For decades, Joann was the entry point for new sewists, the fallback for last-minute notions, and a treasure hunt for unexpected fabric finds. With its closure, the sewing and craft world is facing a major turning point. On a recent episode of the Designers, Plants & Coffee podcast, we dug into what this means—especially with the liquidation of the Big 4 sewing pattern brands now happening in parallel.
Let’s be honest—this didn’t come out of nowhere.
Even before the official announcement, many sewists had noticed Joann’s shifting away from apparel-making toward craft-focused inventory. While aisles overflowed with fleece and flannel, garment makers were left hunting for quality fabrics in dwindling corners of the store.
At the same time, the Big 4 pattern companies—Vogue, Butterick, McCall’s, and Simplicity—began liquidating their physical inventory. Rumors swirled about factory closures, rising tariffs, and supply chain issues, but it was also clear these legacy brands hadn’t kept pace with the digital age.
This closure isn’t just about the loss of a store—it’s a cultural shift in the sewing community.
Joann was often the first stop for aspiring sewists: patterns, fabric, thread, advice. Now that’s gone, and new makers are left wondering where to begin.
Not everyone lives near a boutique fabric shop. And while online ordering is convenient, it’s no substitute for feeling a fabric before buying.
With Big 4 paper patterns vanishing, those who relied on their standard blocks and instructions are left with fewer familiar options.
But here’s the upside: a huge opportunity is opening for indie designers and digital pattern brands.
At Cover Me Chic, we’re ready for this moment. We create PDF sewing patterns designed specifically for curvy, modest women, in sizes that reflect real bodies. No more shortening torsos or widening hips just to make a pattern wearable—we do the fit work for you.
Looking to get started? Download our free Nura Kimono PDF pattern and experience what digital patterns should feel like: beautifully designed, thoughtfully graded, and easy to follow.
With the Big 4 patterns being liquidated, it’s more important than ever to:
“If you’re short and curvy like me, you know the struggle. That’s why I started designing patterns for real people—not fashion sketches.”
— Zahiyya, Cover Me Chic founder
The closure of Joann and the liquidation of Big 4 patterns may feel like a loss—but it’s also a reset. Sewists now have more freedom, better tools, and growing communities online.
Here’s how to stay ahead of the shift:
We’re not going backward. The end of Joann marks the beginning of something new—more inclusive, more modern, and more connected to the way we actually live and sew.
Let’s build the future of sewing together.
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Welcome to the Designers Plants and Coffee podcast, where we’re sewing, sipping, and staying rooted.
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We’re three creative women building handmade businesses and sharing real conversations about
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design growth and what it really takes to make things that matter.
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So grab your coffee, pull up a project, and let’s grow together.
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Today we’re going to be talking about the closure of these major craft retailers or the liquidation of Simplicity Pattern Group. Simple.
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So we just want to give our thoughts on why this is happening and maybe there’s some opportunities for smaller brands.
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So why do you think they closed Naima, you can take it away.
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I think a lot of it was about money.
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If you really get into the weeds of it and look at, you know, how joann was doing before, they
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weren’t struggling and they weren’t failing.
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So that just makes you think that they did it for the money.
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And I also could go nerd deeper, but that’s another whole episode where I was watching a video
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of a woman who kind of broke it down.
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Like, how these liquidation companies work.
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How do I feel about it?
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I feel like it’s going to be a major loss for the creative community. Let’s be realistic.
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Joann’s had turned into more of a craft store than a fabric store anyway.
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Nobody on earth needs that much fleece.
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And if you’re a fleece lover, I’m sorry, I don’t mean to offend, but my goodness, can we get some silk? It’s a loss.
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And at first I was like, well, you know, there’s other places, but all live in the fashion capital of the United States.
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I live in a major metropolitan city, so we have other places and we have other stores.
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But when I think about these sewists and creators and designers who are in places where it’s
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not as readily available, I feel like it’s a disservice to them.
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So, Tish, what do you think happened?
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I definitely think the same thing.
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It was really about money.
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Plus, I mean, I think they had.
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They’ve gotten away from how they started.
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It really became more about crafts.
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But when it came to being a sewist and patterns and actual fabric, I would go in there and it
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may be a handful of things that I really wanted, but most times I only went to get muslin because
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they didn’t have a great selection anymore of fabrics.
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Instead, it’s like, okay, well, I’m just going to take the time and I’m going to order from
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someplace else, get swatches from someplace else.
