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Amitié in Melbourne’s Bentleigh had a visit from Liberty of London recently.
The 133-year-old Regent Street retailer is in the throes of rejuvenating its fabric operation because, despite the popularity and legend of Liberty’s exquisite cotton designs, it’s considered an under-utilised resource.
Liberty export sales manager Stefan Zwiebel recently visited Amitié, the small powerhouse that meets the fabric needs of crafters all over Melbourne and Australia, and he was duly impressed by what owner Jenny Kingwell does with her store, her fabrics, her initiatives [loyalty cards and sales] and her increasingly younger customers.
"Stefan stayed for an hour and a half and really took note of what we do," says Jenny in an interview with Living Creatively. "He was so complimentary, quite fascinated and very positive about what he saw. He came to see how Liberty fabric was used and was blown away by all the fabrics and choices in the shop.”
Stefan was also very interested in the classroom area of the shop, “as Liberty is planning to do that sort of thing” in an effort to revive the fabric side of its business, which isn't as active as it used to be.
“Within the store, it’s changed so much,” Jenny confirms. “The first time I went to Liberty was ten years ago and when I went again four years ago it was so sad to see the fabric in a little corner. They have to really step that up."
During Stefan’s Amitié visit, a customer who spends six months of the year in the United Kingdom came into the store, joined the discussion and declared "there is not one store in England that comes close to this store". The Liberty rep agreed. The only department store in central London with a haberdashery department is John Lewis and it recently moved it from the ground floor to level six.
Jenny, meanwhile, knows the secret to success in this market is successfully attracting younger generations of sewers and quilters [of both sexes] to the store at 281 Centre Road Bentleigh. She says Amitié's customers are getting younger as the vogue for fashioning your own clothes, homewares and accessories grows. Younger generations are realising what older generations have known for a lifetime: that it's very satisfying to create your own designs – not to mention cheaper, although price isn't what's driving the shift. It's far more a case of people wanting to express their creativity, to look unique and to do it themselves.
"I see we are starting to get a lot of new customers,” Jenny says. “On sale days I get a lot of new customers and a lot of young mums. We also get a lot of kids in the shop. We are really starting to get the mid-20s to mid-30s age group back into sewing. I think this trend is worldwide."
To meet and encourage the growing interest from younger people, Jenny keeps abreast of current trends in fabric design. She's currently sourcing new fabrics and trims from Japan, for example. At Amitié, bolts of stunning modern Japanese designs sit alongside more traditional floral Japanese prints, and they’re only a small portion of the hundreds of fabrics on display. With bolts of fabric literally lining the walls, it’s a visual feast. How sewers narrow it down and decide on a few fabrics to make a quilt is anybody's guess.
"I’m constantly looking for what's new at the moment," says Jenny, “finding out what's the latest, and updating stock. The Japanese novelties are really popular in the blogging world right now. So I’ve been trying to focus on getting that sort of thing in. A lot of people are interested in the Japanese designs; they are gorgeous."
As mentioned, Amitié also runs a range of classes for the growing bands of sewers. "We run classes for absolute beginners – how to thread a needle – to experienced quilters. And we have regular Saturday morning groups and evening groups. We’re also trying out clothing workshops to tap into the younger market that's out there. And in the school holidays we do classes for children from seven years old. We do bags, cushions, appliqué, fabric jewellery, those sorts of simple things."
The current vogue for sewing is driving young people to seek out Amitié and all it offers, but Jenny thinks there's another motivating factor: craft's camaraderie.
"I really think a lot of it is about the camaraderie among like-minded women. We get women in here for 90 minutes, just chatting. It's almost like a base for people to come to. The world is so fast now, we all live fast, high-tech lives. Coming here is like taking a breath, getting back to basics, with people who are interested in the same things."
Amitié does, after all, mean 'friendship' in French.
By Carolyn Ford
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SIMON SCOGGINS came to sewing late but the 42-year-old Melbourne software developer is one of Jenny Kingwell's most enthusiastic - and prolific - customers. In the year he's been sewing and quilting, he's made five bags and is now at work on his fourth quilt which incorporates about seventy hexagonal flowers. For him, it's all about the process - but he also loves giving what he makes with his hands as gifts.
"I started sewing about 12 months ago, though only started quilting in August last year after the Craft & Quilt Show in Melbourne.
"What prompted me to start? Well, if you had seen the curtains [nasty beige] and cushions [brown open weave] in my partner's caravan, you would have wanted to do something, too. I guess that was the prompt but then I saw some fabric when I was looking for scatter cushions in a shop in Merimbula and thought it was great.
"I love quilting because first, I love quilts. Also, I enjoy the process of selecting the fabric, planning and constructing, watching it evolve. Also, quilting is very meditative. I have now completed three quilts and have number four well on the way. The first three were sewn on a machine, the fourth, with all the flowers, is being made by hand.
"I have had a lot of encouragement from Jenny Kingwell of Amitié. I visited her at the Stitches & Craft Show at Caulfield in March and as I was watching her I worked out that she was right, that I could attempt a hand made quilt.
"So I started buying Fat 1/16ths and sewed and sewed and sewed blocks until I thought I had enough to begin joining. So I stopped and started to join... it turns out I will need at least twenty more blocks and some half flowers... but that’s all good.
"The bags were something that I saw as samples at Amitié last year and thought - wow they look great. Christmas was coming so I thought, hmmm, I might make one for my partner's mother. That turned out so well I thought his sister would like one. They were a bit infectious - I have since made five bags! - one as a gift to a dear friend who is living in Turkey. Of course I had to scour the fabric shops to find material that was Middle Eastern, but that was fun, too.
"My style is still in development but I like bright colours and lots of them. It's all about creating something unique and special."
By Carolyn Ford |
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The update of 
"Not too many men quilt, no. I guess they don't think the right way! I do, however, know a couple of guys who are knitters. My Grandfather did a bit of sewing - mainly upholstery. My mother sewed and did all manor of crafts, but I was not particularly a crafter growing up. But seeing and receiving some of the many quilts my mother made, I was interested some time ago, I just hadn't started. But it was always something that I thought I would like to do. I would have to say that my mother was the one who introduced me to quilting.