A NOTION FOR FABRICS: FABRIC BUSINESS IMPORTANT TO SEAMSTRESSES AND CRAFTERS

Darla Stow straightens the bow on a dress made from the watermelon fabric pattern which is popular this year.

A variety of thread colors to match any type and color of fabric is available.

Buttons come in all sizes and styles from heart-shaped to aniaml designs.

Last year, it was sunflowers, sunflowers, sunflowers.

They're still around, but lately everyone is looking for prints with watermelons in them, or a print called "square dance," which looks like a patchwork quilt.

It's the fabric business, and it depends as much on designer trends as clothing retailers do ready-to-wear shows in Paris.

Darla Stow came to Cape Girardeau from Little Rock, Ark., to manage Hancock Fabrics, part of a large, national chain. Her store on South Kingshighway houses acres of fabric in every texture and color. Along the walls are notions -- buttons, zippers, thread. Customers walk along the rows of material looking for just the right shade or thickness.

Fabric is sold by the inch or by several yards, depending on why people need it.

Stow said shoppers vary around the country. Here, they make a lot of day-to-day wear. In Little Rock, they saved their sewing work for formal dresses.

But certain trends are the same all over the country. During the first quarter of the year, people buy material for prom and bridal gowns and Easter dresses. Fabric merchandisers sell a lot of upholstery and drapery material in the second quarter, along with a lot of fabric for children's summer clothing.

Christmas prints sell well during the third quarter, as do fabrics suitable for back-to-school clothing. People want plenty of time to complete homemade holiday gifts.

The fourth quarter is slower for fabric merchandisers as seamstresses wrap up holiday projects and are too busy to do much else.

Quilters and crafters come in year-round for supplies. In fact, Ernie Kam, who owns Sew & Sews on William Street, said more than 50 percent of his business comes from quilt-making.

When he and his wife, Pam Rehkop, started their business in 1983, seamstresses who made clothes for themselves or others bought most of the merchandise. Now it's the quilters and crafters.

He attributed it to more and more women joining the workforce and being involved in other activities.

"Even many of the women who choose to work at home don't sew anymore," Kam said.

Those who still make their clothes are buying a lot of rayon challis and silks, according to Sew & Sews manager Barb Snyder, and double-knit polyester is still very popular with the older-than-60 set.

"It is very durable and it stretches," she said. "As you get older, you expand a little and it expands with you."

Because the business is small, Kam and Rehkop depend on low overhead to keep prices competitive. Still, there are fluctuations depending on the market price of cotton and on world politics.

"We sweat every time Clinton threatens China," Rehkop said.