travel to a class with it. And with a 48×20” table, you’re going to need to have a decent amount of space to put it in. Not something you can tuck away when it’s not being used. The machine heads are also VERY heavy compared to a domestic. My Seiko STH-8BLD-3 machine head is somewhere around 65 pounds. It is entirely metal and feels like a tank. The table is another 50 pounds and the clutch motor is another 40 pounds or so (though the newer servo motors are much lighter). Not easy to transport to the sewing machine mechanic. You’re probably going to have to have one come to your house.

These machines are made for very specific purposes. When I sewed the bag lining of my tote I had to switch to a domestic because between the heavier feed dogs and immense pressure and tension, I simply wouldn’t have gotten acceptable results on the Seiko. It would result in a puckered fabric with thread about to snap. For lighter stuff like that you’d need something like the Juki DDL-8700. Which means another machine with a 48×20” table. Not something that works in my current lifestyle. But with the Juki TL series you can sew a lining on the same machine as you’re sewing the rest of the bag on.

One particular machine that someone specializing in bag making may want to look into is an industrial cylinder bed machine with a flatbed attachment. They make getting into really tight areas much easier (they are kind of like the free arm of the industrial world). This is what they sew shoes, little wallets, etc on commercially. The downside is that they are not nearly as good at sewing big flat panels, even with the flatbed attachment. But some bagmakers have them and love them.

Conclusion

While I am very happy with my Juki TL-2010Q, if I had the space I would have bought the Juki DDL-8700 instead.

I would say go with an industrial if you:

have the space
don’t need portability
want a true “buy it for life” machine
want the ability to repair and customize it yourself
want to quickly and effortlessly sew medium heavy materials and/or do upholstery projects in addition to bag making (this is more specific to compound walking foot machines)
have a good local market of used machines – you can find one used for 1/2 or even 1/4 the price of a new TL series

Look into the TL series if you:

have limited space and/or need to stash the machine away in a separate space between projects
want to travel with the machine
work primarily with light to medium weight fabrics and want something more powerful and refined than a regular domestic

New Machine: Juki TL-2010Q

Just got this baby delivered yesterday! I haven’t made a space for it in the sewing room yet so I set it up on my dining room table for now.

My primary sewing machine for the past 20 years has been a Janome Memory Craft 6500P. My mom bought it a year before I caught the sewing bug, and when she saw how much I fell in love with sewing she decided to give me her machine and bought another one for herself. It’s been a great machine and I can’t even tell you how many hours I have on it. However, it does have some quirks:

The automatic thread cutter sucks. It has sucked from Day One. It always leaves a big thread nest unless I use a leader cloth, and if I need to use a leader cloth all the time I feel like it’s quicker to just use the built in manual thread cutter and snip the threads afterwards
It sometimes it goes for another stitch or two after I stop stitching, especially with heavier weight materials. I’ve seen other people complain about this.
Regular buttonholes are super easy and good quality, but it struggled with making nicely rounded keyhole buttonholes, especially on heavier fabrics.

When Juki Junkies advertised last month that they were going to sell the Juki TL-2010Q floor models being used at Quilt Con at a discount, I decided to go for it. Right now this machine sells for around $1200. I got mine for $950 with shipping included. My husband didn’t really understand why I wanted it, but when I said it would take the place of birthday, Christmas, anniversary, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day etc gifts for the next two years he thought that was a pretty good deal 😂.

This machine is marketed for quilters and bag makers. Nearly everything I sew is a garment. Now why did I want a straight stitch only machine like this?

I have a compound walking foot industrial (the Seiko STH8-BLD-3). I don’t use it very often because it is for heavy materials, but I love how it is simple, super reliable and feeds everything through with ease. It does one thing, but it does it really well. It will never die and likely outlast me. I wanted this same experience with a machine that handles lighter fabrics. After going through two expensive sergers that performed beautifully but ultimately failed due to their complexity, I just wanted something simple and reliable.
If I had the space I would have probably gotten the Juki 8700 industrial; however, my sewing room is a small spare bedroom and between my four other machines (Janome 6500, Janome MyLock 204D serger, Janome 300e embroidery machine, Janome Coverpro 2000CPX coverstitch) and my cutting table, ironing board, etc I just don’t have the room. (As it is now I have to keep the Seiko in my basement.)
Speed! My Janome maxes out at 1000 stitches per minute. The Juki does 1500 stitches per minute.
The Juki allows you to use a lot of industrial sewing machine feet, which are often much cheaper and more effective than domestic sewing machine feet.
As I mentioned before, my current Janome is 20+ years old and being computerized, I have no idea how long it is going to last. I know that parts are getting harder to find for it.

My Juki Tl-2010Q just arrived a day ago so I haven’t had much time to sit down and play with it yet, but so far I am very happy with its performance. It feeds the fabric easily and I feel like the presser foot design makes it easier to topstitch, especially around corners, without a guide. The thread cutter also works GREAT!

