Category Archives: Trends

Who Cares About the Price of Cotton?

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Source for domestic pricing: USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), Source for imported pricing: Cotlook LTD, A Index.

The first interesting thing to note about the price of cotton is that it is trending down, both globally and domestically. Why? Basic economics. Supply and demand. The demand for new textiles has been sluggish worldwide because of slow economic growth and people just not spending as much. That means a surplus of raw materials…hence, prices are lowered.

The next thing to notice is the cost difference between imported and domestic raw cotton. A lot of this is easily explained by the “price” being monitored including freight and shipping. So domestic cotton will always appear cheaper.

But another factor weighing into the mix is that Brazil has overtaken the US as the leading global exporter of cotton. Here’s an excerpt from from southernagtoday.org:

In 2016, U.S. cotton exports captured 39% of the global market, but this share has steadily declined since the onset of trade disputes with China. By 2023, the U.S. share in the global cotton market had fallen to 26%, its lowest point in over a decade. Although it rebounded slightly to 28% in 2024 and 2025, U.S. cotton has faced rising competitive pressures, particularly from Brazil.  Brazil’s ability to double-crop cotton with other crops has driven substantial growth in its cotton production and exports. Consequently, Brazil has rapidly expanded its role in the global cotton market, surpassing U.S. cotton export volumes by 2023 and becoming the world’s leading cotton exporter. This shift is closely tied to China’s strategic diversification away from U.S. cotton, with Chinese investment in Brazilian infrastructure improving logistics, port access, and overall competitiveness.

southernagtoday.org

Once again, it means the US is faced with those stubborn economic principles. Lower demand on the global stage means lower prices.

Now, you may ask, what does all this have to do with me? If the prices of the raw materials are going down, shouldn’t the price of my quilt cotton be going down?

The problem is that very little US cotton stays here to be processed and used as fabric. It is exported to mills in Viet Nam and South Korea (which by the way is where 80-90% of quilt shop fabric is manufactured).

When the fabric is finished, it gets re-imported back into the US and tariffs are imposed. It doesn’t matter that the raw material started in the US.

So, I just want to be clear. We grow the cotton here in the US, we are making less and less on the exported farming sales. When it is imported again, we pay the tariffs and those increasing costs are passed down to the consumer.

To reiterate, the US makes less money selling the cotton, and pays more to use the final product. That is the way the system has been designed. This year.

These are the facts.

I don’t know what that means for each individual consumer. You may need to assess your priorities. Me, I will be using my stash as much as possible and supporting my local shops as much as I can. I also plan to monitor the price of quilt cotton around the country over the next year.

When I became a quilter, we were buying fabric all the time–shop-hopping our way to every place we could find. That’s not how the next generations approach this craft. They are re-purposing, mending, re-using, and scrapping. Things are changing. Supply and demand.

It’s important to understand the dynamics at play here. That doesn’t mean any pricing will self-correct over time. In fact it is likely to get far worse before it gets better.

Tariffs…They’re Baa-aaack.

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Let’s start with Switzerland. No one, including Switzerland, has any idea why they are suddenly the objects of an outrageously high tariff — 39%.

As I’ve written previously, this will have a major effect on the cost of high end Bernina sewing machines. In particular, the 990, which is their current top of the line and is manufactured in Switzerland, and also Bernina’s longarm machines, which are also manufactured in Switzerland.

I don’t know how much is possible, but Bernina also has a manufacturing plant in Thailand, and it would be beneficial for them to move all line manufacturing there. Since Thailand is only at about a 19% tariff (at the moment). That’s the thing. These tariff’s are all at the whim of one person, so no manufacturer can plan with any precision or even with any modicum of trust that conditions will be positive for manufacturing any goods.

For now, we can all rest assured that the only guarantee is that consumer prices for consumer sewing machines will rise. Period.

When that will start to take place is anyone’s guess.

I’m certain that prices are rising already in preparation for changes.

I know that when the Bernina 990 was first introduced last year, the manufacturer’s suggested retail price was $22,999.

Today, on Bernina’s website, the manufacturer’s suggested retail price is $23,499. It’s already gone up around $500. And it hasn’t even been around a full year.

Tariffs are not even really being added to pricing. Just for fun, take a look at the executive order which explains the timing of tariffs.

Sec. 2.  Tariff Modifications.  (a)  The Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) shall be modified as provided in Annex II to this order.  These modifications shall be effective with respect to goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time 7 days after the date of this order, except that goods loaded onto a vessel at the port of loading and in transit on the final mode of transit before 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time 7 days after the date of this order, and entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, before 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on October 5, 2025, shall not be subject to such additional duty and shall instead remain subject to the additional ad valorem duties previously imposed in Executive Order 14257, as amended.

So that tells me that anything that gets onto a boat before October 5, 2025, will not have these newest tariffs. I believe Thailand was down at 10% prior to this order. But I’m not a tariff expert, just a consumer trying to keep up.

Now, having worked in retail, I know that most of the holiday season merchandise will be on a boat before October 5.

All of that is simply to say that we will not see the true impact of tariffs — not really — until first quarter 2026. The 2025 holiday season seems already baked in, at whatever shaky pricing guesses merchants could make.

