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I do not like the plastic bags either. The thing is, I make sure when I buy a magazine that the patterns are in it, my SIL bought one and the patterns were nicely torn out. So I can see the bag, but you can not see what you are buying. Some covers look so good and there is nothing great inside.
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Originally Posted by Deborah12687
I use to go to the library and look at the new quilting mags first and if I found something Id want to make in it I would buy it.
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I think they do it to try and make people buy the mag. If I can't see what's inside I'm certainly not going to buy it.
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My guess is they wrap it so someone does not pull the patterns out.
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I did notice that at the checkout in the grocery store & any thoughts of buying it left when I found it sealed in plastic. I don't know their motive for this but I'd be willing to bet sales will be way down. Then maybe, just maybe they will stop the practice.
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I think this is a double-edged sword situation. We want the magazines to continue to be published but we don't want the advertising...which pays the bills. We want magazines to be complete and pristine with any attached templates/instructions but we don't want the plastic wrapper that insures that happens. When I was a new quilter (and less discriminating!) I had to subscribe to every magazine out there. Some I started with premier issues and stayed with them till they closed shop. Most of the time they came damaged in the mail. I hated that and would suggest to the publisher that all magazines should come in plastic. Now I don't subscribe to any magazines because it seems to me that over the 30yrs I have been a quilter the magazines just re-invent the same wheels over and over. I really enjoyed Quilter's Home when Mark Lipinski was the editor...but then I have a really weird sense of humor and this magazine was not, and was not ever intended to be, primarily a pattern magazine.
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Originally Posted by JudyG
Have you seen the online quilt magazine? I think it's pretty nice. Free, at least for now with lots of good information in it. http://www.onlinequiltmagazine.com/d...qm-2010-09.pdf
I quit buying magazine a few years ago. There's usually only one or two things in them you might want and keep them for and then you can't find what it is when you want it. It's so much easier to find things on the internet and with all I save on subscriptions I can afford to pay for a pattern or two if I need to. |
Great idea!
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I've cut back on my mag' subscriptions and hate that the one's I'd like to thumb through are in plastic. As it's been said, there are tons on the internet and here too.
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I use to subscribe to all the quilt mags too. I decided to stop
because so many of them I'd look through and nothing interested me. I decided to just go to the store and decide for myself if I really needed it. I've come across the plastic situation too. I decided that meant I didn't need it. The only mags I subsrcibe to anymore are Quilt Quilts and Fons and Porter. I'll just stick with those. :thumbup: |
I agree. At $7.00 plus for these magazines I am not going to buy and then find out there is nothing in it that I am interested in. Ruth
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I just went through all my mags and took out the projects that interested me. I have started a couple of 3 ring binders with tabs and now I can actually find the patterns I may want to make. I took the leftover mags to our quilt guild and they were gone in a few minutes. We love to share and are all looking for a good deal. I have noticed that so many of the mags have such strange colors that I have to concentrate on only the pattern to see the possibilities. I have dropped many and now use the internet quilt shows as I have found if I wait long enough I can find a good price for membership and the classes are less and available at my odd schedule. Also I can see them more than once to refresh my memory.
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Oh, I think they're wrapped in plastic to keep you from flipping through them. It's kind of the "grab bag" approach to marketing. What bugs the heck out of me is that the ones I receive at home are wrapped in plastic too, and it's not recycleable. I just hate throwing that plastic away. I write to the editors of all magazines that do that and ask them not to. Maybe if everyone got on a letter-writing campaign we could get them to change their ways--or at least use recycleable plastic. How difficult can it be?
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So far only F&P are in plastic. I don't subscribe to any anymore even tho' the cost would make it worth it, but now I don't even buy anymore. I've got four or five binders packed with stuff I've just tore out from all the other mags I've gotten over the past 4 years. I'd get just about every quilt magazine I could find to buy and not only was it expensive but took up far too much space for me.
Wish there was a happy medium as I like to thumb thru them first now. |
I am very lucky! Our ways and means committee at our local quilt guild sells used quilting magazines (donated by members) at monthly meetings - you can buy 4 or 6 for $1.00. I love to buy back issues and get new ideas. When I am done with it I donate it back and they sell it again!
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Just think of the damage to the environment with all that plastic. I wish more people would think about that as well. I totally agree with you about looking inside before you buy.
