Baron’s Sewing Center

I love Baron’s. I’ve been coming here for about a year and have taken so many classes. Everyone is so helpful and friendly. I have taken classes with Carol and she is amazing! The classes are usually small which is nice because you get more one on one help. If your new to sewing or just looking to sew with others I would definitely recommend Baron’s.

I’m giving them a star because the sales lady stood up from behind the register area to ask if she could help me when I walked into the store. However, she treated me like I had the plague. Although they didn’t have one of the things I wanted on my list, from a quick glance I noticed they had the other items. The sales lady made me feel so unwelcomed that I just left. Why not invite the person who comes into your store to look around? It probably would be a better sales technique.

First, Baron’s hasn’t closed, but it seems like they have moved into a slightly smaller location in the same area?
Second, I give Baron’s 3 stars overall, but it stems from a mix of one and four stars. It is bright, cute, clean, nicely laid out. I think they offer a small range of sewing classes based on little projects. I like that they have a wall of Bernina machine feet behind the register. Pricey, but in stock. The staff are always friendly when I go in. Small selection of fancy buttons, trim and fabrics, they’ll likely have nothing you’re looking for but probably something will catch your eye for a future project. Think they carry some patterns, but at full sticker price [unlike Joann’s]. Seems like a neighborhood meeting/​hobby place for some of the women who live nearby.
My issue is with the sewing machine repair portion. Hard to find a Bernina repair shop, so I drive out to this one. Dropped off my machine almost three weeks ago, no one ever called me with a status report. Kept calling. and calling. was told there were other machines ahead of me in line. which is fine. but no one could ever give me a prospective time frame or figure out what the deal was. Finally, the repair man left a message on my voicemail that was difficult to decipher, something about needing my approval for a part, but when I called today I was told that suddenly it was ready. Huh? Great. but why didn’t anyone tell me, and what happened to the approval situation? Repair guy finally got on the phone, and it was hard to make out some of what he said but I gave up and just went to pick up my machine.
The broken needle bar hadn’t been replaced. but when I tested out the machine he had adjusted it to work fine without it. The charge was $ 100, only 10 over the tune-​up fee of 90, so I was fine with that. This is the second time I’ve had it serviced there, and the repairs are good, it’s just a harangue to find out what’s going on and when I’ll get my machine back. I am a costumer and make my living with my machine, so it’s more of a pressing matter than it would otherwise be. I can’t really plan jobs around a big question mark of when my machine will be ready, it would be helpful if I was given a window of «next week by Wednesday» or something along those lines.
So, decent service and a cute shop, just zero communication and frustrating.

As far as customer service goes, this place gets 5 stars. I’ve been here twice and two different people were exceptionally helpful in picking out fabrics for my projects. I just wish that there was more selection, because I would much rather come here for their customer service than some of the other places around here that all but ignore you until you pay.

If you’re new to sewing and just want to get started this is definitely the place to go. The lady I spoke with was so incredibly helpful. She helped me find the right pattern for my level of sewing and talked to me about the different types of fabrics.
I thought they had a great selection of fabrics. There were so many different types that you could easily find something to work with.
I went in the middle of the day so parking was not a problem at all, but there is plenty of street parking as well.
Overall, I thought it was a great place to at least get some help on starting up a new project.

Where haven’t I been for fabrics?!
Yes, this place has a wide variety of cotton print designer fabrics… and the fabrics they bring in are all great.
The bad… they are all pretty pricey… I guess because of the convenience of being able to find them in the valley…
The women at this place know their sewing. I took a couple classes here a couple years ago… when I got one of my new sewing machines… and the ladies were all extremely knowledgeable.
They also sell high-​end sewing and embroidery machines. and have a «wall of buttons»… which to me is amazing. They are way too pricey for my typical usage… but if I wanted to change the buttons on one of my sweaters, I would definitely scout out this place. The buttons are so unique!

I have a love/​hate relationship with Baron’s.
On one hand, I _​love_​non-​chain sewing stores. The staff at Baron’s all know how to sew, and will give advice and explanations if needed. They sell machines as well, and know a fair amount about the machines they sell.
The store’s focus is on servicing quilters– specifically machine quilters. So, if that’s your thing, this is your haven.
I don’t quilt, so much of the products in the store are ignored by me.
I would recommend Baron’s for notions, but not particularly for fabric (I wouldn’t un-​recommend them for fabric) it’s just that they don’t have a particularly large selection of fabrics geared towards garment sewing. I usually go downtown to the Fabric District, so, it’s worthwhile to consider that what I think of as a good selection is about 200 fabric stores all within a 4 block radius.
I’ve signed up for a class with them, so I’ll update this review once I’ve attended.
The hate?
Well, the hours. Baron’s hours SUCK. I work. I have a job. I support _​myself_​. I get the distinct feeling that the staff generally does not– most work part time, and clearly have a spouse supporting them. And, that must be true of most of their customers. They’re simply closed on Sundays! Gah! And they’re open 10 – 6 Monday through Friday. With hours like that I’m AMAZED that _​anyone_​can even shop in their store.
The website. It frequently has errors, especially if one is looking at the classes. It’s nice that Baron’s has a website, for a two store chain so geared towards a demographic which is not know for being computer savvy, but I almost wish they didn’t since the website’s content is so unreliable.

