By Jason Wentworth
"A drawerful of embroidery thread was all she had."
Those, recalls Sonya Buskirk, were the humble beginnings of Pat's Creative in 1975. Sonya, whose mother-in-law Pat started the business, is the current owner with daughter Shelley Blow.
Pat's Creative has been in its current store location since 1986, and the store is a wealth of products, information and cheer to stitchers throughout the panhandle. Just a small by-the-numbers sample: Pat's Creative has over 5,000 bolts of quilting cotton; 500 boutique fabrics; plus books, patterns, notions and more.
Sonya and Shelley also keep their business stocked with the machines today's stitchers need to help them create. Pat's Creative is a Bernina and Janome sewing machine dealer.
From its earliest days, classes and workshops were an essential element of Pat's Creative, and that remains true to this day. Sonya and Shelley tell Panhandle Post that in addition to a variety of classes, the store's workshops--held on the first and third Monday of each month-are a "sharing and gathering time".
The sharing and gathering of ideas, creativity and support are traditions lasting over four decades at Hemingford's "one-stop sewing shop".
Click the video for a tour of Pat's Creative and conversation with its proprietors.