Here are western WA alternatives to Joann’s. Try them at June Shop Hop
If you’re lamenting the closure of Washington’s Joann Fabric and Craft stores and wondering where you’ll shop now for fabric, don’t lose hope.
Although Washington has long been home to 21 Joann stores that will permanently close in May, the state is also home to dozens of independent sewing shops. You just have to know where to look.
The good news is that you don’t have to do it alone.
One way to start familiarizing yourself with other western Washington sewing and quilting shops is to take part in the 26th annual Western Washington Quilt Shop Hop. The decentralized event runs during the last two weeks of June and involves visiting as many of the 34 participating shops as possible.
You can also win prizes, including hundreds of dollars in store credit to spend in shops.
“It gives people a chance to visit individual shops,” said Sue Gallagher, who coordinates WWQSH. “People map it out. Some people plan their stops and take time off work. Shop Hop could prove fun for people who want to see what’s out there.”
How do you participate in Shop Hop?
How does Shop Hop work? For starters, rather than being a fixed event in one location, coordinators work with participating shops.
There are a couple of these types of events every year in Washington in spring, including an eastern Washington shop hop with more than three dozen local shops that runs from late April to early May. A new addition is the All Pacific Northwest Shop Hop, which runs through the end of May.
The Western Washington Quilt Shop Hop runs from June 16-29. The 34 participating shops for 2025 are located in Olympia, Tacoma, Lyden and nearby areas. It’s up to you where to go first.
“Some people will go up to Lynden the night before and work their way south,” Gallagher said. “Some people start in Vancouver and go north.”
Participants can pick up their Shop Hop passport at any participating shop anytime from June 1 onward, or download it from the WWQSH website. The passport comes with a free block pattern and is stamped at every shop you visit. You can also choose to buy a fabric bundle with a unique block from every shop to make the quilt from the pattern.
Participants who get 11 shop stamps in their passport by June 29 — and are 18 years or older — are eligible for cash prizes, including a grand prize of a $500 gift card.
Where are the Shop Hop stores?
The nearly three dozen stores in the 2025 WWQSH are independent, and each carry a select range of products to cater to their customers, so products vary by store.
For example, one of them, The Shiplap Quilt Shop in Olympia on Yelm Highway, has a generous collection of very reasonably-priced cotton fabrics. They also always have something on sale.
“I think customers really enjoy the Shiplap steals wall, they love to be able to get a deal on fabric,” said store manager Deanna Miller in a recent interview. “I think they really appreciate that we have a good, well-rounded selection.”
As Miller notes, though, “everybody has their favorite type of shop,” so here is a link to the full list of participating stores for this year’s WWQSH. Here are a few by county:
Thurston County
The Shiplap Quilt Shop - Olympia - 360-634-9011
Gee Gee’s Quilting - Yelm - 360-458-5616
Pierce County
All Things Sew - Tacoma - 253-904-8170
Ben Franklin - Bonney Lake - 253-862-6822
Front Porch Quilts - Buckley - 360-761-7185
Sew Hip - Gig Harbor - 253-509-0046
The Quilt Barn - Puyallup - 253-845-1532
The Quilting Fairy - Puyallup - 253-845-0462
Pieced Together Quilts - Lakewood - 253-625-7293
Whatcom County
Calico Country - Lynden - 360-354-4832
Folktales - Lynden - 360-354-0855
This story was originally published May 29, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