The things I don’t like so far:

It doesn’t have a 3/8” seam allowance mark on the stitch plate, but a magnetic guide will take care of that.
The automatic threader sucks! My Janome is so much easier to use. Despite some practice I am just threading it by hand more often than not.
There’s a learning curve to the foot pedal. You have to be careful to not hit the back of it or else it activates the automatic thread cutter. I believe there’s a piece you can buy to prevent this from happening, but it’s another $20 added to the purchase price.

Now for the big test…buttonholes!

My mom recently gave me an old Singer branded buttonholer which was probably from the late 60s. My dad worked a bit back then as a machinist at the Griest buttonholer factory in New Haven, Connecticut. He ended up leaving the job less than a year later because it was mind numbingly dull, but while he was working there he brought home a Singer branded Greist buttonhole attachment with all the cams for my mom. She used it for a while but eventually switched to one of the first computerized Viking machines.

I wasn’t sure if it would work with my Juki since it is a high shank machine (and the high shank Greist buttonholers are apparently harder to find) but I can confirm that it does work. Maybe those photos will help those looking on the secondhand market for a vintage buttonholer to fit their Juki,

Here are some action photos, along with a video of me doing the second pass for the larger keyhole buttonhole. I used three layers of a midweight 100% linen and Gutermann Mara 120 thread.

Second pass of larger buttonhole

Now for some finished samples. I think they came out great!

Small vs larger keyhole. I used a wider stitch width for the larger one.

If you’ve never used one of these attachments before I found this tutorial very helpful. I don’t recall if the video tutorial mentions it or not, but make sure you drop your feed dogs before attaching the plate! It was late at night when I first tried using this attachment and I couldn’t figure out when I turned the hand wheel to test the action why the bottom plate wouldn’t stay in place 😂🤦‍♀️.

I hope to give this machine a better workout soon, but my time is more limited right now. My dad suffered a stroke last month. It was actually the same day that my husband ordered my Juki for me. Due to the disastrous experience he had at short term rehab, I decided to take him home with me to recover. It is definitely more work for me, especially since I am already the full time caregiver to my toddler son, but my son loves having him around and I no longer have the stress of wondering what was happening to him when we weren’t there to advocate. (Nights and weekends were particularly bad.) The good news is that he is much happier living with me right now, and we have a fantastic team of people from the local visiting nurse agency coming in helping out with various care and therapies. He was very active before this happened so he’s frustrated with his current condition and limitations, but I see a little bit more improvement every day.

Master the Coverstitch Machine

I am using my Janome Coverpro 2000CPX more than ever. My little guy and I wear a lot of knits and I had been wanting to improve my skills, particularly when it comes to binding necklines. Bound necklines have always been the bane of my existence. I felt like I spent so much time trying to make precise, professional looking bound necklines, often having to rip it out and start all over again because I was unhappy with the quality of my work. I was getting super frustrated because I don’t have the time I used to for sewing, and wanted to spend it producing wearable finished garments, not ripping out stitching!

I decided to start off by buying the book Master the Coverstitch Machine: The Complete Coverstitch Sewing Guide. I saw a video by the author on her website and was impressed with her attention to detail and experience. I prefer sticking to books more than ever now. There’s too many videos on YouTube made by clueless people that clearly have no idea what they are doing. Some of these videos are of people doing these things for the first time! They have such poor technique and camerawork and try to cover it up with clever little quips and editing. They just look really dumb to me, putting it bluntly. I feel like people don’t want to put in the time anymore it takes to really master something before immediately jumping into being an influencer about it. Even the author of the book, who is clearly an experienced seamstress, said it took about it eight hours of practice before she really got the hang of using a binder.

Along with the book I bought some attachments for my machine. I had held off on buying a binder for my coverstitch machine for a long, long time because honestly, the price of the Janome ones are eye watering (like over $250 now). I also held off because I read posts here and there by people claiming that binders are clunky and don’t work well, especially the off brand ones. I kept reading though in my Ottobre pattern instructions about using binders though, so I decided to just go for it. I bought a 1/2” finished width double fold binder, along with a clear binder presser foot. I chose this size because the Ottobre children patterns often recommend a neckline binding finished width of 15mm, which is around 1/2”.

The video I saw on the author’s website suggested using cotton rib knit when you’re just starting out, as it is easy to work with. I have a ton of cotton rib knit in my stash, so that’s what I used. I cut the strips 1 5/8” for this particular binder (the width you need to cut is listed on the binder) using a clear ruler and rotary cutter. I then set up the binder on my machine. I ended up using the video on the Janome product page to help because the binder that I bought had absolutely no instructions. I then loaded the binder up with the rib knit, using an awl and tweezers just as the author suggested to feed it through. It took some fiddling to get it actually folded correctly under the presser foot, but once I got it going I was able to start perfecting the settings of the binder and my machine. The author recommends using a long stitch length (4mm) and playing with the differential length and presser foot pressure. I also had to loosen the screws and slide the binder around a bit in order to get the angle it fed the fabric under the presser foot correct. Once I was satisfied I started feeding some fabric into the binder, which involved more tweaking and testing. But it was completely worth it. I couldn’t believe what a perfect finish I got without having to estimate how long the strip would need to be, stand by the ironing table folding, etc. I tried a few different fabrics and while I needed to adjust some settings, I found that generally it gave a perfectly finished neckline without puckering or being too stretched out, and it had a ton of stretch – a lot more stretch than when I did it by hand with a serger/regular machine then topstitching with the coverstitch. I have no idea how the binder gets it so perfect despite the variety of fabrics I used, but it does it really, really well and saves me SO much time.

