Fat Quarter Shop owner, Kimberly Jolly is guest blogging for QuiltersBuzz today in part two of her post about owning and operating an online quilt shop.
With some insights into shopping for a quilt shop, here is Kimberly:
My favorite fabrics are Moda and Free Spirit. Both companies have the most original and eclectic designers that have a strong following by many quilters. 3 Sisters is my favorite designer and I collect all of their fabrics!!!
A lot of my customers are willing to buy based on a designers name without even seeing the fabrics! Both Moda and Free Spirit fabrics also have a nice hand to them and a quality that everyone loves!
My favorite patterns are by Miss Rosies Quilt Co. and Bunny Hill Designs. They always have fresh ideas and a lot of their patterns are suitable for fat quarter bundles!Picking and choosing fabrics is my favorite part of this job. It's so much fun to look over the sales reps' samples and see all the new lines. I try to pick a few eclectic items that most shops won't carry to have something new and different. I always purchase the popular collections from Moda by 3 Sisters, Kansas Troubles, April Cornell, and Fig Tree Quilts as well as many other designers.
I have found that florals seems to be what most companies are offering lately. So sometimes we feel 'all floraled out' and they seem to run together. For a wider variety of offerings, we have been trying to find the collections that have a little extra spark or twist to make your projects really stand out!
Although the Fat Quarter Shop takes up most of my time these days, I do make quilts. I go to retreats with a group I am in called the Scattered Piecers. I went last month and I made six quilts. I was trying to make as many as possible! I join the group about twice a year on retreats!
Every Christmas I make quilts for my four nieces and nephews so that is always fun! We live just outside of Austin, Texas and I enjoy reading, relaxing and spending time with our dog Bugsy.
If you haven’t had a chance to stop by our site, I hope you will soon. I love it when I get emails from quilters telling me they have found something they really have to have or they’ve just received their order and its made their day - it makes my day too! I hope to see you soon!
Kimberly
(Photos and graphics care of www.FatQuarterShop.com--patterns available for sale on Kimberly's website.)
Thanks for your post, Kimberly!
comments
I the owner of a small quilt shop in Canada, I would never be able to compete with the Fat Quarter Shop, nor would I even try as their advertising budget seems endless. When I was starting up, I took a chance and asked a few shop owners, both bricks and mortar and online, that I admired if they had any advice to give. Kimberly basically told me that she was not willing to give me any advice and to hit the road. I thought that very rude and she did not even try to cushion it. It was a flat out refusal. My parents where going through Texas on vacation and my Mom wanted to stop in to see as I had told her about how amazing it must be and that there must be a shop as they do Thimbleberries Club and again, I got a rude response. Apparently, there is no shop. To say the least, I will NEVER buy anything from the Fat Quarter Shop.
Posted by: Anonymous | February 26, 2007 11:40 PM