Let's Visit the "Patchwork Phoenix" in Raton, NM. Laura Brewer Teaches Life Skills!

[Music] hey everybody hi it's becky from power tools with thread we are in colorado springs right now visiting with my son and daughter-in-law and my grandchildren and i just wanted to share a video with you that i shot the other day i met the most incredible woman at a store called patchwork phoenix in raton new mexico what this store lacks in inventory that you normally see at these videos that i do this lady more than makes up in heart for those of you who think that the art of stitching is lost and not being shared with our young people laura brewer is doing everything she can to make sure that sewing continues on in our young people for those of you who are at a season in your life where you know you will never use that fashion fabric that you absolutely love please consider sending it to laura at the patchwork phoenix all of the mailing and contact information will be below the video in the description box the entire time i was editing this video i had a smile on my face from year to year and my cheeks hurt when i got done what she does just warmed my heart i want to apologize up front for the strange camera angles in this video laura was in the middle of a class and was gracious enough to give me a few minutes of her time and show me around and talk to me about what she does so because we did not have parental consent i had to make sure that i couldn't get the miners on camera and had to fuzz out their faces please give this video a thumbs up that helps my channel a whole lot i hope you enjoy watching this video as much as i did making it this is old first street in raton new mexico and you can see the old buildings and everything and this shop is called the patchwork phoenix and it's right there under that blue purplish blue awning and right behind me is the amtrak station it's very easy to find and it's right off of highway 25 patchwork phoenix hey everybody this is laura brewer and you have the quilt store i am in raton new mexico you have the quilt store patchwork phoenix this is great you said that this fabulous place used to be a bar yes you got it on a deal obviously yes where's the name patchwork phoenix come from because we're not in arizona right right and people have often asked now patchwork you would assume would be something to do with quilting and it does so it was patchwork because we're a little of everything when we first opened we were mostly gallery we were tea shop we were quilt shops sewing whatever so it was patchwork a patchwork of ideas and creativity yeah and then phoenix was because 1st street was basically closed up it was a bunch of old boarded up buildings nothing was going on here we didn't have any shops opened at all and so it kind of had a resurgence like the phoenix of lore okay so that's why it's patchwork i love that so it's great and since i opened which was actually in um i got my business license in 2013 for this business okay and then opened in um that next it was december of 2013. so we opened for the very first time july 4th of 2014 and we opened because we had ice cream here hard scoop ice cream also so as i said this was a bar before so we have the bar so we were able to serve ice cream and teas and coffees and things like that very nice so but we did open mainly for the sewing and quilting because that's what i really liked and so most of it kind of fell away i still do occasionally artist receptions and things in the art gallery part and we'll do some tvs and receptions and things like that but mostly it's sewing and quilting that's wonderful i don't know if you can hear in the background but there is chatter going on because she is having a class and we have the most adorable little girls back there learning how to sew we're going to pop by back there and take a look at that if i can go around here just a little bit you do a lot of teaching here yes workshops and classes that's another reason that i opened was because i felt like there was such a need for our young people especially to be able to be taught in the the arts the needle arts sure yeah so cross stitch embroidery um sewing and quilting uh knitting crochet right of the needle arts even tatting so we do a lot of classes and workshops and typically i like to do them free of charge because you know it's a noble it's a new way to a lost art that's wonderful right and it's um it's not a wealthy area here you know when the mine closed back in 2003 i think it was and so very economically depressed and i didn't want to leave anybody out so i come in because i love what i'm doing and i want to just pass it on so so mostly like today we're doing the fashion fling we are doing this monday wednesday fridays which is when i'm open 1 30 to 5 30 and the girls will design their own outfit then they make the outfit we've shown how to make their patterns out of old sheets that were donated and yeah and then they uh create their their outfits and then we have a fashion show at the end so it is just so much fun i've done it i think about five or six times in the past so and it sounds like it's pretty successful you've got yeah that's one and again this is all free of charge because people donate fabrics they donate zippers they donate all the notions you better be careful because my uh viewers may you may be inundated oh you have somewhere to send fabric yes yeah so but mostly it we like the um the fashion fabrics you know because i do a lot of quilting and that's 100 percent cotton mostly right right but with fashion knits and chiffon chiffons and they're suckers sure anything that fabric fabric is carrying just probably yeah yeah all right you guys you heard that so if you have fabric you want to get rid of or you're you are uh purging then i think patchwork phoenix in raton new mexico would be thrilled with any of your donations absolutely because we'll plan on doing the uh fashion and fleeing you're going to be sorry i know i've actually already received like boxes worth of um more almost like um a velveteen fabric from some people so you know and that's oh we got another one of our gals coming in okay hi ladies we'll have to