My name is Ayn I am a 32 yr old who started a quilt and yarn store from the ground up with my husband Casey. We opened Handcart Quilts and Yarns after moving 90 miles just so that we could afford to properly build a store. It was my passion and my husband who is very mechanically inclined decided that he would fix sewing machines. We work 80-90 hour weeks to make sure that we are offering the best we can to our customers. Our fabric ranges from 5.99-13.99 all of it is quilt shop quality.
( there is a HUGE difference in dye, thread count , weave, etc between my fabric and big box store fabric) our average price is 10.99 and we normally have a sale running for 20% off. I pay my staff better then a big box store and we offer services that they do not. We offer Long arm (Handi-Quilter) quilting, rental and sales. We offer Machine sales (Janome) as well as vintage machines mainly featherweights but you never know what you are going to find. I order each and every bolt with my customer in mind I know that most of my shoppers like 1930's, civil war and batiks so we are heavy on those with a dusting of everything else. We only sell notions that I can give an opinion on because I want to be able to answer questions which means that we have only about 175 notions. We offer classes and host a child's guild. we are raising and building quilters from ages 6-96. We sell yarns that your yarn snob and your thrifty knitter will both love. I am 32 I do not and will not think that I am better then anyone. But I do know that my product is something that I can be proud of. We know that the first quilt our 4 H kids and FFA kids make with us will be in great shape after many washes. I know that the skills they use here will stay with them forever. I will not sit here and listen to people pretend like we are all witches who are in it for the money. If my fabric is marked at $13.00 it's because I paid 6.50 wholesale for it. It's not because I'm looking to get rich. When you buy from me you are paying for my house, my business and the improvements that I will make to both and to my community. Not for some overpaid executive's vacation home. Rant Over
Your quilt shop sounds great. Unfortunately we are in another state or I would stop in :) It is great to read you are working with kids. So many people are not learning to sew anymore and it is such a wonderful skill to have. I hope you business is super successful and you find a way for some time off so you don't both burn out.
ReplyDeleteEXACTLY!!!!! We just got to take a week at training for HandiQuilter! in Utah ! it was a blast!
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