Based on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, Canada, Stitches, a fiber art supplies and quilting supplies store, had its inception in 1998. It began as a small shop offering fabrics and finished quilts, wall hangings, and garments, but they soon discovered that customers were more interested in procuring supplies to create their own art rather than purchasing finished pieces. As a result, Stitches began supplying sock yarn ,and by 2003, the store had metamorphosed into the extensively stocked online fiber art supplies store it is today. At present, the stock includes art quilting supplies, textile art supplies, and fibre art products and materials. Products range from fabric glue to quilting books to silks and everything in between.

At present, the store is a valuable resource to fibre artists across Canada, the US, and abroad, as it is difficult to find these niche materials, period, let alone find them all available through one store!

Stitches, additionally, offers scheduled knitting and fibre art classes on Salt Spring Island (in the brick and mortar shop), and fibre art enthusiasts can book retreats in small groups of up to 6 people. The retreats offer calsses like “shine and shimmer,” where students receive instruction on using sewing machines and sewing kits to add foils, coppers, metals, glass beads, and other products to their art projects for that extra sparkle. The other class is “barks, branches, and organics,” in which students study bark and re-create its texture through heat distressing quilt art products, such as felt, tyvek, and Lutradur.

Stitches further provides a service to the fibre art community by also acting as an information resource for fibre artists. The store’s knowledgeable staff members altruistically share their expertise in the area, and the website’s blog posts, articles, and newsletters provide inspiring ideas, and information about techniques and products to help spark creativity.

Though Stitches’ remote location renders its brick and mortar store inaccessible to many, the store strives to extend its reach throught its online shopping options and through its frequent attendance of tradeshows where its fibre art products and quilting supplies can be viewed and purchased.

If you are looking for an online source for your fibre art supplies and quilting supplies in Canada, check out this profile describing how a store based in British Columbia has metamorphosed from a tiny “brick and mortar” shop on a remote island to a fully stocked online store, meeting the needs of fibre artists .