The quilt store where everyone knows your name

Hi! My name is Julia. I'm fundraising to save my little quilt shop: Jewel's Fabric Stash.

Jewel’s was born out of a desire to help people. I spent over 25 years as a computer programmer until I had had enough of making money for a large corporation. I wanted to make the lives of those around me better. Fabric was my hobby so I decided to make it my livelihood.

What an awesome opportunity the past 6 years have been! I have 8 employees and together we get to spend time everyday with amazing people. Some of our customers simply need fabric for a new project. Some of our customers come for fabric and leave having shared a difficult life experience they are struggling with. Whether someone buys something or not we want them to feel welcomed. We all need a refuge, a place of community, where we can go on our best or worst of days. That’s what Jewel’s offers. It may not be the perfect business model, but our customers matter to us.

Serving our community is also part of our business model. Each quarter we work with local charities to meet whatever the current need is. Our customers have helped us donate over 300 blankets to those impacted by war. Together we have provided personal hygiene kits, books and reading pillows to local women’s shelters. COVID offered us the opportunity to learn how to make masks than teach our customers how to make masks. Thankfully we never had to shut our doors during COVID. We were able to supply the materials our community needed to protect their families.

Of course, most days are pretty calm. Our customers are generally looking for that next project or the right color to complete their color story. Many of our customers don’t know how to sew; which is delightful! We get to introduce them to the world of quilts and clothing through classes and one-on-one attention. We do our best to give each customer the attention he or she wants.

Jewel’s is that local hang-out where everyone knows your name.

Last summer we went through a rough patch when one of our major machines, a long-arm sewing machine, was out of service for over 8 weeks. This machine allows us to sew the quilt top a quilter has made to the back of the quilt and the batting. We had more than 30 quilt tops waiting to be quilted when the machine went down. Many of those customers had to go somewhere else because they needed their quilts finished to give as gifts. The loss of income was made worse when this same machine went down a few weeks later for 13 weeks. We are still struggling to rebuild this part of our business.

At this time I’m reaching out to my friends, customers, neighbors, quilters, non-quilters, fabric lovers, those who support small businesses and small business owners to ask for help. Due to the loss of income I am about 5 months behind on my lease. My landlord has been patient, but he is still applying late fees and interest charges so even though I am making payments, I cannot get caught up. Between the lease and sales tax I owe $60,000.

The funds raised through this fundraiser will be applied to my lease. Amounts over what I need for the lease will be used to pay my vendors who provide all that beautiful fabric.

This small business owner would be grateful for however much you could donate, no matter how small. It all helps!

#quiltshopwithheart #SaveAQuiltShop