Artquiltmaker Blog

At Sew Creative, I bought a magazine that was part of this year’s Pacific Northwest Shop Hop. I am glad I bought it because it had the names and addresses of various quilt shops on our route. Julie read various parts of the magazine to me as I drove.

This shop, Paramount Sew & Vac, in Eugene was one of the shops of which I had never heard. It also would not have been on  my radar if it hadn’t been in the Shop Hop magazine. When I see ‘sew and vac’ I don’t think quiltmaking. Stereotyping, I know and I need to try and curb that.

We decided to stop here on a whim, on the drive to Portland, and were really glad we did. First, the place is HUGE, as in grocery store huge. This is the kind of shop we need in the Bay Area. Second they had a LOT: a lot of fabric, a lot of notions, a lot of Accuquilt, a lot of machines. It is well worth a stop

One of the things I was excited to see was Tula’s Graywork for the first time in person! I hadn’t seen it in person before. It was great to see it looks as good as in the photos online.

I ordered some from Pink Door and can’t wait until it arrives. I was sorely tempted to buy a bit, but controlled myself. I do wish Pink Door would send my order. Not sure what the hold up is!

 

I was thrilled to see so many machines and be able to look at their prices. I have looked a little online, but you always have to call or go into a shop to get the price. Yes, I am continuing to look for a new machine and I feel like this shop gave me some information I needed to move forward on the project. 

I had never seen a Grace Rebel machine before, but was excited to see the high harp.

Most people thing BIG harp, but after testing Cyndi’s Juki, I am enamored of a high harp. It is super helpful when making bags, especially if your machine ( like mine) does not have a free arm. As you can see it is a very basic machine. I wasn’t in a place, sadly, were I could test and consider machines, but this looks like a great second machine.

I was impressed to see the amount of Accuquilt dies and supplies that the shop had. I am sure I have never seen so many. I have been considering an electric Accuquilt, though haven’t taken the plunge. I was interested to see a smaller version, the Bolt**, which I hadn’t heard about. I also thought they had more dies than I had ever seen in one place before. I really like to have choices and seeing things in person makes things easier to evaluate.

The outside walls of the shop held the notions. A few were on the left hand wall as we entered. These were supplies for the Brother Scan & Cut. They were on sale for 40% off, so I took the opportunity to select a few things for my Scan & Cut. I had never seen these machines or supplies in a store and was excited. Sadly, there was a problem with the prices. The prices shown were not the original prices, but had already been marked down. They were more than I was willing to spend on ‘spec, so I passed them up. I need to get familiar with the Scan & Cut before I stock up. At least I know where they have the supplies now.

On the other side of the store were more conventional notions: rulers, needles, etc. These were all next to the Accuquilt dies.

Their main line of rulers was Quilter’s Select. I saw a number of sizes I hadn’t seen before, which was interesting. I don’t know if they are knew or I just have never seen them. They had Sew Kind of Wonderful rulers and a few others as well. I didn’t see any Creative Grids or Omnigrid rulers, which I thought was interesting. All of their solids were along the right wall under the notions. I didn’t take a look, so I am not sure what brands were available. 

I can’t stress enough how many machines they had! I was sort of overwhelmed with the number of brands as well. I would definitely go back to look at machines if I lived nearby 

This store is definitely worth a short detour, if you are in the area.

Apparently, the company has two locations. The other is in Salem, which I didn’t visit. You can email that shop at: paramountsalem@comcast.net

Paramount Sew & Vac

1015 River Rd
Eugene, Oregon 97404 
Phone: (541) 345-2100

Email: info@paramount-sew-vac.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**N. B. : Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops, including their online stores, and other small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this website.

As mentioned the other day, we stopped in Ashland to visit Mary and rest in between driving to Portland. On our way out of town, we stopped at Sew Creative. The last time I was there was 2021. No masks this time. 😉

This was the first shop we visited on this trip.

The shop was pretty much the same as last time, though with new fabric and supplies. I enjoyed the people working there. They were cheerful and helpful.

The tile on the floor is very striking. It is easy for me to tell which photos are of Sew Creative! I have always liked black and white tile. I forgot they had it in this shop. The shop is STUFFED with all manner of fabric, patterns, notions and quiltmaking supplies.

The front of the shop was set up to invite a person in. They have a small selection of books. I noticed that many quilt stores are not carrying as many books as they once did. Thanks, Amazon. 

The small garments were very appealing. I have one small great niece and was tempted to make her something. I resisted as we all know that will never happen.

They were in the process of changing displays, so the beautiful table was empty. I really like gate leg tables. The staff were cutting fat quarters, I think, in the back. You can see they had a free demo behind the table next to the check out desk.