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We won’t say those stores because, hey, but with that, I definitely think that some of the smaller
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communities, they’re really going to miss it because where are they going to go now?
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They have to buy online as you say.
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That is so funny because I have gotten back into making more clothes and making things for myself.
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As I teach more, I’m making more.
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And everybody knows I’m a fabric hoarder. It’s not a secret.
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And as I’m pulling some of these textiles out, I’m like, oh my God, I remember this.
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Joann, you could find some gems in there.
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But it was a scavenger hunt in the later days.
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You had to swim through a mountain of fleas, things that nobody needed.
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You know, for apparel makers and garment makers, it was just a whole bunch of stuff that was
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a turn off because you have to practically go into the back of the store for what you need and
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you know, by the time you weed through all of it, you’re over it.
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Well, I mean, I piggyback off what you guys just said.
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It’s a loss to the crafting creative community, definitely.
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But what I think happened is they really didn’t keep up with the times.
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There was a lot of just speaking as a pattern maker designer, they didn’t offer PDF patterns,
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they just got into like the ditto projector type thing.
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So they really weren’t keeping up with what the home sewing industry was doing.
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People moved elsewhere, they moved to indie pattern makers, to wherever, you know, stuff was
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cheaper because it wasn’t necessarily the cheapest thing.
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It’s just, I think what happened is they were stuck in their ways, got too big and they did
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not keep up with the times of what people were asking for.
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And then of course that was money, that, that cost them money and they weren’t making no, they
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had to answer to their shareholders or whoever and hence is why they closed.
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That said, we heard that the Simplicity group, which is, has Vogue, Butterwick, McCall’s, all
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of those pattern, the big four, they liquidated based on Joanne’s closure.
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So why do you think that is and what do you, what effect do you think that’s going to have on the sewing?
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I’m still stumped by that one.
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It had gotten to the point where most people were turning to the Simplicity group to buy their
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patterns because you couldn’t find anything in joann’s even when it was was doing well.
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You know, I’ll go back to what you said.
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You can also buy PDF patterns on Simplicity.com and don’t have to worry about, you know, going
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to the Store or whatever. I’m stumped on why.
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I think they, you know, with the introduction of the Know Me brand, where they take these independent
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designers, they have the collaboration with Mimi G.
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And her husband and, you know, they.
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They were doing great things.
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They had this whole section where they are promoting these independent pattern designers.
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And then all of a sudden it was like, well, we’re done.
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I really don’t think their base was Joanne, if I’m being honest.
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That one, I will say is probably more about the money, but that one left me a little bit stumped.
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I think it’s the. Unfortunately for simplicity, it’s like the perfect storm.
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Because here Joanne’s closes and then the. The printer that.
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The person, the manufacturer that makes the printer that actually prints the tissue paper and
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prints the patterns, they also went out of business. So it’s. They’re losing. They’re losing the.
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The person that can actually print the patterns.
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They’re also losing Joanne’s and they’re in the middle.
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I just think it was unfortunately the perfect storm.
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Instead of them trying to take the time to pivot and to do more digital and PDFs, like, I really
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think they really should have invested it.
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I think I first read the article on Craft Industry Alliance.
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I think they kind of did all of the research on it and people just did their own research from there.
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The printer that does the tissue paper print is based in the US And I went to their website.
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They still have a website.
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So I don’t know if they’re out of business or not, but I know that a lot of independent designers
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got their patterns printed through this company.
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I’m assuming that they’re still doing it. I’m not sure.
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And I know that was a big part of their business for tissue paper.
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So maybe they won’t do that anymore.
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Maybe that part of the business is closing.
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But as far as I see, the business is still viable because they do other packaging and stuff like that.
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I think like seasoned sewers will be fine.
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And people that are just getting into it, I think it’s going to give them the most disservice
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because it’s like a central place for them to go to get patterns.
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So I think it’s going to be the most detrimental to the new sewers, as far as I know. I saw like a.
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I think it was an IG post. Mimi G.
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Said something that they just told them that they were liquidating the patterns.
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They didn’t close the companies.
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That’s the same thing they told joann employees in the Beginning.
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So I think this is just the first step.
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I don’t think we have all the information yet.
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I also think it’s maybe a prime time for independent designers and pattern makers to begin to
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start making their clothing and then turning it into a PDF pattern, because, I mean, it’s definitely
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possible, and then having all of the formats so that somebody can print it out.