2026 will start to unveil the true cost of these tariffs. And rest assured, that cost will not be borne by manufacturers…or the government…or distributors…or other countries. ( I mean, ask the CEO of Apple, who went to the Whitehouse with gifts and left with exemptions from tariffs.)

We will pay. We, the American consumers will pay for whatever happens in pricing for consumer goods. And food.

Unless of course the tariffs are renegotiated before then.

Why do I suddenly have a taste for TACO’s?

Mending is Trending

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Do you have a pair of pants that are past pretending to be cool with all their holes? Shirts with stains? ( I seem to have a lot of these, I can’t seem to keep my food in my mouth. Kids, this is something they don’t tell you about aging. You constantly have your food on your shirt. Yes, it’s gross. You’ll get there soon enough.)

My husband is particularly good at wearing down the hems of his pants. (Another sign of aging…you seem to get shorter and your pants drag on the ground.)

Although for those of us who have never been considered tall, dragging hems is a lifelong problem.

But hey! We fix our clothes now. I’d love to do a blog post on fast fashion and where all our cheap clothes end up. We all know it’s a problem. We can’t just keep purchasing new clothes and throwing out the old ones or even just donating them. Third world countries are telling us to keep our crap. They have enough stupid t-shirts, thanks.

Here’s a pair of stretchy pants that were way too long and were an easy fix on a serger using the cover stitch.

Of course, mending and hemming are where a serger really comes in handy. For the shredded hems. I just run them through the serger and hem on the sewing machine. Takes a few minutes, and the pants get a bit shorter, but a really quick solution, all things considered.

Speaking of all things NOT considered, here’s another mending project.

I have this sweatshirt which I made, and it is actually quite loved. Worn and worn and worn. But I set it aside when I realized it had grease stains on the front. Probably from cooking at some point. Aprons actually do have a function, but I’m not yet ready to wear one around the house. (That’s really crossing an old lady rubicon for me. Still, why deny the inevitable?)

I decided to cover it with some hand embroidery. Looking back, I probably should have just embroidered a few strategically-placed daisies and been done with it. Instead, I used a photo out my back window, and converted it to a hand embroidery design.

I drew it out onto a piece of wash away stabilizer, so I could see it on the dark fabric. I think I should have just drawn it using a white pencil. The washaway stabilizer made every stitch a bit harder to push and pull through. And there are a LOT of stitches.

This design took me a ridiculously long time to finish. So simple, yet so time-consuming.

And to be honest, I’m not a hundred percent sure I love it, but it is interesting. The washaway was rather stubborn and I had to rinse it in the sink for quite a while.

I finally threw it into the wash and pulled it out before it got to the dryer. I ironed it while it was still damp.

Here’s a tip:

When ironing embroidery, even machine embroidery, use a towel on top of the embroidery. A hot iron will flatten it and take away all the dimension, and it might even harm the thread. So just use a towel over the top which allows the threads in the design to have a place to go.

It turned out kind of fun, almost like a window in the middle of my sweatshirt. In fact, I’m thinking I just might add a frame around it to make it look like a window. It has that hand-made feel, which is something that was important to me. I also get a kick that it’s the early spring view out my family room window. All in all, it was a learning experience.

I love the look of visible mending that all the kids are doing these days. I’ll be trying more and more. I have plenty of jeans with holes in the knees.

Here’s to making things last a bit longer. Like the planet.

Hugs and stitches.

Who Are We? Quilter’s Survey 2022 Now Published

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The new Quilter’s Survey 2022 funded by Premier Needle Arts is here and we are in it.

You can see it in the above image. If you want to see the a summary of the whole survey, you can find it here. (Thanks to Craft Industry Alliance)

In case you aren’t able to access images, here’s a quick summary. We are:

  • Female
  • In our 60’s
  • Mostly Retired
  • Been quilting for over 10 years
  • Work on 10-12 projects a year
  • Spend 6 hours or more per week

In addition, the quilt market continues to increase, as it has for the last 10 years. Somewhere around 8-10% of us are new quilters. (New quilters are usually over 50 years old.)

We decide where to shop based on location and fabric selection. (I think we all knew this.) We love our local quilt shops and prefer to shop there.

However, e-commerce continues to expand. And we are using YouTube and other social media channels for How-To info…which may say something about the future of in-person classes.

A missed opportunity for knowledge, in my humble opinion, is the truly social aspect of quilting. The origin of quilting was the sewing bee, the “coming together”. We love our quilt guilds and other communal activities. I would be curious about how this aspect is changing. Or if it is changing at all.

The survey, of course, is designed to help the industry understand where the market is going.

But I will say this much: For the last 10 years I have been hearing about how the quilt market continues to grow. Yet, I’ve seen small quilt shop after small quilt shop close and there just are not others waiting in the wings to pick up the slack.

While the market may be growing, the quilt shops we love are not surviving. I think it is partly because of the pandemic, partly because of e-commerce, partly because of the slow end of of the baby boomer wealth, and finally, fabric is expensive. Cotton and resources and the supply chain are just not getting easier in a world where resources are finite.

