I took my mom home the other day. She was released from the surgeon and felt well enough to go home. On the way, we usually stop at Peet’s in Castro Valley. I suggested we stop in Livermore, which is a little farther. I knew of a Peet’s there and I wanted to stay in the car a bit longer. As we got closer, she suggested we stop at In Between Stitches, a quilt shop in Livermore. I did a brief review of the shop in 2010, but haven’t talked about it since.
In Between Stitches was one of the places Mom and I would meet before all of the drama of the past year. They had a lovely shop on Main Street in Livermore near a few restaurants, some nice stores and coffee shops. I knew they had moved and was eager to see their new shop.
The new location is not far from the old, but a little hard to find if you are unfamiliar, as I am, with downtown Livermore. There is parking next to the shop, but we couldn’t find the address so we parked in the big lot behind the Main Street shops and walked over. There is plenty of parking within about a block. It turns out there is a small, one way street above the main street (N. Livermore) on which we drove. I think it has the same name as the larger street. Not sure about that. Anyway, in the photo above, the shop is on the street with the “Do Not Enter’ sign on it. We easily walked across the street from the parking lot and then down that one way street. I am not sure how one would access the shop’s parking lot or drive to the shop.
Once we finally found it, I found the shop to be interesting and nice. They have morphed beyond quiltmaking to include yarn, lots of wool felt and, possibly felting supplies.
I was pleased to see the section on wool felt. The only other place with a good selection is Pioneer Quilts outside of Portland. This store is closer and more convenient, once I get my act together to start a piece with the wool felt I have. As an aside, I found some inspiration for a wool felt project as I went through my magazines, so this isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
The knitting section is right in the front of the store. I saw some yarn I thought my SIL might like, but it was $43/skein, which was a little rich for both of our blood at this time. Still, the section has a wide variety of yarn including Madeline Tosh, a yarn I really like.
In addition to yarn and wool felt, In Between Stitches has a fairly large selection of embroidery floss.
They have a few different brands including Wonderfil and regular DMC. I also noticed they have a small selection of lapboards for handwork. The covers aren’t my style, but a cover is easily changeable for such a useful tool.
Did I mention that this shop is STUFFED? It is. In addition to yarn, wool felt and embroidery, they have a section of bag making patterns and materials.
They have a variety of patterns, some of which I have made, from different bag designers. I saw a few different Noodlehead designs, the Hello Pouch from Knot and Thread, some duffel patterns and a few others. I think the woman cutting my fabric mentioned a workshop on making the Oxbow tote. seeing they had some Noodlehad patterns, I asked about the Plover Pouch. They didn’t have it, but I think I would have bought it if they stocked it.
Of course, they had notions, which you know I love. I felt like kind of a lot of their notions were out of stock. They still had plenty, so I shouldn’t complain.
I was pleased to see the variety of Quilter’s Select rulers they had. The brand seems to be expanding the sizes they offer. I almost bought one as a gift, but the price tag was a little steep for me that day.
Near the check-out counter, the perfect impulse purchase location, were a variety of patterns. The Sew Kind of Wonderful pattern, Attic Windows (bottom of the photo, 2d from the left), intrigued me. I almost bought it but had already checked out and decided I had enough. I’m glad I didn’t because I found a copy when I eventually got home. I need to put it with my other patterns so I see it when I go through them.
The shop, of course, had quite a bit of fabric. They had it tucked in various places all over the shop, except in the front where there was only knitting.
Behind the knitting, on the left of the shop was the first fabric I saw. They had some independent garment sewing patterns as well.
In the back of the shop, I saw some novelty fabrics. There were some food fabrics and I felt myself slipping into that “I should make another Food Quilt” zone. I walked away. Been there, done that. I also saw a few solids in that same area.
The fabric was mostly organized by color, so I saw blenders, tone-on-tones and solids all over the store.
The shop had quite a few batiks, which I am always surprised to see. Many of these were housed under the notions, but I saw them in other places as well.
Of course, my man Phil (Philip Jacobs) and the Kaffe Collective had a good showing. The top shelf was all of the large flower and other types of KFC prints. Some were from the August (Fall?) 2025 collection, which was nice to see. Under them were fat quarters of various, not just KFC, prints. Under that were more tone-on-tones and blenders.
All over the shop were quilts. They were hung on the walls, from the ceiling, every where.
I bought a few bits and pieces. I thought the Kaffe dots would be good for the Maker tote’s pocket. Turquoise stripes will be good for a binding and I broke my needle threader, so I bought a new one.
I am glad Mom suggested the visit. I’ll have to go and visit again now that I know were it is.
- In Between Stitches
- Tel: 925-371-7064
- 167 North Livermore Ave
- Livermore, CA 94550
