Chip and Dale Designs

QUILT SHOP REVIEWS

A regular feature of this blog will be reviews of the various quilt shops that I have visited. My husband will tell you that this is just about every single quilt shop in the United States. My desire to visit quilt shops corresponds with my husband’s bucket list desire to visit all fifty states. And this goes hand in hand with my bucket list desire to visit each and every single quilt shop in America – at least once!

Some of the criteria that I use to rate a quilt shop includes fabric selection – both styles and quantity – patterns, notions, sewing machines, magazines and complimentary chocolate. I look at their displays. Are there patterns available that correspond to the displayed samples? I look for cleanliness and orderliness.   But most of all, I look for friendliness and customer service.

I enjoy being greeted as soon as I walk through the door, especially if they greet me by name - which my husband says happens in about half of the quilt shops in America. If I receive friendly and courteous treatment, I will almost always purchase something – whether I need it or not.

If I am ignored when I walk in the door or if the clerks are too busy gossiping to ask if I need anything, then I usually decide right then and there to not make a purchase. Instead I like to have a little fun at the clerk’s expense.

“Pardon me for interrupting your little cat session, but do you have any scented thread?” Or maybe something like “Do you have any left-handed thimbles? These are all for righties and I am a leftie.” I love seeing the puzzled looks that they give me.

If they are downright rude, I leave and send my husband in. He occasionally has to wear those little surgical face masks to help with his breathing problems, so I send him back into the store with his little mask on. “Hello, I am with the Center for Disease Control. We are looking for a lady that recently escaped from the Highly Contagious Disease Facility, and we think she may have just been in this store!” He gives them a description of what I was wearing and then explains something weird like “She has a  highly contagious form of brain worms. You may have been exposed. If you start feeling light headed or dizzy, you should go to your doctor immediately and tell him that you have been exposed. Hopefully he will be able to treat you in time.”

 

We then sit in the car and make a little wager on how soon it will be before some of the clerks come rushing out the door.

 

Quilt shops can be so much fun!

Happy Sewing!