Quilters Gift Guide: 7 Places You Can Feel Good About Shopping
Small -Biz Edition, Because Big Box Can Sit This One Out)
Quilters are creative. Quilters are resourceful. Quilters are community-oriented. And yes — quilters are often progressive, as in liberal. So when it’s time to shop for yourself or your stitchy friends, why funnel money into corporations that don’t align with your values?
Let’s put our dollars where our hearts are.
Here’s your curated, delightfully nerdy, unapologetically liberal shopping guide for quilters and makers who want to support ethical, inclusive, independent stores this season.
1. For the Notion-Obsessed: PuniLabo from Brimfield Awakening
🛒 https://brimfieldawakening.com/product-category/favorite-things-from-japan/punilabo/
If “squee!” were a product line, it would be PuniLabo. These Japanese-designed storage cuties are perfect for the EPP folks, the hand-sewing die-hards, and anyone who appreciates smart, minimalist design.
What to grab:
- Needle cases
- Pen cases
- Stick scissors (yes, they’re as cool as they sound)
- Magnetic organizers
- Pouches that spark absolute joy
These make fantastic stocking stuffers… or honestly just treat yourself because you deserve organizational happiness.
2. The Perfect Thimble Solution from Knit and Bolt
🛒 https://knitandbolt.com/products/thimtec-thimble-tape
I discovered ThimTec during my trip to Houston this year, and it helped launch my current English Paper Piecing obsession. It’s a durable tape you wrap around the finger you need to have protected. No more thimbles that are too small or too big. It’s perfect for any hand sewing application.
🛒https://knitandbolt.com/products/kai-85-lefty-dressmaking-shears
And for my lefties, Knit and Bolt has you covered. These are not “ambidexterous” ones that lie to you. These are actually left-handed.
3. The next stop for that pile-o-jeans from Sewing Through Fog
🛒 https://www.sewingthroughfog.com/product-page/denim-duo-quilt-pattern
Denim shouldn’t just live its life as jeans. This quilt pattern from Sewing Through Fog is the perfect way to breathe life into old denim, thrift-store finds, or those jeans you swore you’d repair but haven’t touched since 2021.
It’s bold, stylish, sustainable — everything a progressive maker loves.
4. For the sewist raising little radicals: Ric Rac (ricracsews)
🛒 https://www.etsy.com/shop/ricracsews
If you’re sewing for the tiniest members of your quilting coven, Ric Rac is the absolute cutest stop on the internet. Think playful stuffies, soft friends, and imaginative handmade toys designed by an indie creator who pours love into every pattern.
Perfect for holiday gifts, baby showers, or just because.
5. Wicked lover? Get your Glinda fat quarters from wyldwood Creative
🛒 https://wyldwoodcreative.com/collections/all-fabric/products/glinda-fat-quarter-bundle-12pc
Maybe you cry when Glinda floats in on her bubble. Maybe you have Thoughts about the upcoming movie. Either way, this fat quarter bundle is a dreamy, magical, bubblegum-fantasy set of fabrics that honors everyone’s favorite Good Witch.
Wyldwood Creative is a champion of all things social justice-related, so you can feel good giving them your dollars.
6. Garment Maker? Missing Joanne's? Wyldwood has you covered here, too
🛒 https://wyldwoodcreative.com/collections/garment-fabric
Many quilters also sew garments. If you’ve been mourning the loss of big-box garment fabrics, fear not. Wyldwood Creative has an incredible selection of knits, wovens, linens, and substrates that actually feel good and come from a business whose values align with yours.
Sewing clothing again? Absolutely. Fast fashion who?
7. Non-quilting or sewing gifts to buy? little blue cart Directory can help you
🛒 https://littlebluecart.com/directory
Little Blue Cart is the directory we all need — a map of small retail shops across the country that are values-aligned, community-centered, and worth supporting.
This is where you find:
- Queer-owned quilt shops
- BIPOC-owned crafting spaces
- Eco-conscious maker studios
- Indie retailers who give a damn
Find a shop, support a shop, love a shop.
And of course, me!
🛒 https://theaiquilter.com/shop
🛒 https://theaiquilter.com/classes
The journey of creating The AI Quilter has been amazing. I love creating new designs, educating everyone about AI and its potential, and teaching. I am a micro business, so if you’re in the market for a new way to do fusible appliqué (I call it Commando Appliqué), learning about the ins and outs of AI, or an award-winning quilting teacher and author to present how AI can help your creative process, please come take a look. (Also, I have gift cards…)
Shop Small, Shop Values, Shop Happy
This holiday season (and every season), let’s send our dollars to businesses that uplift community, creativity, diversity, and joy. Big corporations have enough resources — small businesses have heart, craft, and an actual soul. If they’re local to you, even better.
Quilters build community one stitch at a time. Let’s shop that way, too.