Where does that leave us?

I don’t know.

But today I’m going to work on one of my lap quilts and carry on supporting the one local quilt shop in my area that is still thriving.

I don’t think we can change the trajectory, but we can do our best.

The Eco-Redemption of My Husband’s Pants

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One day my husband strolled in the house after work, and turned his back to me to put something in the sink.

Me: Did you wear those pants all day at work?

Him: (slowly turning) Why?

Me: (coming up behind him and wiggling my cold fingers through the giant tear in his rear end.) Just wondering.

Him: (turning in circles, and reaching around) Oh man. Can you fix it?

He stripped right there in the kitchen and I made the obvious assessment.

Me: No. That tear is shredded, the fibers throughout are worn, and those pants should be thrown out.

Him: I really like these. Can’t you…(waves hands) make something else out of them?

Of course I can. And now I’m looking at my whole closet differently.

The pic above is the original tear. And you can plainly see that the seven inch tear down his backside was not going to be an easy fix. And look at those beltloops…worn past recognition.

He brings a bag to work every day for his lunch, so he needs a few of them. That’s where I started. A simple bag made from his pants.

I used the pant leg hems for the finish at the top. Some simple coordinating straps and I handed him a new bag the next day.

A few days later he was helping me hang a mirror in our son’s room and he strolled past a pillow and stopped in his tracks.

Him: Is that made from my pants?

Of course it was. I ran out of fabric for the back, so I used some coordinating fabric from my stash. A little serged trim and voila! New pillow. That button was salvaged years ago from the flea market where I am inclined to purchase containers of old buttons.

This is all that remains, but I’m saving it. Sometime when I’m watching TV, I’m going to harvest that zipper, and possibly those hooks. All that will be left will be a few shreds.

I’m starting to think about all our old clothes the same way. Fast fashion, as you know, is one of the hugest polluters on the planet. We purchase clothes for a season and off they go to the donation box or just the trash. They’re not constructed to last.

Now, I can’t really say that about my husband’s pants. He’s been known to wear his clothes until they literally turn to dust.

He’s way ahead of his time.

But now I’m re-examining everything in our closets. Doesn’t fit? Hmmm. It matches this thing over here. Polyester? Oooh, that will last 200 years before it breaks down. What can I do with that? Scarlet O’Hara and her drape-y dress have nothing on me. I’ve been giving my old drapes the side eye. (And of course, all I can think of is Carol Burnett coming down those stairs…)

You might be surprised at the inspiration you get from things already in your home. Have a little fun with it.

The Biggest Trend 2020 and Beyond

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If you know me, you know I love to follow the big trends. What’s happening in the world that can affect our daily lives and the sewing world? What’s changing? What’s new?

It’s always a good question to ask at the beginning of a year, but even a better one at the beginning of a decade.

I pay attention to the research all the time, but it’s grown louder and the number one trend of the future is simple:

Sustainability

This is a BIG category. And it can mean anything from recycling to eating less meat to driving a hybrid or an electric car to purchasing organic to turning down the heat in your home.

One of the trend-watching groups I monitor says that we have moved from eco-aware to eco-shaming. I thought this was significant. They did not break this down by age groups and I suspect that’s pretty important. I do not hear as many Boomers worked up about their SUV’s as I see young people who don’t really want to even learn to drive. The kids do, but only because it’s a necessity. And they almost certainly don’t want to have the burden of owning cars.

Like everything, that’s a generalization.

But, like it or not, it is reality. Humans need to be sustainable in everything. And we’re not. Not by a long shot.

If you understand anything about Climate Change, it’s this: Fossil fuels need to stay in the ground. You’ve seen the folks out there protesting – #KeepItInTheGround . That’s the biggest impact possible and the reason the Earth is warming. This is not my opinion. It’s backed up by research from every possible sector of science. Except, of course, the fossil fuel industry. (Even they are making changes. When Tom Skilling asked the CEO of Shell Oil “What is the future of Shell Oil?” he responded, “Not oil.” They are busy doing R and D on longer-lasting, more efficient batteries.) Just know that it took thousands of years for those fossil fuels to form in the Earth and burning so much of it in a matter of decades simply does not give the planet the chance to self-correct. And I assure you, the planet is self-correcting. But we’ve over-burdened it. And we have the technology to change, but not necessarily the political or financial will to fix things.

Tangential to that is the rest of the idea of sustainablity which might affect sewists in a more direct way. I wrote a blog about organic cotton right here.

Every aspect of our modern way of living is up for improvement.

What’s that ancient Chinese curse?

May you live in interesting times.

We certainly do. We can and must do better than we are doing now. I have made a pledge to myself to purchase only organic cotton in the future. But, you may argue, the cotton is only half the story. What about the processing? What about the dyes? To that I answer: GOTS certified organic cotton (Global Organic Textile Standard). They are doing the work of research for all of us.

We can no longer deny our place on the planet and our impact on it. Individual activity will almost certainly NOT solve the whole problem. We must work together within and across nations for the benefit of ourselves and others.

That is a challenge sewists can understand.