Shop expands seamlessly

The economic forecast is bright at Sunshine Stitches.

The sewing and fabric store near North 156th Street and West Dodge Road doubled its size last month when it moved to a larger space in Pepperwood Plaza.

At a time when some retailers are reducing inventory, Sunshine Stitches' three owners expanded theirs by adding another line of sewing machines and more fabrics. They also boosted the number of sewing classes.

Many consumers, seeking to save money, have turned to sewing their own utilitarian items, from pajamas to reusable grocery bags. And technological advances such as self-threading machines have made the do-it-yourself activity easier.

The sales of sewing machines and sergers, which create a finished seam, increased 5 percent in 2008 over the previous year, according to the latest figures from the Craft & Hobby Association, a trade group.

“Our sewing machine sales have escalated in the last six to eight months,” said Sunshine Stitches co-owner Monica Morrison. “It's not necessarily a low-end, $100 machine. We're seeing a lot of purchases of the $8,000 machines, and we're seeing a lot more people paying cash.”

The store's sales revenue doubled from 2007 to 2008 and continues to climb, said Becky Taylor, another co-owner.

While the owners don't attribute the store's success solely to the recession, they certainly see the role it has played.

“We're a comfort industry,” Taylor said. “People are kind of going back to sewing and staying home more, and sewing fits in that niche. We also offer customers an opportunity to make gifts.”

The owners, who also include Carol Coniglio, said more moms, especially those in their 20s and 30s, are spending time with their children, even sons, by taking sewing classes.

The store also offers individual classes for new owners of sewing machines — a service that customers like Mary Buckley of Omaha say contributes to its success.

Buckley learned how to sew as a child but later abandoned sewing because she hated it. When her sister, a seamstress, visited from New York, Buckley took her to Sunshine Stitches to see what local sewing and fabric stores carried.

Buckley liked the people and atmosphere so much that, six months later, she enrolled in a beginning quilting class.

Buckley started with a machine costing under $1,000, traded up to one a little more than $1,000 and ended up with one that cost about $7,000. Computer software programs allow her to choose fonts and sizes of embroidery designs on her laptop computer and then transfer the designs to the sewing machine.

Sunshine Stitches' owners credit the sewing industry with making sewing less tedious and time-consuming and more affordable.

The most expensive machines can cost $9,400, but prices have dropped as low as $99 on entry-level machines, which offer more features than in the past at that price point, they said.

The store's owners said they didn't need a loan to expand their inventory and the store.

“We are financially stable, and we are continuing to grow in our sales, so we are not creating any more debt to do that,” Morrison said.

Sunshine Stitches was born when Morrison purchased an existing store in Fremont in 2000. The store name comes from her high school nickname, Sunshine, which Morrison said she got for her positive attitude.

She opened a store in Omaha three years later and closed the Fremont business in 2004.

When Morrison heard that Taylor and Coniglio were considering opening their own store in Elkhorn, she asked them to become her partners. Morrison said she was looking to lighten her workload. The three became partners in July 2008.

Contact the writer:

444-1183, christine.laue@owh.com