Glad to know others out there share my pain. Thanks for all the tips, but I don't foresee any more forays into the teeth of JoAnn's Dragon's Lair. I'll follow the sage advice of the experts and shop online.
Now I just need some viable excuses to the lady of the house explaining all the package deliveries.
Strangers stopping strangers just to shake their hand - Robert Hunter
I hear you on the label confusion - we picked up some nylon and thought it was reasonably lightweight, not having anything else handy to compare with. The only number I recall seeing on the bolt was something like .65. Have NO IDEA what that means, but the stuff is fairly heavy. Seems strong, at least.
Man ...... quite the word-smith.!!!!!!
I liked that ... liked it a lot.
Hey, get you stuff from Ed Speer .... he mails quick and is one of us.
http://www.speerhammocks.com/Products/Supplies.htm
Shug
Whooooo Buddy)))) All Secure in Sector Seven
I got some stuff from Quest Outfitters, and had them put in a little sampler of different fabrics. It has sil, 1.1, 1.9, duck, Oxford, taffeta I think, Cuben, and whole bunch of others. It was good for getting a "feel" for the different fabrics.
Oh, and I'll second the fabric at JoAnn's being uncoated 1.9...
Acer
It's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
Formerly known as Acercanto, my trail name is MacGuyver to some, and Pucker Factor to others.
It's not procrastinating, its proactively delaying the implementation of the energy-intensive phase of the project until the enthusiasm factor is at its maximum effectiveness. - Randy Glasbergen
Actually you had a very positive experience in Joanns. I won't do business with them if I have to use a customer service clerk. They are absolute dolts. Forget about denier. The won't recognize that word either. Ask them for "60" wide polyester taffeta." If they ask you what you are maike tell them "gear". In spite of all other questions they ask merely repeat.. "Please show me the 60" wide polyester taffeta." If they still prove to want to provide totally inept service say something to the effect that you will be happy to take your business elsewhere unless they show you where you will find "60" wide polyester taffeta." When or if you are escorted to that section of the store politely dismiss the young lady who took you there and proceed to find a color you like.
As far as reading the labels.... they won't tell you squat. The fabric industry doesn't care about clerks being able to tell what weight the fabric is. In all likelihood not even the wholesale distributor can answer that question without going to the manufacturer.
Pick the bolt of fabric that you want. Take it ot the cutting table and ask for your desired length. Then and only then can you tell them what you are making and then you MUST lie. Although t is not an absolute lie... more a severe stretching of the truth. :I am making a tent...." That word they have heard of.
If you decide the people at Joanns or any other store for that matter are worthy of your return business then you can start educating themm into the secrets of macho gear making. Otherwise take a girlfriend/wife in and let her run interference for you. The magic words for your purposes at this p[oint is "60 inch wide polyester taffeta."
If you want ripstop because you are a gram weenie, don't worry about the weight. Anything you they have will work for your purposes.
I may be slow... But I sure am gimpy.
"Bless you child, when you set out to thread a needle don't hold the thread still and fetch the needle up to it; hold the needle still and poke the thread at it; that's the way a woman most always does, but a man always does t'other way."
Mrs. Loftus to Huck Finn
We Don't Sew... We Make Gear! video series
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Bobbin Tension - A Personal Viewpoint
BDPalace: First off, I want to thank you. I'm out of town on business--PHX, which ain't my first choice on any list of three, and second, I've had a couple business drinks, and third, there's a touch of Wodehouse in your lingo, which I'm re-reading to get over second item. You hit the spot.
At the risk of offending the distaff crew or any others who possess that greater knowledge of the fabrician arts, which knowledge I glumly suppose is similar to clothes shopping, baby paraphernalia purchasing and expeditions to Michael's Arts and Crafts, I feel your pain going to a JoAnns. The fact that my first wife's name was JoAnn has nothing to do with it. Its just that thought of walking into a fabric store.
I did it one time...years ago, when I was younger, less worldly, foolish some would say, and certainly not up to the task at hand, which was simply to buy a little thread to sew a hole in a ... well, the point being, women from all side, high and low, looking around bolts and buttons, hanging upside down, peering around stuffings and pillows and who knows what, these women all looked at me as if I were, well frankly, a woodsman in a china shop. Like they'd never seen such a curiosity. I might be wrong, but I sensed more red lipstick near at hand than I'm used too. And too many questions about threads and needles and bobbins and thimbles and baskets and "where's your wife now" and how proud they were of me and times are changing.
Only the internet for me these days, or Jermyn St., where Mr. Hoskinson doesn't ask too many questions and is always discreet.
You can always buy from Jo Anns' a yard of whatever looks close to what you want, take it home and figure out what it is, then go back for more it you wish...
...or you can buy from Ed Speer, as Shug suggested! Also try Outdoor Wilderness Fabrics, who will accept your phone call and be helpful.
- MacEntyre
- MacEntyre
"We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately." - Ben Franklin
www.MollyMacGear.com
Thanks for the laugh, I too suffered the walk thru the fire of JoAnn's. I think it should be a rite of passage for anyone who wants to be a hammocker, like college hazing. Big tip is sign up for JoAnns newsletter (you can do it online, we won't make you go back in to that mean place). It is about the only way to get the coupons, and good coupons at that, some 50% on fabric and accessories.
As we bash the staff, I'm sure its their way of retaliating for years of abuse from the plumbers, mechanics, carpenters that they have had to deal with.
JoAnns does have most of the stuff we need to build "gear" (or prom dresses) but don't go in there without your coupons......or your wife or sister or mom...somebody female.
Those fabric swatches would be a good tool to educate yourself on.
Ambulo tua ambulo.
Oh yeah, tip #2, Do not approach the enemy when you are outnumbered, they travel in packs for a reason. Heck, they even go to the bathroom in 2's or 3's.
Ambulo tua ambulo.
It's Estrogen ... the most abused drug in the world. My neighbor in PA a few years back and I went to a camping show at a mall in Williamsport. We got a wild hair and got matching T-shirts that were a play on Nancy Regan's anti drug campaign "Just say No to drugs"Originally Posted by gargoyle
We had them made saying "Just Say No to Estrogen". We showed up for the two family picnic that evening wearing them. We both got the look. Neither of us saw those shirts again after leaving them in the laundry room! Wonder what happened to them?
WARNING: Will discuss Rhurbarb Strawberry Pie and Livermush at random.
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