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I do get some as a subscription and some on the rack, but if WON'T if they're wrapped in plastic. I have a couple times,but was always disappointed in the contents, and I suspect they knew that or they would have let you look inside.
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You can browse at Bsarnes & Noble & have a nice latte while you do it. Since they have added calorie counts to all the cakes in the NYC stores, it is less fattening!
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You can browse at Barnes & Noble & have a nice latte while you do it. Since they have added calorie counts to all the cakes in the NYC stores, it is less fattening!
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I'm old-fashioned and really love books and magazines, especially old ones. But after getting back into quilting and expecting to find magazines that were filled with great patterns and pictures of quilts to inspire me, I am rather disappointed. They all seem to have pictures of nearly the same quilts (the same fabrics and colors, anyway), and pages and pages of ads. I can understand the cost of producing a magazine must be high, but if one has to sacrifice the magazine content just to produce it, it doesn't seem worth it. I think I'm not going to subscribe to any now that I've seen what little there is inside.
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Wow, and I thoght the quilt mags were in plastic just to keep me from being tempted! My two girl/sister friends have just scaled back to two each. We used to send holiday gifts one to each other, making the total for me 5.
Now that the fabric companies offer free patterns, we no longer have to buy mags for patterns. Thank you all for being here every day. It is truly great to know we each have a hand in each others lives. My "real" job is so stressful. I am a nurse. Nothing more need be said. In my teaching and working with fabric for various project, a wrong cut is not life and death. My quilting is my destresser. How about you? |
Originally Posted by mar32428
Originally Posted by mar32428
Originally Posted by craftiladi
Hmmmm I suspect thats exactly why they do it so people like you & me can't thumb through them. Here in Utah the only quilt magazine that comes sealed in plastic F & P but it always has been. I really scaled back on my magazine subscriptions a couple yrs ago when the prices just worth the content, espically when there seems to be so many ads.
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I did the samething last week. Went to Joanns wanted to flip thru the mags before I buy it and they were all wrapped in fabric. that ticked me off. So I did not buy them either. I want to make sure there is something in the mag I am interested in before I buy it. I wish you could get all the quilter mags in digital form. Like Quilter's World.
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I know what you mean n;ot like there is something inside that others should not see. I got one with a disc in it and the disc would not work on my computer DUH> Guess we all will use the internet for everything.
Originally Posted by janRN
I rarely if ever buy quilting mags (just gave away over 200 from when I was working and subscribed). I can find everything I need here or elsewhere on internet. DH is in China for 2 wks and I wanted something to read. I started to look at quilt mags at the store and they're all wrapped in plastic. Has this been going on for awhile? I find this outrageous!! I like to flip thru the mag and if even one thing catches my eye I'll buy it. All of them were in sealed plastic bags. How stupid!! They're not Playboy or Hustler that you have to hide the contents--they're quilt magazines. Needless to say I didn't buy one; that's their loss which I don't think they can afford to alienate many more buyers. I think most everyone uses the internet now and passes on mags.
Oh they offer a little "freebie" in them like a pamphlet or folder on another topic so I'm sure their logic for the plastic is to hold the 2 thngs together. Staple it inside the cover for crying out loud!! Sorry for the rant on such a beautiful Sunday morning!! I was just wondering if anyone else feels this way. I sent an email to McCalls but don't expect to hear from them. |
I'll rant right along with you! I only see F & P magazine wrapped in plastic here in Sioux Falls, SD but if I can't see the patterns, I won't buy the magazine. 99.9% of my quilt patterns are from purchased patterns or books - the magazines are mostly marketing tools for specific lines of fabrics anyway (in my opinion)so I'd only buy a magazine if there was a great pattern I "SAW" in the magazine while thumbing through it. Paper printed media such as newspapers and magazines are virtually archaic anyway - soon there will be none. Cooking magazines are discontinuing, too, I've noticed. Anyway, it's too bad that they're sealed in plastic - if you take it to a clerk, they SHOULD open it for you so you can look.
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I don't buy mags anymore. I buy subscriptions to various on-line sites and find these much more useful. I love this board and 3-4 others. Learn a lot, get inspiration all over. I wouldn't buy anything sealed up either.