make some room for you okay because we've got a full house today so wait for me and then we'll get you all set up okay so normally they had started on fridays but because we're trying to get things finished they're coming in on monday and wednesday as well so i usually have my ladies the older ladies here on wednesday so we have kind of a full house today yeah i like that yeah yeah so okay so as far as things to purchase for shoppers you have paper you've got paper patterns you have it's a few books you've got some notions right and lots of embroidery threads for machine embroidery okay i have a few just a regular hand embroidery uh sullivan's brand which is actually a an excellent brand and then i do carry the rfil threads and olfa cutters you know so it's mostly just to replenish what we use up and need right here for classes and workshops and whatever someone else is doing so we have a 100 cotton mostly these are ones that i've featured because we look at this panel you guys yeah the wolves the wolves we have the bear we have eagles these are real big in new mexico she buys things that are big in new mexico right so we have an elk here and then we have a bison so the the wildlife panels are very popular here yes and then we just did the stack and whack revisited it was one by bethany reynolds that she did way back in i think 2000 or something like that okay and a lot of my new quilters had never heard of it so we did oh yeah and i've got a sample of that on the wall she has ribbons some rims this is for your fashion shows right right right right and this is the few batiks okay and mostly i carry blends because being a small shop i can't carry a lot and most of my quilters will go traveling and they'll pick up a focused fabric here and there and then they come in and say i need to match this so yeah so i have you know lots of greens lots of blues and different things different textures a few pieces of felt flannel yep some panel okay lots of of the polyester felt because of the schools and craft projects that they like to do okay yes and then lots and lots of different types of batting i have it on the roll i also have it in the package i just got a bunch in that i haven't set out yet but because quilters are always needing batting always yeah i don't have any black batting i might get i can't get any big bolts of fabric while we're on the road my husband we have no room oh of course he's he's told me we have no room no they can't do it doesn't put it on the roof yeah yeah exactly okay and she's got some rulers here yeah so it doesn't really look like a huge amount but you have a little bit of everything that is if you need it you've got it exactly even like a few crafts some jewelry making ideas here and and then uh buttons this is a little bit of somebody on the road will come in and say oh i broke my needle or i brought right or i need a crochet hook certain size and you have them that's great very different sizes and even the tatting shuttles sure needle tatting as well and then we have like bobby bones and yep bobbins got to have them that's great we're good to eat a little bit of everything yeah and then some buttons if you need them sure snaps uh velcro i like i mentioned it's just a little of this a little of that because you never know what somebody might be needing that's amazing look at she's sewing on a featherweight isn't that fast so get your bag in that one and look at here's an original brother machine you guys know i like that yeah that was that's the uh the great great great great grandmother to my luminaire yeah right and i have the baby lock in the back that does the solaris yeah yeah so this is what we're working on this is the fashion flame and it is a whole class schedule it's all free for the we only have space for eight okay so um they work on this and then they end up having a fashion show so they actually create their own design by looking in magazines and learning how to do measurements right and this is this is one of them this is her outfit that she wants to make this was the what she's making her bag out of we always start with the bag and that's how they actually learn how to sew okay perfect yeah lined bag with two pockets wow wonderful they made a dart so they learned how to how to make a dart how to shape how to shape fabric right how to gather yeah lime that one was uh pleats so they're getting a little of everything here you know what um i think this is even uh inspirational for somebody who might want to do something like this and not sure not sure how sure yeah like i said it's just i do it because i love it it's not because i make any money at it right but all the fabrics are donated the sewing machines i have picked up at various garage sales sure and we have a little mercado here in red tome where you can buy lots of different can you show me what you're sewing um i'm making a bath uh-huh we're gonna make the inside of this your lining yeah with a pocket well you're doing a wonderful job that's great i hope you have you will have yours already oh yours is finished i love your ribbon trim nicely done that is great it looks good looks very good very nicely done i want to sew that let's see what you've got just a little bit oh the braid is very elegant nice sure the inside of your bag too there you've got a handle on it and everything and what they did was actually make two of the bags exactly the same and then they put one inside the other okay so they're reversible they kind of could be sure that's really neat that's a good did you design that pattern yes yes very nice and then over there look at this i want to yeah that's an old signature yup showcasing these and you've already started on your garment yes right and your top that in the top is the bodice yes very nice and look at your bag with the pretty yeah floral trim very nice okay let's see what you've got okay you've got both of these are you having fun this is a fun class isn't it okay all right and now you're gonna have this little exactly the same cushion and a thread catcher let's sew this okay so you're gonna go ahead and hold this down and use your sewing gauge and then pin that all the way around okay