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This is the time of year when crafters get ambitious—sometimes overambitious. It’s almost certainly too late to do anything so ambitious as make socks for your whole family (I did this once, but I don’t really recommend it), but not so late that you need to give up and settle for boring, impersonal gifts or handwritten IOUs.
If you set realistic goals, you might still be able to whip up a few handmade gifts or cute holiday decorations. And if you’re not a crafter, but simply looking for places to find gifts for the crafter in your life, there are lots of great locally owned options. This list is not exhaustive, and limited to stores that carry yarn or fabric, as my ability to evaluate stores catering to other types of crafters—like, say, woodworkers—is far more limited. If you absolutely cannot figure out what to get for your favorite crafty person, most if not all of the stores on this list offer gift certificates and classes, or host social crafting events where they can meet fellow crafty creatives.
SCRAP is a nonprofit whose store exclusively sells donated craft supplies; it’s the place to come first if you’re looking to try out a new crafting hobby or simply stock up on supplies. SCRAP’s prices are dangerously low; you could easily walk in looking for a couple of skeins of yarn for a loved one who’s learning to knit, and walk out with that and a pound of nubby crayons, a few rolls of electrical tape, a stack of old National Geographics and a grocery bag full of doll heads. Why do you need them? What are you going to do with them? Listen, that’s your business. 619 SE 6th Ave., 503-294-0769, portland.scrapcreativereuse.org. 11 am–6 pm daily.
Good Yarn opened this April in Northwest, and it’s unlike any yarn store I’ve been to before. Where most stores sell yarn by the skein or ball, Good Yarn stocks enormous cones of yarn, which it sells by weight (and winds onto cones you can purchase and reuse). That can make for a bit of a learning curve, but staff during a recent visit assured me customers are welcome to bring in patterns to get help figuring out the right amount and weight of yarn for my project. The inventory also includes a variety of sturdy, beautiful project bags, notions and cute little tins for keeping things like stitch markers and cable needles together. 1420 NW 17th Ave., #588, 503-422-2203, goodyarn.us. 11 am–7 pm Tuesday–Saturday, 11 am–5 pm Sunday.
More than 100 years old and once attached to a literal mill, Mill End Store has for most of its existence been run by members of the same family that owns Pendleton Woolen Mills. Mill End is far and away the largest fabric store in the Portland area, with 50,000 square feet of space at its Milwaukie location alone, and an incredible variety of fabrics, from luxurious velvets and brocades to kitschy quilting cottons and upholstery supplies (and, by the way, a decent selection of Pendleton fabrics). It’s the place to go if you need to stock up for multiple projects at once, or just want to push a cart around dreamily and get inspired. 9701 SE McLoughlin Blvd., Milwaukie, 503-766-1234; 9701 SW Western Ave., Beaverton, 503-646-3000; millendstore.com. 10 am–5 pm Tuesday–Friday, 9:30 am–5 pm Saturday.
Multnomah Village is kind of a trek for most Portlanders; Northwest Wools (which opened in the 1990s, making it Portland’s oldest yarn shop) is the kind of beautiful, cozy, friendly store that makes the trip worth it. In addition to a wide variety of yarns (spread across three rooms), Northwest Wools stocks beautiful handmade buttons, wool thread for stitching buttons onto cardigans, a great selection of tools and notions, and some locally grown and dyed roving wools. 3524 SW Troy St., 503-244-5024, northwestwools.com. 10 am–6 pm Monday–Friday, 10 am–5 pm Saturday, noon–5 pm Sunday.
It’s fair to say Sewlarium is more focused on quilting than on other types of sewing, with a wide selection of cheerful cotton prints, a longarm machine (available for rental, instruction or quilting services) and lots of cool quilting patterns. However, the store also sells a small amount of clothing patterns and notions, as well as embroidery kits and supplies and specialized tools like doll needles. Located on North Lombard near Mike’s Drive-In and King Burrito, it’s the kind of place you can wander into during an afternoon of busy errands and walk out thinking, “I think I need a skirt with little muskrats on it.” 3236 N Lombard St., 971-400-0446, pdxsewlarium.com. 11 am–6 pm Thursday–Monday.
An offshoot of the Portland Fashion Institute—which offers sewing and design classes for both hobbyists and aspiring fashion designers—Portland Fashion Supply has a small but gorgeously curated selection of fashion fabrics, including some truly splendid-feeling silks and beautiful brocades. Its small book selection is geared toward the more experienced seamster, with books on pattern drafting, tailoring and alterations. The store also includes Portland Fashion Institute-branded swag like sewing machine trolleys and project totes, as well as some darling travel-sized sewing kits. 4317 NE Tillamook St., 971-801-6446, portlandfashionsupply.com. 9:30 am–6:30 pm Monday–Thursday, 9:30 am–2:30 pm Friday and Saturday.
Bolt Fabric Boutique opened on Northeast Alberta Street in the 2000s, changing hands and locations a few times since then, but it’s back operating in a big, sunny Alberta corner space. Bolt’s focus has always been on sustainable fabrics and natural fibers, meaning this isn’t the place to come for flashy polyester lamés. Instead, you’ll find achingly cute cotton prints and rolls of deadstock denim and canvas, as well as a fantastic collection of printed patterns. (Bolt also offers pattern printing on demand, if you’re someone who likes to download patterns by indie designers online.) 2904 NE Alberta St., 503-287-2658, boltfabricboutique.com. 11 am–6 pm daily.
Like Bolt, Close Knit set up shop in Northeast Alberta amid a 2000s crafting boom, and has endured as a number of yarn stores that opened in the same period that have since pulled up stakes. Close Knit carries yarns at a variety of price points—affordable, ever-popular Cascade yarns are well represented here, along with soft but affordable cotton blends and pricier, gorgeously dyed variegated wools. 2140 NE Alberta St., 971-270-6113, closeknitportland.com. 11 am–5 pm Monday–Saturday, noon–4 pm Sunday.
Modern Domestic carries not just fabric and sewing tools but Bernina sewing machines (known to some of us as the “Mercedes of sewing machines” for their unfussy handling as well as their high price tag), but it also stocks fabrics such as standard quilting cottons (with a wider range of quilting solids than most similar stores), apparel fabrics suited for both evening wear (stretch velvet) and athleisure (knit terry cloth) and breathtaking William Morris prints. 422 NE Alberta St., 503-808-9910, moderndomesticpdx.com. 10 am–5 pm daily.