This is my distant second favorite fabric store. But I will admit if I was dead tired, I would still rather go to the westside to F&S than down the street to Baron’s. And as others have noted, the staff could use an attitude adjustment. They sell Bernina’s and are very helpful in providing information in that area but quickly lose interest in you if all you are there is for fabric, or god forbid just notions.
What I like:
They have classes. They sell Berninas. Decent buttons section, good lining section. Very good (if thin) selection of shirting and euro flavored fabrics (although for some reason all their woolens always feel slightly itchy). When they deem to provide customer service, the staff is fairly helpful. They also have a good eye for coordinating fabric to notions.
I don’t particularly like this, but it’s got a great selection of quilting fabric, which is really great only if you want to machine quilt until you turn blue. Frankly I’d rather stick a fork in my eye than do machine quilting.
What I don’t like:
The hours, Saturdays, and 9 – 6 on the weekdays. For a hobby store, I would think it would make more sense to be open during the whole weekend. Customer service skills impaired sales staff also bothers me. It’s not unusual for me to find them bunched together at the cash-​wrap when I go in, and even during the entire time I’m in there. They remind me of a gaggle of teenage girls who need to be split up.
Clearly the staff and maybe owners are gaga over quilting, because the rest of the fabrics and store look like it was set up as the «step-​child» whereas the quilting supply stuff pretty much always looks pristine. I would marginally pick this place over Jo-Ann’s, if every other decent place was closed and only because of the fabric.

I love this place! They have a great selection of fabric, and the women who work there are so, so friendly and helpful.
I recently bought a sewing machine from them for a great price, and the people who work there are always more than happy to answer any questions I have regarding the machine I bought.
Also, I have a friend who has been taking classes there for a year, and all she ever does is rant and rave about the teachers.
This is definitely my Go-​To place for fabric, and sewing machinery.

I just returned from a class with Carol at Baron’s Fabrics, Woodland Hills. She was informative, energetic, willing to answer any question posed and made me only want to return for more classes. She readily showed some of her appliqué/​quilt samples and gave detailed instruction in different types of stitches, how she constructed her projects and the level of difficulty. It will take some practice with my Bernina Artista but I have the urge to start sewing non-​stop with today’s session.
I do know what Megan M. has stated, however. Although I am well over 45, I had a similar experience two times when shopping in the store some time ago. Perhaps that unhappy employee left. Everyone else in the store today seemed quite helpful and happy to do so. I do know that the woman who identified herself as the owner is generous with her time and is a customer relations person.

Lame lame lame. Ugh! I’m so discouraged by the fabric selection around here. So far I have found NO PLACE. I don’t know — I was feeling so bitter about having driven all the way over to yet another fabric store just to find out there was virtually nothing there — that I didn’t even notice if there was a group they cater to. So maybe this store would be good for somebody. But I was just looking for some fabric for a dress, and there was almost nothing there. They did have a couple of bolts of Denyse Schmidt — which almost seemed incongruous.
Oh also we asked the saleslady about some fabric — what was it exactly? It was like rayon but called something else. And she said simply she didn’t know.

Baron’s has some beautiful fabric, and the prices are about what you’d expect for a smaller store. But the employees are cold, unhelpful, and rude unless you’re in their target demographic: Caucasian, female, and over 45.
I’ve gone in several times, hoping I’d just caught them on a bad day, but every lady working there has either been unpleasant or ignored me completely. The only reason I can discern is that I’m fairly young (25). And it’s not just me; I was in there with several other customers, and the other girl around my age was also ignored, although she was buying quite a bit of expensive fabric. Middle-​aged ladies were welcomed cheerily and asked if they needed help finding anything. I politely asked if they carried any Amy Butler (a line of quilting fabric) and was literally snorted at. It was hilarious, observing the employees switch between smiles and civility to ice-​cold frowns as they walked past different customers. There was one brave male browsing around; the ladies literally did not look at him.
This is really unfortunate; there’s literally generations of customers they’re snubbing. That can’t be an intelligent business decision. Going down to the Fashion District to get fabric is a pain, but it’s still a better option than the way I get treated at Baron’s.