Page 45 - The Digital Cloth holiday issue

How do you choose new fabric for the shop? Crowe’s Mum and Dad, and of course all my
New fabric is always coming into the shop, so it’s regular customers and students!
worthwhile popping in at least monthly to see the
new range and I have exclusive rights to the Tula When your friends/family find out that you
Pink range of fabric in this area. own a patchwork shop, what do they say or ask?
I don’t think a lot of non-patch workers get a
What has surprised you most about running a patchwork shop – they usually think, until they
patchwork shop? walk in the store, that I have a little hobby room
How quickly the shop became so BIG – the shop with a couple of bolts of fabric and a couple of
has gone from having a bit of fabric to being quite friends are sitting there having a cup of tea.
immense – there are nearly 4000 bolts of However, it’s not at all like that!
different fabric here now! Nesting Needles is on
the map now – it’s the biggest fabric shop between What do you think will change about Nesting
Kempsey and Lismore. Needles over the next five years?
I see the business growing steadily to becoming
What’s the best thing to happen since you a destination base for students and customers
started operating the shop? with more diverse tutors, plus extending the shop
The best thing to happen is having two highly to accommodate even more wool and fabric for
commended quilts at the Sydney Quilt Show and quilting and dressmaking.
for my students to be recognised at the Sydney
Quilt Show, which has now happened quite a few
times. As a small business owner, what sorts of trends
do you see?
Tell me about some of the people you’ve met There was a period of time five to six years ago
while running the shop? when online buying was quite big, but I see the
I have lots of famous people dropping in – trends going back to customers now wanting to
Caroline Sharkey, Rachel Daisy, Jane MacDonald see, touch and feel their fabric and talk to
and Russell somebody. The old store feel with really good
service is definitely returning – people want kits
cut for them, help to develop their colour
palette and being able to match fabric hues not
just colours.

What might we be surprised to know about
you?
I was a hair stylist at Harrods in London for a few
years! Great fun!

Given you have so much spare time Lisa – what
else do you fit in to your busy schedule?
I spend as much time as I can with my children
– we go places and do things together. As well,
we have a vast array of animals to look after as a
family – cats, birds, fish and dogs – and this keeps
us all occupied.

See You at the SHOP….
Lisa x