Threads magazine

Has anyone received their new issue of Threads magazine (Feb/March). I saw the new issue featured on the website, but it has yet to show up in my mailbox. I had some trouble with my subscription renewal last fall, but I thought we had gotten everything straightened out. thanks, Nancy

Reply to
tteigen
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snipped-for-privacy@swbell.net wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

yup, got mine yesterday. i'm in NH. i'm a little annoyed as the fabric they're showing off on the back cover is Belgian linen gauze. they list 6 sources, none of which *have* linen gauze. one does have a 3.5oz linen handkerchief weight, but that's not gauze. annoys me, it does. oh, & i liked the close-ups of fancy dress on the back cover better anyway, so this is insult to injury ;) lee

Reply to
enigma

I received mine soon after Christmas, DD and family were still here and she had a look-see with me and of course DGD peeked, too. Both of them loved the linen gauze on the back but DD asked why they did away with the fabulous vintage clothing on the back. I had to say, "I don't know, but I miss it ever so much." I have 2 years left on my subscription and may allow it to lapse after that. It certainly is not the magazine it used to be; my opinion, of course. Emily

Reply to
CypSew

Mine arrived last week. It's usually a little later than US subscribers on account of having further to travel.

I don't like the new Threads. There are other English language magazines that cover entry-level sewing - Sew News in the US, Sewing World in the UK. Why do they think we need another? And I really miss the back-cover article. They can't possibly have run out of items for it: the V&A in London would supply enough for decades if not centuries.

But then, I really liked the original Threads, with the other fibrecrafts like weaving, spinning and knitting. Even though I don't weave or spin, and at the time I didn't knit much, I found it to be a great inspiration and very informative. I was very sad when it went to sewing-only.

My subscription runs for another 18 months. I'll let it carry on while DD is studying textiles, but I won't renew after that.

Sally Holmes Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England

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Sally Holmes

Reply to
Joy Hardie

"CypSew" wrote in news:Qgovf.421063$ snipped-for-privacy@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.ne t:

i have every issue from the first (except 3 that i loaned out & were never returned :( ). it's undergone a few changes since the beginning. i was really unhappy when they took out the knitting & other not-directly-related-to-sewing articles. i can see where putting in more beginner type articles is a good thing, but i think taking out the back cover feature on the vintage clothing was a bad idea. how are new sewists going to see what they can aspire to? a feature on cloth could be easily relegated to an inside section or even to the inside back cover page, replacing the usually dull 'how i started sewing' story... perhaps they just need to find the balance between newbie articles & experienced articles though... i hope soon before they alienate both groups. lee

Reply to
enigma

I dropped my subscription about a couple of years ago. I was unhappy when they dropped both knitting and hand embroidery, and then when they went to machine embroidery - which I do not do - and Home Dec - in which I am not interested - they lost me. I embroider with a needle in my hand, and each time I am forced to move I decorate the house ONCE. That's it. Therefore, there are more articles in the magazine which do not interest me than there are that do.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

Reply to
Olwyn Mary

Dear Friends,

I kept quiet about my Threads magazine, because I thought I was the only one who didn't like many of the articles on home dec and beginner articles. There are lots of inexperienced articles in other magazines--and Fiber Arts and Threads seemed to be the only ones with experimental and advnaced ideas. I didn't renew, either.

Teri

Reply to
gjones2938

Mine finally arrived today - just in time for the weekend to sit and relax and read. I have subscribed for several years now and still look forward to reading them. I save the back issues for reference. I also get Sew News but I don't like it as well, but my MIL keeps renewing it for me every year as a Christmas gift.

Nancy

Reply to
tteigen

I kept quiet about my Threads magazine, thinking that I was the only one disappointed in recent issues. There are many mags for inexperienced sewists; it would have been nice to have a couple devoted to new experimental or advanced techniques. I let my subscription expire.

Teri

Reply to
gjones2938

That's pretty much how I felt. I'd love a magazine of really advanced stuff about new machines, techniques, and fabrics, for professionals. I'm not to bothered by the business side (I work at a very low level, and there are magazines about this aspect if I want them), but one that covered actual professional sewing/couture/tailoring techniques and embellishment at a professional level would be great.

Reply to
Kate Dicey

If they must have fabric samples, must it be such dull samples? I'm sure I'd be excited if I had a piece of linen gauze in my hand, and I'd be delighted to see that photograph while perusing my favorite fabric-seller's web site, but a photograph of plain-woven, solid-colored fabric doesn't exactly make a picture to admire, study, and contemplate -- not even when the art director adds a flax-straw floral arrangement.

Particularly when there isn't one bit inside the magazine that has anything to do with linen, gauze, or even sheer fabric.