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I mean, honestly, as an independent pattern designer, I’m looking at it as an opportunity because
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they were so big and had so much.
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If that is gone, people are still going to sell, but they’re going to start looking elsewhere.
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So if you are an independent pattern designer or you want to get into it, I think now is the
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prime opportunity to do so, because if they are going away, there’s going to be a void in the
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market, you know, so this is where you, you take advantage and try to, you know, promote yourself.
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And of course, that’s what I’m going to try to do.
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You know what I’m saying?
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One thing that I would say about the Big Four, they had a certain size model in mind.
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That wasn’t us, it wasn’t me.
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I can speak for myself. It was not me.
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It’s like every pattern that you got, you had to adjust accordingly.
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But I knew that, you know, because like, I’ve been sewing for years, so I knew what I had to adjust on each pattern.
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You had to, you know, make the torso shorter, you had to make the back longer.
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You know, just stuff that, you know, is going to, to work for your body.
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But I think that was the disconnect.
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I think I bought like one or two Nomi pattern, but it’s still the same specs. It’s not.
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They didn’t change the fit of anything.
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I was just about to say that even with the know me patterns, I mean, Nomi patterns go up to what, 26, 30?
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So whatever size they go up to, but I still find myself having to adjust the bottom, adjust the hip, you know.
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You know, what a great market.
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I’m going to give, I’m going to give you a pitch right now.
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Make stuff for petite women, petite, curvy women.
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We need stuff for short girls with big assets.
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Before we, we started recording, I was working on stuff for my class and I was cutting out the
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trouser and I gotta take like four inches off the trouser, which means I gotta bring everything up.
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And then it’s like, I.
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These are things I have to teach because my students are.
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They are not standard size because they’re human beings. And they’re real people. So untapped market.
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It’s not necessarily tall women.
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It’s just like the average because everybody’s not five six, wasn’t it? Or five eight.
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A regular six on there was really like a zero.
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It wasn’t the average U.S. woman.
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I mean, the average U.S. woman is a size 12.
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You know, average size is five four, not five six, five eight.
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Why are you making, you know, it didn’t really, it didn’t match.
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So in my sizing that I do a sample size in a size 12, 14 and the, the height is 5 4.
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So if you, if you’re taller than 5 4, you have to add and if you’re shorter, you have to detract.
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But it’s still the average.
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I mean, most people are within the 5, 4, 55 height range.
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They catered to a certain demographic.
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And I think Joann’s had a lot to do with the, the liquidation because they had a lot of inventory.
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I also read they said something about the tariffs, which doesn’t really make sense because the
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printing was done in the us So I was like that, that, that’s like an excuse, you know, and that
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has something to, that has a lot to do with money, like Naima said.
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So it had to be some other factors in it that caused them to do the liquidation.
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When you think about it too, nobody is going on simplicity for trim.
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You know, it’s, it’s a rare thing.
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Nobody’s going to buy their trims and, and notions and stuff like that’s not the first thing you think of.
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So if the pattern making is your business and you’re doing it well and you’re the only company,
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because remember when we first started sewing, they were all individual companies.
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I have some vintage patterns and there was like one size per pattern.
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Like the things that they do now we didn’t have.
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Simplicity was its own thing.
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And then I think McCall’s and Butterick came together and Vogue was still its own thing.
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Now, not all of them mothers, but the same thing.
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If more independent designers and pattern makers come forward with more of the lines and more
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variety in fitting, it may actually help some of the, the individual, the new sewers, because
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they won’t have to go through the headache of don’t, don’t look at, don’t look at the six, look at the measurements.
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And it’s like, no, no, no, this is going to fit you whatever size.
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Like this is going to also fit the curvy, this is going to fit the petite.
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But also it will, it will help to branch out so they can see other independent designers, but
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also pique their interest into getting into learning pattern making, because we all also teach
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that and digital pattern making.
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So it, it will actually, it may actually help them to be a little bit more creative and take control over their clothing.
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Take this as your opportunity.
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If you want to get into pattern making, start learning now.
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It’s going to be a market for it if this comes to fruition and they actually liquidate and close.
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On that note, I am Zahia from COVID Me Chic, along with Naima from.
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Fearless Threads and Letitia of Keeping youg Stitches.
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Thanks for hanging out with us on the Designer’s Plants and Coffee podcast.
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If you love this episode, please leave a review, share it with your creative friend, or tag us on Instagram.
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Until next time, keep dreaming big and growing slow.
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