Quilt Trip

As we've said before, the domesticity gene seems to have missed The Maven. Her idea of cleaning for guests? Throw it all in the closet. Do dishes? Let 'em soak. For weeks. The last time she touched a sewing machine was to move it from one room to another, and before that, it had been a good 10 years.

So when we found ourselves in a quilt shop the other day, it was like venturing into a strange land. A land full of things with cat prints and charming flowers on them. As a rule, we try to avoid such places — the fabric selection at chain stores is depressing, and we obviously don't do quilts (hell, those no-sew, make-your-own fleece blankets that require you to cut fringe at the end are a little much for us).

But there we were, at The Cotton Cupboard in Bangor, in search of a fabric collection we had found online. The Maven had the ill-conceived idea of making her own crib bedding for the Little Lainsbury, and had been researching fabrics online for weeks. Though we were expecting to find all sorts of country-cutesy calicos, we were floored — shocked, really — by the selection.

For starters, once you start looking at specialty shops, the fabric quality factor goes up exponentially. And while there were plenty of novelty prints (read: lighthouses, silhouettes of kittens, farm animals), there's a market for that. But there were also plenty of tasteful, lovely prints — things we wouldn't mind making into pillows or skirts or simple summer dresses. The shop, owned by The Maven's former colleague Evelyn Caruso and her sister, Lori-Ann Knowles, carried all of the big mid-range lines, such as Amy Butler and Moda, and because there were classes going on, the place was packed.

They didn't carry the specific print we were looking for, but Evelyn handed The Maven a list of Maine quilt shops and told her the ones most likely to carry the fabric. As it turns out, there's a Maine Quilt Shop Hop in April, with promos and prizes at stores statewide. For more information, visit www.maineshophop.com.

We're still not sure if sewing is in our immediate future (we really should get to the dishes first) but the grand prize of a $2,000 sewing machine certainly couldn't hurt the cause. Neither could all that beautiful fabric.

Readers: Tell us your favorite fabric shops in Maine by posting a comment below or on our Facebook page.

1 comments:

Erin @ DomesticAdventure.com said...

Thank you for letting me know about this shop in Bangor! Sewing by the Sea in Trenton is also a treasure chest of quality fabrics.

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