Not in a literal sense, but it is shocking to see where they’ve turned.
In late November of 2025, I set out to purchase animatronic angel wings. I found a seller with five stars on Etsy and placed an order. Beforehand, I also purchased handmade crown headphones, a Opalite wand, and a fairy butterfly head piece. So my information was known.
I waited an entire week only to have Etsy close my account, meaning I could no longer make purchases. I realized it wasn’t me – but the seller was fraudulent.
I didn’t know at the time that Etsy was experiencing an onslaught of similar situations, and for them, closing customer accounts was the best method to stop the madness.
Except was it?
I appealed their decision, but they told me my information wasn’t sufficient enough. When they meant to say – the seller you tried to buy from was a scam artist. In fact, I returned to look for the same seller and they were gone. Etsy isn’t handling the spiral from Covid lockdown well, obviously.
The fact that many flocked to Etsy to make a living, assuming those doors would remain open were foolish as well. Nothing lasts forever. Hobby Lobby barely had elbow space during 2021-2022. While I still go to buy my goods there…those same enthusiasts are no longer present.
And it made Hobby Lobby change their decorum just to stay above water – because people picked up hobbies thinking it would make their life better. To this day, I often hear “I don’t know how you crochet, it’s hard,” from the average person.
I once created an entire wardrobe from on sale and clearance fabrics that lasted me two years. We are not the same.
Joanne’s fabrics endured a similar fate, having to shutter their doors in late 2024. While a lot of us who have been sewing and crocheting since we could play hopscotch still do our thing, it beckons the question as to what really went through peoples minds during those dark times.
To completely abandon one thing or turn to e-commerce and unethical practices for chump change speaks volumes on what wasn’t learned during Covid lockdown and the years that followed. This also ties into what seemed to be everyone suddenly becoming goth or alternative…and practicing witchcraft.
The funny thing is – hobbies like sewing and witchcraft are actual ways to balance this plane out and happen to be common amongst those who are truly alternative. I created a new wardrobe because I wasn’t paying $200 for a goth inspired piece of plastic. If you walked away because it’s not in style anymore, or you’re gatekeeping because it gets you likes…
Did the world end or have all the lose strings been shown bare?