On the fifth day of Christmas . . .

[HJ Hess]

Today, the fifth day of Christmas, December 29, 2009, is the holy day of St. Thomas Becket, who was the son of a mercer.

Nowadays, one rarely finds mercer’s shops (merceria Sp. or mercerie Fr. or haberdasher Eng. ) named as such. In today’s world you would go to your local fabric or craft or hobby store for your threads, needles, shuttles, ribbons, beads, and more.

Where is your favorite place to shop for your supplies? Or do you absolutely detest the shopping process? What is your preferred method of acquisition? Do you have a budget or do you whip out the credit card? Do you prefer to walk into a physical store or are you happy to buy online?




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[PattyD]

Yes, no, and maybe! I know where every needle, thread, book and pattern is for 50 miles from my house; I know to search through quilt shops and yarn stores, and what my local Walmart carries (not much!) I know where every Michael's and Joannes' store is and what their hours are. I know which stores carry sewing machine accessories and threads. I am in striking distance of Lacis in Berkeley.

I have instructed and shown cashiers that not only does their store carry tatting shuttles, here they are! and I want to buy them!

So I have a good idea were things are and how to get them. I think the hardest part is that so many craft stores are closing or, reducing their inventory. So when i see something that is interesting, I always have to calculate whether it will still be there when I need it or buy it now just to be safe. Not having a bottomless wallet, I often have to sigh and let it go.

[soyloquesoy]

There are "mercerías" where I live! I was really lucky as the first one I came into to ask for tatting shuttles had one! And then a month later it had a discount on all DMC products, so I have a small thread stash... I have since asked at many others, and only two in my area had shuttes and DMC thread. Anchor thread can be get most everywhere.

I consider tatting supplies to come from the "pampering myself" category of my budget - I do not set appart a certain amount each month, but I am concious of the bottom of the wallet as Patty put it. I do not use credit cards in general, and have had bad experiences with the mail, so I am reluctant to try on-line shopping (but I must say, many things are really, really tempting! - I like getting stuff at a real place, but there is very, very little variety)

[Sonja]

Can someone ell me where I can buy the rainbow tread?

[AnneB]

I need the Internet to get proper tatting supplies. All I can get locally is huge balls of crocheting thread. I never give up hope though and pop in at every craft store I find when work sends me on a trip somewhere not so local. This made me discover an almost local supplier of DMC 80 and Häkelgarn 20 (from OnLine). And every time I'm close to that place, I need to buy some more DMC 80.

For more fancy threads I use Internet.

And my budget? When buying on the 'net I try to keep it below NOK 200 ($30) as I don't need to pay local taxes. Keyword: "Try" :rofl:

[carolivy]

As I used to actually sell Craft Supplies myself, I bought several sets of Needles when I sold the supplies. Several years ago though, the company I purchased my supplies from decided I wasn't purchasing enough merchandise each year, so closed my account, thereby effectively closing my business. Luckily for me though, I had been a "cash only" business, so that didn't leave me in debt with anyone, just with a LOT of crochet and tatting thread left in stock! :shock: I have since worked through quite a bit of the inventory, but I still have 3 large totes worth of thread left in various sizes so only have to go looking for thread if I need a color I don't currently have or need more of for a larger project.:wink: That won't last indefinitely though. I know the stores around me (which is why I started selling Craft Supplies in the first place! :wink:) So I will be religated to using the Internet for any future purchases.

[Vanessa]

We don't have any good tatting supply stores locally, so I buy from online. I try to get as many supplies as possible from Australia to cut down on postage costs, but have also bought from the USA.

It has been a fun experience buying online, however, it can be difficult selecting colours because the online colour chart is not identical to the actual colour received.

For my last order I bought one of each colour in the Altin Basak size 30 range (or rather, one of every colour that the store sold). This has been great because I have such choice for each project :smile:. It probably could get very expensive if I used more than one brand of thread though :shock:. I wonder how many colours are in the Lizbeth range :ermm:????

[CindyK]

[QUOTE=HJ Hess;11384]Where is your favorite place to shop for your supplies? Or do you absolutely detest the shopping process? What is your preferred method of acquisition? Do you have a budget or do you whip out the credit card? Do you prefer to walk into a physical store or are you happy to buy online?

No one 'favorite' place to shop - I know that locally, my craft stores carry some clover shuttles and larger thread - I've never seen any tatting needles. It seems that 'everyone' is into knitting, so there are beautiful yarns and yarn shops locally, but not anything specific to tatting. I have only purchased thread, a couple of pattern books and a shuttle online from Handy Hands. Through InTatters I see sooooooo many wonderful resources for HDT and shuttles! I LOVE to shop, but have to watch the expenditures - no budget, I just know what I can and can't splurge on. I don't use credit cards for "fun" purchases. I would be perfectly happy to buy online - when cash is flowing a bit better - it's easier than running from store to store, and seems like Christmas to receive the packages! I am on my way to being a pattern/thread/shuttle hoarder.

[HJ Hess]

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