Here’s a tshirt I made my son recently, with one of those envelope style necklines, using a cotton rib knit for both the binding and the shirt. Perfectly placed stitching with plenty of recovery and no stretching or puckering. Making little boy shirts is SO much more fun now!

Now here is a light to medium cotton/lycra jersey tshirt I made for myself. For this one I used a smaller 3/8” finished width binder. I also chose to use a chain stitch instead of a two needle narrow coverstitch. Partially because I wanted a more subtle finish, but also because I wanted to experiment. The neckline lays perfectly flat when worn. Again, no having to measure and estimate what amount of length I would need. You just cut a strip of binding as long as you can, and the attachment/machine does the rest of the work for you.

The author warns in her video that lightweight, stretchy knits like rayon/lycra jerseys are difficult to work with using a binder, and not really suitable. I don’t agree, it is definitely trickier but as you can see below I got pretty good results using the 3/8” finished binder on a scrap of lightweight, stretchy rayon/lycra jersey. It IS much harder to get it initially fed through the binder though, and you have less tolerance with the settings. Practice with a few scraps is essential!

At least for my Janome Coverpro 2000CPX these off brand binders work just fine and are all less than $30 each. They all include the attachment plate. The 1/2” finished width Janome branded binder is currently around $267 and doesn’t even include the attachment plate (another $40!) I’m sure the Janome branded one has a better build quality but I’m just pointing out that you can make yourself an entire set with the most commonly used widths for a lot less than one Janome branded binder.

I did splurge for the Janome Coverpro tape stand. The book said you can use a paper towel roll holder, but I wanted the flexibility of the height adjustment and something that wouldn’t be so bulky. Much like the binders, it is stupidly expensive for what it is. However I have found that using a stand is essential for helping feed the binding into the binder, especially when you’re working with a flimsy rayon/lycra jersey that wants to fold over itself before you even get it fed into the binder. I did take the tip from the book to roll the cut binding into an empty toilet paper roll.

Something else I wanted to experiment with was reverse coverstitching. I think the industrial machines that do this call it flatlocking. A lot of Ottobre knit patterns call for this stitch. You sew the seam on a regular machine using a straight stitch and then open it up, press ur, and then and topstitch from the back using the coverstitch machine. The newer model Janome Coverpro 3000CPX has five threads and can do it from the top, not the bottom, but I can’t afford to upgrade my machine at this time. The book explains very well how to make do with a four thread coverstitch machine like I have though.

I found reverse coverstitching over a seam very easy with the help of the Janome clear guide foot. You can buy the branded Janome one for $62, but Amazon has a generic one for $27.

Coverstitching something like a pocket however was far more difficult, and I ended up having to redo my work so many times. Since you’re working from the back you’re sewing completely blind. I used the marking paper with a tracing wheel but even so I had a lot of mistakes that needed to be redone. For this reason alone I wish I could upgrade to the 3000CPX.

Below is a sample of the Ottobre zip sweatshirt hoodie I made lately. It is a cotton/polyester sweatshirt fleece so a fairly heavy fabric with a heavier rib knit for the trim. The hem band was sewn using the coverstitch over the attachment seam, and the pockets and their trim were sewn directly on top of the fabric. Even though I had to keep redoing it I love how flat the pockets came out!

I did find I had an issue with skipped stitches where the rib knit meets the side seam, as the fabric is heavy and the seams very bulky (there’s an attachment seam where the front hem ribbing is sewn to the back hem ribbing, as well as the fleece side seam bulk). Despite my best efforts I couldn’t get it right, so I ended up just fudging it with some hand stitching.

Overall I highly recommend the Master the Coverstitch Machine book. It has great instructions, very clear and high quality photos, and the projects section shows in depth how to apply the techniques to your own projects. Pretty much anything you might want to do with a coverstitch is covered. As I mentioned before I also found the generic binders and feet from Amazon worked perfectly fine on my machine, so I highly recommend trying those out if you are hesitant to go all out and buy the official name brand binder.

Maxi-Lock Serger Real Thread Color Chart

If you’re looking for a real thread color chart and not one of the wildly inaccurate online ones for Maxi-Lock serger thread, someone on Facebook is selling them for $35. We are in the same state but since she’s not super close to me I asked if she would be willing to ship it to me. She charged very reasonable shipping and it arrived quickly. The swatch cards are sturdy and there’s a nice big ring to keep it all together. Her communication was excellent as well.

Here’s the listing if you’re interested: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3071557416334323&id=886555474834539