An impulse buy when I was checking out was the All Pacific Northwest Shop Hop magazine. It isn’t pictured below for some reason and I loaned it to Mary. I am not going to make any of the projects. Too much green and brown and panels and trees. There were some good ideas in the patterns for settings, especially for setting blocks in the corners. I might be able to use some of them for the BAM BOM. The best part was the list of quilt shops. It wasn’t complete, but there were a lot of shops I didn’t know about. The one I visited in Albany with Mom was not listed, for example

On the other side of the patterns you see across from the table was a selection of fabric. Last time I found some linen/canvas bag fabric in this area. No such luck this time. 

That doesn’t mean I didn’t see some appealing colors and motifs! LOL! I found some of the fabrics I bought at Family Threads on bolts here. There were also some nice greys, for which I am always on the hunt. There was soooo much to look at in this shop that I am seeing things in the photos I don’t remember from when I was actually there. There were quite a few people in the shop and that was a little distracting.

I love their notions. Sew Creative has a good selection and I saw that they had improved their selection of embroidery thread. This went with the wool felt I saw, I think. 

The display piece on the left of the photo was crammed with various notions. There was a good selection of needles and I probably should have stocked up on the Chenille needles I use for hand sewing, but was too distracted to think clearly.

 

I was pleased to see some Creative Grids rulers I hadn’t seen before: a 18.5 x 12.5 inch ruler** and a 12.5 x 24.5 inch ruler**.  The latter is called “The Big Easy,” which made me laugh. Neither of these are must haves, but recently I have thought they would be useful.

Sew Creative has a good selection of rulers, both small and large. They are largely Creative Grids, but I saw a few other brands as well. I saw a couple of the Jaybird Quilts rulers I used for the Journey to Nebula Sew-a-Long in which I participated a few years ago.

The shop also had quite a few scissors and different kinds of ‘sticking’ notions. I also saw a respectable supply of hardware, which made me wonder if they had bagmaking classes. I was somewhat fascinated by how much they were able to cram onto the turntables they used for notions.

I was also enamored of the patterns. I refrained from buying any as I have more than I would like to think about. There was a a really good selection of bag patterns.

I noticed quite a few of the Charlie’s Closet patterns. These are patterns that are shown in wool on the cover. I have thought of making the one I have with an old men’s suit or from a wool coat. I haven’t done it yet as I really need a hard wearing handbag and that means leather. I might try it though. Keep this in mind. It pops up later in the trip. 

I also noticed jelly roll rug (see above) patterns popping up in several shops. I wonder if they are coming back around as a ‘thing’? I made one a few years ago and may make another. It is a good way to use up fabric. LOL!

There were a few quilt patterns, but the rack (shown left) showed more bag and other projects. There was a two zipper pouch that I liked. I didn’t buy it because I didn’t like the Triple Zip Pouch pattern I made. I do like the idea of a pouch with multiple zippers. I didn’t think I need to buy a pattern as I know Sew Sweetness has at least one. I also know that I made a couple of versions of such a pouch from an Aneela Hoey pattern. Still, I am always happy to peruse patterns and discover new designers.

The shop had several Block of the Month projects. The applique’ BOMs were hanging on the wall in the back.

The fabrics on the rack in the right front of the photo were Kaffes, Philip Jacobs prints as well as Marcia Derse fabrics. I know I said the shop was crammed, but looking at the photos reminds me of just how crammed it was with almost everything a quiltmaker could want.

Behind the notions was more fabric and a display of wool felt. I don’t remember seeing wool felt the last time I visited. I noticed the various pouches right away, but my mind needs a little time to turn over the implications.

Th back of the store held batiks, tone-on-tones and blenders. I am always surprised to see the rounders that hold fabric draped over bolts. It is a good way to see more of the fabric. I am just always surprised.

 

One of the things I found interesting was a class on using wool felt to make pouches. I think they also had some kits. This is something I haven’t thought about, but why not? 

I am not as familiar with the properties of wool felt in terms of use, but I like the idea of not having to worry about the raw edges, as you do with quilting cotton.

The shapes of the patterns shown are interesting and I like the idea of being able to embellish the exterior more easily than with quilting cotton. I have been thinking about a wool felt piece for awhile and this display gave me some more ideas.

It would be so nice to have to quilt shop within a few miles of my house.

I found a nice grey background, though it is a little dark and some blues that are not turquoise. I might use the grey for the Morning Glory Quilt, though, as mentioned, it is a little dark.

I highly recommend this store. Mary is very lucky to have it close by.

Sew Creative
Address: 115 E Main St, Ashland, OR 97520
Phone: +1 541 482 1665

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**N. B. : Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this website.