There haven’t been any craft stores out here for a long time. The last one closed 10 years ago. Well, there are still some downtown, but since the parking situation there is a disaster, I’d have to take the train in and then get off at Cologne’s drug hotspot—not exactly something I’m thrilled about.
I don’t know of any meetups or classes either, and I’ve already checked nebenan.de—it would surely be posted there.
So we’re definitely in need of some help here!
We still have a well-attended craft store in town, and here in our village, the local heritage association also hosts a craft meetup. Unfortunately, the times aren’t convenient for me, since I’m always at work then.
Here in the northern Ruhr region, I still have a good selection; within a radius of about 15 km, I can get everything I need. However, I can only reach many of these places by car because they’re in neighboring towns and aren’t well connected by public transportation. I shop in Recklinghausen, Herten, Herne, Gladbeck, Dorsten, Gelsenkirchen, or Essen, and I can find almost everything I need there—whether it’s fabric or yarn. There are also a few craft meetups here, some even held weekly in bars or restaurants, or right in a few stores. Even the Gelsenkirchen Adult Education Center offers a class at the city library (or at least it used to…), but I haven’t participated in any of them.
I just checked again—in Gelsenkirchen, there are actually four different craft groups in the libraries across the various neighborhoods. So the selection is pretty good.
Here in Essen, there are still a few craft stores. Since I couldn’t find any craft meetups, I started my own private group 2 1/2 years ago. We meet every other Saturday. It’s not a class. We’re quite a colorful bunch. Everyone is welcome.
In our small town in northern Germany, there’s still one craft store that specializes in sewing.
A seamstress offers regular sewing classes (including ones for kids). The German Red Cross (DRK) hosts a weekly afternoon session for seniors featuring crafts, games, and needlework.
We used to have two stores here, but they were quite expensive and are now closed.
Here in Leverkusen, you can only buy fabric twice a year when the Dutch fabric market is in town.
You can find yarn downtown at Woolworth, Tedi, Zeemann, and Euroshop; otherwise, I order it online.
42 prizes / total value €300:
30×€5, 10×€10, 2×€25 – simply activate the newsletter.
No purchase necessary. Unsubscribe at any time. Prizes are awarded as Crazypatterns shopping credit.
Learn more
To enhance user experience, we use cookies, including for analysis, optimization, and advertising purposes, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy. Some of our partner services are located outside the EU. You can change your settings at any time. If you select "Decline", we will only use essential cookies.