Category — Where to Shop

I’ve visited Annie & Company twice now and I really shouldn’t have waited so long to write them up. This is a great store. Located at 1325 Madison Avenue, Manhattan they have a complete knitting store downstairs and a complete needlepoint shop upstairs. The needlepoint shop is definitely geared towards needlepoint, but you can find pretty much all of your basic embroidery supplies there as well.

They carry needles, hoops, frames, books, and a complete selection of DMC and Anchor floss. The DMC floss is 75 cents each. (Perle 5 for $1.70 each.)

They also host classes on occasion and also offer private lessons. I was quoted $45/hour for privates.

I visited Fiber Notion back in November because I needed some glue to finish a hoop framed piece and didn’t have a clue what kind of glue would work between wood and fabric as well as fabric to fabric. Some friends had told me that the owner was knowledgeable and willing to lend advice on projects. I very much found this to be true. Even though the shop is tiny, she had at least half a dozen glues to choose from and gave me advice on how to choose.

Even though the shop is tiny, they offer a lot more than glue. They have a nice, but modest, selection of fabrics, ribbons, floss and hoops. DMC floss was $1.25 each or $1 each for 4 or more. Presencia was $2 each.

Fiber Notion
849 Union Street

Tonight concluded my Introduction to Machine Sewing Class @ The City Quilter. Last week we learned the basics and this week we put our skills to the test in sewing a basic 16″ x 16″ pillow cover.

I’m extremely pleased with my fabric selection. It matches perfectly and is also quite beautiful on its own.

Our instructor handled the fabric cutting, but we did the ironing, pinning, and of course sewing, ourselves. This was the perfect starter project. Nothing too fancy. As you can see below, the cover has an envelope opening for inserting the pillow.

The starting measurements of the fabric were one 16 1/2″ square piece (front) and two 16 1/2″ x 12 1/2″ rectangle pieces (back). The 12 1/2″ measurement gives plenty of room for seams and overlapping of the envelope.

Last night was my first of two classes in the Introduction to Machine Sewing at The City Quilter. I enjoyed the two hour class very much. The room has 12 Bernina Aurora 440QE machines, so its small enough that the teacher can move around and see every student. The teacher is very experienced and draws lots of examples from quilting. I don’t plan to quilt, but I’m sure these are general instructive examples.

We started by tackling the difficult topics: how to create a bobbin and how to thread the machine. Everything went smoothly there, no tangled nightmares like I had when I was younger.

Next we moved on to actual sewing. We first sewed 3 simple straight lines onto muslin, then a 1/4″ seam and finally we moved to the larger foot and played around with various stitch types.

The ultimate goal of the class is to create a 16″x16″ pillow cover with an envelope opening in back. I selected a gorgeous orange, purple and red fabric with gold flecks. You’ll get to see it in its final form after the final class next week.

During class students receive a 15% discount on everything in the store, not only those items they need for class.

Saturday I made it up to The City Quilter in Chelsea. I’d heard lots of good things about this store even though their primary focus is obviously quilting. I wasn’t disappointed. They had a good selection of Aunt Martha’s iron on embroidery patterns ($1.75), Sublime Stitching iron on embroidery patterns ($5.75), Presencia floss ($1.10), lots of transfer pens and paper, needles, hoops, and embroidery books including specialty topics like African embroidery and red work. They also had a large selection of Sashiko patterns and floss. All of the staff was very nice and helpful.

The City Quilter also offers an incredible selection of classes. This Fall they are offering classes in Sashiko, Intermediate Sashiko, Wool Embroidery, Silk Ribbon Embroidery, and Simple Embroidered Gifts as well as a huge selection of machine sewing and quilting classes. I hope to take a class this fall, I just have to decide which one.

I visited the Brooklyn General Store today to see what they offered in the way of embroidery supplies. The shop is beautiful and filled with things to inspire you. They do carry a few embroidery hoops, some DMC floss, and some hand-dyed floss. The DMC floss is extremely expensive at $1.75 each. The hand dyed ones are $2.75 each. This is a lot more compared to other stores in the area, but its also the closest store with embroidery supplies that I’ve found to my apartment.

Brooklyn General Store
128 Union Street, Brooklyn

I stopped by the newly moved and combined Purl Soho. The shop is beautiful and makes me wish I had a sewing machine. They are still focused on knitting and patchwork, but I managed to snag some nice embroidery needles and a clover threader. I spoke with one woman and explained that I do embroidery and she was very helpful, pulling a few books and lots of Jenny Hart patterns. It wasn’t a ton of stuff, but I appreciate the effort. They also have some embroidery thread, silk, and crewel wool. Maybe if enough of us go in asking for embroidery supplies they will expand their selection.

Purl Soho
459 Broome Street, New York, NY

Made it over to Purl Patchwork / Purl Soho yesterday. I knew they were a great place for quilting and knitting, but they do sell embroidery patterns on their website, so I wanted to see what kind of supplies they carried for embroidery in their shop. Sadly they didn’t have much of anything, just a few hoops, some needles, and some perl cotton. They are however moving to a new space in April, so I asked if they planned to carry more embroidery supplies. The salesperson didn’t seem too confident in the answer, but said that the new space is much bigger and they plan to carry the full gamut of sewing craft supplies. The fabrics at Patchwork were so beautiful, fun and modern that I really do hope they expand into embroidery because I know they will have lots of great things if they do. Until then you can shop their website for patterns, hoops, needles, button kits, thread, and patch kits. You can also follow along with the move progress here, they say it will happen in April.

I just ordered the fabric for my Okie Stitch Along project from Needle In A Haystack. I wasn’t at all sure what type of fabric to use. I read this very detailed article on Linen for Hand Embroidery at Needle ‘n Thread, but found myself more overwhelmed. So I decided to call Needle In A Haystack and see if someone would listen to my project and offer advice. They were very willing to listen and explain to me all about fabrics and to help me decide on what would be best for my project.

The first thing I learned is that you want an evenly woven fabric, not knit like t-shirt. And the thread-count is consistent. The higher the count, the less space between threads. Any thread count is fine for what I am doing, its more a matter of taste.

Next there is linen or cotton blend fabric. Linen is what I thought I wanted, but I decided to go with the cotton blend because it has a more consistent look. Linen can have those strands that bulge in places, giving more of an antique finish. I don’t want people to be seeing my fabric, I want them to see my stitches, so I think the cotton blend will blend into the background of my piece.

So, what I ended up with is Jobelan 32 count (51% Cotton/49% Rayon) by Wichelt. Although you have to order the fabric in standard sizes, like 1/2 yard, Needle In A Haystack will cut and finish the fabric to the specific size of your project. I arbitrarily decided that my project would be 11″ x 14″. The helpful sales lady told me they recommend leaving 3″ on all sides for framing. So I ordered a piece 17″ x 20″.

I haven’t received my fabric yet, but so far I’ve had a very positive experience with Needle In A Haystack.

I finally made the trek up to Rita’s Needlepoint today. Rita’s is located on the Upper East Side at 150 East 79th Street. I had high hopes for this visit, even though its focus is needlepoint, it is the only store in New York City dedicated to hand sewing, that I know of. The staff was very helpful and seemed very knowledgeable, although probably more knowledgeable on the subject of needlepoint. They had a large selection of DMC and Anchor 6-strand embroidery floss for 70¢ each. They also had a wide array of other types of threads, perl cotton, overdyed, and more that I didn’t even know what they were or what they were for, perhaps they are for needlepoint. They did not really have any embroidery hoops, or patterns or other tools, but I did pick up a Clover thread cutter to use for travel.