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Today, I bring you a giveaway from SouleMama Sponsor, Alewives Fabrics. In Rhea's words:
"Alewives Fabrics is an independently-owned fabric store in Midcoast Maine run by the mother/daughter team of Barbara Neeson and Rhea Butler. The shop carries a virtual cornucopia of fabrics: quilting-weight cottons, voiles, home-decorator sateens, velveteens, knit cotton jersey & interlock, double-gauzes, cotton/linen blends and much, much more. Starting this November, Alewives Fabrics is also carrying the entire line of Amy Butler organic yarns!"
Rhea also keeps a blog for the shop, which can be found at Alewives Girl.
SouleMama: How long have you been in business?
Rhea: Believe it or not, this is kind of a tough question to answer! Alewives Fabrics opened in 1975, making this our 35th year in business. I began working at the shop when I was 19 years old. That was (cough, cough) 12 years ago. At the time, Alewives Fabrics was owned by Maia Hart, and this is the woman who (along with my grandmother) taught me how to sew... (old school). I think if Maia knew that I would one day be taking over the shop, she would have been terrified (as I would have been, too!), but in 2004 that is exactly what happened. Today, my mother and I run the shop together and we have a great time doing it!
SouleMama: Tell us about your background with Alewives Fabrics?
Rhea: Alewives Fabrics has been a part of both my life and my mother's life since before we were even born! The big red barn that houses our business was once a general store and was owned by my great great great uncle, Ernest McGray. Ernest McGray was my grandmother's uncle and she worked here as a teenager, pumping gas and bagging groceries. In 1975, the general store was sold out of the family and was converted from a general store into a fabric store. This is when the space became known as Alewives Fabrics. One of my earliest memories is coming into the store with my mother and grandmother: they shopped for fabrics while I played with the toys in the toy basket. Well, the toy basket is still here and so are we! At 19 years old, I wandered into the shop to buy fabric for a tote bag and I somehow walked out with a job. That day has shaped my life more than I could have ever imagined! 6 years later we bought the shop, and what began as a part-time job is now a full-time career for my Mother and myself and three other lovely local ladies. We like to think that someway, somehow, our uncle Ernest McGray had something to do with it!
(The Alewives Fabrics building circa 1930, when it was Ernest McGray's general store.)
(Alewives Fabrics today... some things never change, especially here in Midcoast Maine!)
For today's giveaway, Alewives Fabrics is generously offering the following to one winner:
We are pleased to be debuting (and giving away to one lucky Soulemama reader) our "Winter Moon" fat quarter set. The Winter Moon fat quarter set was inspired by my ever-growing collection of Japanese sewing books and by the recent bout of grey weather here in Maine. Fabrics in the set include double-gauze, cotton-linen blends and cotton sheeting in soft, muted tones of grey, moss, linen and lavender.
In addition, Alewives is offering 10% off all orders to Soulemama readers through December 31st. To receive the discount, please enter the code "Soulemama" into the promotional code field at checkout. We will manually adjust the price of your order after it has come through.
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Thank you to Alewives Fabrics!
To enter, please leave a comment in today's post (one entry per person, please). Comments will close on Sunday by 8am EST. Winners will be announced here in this post by end of day on Monday.
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What a neat story, it certainly seems that you were destined to own Alewives! Lovely giveaway!
Posted by: Greeblygreebly