that's a great pattern especially for scraps that's called the rainbow cross but we altered it a little bit so that instead of doing different colors we just did it like a watercolor where it went from light to dark nice that's gorgeous love this and then joe is up here making um neckties the cool ties that go around your neck in the summertime right she's donating to our police department our sheriff's department the fire department so she's making bunches of them why not that's one thing we have very generous people here in raton that that like to do for others yes but when you have it you must spread the wealth right that's right absolutely that's right okay so i'm going to take you to the back also okay although it's an absolute mess because i've just finished rearranging it well i only gave you five minutes notice so i you know i don't expect you to have i didn't clean at all yes let me honey where you are right now okay let's go ahead and put this one inside of that one now because you've sewn both of them and we're going to put it like this so that you see the inside just like the outside and then do you have your strap handy did we make your strap okay we're going to come back then and we'll make your strap and then we're going to sew your strap in okay okay all right so can you find that fabric again let's see where where we have it we'll cut the strap for you oops thank you and then you can sew that together i thought for sure we had a strap let me see well that one's too short well we'll we'll find it i know we had a strap here for you somewhere there you go i bet that's it because we just need to cut it yep that is the eyes right so we're just going to cut this off okay now you're going to take this and pin it like we do before and just sew all the way down this side okay and that will be your strap set this right up here okay good job yeah she's going to be making that blue skirt for hers where's your book hope let's look at your book and show her what you've worked on so far sit right here and show her so are your design that you want to make what they did was they looked through magazines and got ideas for the different things okay so she did that that color [Applause] that's what it was going to be oh nice i can't even see it that's wonderful yeah and that's your gather let's repeat please i think that was it right okay wonderful so she's doing a great job okay i'm going to take you to the back okay and this is robinson and threads back here yeah labs and labs this is actually in progress right now because i just set up my long arms machine i got it from a friend of mine it's an old one it's like a two thousand right so but you're you do not offer commercial long-arming services yet not yet right she plans to okay i've been practicing okay well good that's wonderful and then this is also my art area i'd love to paint and yeah that's why you painted that yeah that's great i like to feature different artists here when we have receptions right so it's all been rearranged and so it's every everything's kind of piled in piles right now until i had to make room for this big little gallery well yeah absolutely and it's now you can see this used to be the where the pool table was wow i love it original budweiser that's all right yeah so that is great when i lived in new mexico um raton is right there with santa fe and taos and all that very artsy artisan-focused creative yeah yeah i remember all of that i was stationed at kirtland oh for two years down in albuquerque so um used to come skiing and all that kind of stuff so yeah it's been a while since i've been here but that is something i remember it's very art central large artist population right we don't get the notoriety that taos and but we have a really very creative people here yeah like that it's very nice this was one of the very first ones i did and it was actually a pattern that they did for the kiddos in the hospital blindness project blindness okay yes and yes and it was that pattern where you just did borders right just kept adding just add borders that was um i used to teach quilting as an adjunct um down in springer at luna community college okay and that was when i decided to open up a shop instead of teaching because it was such a long drive down there and back i did it for several semesters but uh those are my students they made that for me and that's and they signed the blocks that's so nice and this was done by kathleen henson she was um she was an artist a fiber artist and those are all stamps and she calls it her american stamp quilt those are stamps yeah those are all stamps so she donated that to my shop that's really nice so i love this ceiling in here this is yeah you know unfortunately it's in pretty sad shape because this building was empty for many years yeah and it was neglected and neglected yeah so we're trying to my husband and i are trying to refurbish sure get it put back so we did a lot of plumbing and electrical just to get the place open sure i understand that well you are just a a wonderful wonderful soul to be teaching all these kids and then i do my doterra too because i love the essential oils so this is really this is this is actually a character a real working look at that cash register i use the the new and the old together i have my square register in my and your cash cash that's fabulous i really want to thank you for uh being so generous with your time not time for me time for the kids too that's just that's wonderful but uh for a no notice visit i this was just so much fun to come in and look at and see and uh i'm i'm happy and proud to feature you on the channel i think that would be great please send me an email when it's up and running i i will promote it out there to everybody else you bet or your phone will start ringing yeah that's true okay and you'll know all right thank you well laura thank you so much it was a pleasure we'll talk to you soon bye thank you bye-bye

Channel: Power Tools with Thread

Views: 8,437

Rating: 4.9797368 out of 5

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Id: h6NO4b-n9nE

Length: 22min 45sec (1365 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 23 2021