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The Statler Gamill “long arm,” which resembles a giant sewing machine allows the user to choose a digitized pattern and quilt automatically.
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Lee Taylor’s home, Covehaven, is available to rent for her out-of-town quilting clients. Each room is themed with a handmade quilt.
Lee Taylor came late to sewing.
She was an adult when, after receiving a check from her grandmother as a birthday gift, Taylor walked down to the local Woolworth’s and bought a sewing machine. Eager to learn, she began looking for sewing classes, but she couldn’t find any. Then a decade later, she began taking quilting lessons and a new chapter of her life opened up.
In 2004, she attended her inaugural quilt retreat and created her first quilt, comprised of old concert t-shirts from shows such as the Dave Matthews Band, Van Morrison and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. She continued to improve her sewing and quilting skills, creating quilts to gift friends and family. But in 2011, Lee’s mother, a geometry teacher in the Northern Neck for 40 years, was diagnosed with lung cancer, resulting in Lee devoting the next two years of her life to caring for her.
During this time, Lee found a supportive environment for her growing quilting obsession while working at Sew Happy in Tappahannock and soon became accustomed to being surrounded by bolts of fabric.
After her mother died without being able to fulfill her dreams of post-retirement travel, Lee was moved to achieve her own: opening a quilting shop. “Because she couldn’t live her dreams, I got to live mine,” she says of the bittersweet opportunity.
Sewlovelee opened in October 2014 in a blue Victorian house in White Stone, where an old glass-front hutch held brightly colored fabric by international designer Kaffe Fasset and a wooden banker’s desk and claw-foot dining room table were used to cut fabrics on. Room after room held fabrics of all kinds, fabrics she hopes would inspire customers to sew: nautical designs showing crabs, dolphins andAdirondack chairs, polka dots of every color combination, fabric designed to look like old newspaper articles or handwritten letters, geometric forms labeled by shape—a nod to her mother—and daffodil fabric because her Gloucester grandmother raised daffodils.
“My fabric selection is unique and a little bit modern, with a lot of bright fabrics and designers that aren’t commonplace,” she explains. “I have to love every fabric I buy to bring into the shop.”
Upstairs at Sewlovelee, a room is devoted to a Statler Gamill “long arm,” which resembles a giant sewing machine, but has a more specific function: the machine allows the user to choose a digitized pattern and quilt automatically. Taylor’s was custom painted sparkly black over the original factory green because, as she puts it,“If I’m creating on it all day, it has to be pretty and inspiring.”
Customers can bring her the components of their quilt—the top, the batting filler and the back—and she will program the “long arm” to do the difficult work once done by hand. It’s just a part of the changes that define modern quilting, which tends to be more geometric, with more negative space than traditional quilts. “The quilting process can define a modern quilt because it accentuates the negative spaces,” she says.
After nearly four years, Sewlovelee moved from White Stone to Irvington in September, just across from the Post Office, where a steady stream of customers have found their way to Lee’s trove of fabric and quilting resources. The new spot is comparable in size and layout, with a handicap ramp at the back door, most fabrics and merchandise on the first floor, and a classroom and the “long arm” machine on the second floor. A major advantage of the new space is an eat-in kitchen which allows Lee to offer lunch to attendees of full-day classes.
One room houses a bed, perfect for displaying quilts, but also as a bedroom for visiting instructors. Starting this fall, quilting retreats will be offered September through March, during which quilters can stay at Lee’s nearby home, Covehaven—each room themed with a handmade quilt, while taking classes at Sewlovelee.
“Love is not only the heart of the name Sewlovelee, it’s the heart of what we do as quilters and a quilt shop,” she says. “As quilters and sewers, we’re making and sewing items usually to show our love for others. Quilts are made to commemorate life events: births, graduations, weddings and even memory quilts for those who’ve passed away. The quilts provide comfort in a tangible way to those we love, and the act of creating them is a true expression of love.”
Because Sewlovelee’s fabric selection is so extensive, some customers are overwhelmed by the choices and seek her help deciding what will make a good quilt. “It’s a whole art form, figuring out what fabric speaks to you and what design to use,” she says. “I love when customers ask me to choose for them. It’s my favorite part.”
In addition to selling fabric, Taylor also creates patterns for sale which are available on her website, sewlovelee.com. Recently she’s started a Youtube channel to demonstrate use of rulers in quilt making, a subject near and dear to her because of her mother’s years teaching geometry.
“I prefer modern quilts, but they require understanding angles and more sophisticated use of rulers to get the job done quickly and more efficiently,” she says. “I have a lot of quilts in me.”
Quilting neophytes and pros alike come from as far away as Richmond and Williamsburg to browse fabrics, drop off a quilt for quilting or to take classes in beginning quilting, ruler techniques or bag and garment making. Many customers are members of local guilds such as the Rivah Quilt Guild of Kilmarnock. Sewlovelee’s website lists quilt guilds’ meetings in the area and aims to keep quilters connected while offering all merchandise in the store for sale online.
Lee recognizes her customers as part of the larger quilting community and makes a point of knowing their names. After talking or ringing up a transaction, she always tells her customers to come back soon. “I’d like to see you keep me out,” a woman says with a smile.