Threads usually sits by my reading chair for days, but this issue took about ten minutes from opening to storage shelf. The only article I actually read -- and that one not too carefully -- was "Jacket-Facing Solutions".

When leafing through to verify that nothing inside picked up the theme of the back cover -- which fails miserably to stand on its own the way the vintage shots did -- I noticed

-- does it seem to you that the opening illustration of the jacket-facing article shows the binding poking out a teensy bit beyond the finished edge? I looked for a picture from the right side to see whether it showed, but didn't find one.

Ah, well, Threads is always crummy for a few months after they narrow their focus, then they learn to do interesting things with what they have left -- but narrowing down to beginners? Don't they expect to sell any two-year subscriptions?

Joy Beeson

Reply to
joy beeson

I only recently took out a sub to Threads and at the moment only have time to read rather than put into practice any of the articles, but if you all think that they are aimed at inexperienced sewists then I must be somewhere round minus beginner level and should probably give up now!!!

Reply to
Sewingsue

Oh, no - it's aimed at many levels, but remember that there are folk here that started as beginners and are now teaching this stuff to others. Or devising new techniques themselves. Those of us that need what Threads USED to offer us in the way of articles on Seriously Advanced Stuff need a replacement.

My latest sewing book purchases/gifts include Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd, Medieval Costume and How to Recreate It, The Perfect Fit: A Practical Guide to Adjusting Sewing Patterns for a Professional Finish, and Tailoring: A Step-by-step Guide to Creating Beautiful Customised Garments.

I'd love articles about making bias cut garments (the best way to lay out patterns to avoid cork-screw seams, the best sewing techniques for bias cut fine silk and heavier linens and wools, the best way to interface them, etc.) and about the latest in interfacing types and uses, how to go about making stuff out of light-up fabric like this:

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stuff like this:
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also want articles on how to do things like these Fortuny gowns:
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'd love to know how those fiendishly cunning Japs came up with permanently scented fabric (and why, for God's sake?)
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stopped buying Threads regularly when I no longer needed what they offered because I could do it or had it in a book that was in an easier format to access. With things like their embellishment articles, the pictures can occasionally give me ideas, but I usually know the techniques. I want to find out more about the techniques I've never heard of! I'd certainly look out for their charts of sewing machine comparisons if I was in the market for a new one, but that's about all. The fabric adds are occasionally useful, but not often, as I usually need sources closer to home!

Reply to
Kate Dicey

It would be nice if we could send this whole conversation to the editor, don't you think?? Might open an eye or two.....

I got a free issue to examine of the "new" magazine. I found it redundant and dull.......did not subscribe.

Reply to
Pat in Arkansas

The letters page is currently full of letters saying much the same thing, with a few that support the changes. So I suspect the eyes are already open - or, more likely, shut tight. Have you ever known a magazine that's changed and, later, put up its hand and said "We got it wrong. We're going back to the old format now."?

I remembered another thing I didn't like about it: the new product splurges. They read just like the press releases put out by the manufacturers. I really hope that I'm wronging Threads over this, but I'd be interested to know if Sew News covers the same items in much the same words.

Sally

Reply to
Sally Holmes

I originally subscribed for the sake of the ads, but I no longer use my impressive collection of mail-order catalogs.

I wonder whatever happened to "whatsisname's Lady's Book" -- they used to get me the wholesale leftovers that I now find

-- in much greater variety and abundance -- at fabric.com/Phoenix Textiles. Most of the other catalogs I used to use are now on the Web.

Joy Beeson

Reply to
joy beeson

Threads had not had an editor for over a year and they finally just hired one. I was interested in the job myself, but did not have the required magazine experience for the job. I've been watching their web page with the job openings since October of 2004, mostly out of curiosity. They finally took the editorial job off that page about 2 months ago, and the most recent issue has a short welcome by the new editor, whose name is unfamiliar to me. But she must be fairly young, since she said her mother has been reading the magazine since its inception.

Give her a couple of issues; anything that goes into the magazine for the next four issues has been in the pipeline already, and she will not have true influence for awhile. Hopefully, she will take all those letters to heart!

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati Wild Ginger Software Certified Educator

Pat > It would be nice if we could send this whole conversation to the

Reply to
Karen Maslowski

Oh, that's encouraging. I didn't know that hadn't replaced David Coffin immediately.

Reply to
Melinda Meahan - take out TRAS

Melinda, David wasn't the Executive Editor, that was Chris Timmons, who left right around the same time as David did, give or take a few months. Which meant that a LOT of changes were happening about then.

Karen Maslowski > Karen Maslowski wrote:

Reply to
Karen Maslowski

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