Besides the Big Kansas Road Trip and a visit from participants of Bike Across Kansas, another potentially large group of people may be visiting Lincoln this spring for the All Kansas and Nebraska Shop Hop.
From the name of the event, one might expect a type of retail promotion, but that is not exactly the case here. There will be shopping – that is all but guaranteed – but that’s not nearly all.
Shop Hop Inc. creates Great Sewing Adventures across the country. The events they create bring together all kinds of people as they help brick and mortar quilting and sewing stores thrive – hoping the passion for sewing arts lasts for years to come. Shop Hop Inc. and their series of quilt shopping events were featured in the Travel and Adventures section of Next Avenue, a nonprofit national publication for older adults. The impact of these events on quilting shops across the country was also featured by the Craft Industry Alliance, a trade association for craft industry professionals.
There are 75 quilting/sewing shops throughout Kansas and Nebraska participating in this event. Participants purchase a magazine that will include a “passport” for the event. When KC Quilting Company here in Lincoln, is owned and operated by Deb Lyne with help from her four daughters, Brooke, Kayla, Hannah and Ashton. Lyne started the business while living in Kansas City. They are currently located within Village Lines, 139 W. Lincoln Ave.
“We started out very small,” Deb said. “We had one longarm, and when we moved here, we had 20 bolts of fabric.”
Lyne opened the Lincoln shop in the “business incubation” room at Village Lines. This room has previously been home to several young businesses selling everything from nutritional supplements to artwork. KC Quilting may easily be the most successful to emerge from incubation, as Village Lines owner Marilyn Helmer calls it. More than 800 bolts of colorful fabrics nearly fill the retail space at Village Lines as Lyne continues to see growth in her business. Visit Village Lines on the last Saturday of the month and you will see sewing machines, scissors and quilters everywhere you turn. Open for business every Friday afternoon and all-day Saturday, Lyne not only offers instruction and fabrics, but also notions, patterns, custom edge-toedge quilting and readymade quilts of all sizes. Fabrics are available by the bolt, the yard, or fat quarters.
“Shop Hop is a big deal for small shops,” Lyne said.
With 75 shops within six regions included in the All Kansas and Nebraska regional event, it provides an opportunity for smaller shop owners to gain new customers from outside their typical customer base.
Participants purchase a magazine which includes an event “passport.” They will present these passports to each shop they visit where they will be stamped, proving they visited. Later these passports will be redeemed for prizes. Participants will also receive a block pattern for a specific quilt at each shop. If they are able to visit every shop, they will have patterns for the full quilt.
“Very few participants get to every shop,” Lyne said.
Quilts have been a part of our lives for centuries, quietly becoming the backbone of our human history. While once used only as bedding for warmth, quilts now have a home in art and history museums. Both beautiful and practical, quilting has experienced an upsurge of interest in recent decades, along with a renewed interest in hand-crafted, lovingly made objects. The trend in repurposing has also brought about a new love for old quilts and learning the skills required to make one. The many intricately colorful styles, fabrics and patterns that have adorned quilts from all around the world are part of a wonderfully rich and complex history, telling powerful stories about rites of passage, community and survival.
Besides hieroglyphics and pottery, quilting may be one of the oldest art forms in the world. Its history is traced to ancient Egypt, where an ivory carving from the temple of Osiris at Abydos featured king of the Egyptian Dynasty wearing a quilted cloak. In medieval times, quilting techniques emerged from Europe, India and East Asia. Many of these early quilts became bed covers, so beautifully designed and made that they became adored, prized heirlooms shared amongst families as a symbol of generational love. This practice continues today.
The technique of quilting was taught from one generation to another, making it a vitally important strand of family tradition. Today, we are happy to have experts who can teach us these skills. Quilting also appeared in medieval clothing, particularly in items made for warmth such as padding under armor, or as a top layer for those who couldn’t afford the full metal garb. Today quilting is seen in all types of clothing, toys and household items. Anything that starts with fabric has the possibility of becoming a quilt.
These traditions were carried by early settlers into America, where quilting truly came into its own; even today this era is still most famously associated with the historical tradition of quilting. Money was scarce but communities were strong; groups would often gather to make quilts together – one popular pastime was the quilt making ‘bee,’ where women would gather together and stitch a quilt for a bride-to-be in just a single day. Quilting also took on political connotations in early America. Blankets were sold to raise money during the Civil War, often containing anti-slavery stories or poems carefully woven in. Appliqued panels were hung outside certain safe houses to show slaves where to hide. Makers from this era, and throughout the wide history of quilting, have explored how the medium can weave together intimately personal stories of struggle and survival with a uniquely visceral, hand-made quality.
All Kansas and Nebraska Shop Hop runs April 1 – May 31, 2024. Visit with Deb Lyne at KC Quilting Company or visit https://allkansasnebraskashophop.com for more information.