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The thing is, I love magazines. They are dying. My journalist friend is terribly worried about her career. And advertising does help pay.
My secret pal just sent me a bunch of magazines. I assume they were gently used. I loved looking at them and then my next secret pal can enjoy them! |
I just received a free copy of Fons and Porter, that had a free DVD as a freebie. I'm glad I did not spend any money, since the DVD will not play on my imac! Grrrrrr!
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Good thread. No, I don't buy magazines.
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I am retired from nursing now but for a long time quilting was my outlet too. Truth be known, my addiction to magazines came about partly because even if I was too tired to concentrate on the real act of quilt-making I could at least get lost in a magazine. Cut my teeth on Quilter's Newsletter Magazine back when it was a good pattern source. It was probably the last magazine I let go...after the original Lehman retired. Got too, well, artsy fartsy and political for me.
What kind of nursing do you do? My experience was mostly maternity, psychiatry, and IV therapy. Ended up my career working in-patient hospice. It was my calling but I found it too late. My "real" job is so stressful. I am a nurse. Nothing more need be said. In my teaching and working with fabric for various project, a wrong cut is not life and death. My quilting is my destresser. How about you?[/quote] |
Originally Posted by dixiechunk
I am retired from nursing now but for a long time quilting was my outlet too. Truth be known, my addiction to magazines came about partly because even if I was too tired to concentrate on the real act of quilt-making I could at least get lost in a magazine. Cut my teeth on Quilter's Newsletter Magazine back when it was a good pattern source. It was probably the last magazine I let go...after the original Lehman retired. Got too, well, artsy fartsy and political for me.
What kind of nursing do you do? My experience was mostly maternity, psychiatry, and IV therapy. Ended up my career working in-patient hospice. It was my calling but I found it too late. My "real" job is so stressful. I am a nurse. Nothing more need be said. In my teaching and working with fabric for various project, a wrong cut is not life and death. My quilting is my destresser. How about you? |
Speaking of patterns does anyone have the "dressed to the nines" pattern which appeared in the April 09 issue of Quick Quilts. It is of little girl pinafore dresses appliqued on white background squares. I love it. I have looked at and loved it, but never could find a copy of the magazine. I have not gone to the library yet. Just wondering......
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I have noticed that also. If I can't look through I will not buy.
It is their loss. |
Hum food for thought.
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I don't buy any anymore. Their repeats and ads. For the price I want to look at patterns, not dress sections. FP is wothless as far as I'm concerned.
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We often get two or three past issue magazines bundled in with the new one. One can never see if the past issues are already in one's possession. Most of the ideas have been done to death, or are boring. The magazines are too expensive to take a punt on whether there will be something different or interesting in them. That means that I track the internet stuff and go to shows so that I can come up with my own versions from the inspiration. If I see a published quilter that I like, I will buy one of their books instead.
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I'm a little ticked at F&P right now. I let my subscription run out. I recently rec'd a dvd in the mail from them, but didn't open it for a few days. If I wanted to keep it, I was going to have to pay for it! I sent it straight back to them in their prepaid envelope! I did not appreciate them doing that!
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I don't like wrapped magazines either. I can't remember what I've bought, and nothing ticks me off more than spending lots of money on a magazine only to go home, flip through a few pages and realize I've already bought it.
And I don't like all these CDs and other things that get wrapped in with them. And I hate all those subscription forms and other papers that spill out... just give me the magazine, please! |
Same here the DVD did not play for me either, the guys at Best Buy copied it onto another disc and that worked, more trouble than it was worth.
Originally Posted by madamekelly
I just received a free copy of Fons and Porter, that had a free DVD as a freebie. I'm glad I did not spend any money, since the DVD will not play on my imac! Grrrrrr!
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I hate that too, but what I have noticed now is that Fons & Porter (and others too, I'm sure) include the DVD's that those of us who have a subscription don't get. I think that is unfair. I have also noticed that Fons & Porter are putting clothing ads in their magazines. The one I just got had a catalog from some clothing company in the middle of the magazine. I'm sure it was F & P but I can't check because I tore the insert out and threw it away. I don't understand why they are doing that. I have decided not to renew any of my magazines because I miss out on all the DVD's and also since a lot of the time, there isn't one thing in the magazine that I want to make, so it is a waste of money to take it.
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