This issue of Threads is the first on a new schedule. We are moving from the bimonthly cadence we’ve followed for 35 years to a quarterly release schedule. Subscribers and newsstand buyers will now see spring, summer, fall, and winter releases in February, May, August, and November, respectively. I would like to share some of the thinking behind this change and answer questions you may have, with the following points.
• Threads is not going away. The COVID-19 pandemic has been hard on newsstand sales for many publications. It is expensive to print and distribute a magazine, and by consolidating the number of issues we release, we’ll reduce expenses and still be on your favorite newsstands as everyone ventures back to stores.
• If you have a six-issue subscription, you’ll receive all six issues over a year and a half.
• The number of pages per issue has increased. We are adding eight pages to each issue, so you’ll find more content in these quarterly copies.
• The pricing of individual issues and subscriptions has been adjusted. Our new single-issue newsstand cover price has increased to $9.99. The cost of an annual subscription (barring special offers) has decreased to $29.95.
• We’ll be able to turn more editorial effort to projects and content you have requested frequently: Additional free and Insider tutorial videos, new original projects and patterns, a more curated content experience at ThreadsMagazine.com, and more information online for beginner sewing enthusiasts.
Thank you for reading and supporting Threads. I welcome your comments and questions in our forums at ThreadsMagazine.com, and you can write to me and the rest of the editorial team at [email protected].
I appreciate all that you do. Your magazine is the rope I hold onto in all my sewing ventures -- you've guided me for years and I'm more grateful than I can say. MY BEST to you, each of you on the Threads staff. You do tremendous work.
Thank you for all the hard work your team put into publishing such a fantastic magazine. So great for using as a teaching tool as well. Have recommended Threads to many dressmakers over the years.
I am sad that I shall have to wait a little longer for each issue but look forward to a bigger and possibly better quarterly issue.
Keep it coming and all the best for the new year.
It means a lot to us that you enjoy and recommend the magazine. Thank you for your kind wishes! - Sarah McFarland, Editorial Director
I am devastated. After every issue I read, I lament that Threads isn't a monthly magazine...and now, instead of vanquishing my lamentations, the opposite has happened and it will be even less frequent. Don't get me wrong, I completely understand why you need to do this, appreciate your efforts to find ways of making it work and am immensely grateful that Threads still exists at all. However, when there's little to be cheerful about in the world at the moment, it's hard news to take that one of the few remaining pleasures will be reduced. Please keep up the fantastic work!
Thank you so much for your kind words! We will do our best. - Sarah McFarland, Editorial Director
I agree with another subscriber, so disappointing to receive fewer magazines-but understand the reasons. However, revealing and explaning after the fact is not a nice way to let long time subscribers know that they will receive less for a subcription. We should have been given this letter before the magazine was changed. So disappointed!
Hello, I just want to make sure it's clear that current subscribers receive all of the issues they subscribed for. It will just occur over an extended period. If a long-time subscriber had a subscription for six issues over the next year, he or she will still receive six issues, over approximately a year and a half. Best, Sarah McFarland, Editorial Director
Hi Sarah,
So sad that this is happening. As soon as I found out, I renewed my subscription to both digital and print. If there was an online event like the Threads Expo, I would sign up for that, too.
I went in 2018, but in 2019, I had surgery and could not attend the Threads Expo. And then in 2020, well... Covid. So, even though I'm not comfortable with an in person event, I would gladly attend a Zoom Threads Expo event over the course of a weekend or several weekends. Would miss the NY fabric shops, but, would love to attend Kenneth D. King and/or Susan Khalje classes.
Just tell us how we can help insure Threads continues!
Best,
Lisa
Thank you for letting us know the change. Print publishing has changed so much since the advent of digital publishing. I am happy that Threads will continue quarterly as a print. (I like holding a magazine/book to read.) I am happy also that I have an archive of Threads as a digital resource to have with me when I need it.