GOOD PRIMETIMES SEASON
The fabric of Westport A nn K atzenbach
If you are a fabric fiend and you live east of Fall River, it’s time to celebrate. The little Somerset store where Amy Nadeau-Cantin has run her unique consignment business for so many years, Amy’s Fabric Treasures, has moved to Westport. Her new address at 1032 American Legion Highway is a two-story house.
At 3,000 square feet, it’s a third larger than her former Somerset shop, and the separate rooms allow for better organization of the fabric, buttons, ribbons, zippers, patterns, and everything else associated with sewing that anyone could think of and then some. Her inventory is unique and varied because everything for sale is on consignment. That means most of what Amy offers is older, of better quality, and more interesting than what you will find in a chain store. She reckons that 50% of her fabric was woven in Fall River or New Bedford because locals who are cleaning out their
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S ou th C oast P r ime T imes
grandparents’ houses or their own closets or attics, bring bolts or yardage to Amy. “The consigning never stops,” says the fabric guru. This means everything must be measured and priced and labeled and recorded. It’s time consuming – 70 hours a week, Amy reckons – but she is doing what she loves. Amy was hand-embroidering doll clothes at age four, and a few years later, her mother taught her to use a machine. “I drove my mother nuts. All I wanted to do was sew.” She sewed professionally for 22 years, but her body finally protested and she came up with the idea of a consignment
M arch /A pr il 2020
fabric store that today has grown into a business known by quilters and dressmakers and designers all over southern New England and beyond. Amy’s Fabric Treasures is, as far as Amy knows, the only shop of its kind in the country. For those who sew, the shop is a destination. Amy says, “It’s a wonderful community of people from all over. They’re doing something fun in a happy environment.” Consigners get a 50/50 split and most people simply take store credit. In addition to selling fabric, Amy gives sewing lessons and offers space for quilters and others working on projects to share ideas and chat. A repairman comes once a week to fix machines for customers. In the new space, there is more room for these offerings. “I was tripping over myself in that Somerset store,” she explains.
Patching things up Another destination for those who love to work with their hands is at 782 Main Road in Westport. Pat Brost opened Sisters of the Wool 11 years ago, and it is
