An Interview with Ft. Worth Fabric Studios and a Give-a-Way

I am a big proponent of small business. And Ft. Worth Fabric Studio, owned by Jodie Heinold. It is a fabulous online store that offers great deals all year around, as well as special sales. They are actually celebrating with a Black Friday Sale, A Small Business Saturday Sale, and a Cyber Monday Sale.

I am happy to introduce, Jodie Heinold.

1. Tell us when you became interested in sewing, and how that happened? Did someone influence and teach you?     I have been interested in sewing since I was a young child.    As long as I can remember, I loved color, and all kinds of arts and crafts –  it’s always been a part of who I am.   My interest in sewing was further sparked by my Grandma Teegarden, and although I only saw her once or twice a year, she instilled within me a love of sewing!   She was seamstress, a quilter, and worked in custom drapery as a trade.    A high school home economics class got me started on making my own clothing – something I did through high school and part of college.

2. How did this lead to Ft. Worth Fabric Studio and how did it begin?   I earned a BS in Business Administration in college, but never forgot my passion for creating.   For a number of years I designed and sewed custom children’s boutique clothing – to be honest, it was the color and the coordinating of fabric that I enjoyed the most in this process. In 2009, I decided to combine my passion and my business degree and I opened Fort Worth Fabric Studio.

3. How did you decide to become an online only fabric store?  My children’s boutique clothing  business was an online business, so I was very comfortable with that venue and I loved the idea of FWFS having the ability to service clientele all over the world.

4. How big is your staff? And what do the other staffers do at Ft. Worth Fabric Studio?   We have a staff of 6 in addition to myself.    It truly is a family business!   

-Lindsey Weight is our blogger, sample maker, tutorial writer,  and head pattern designer.   

-Holly Humbert is our customer service gal, order shipper, and social media expert.

-Kurt Heinold (my husband) is our main cutter.

-Nick Heinold (my 20 year old son) takes care of loading most of the product on the website; he also cuts, packages, and ships orders.

 -Clayton Heinold (my 18 year old son) is our main FQ Bundle maker, and is also heavily involved with marketing.

 -Mitchell Heinold (my 16 year old son) is our all-around help – he helps cut orders, label packages, and keeps our supplies stocked.

5. What makes your online store different than other stores? Please Include details about including fabric lines you carry, sales, Friday Bundle Batch and anything that makes you unique and special.    Our FridayBundle Batch and our custom bundles are a unique niche for FWFS.  I thoroughly enjoy putting together the weekly bundles as well as our custom bundles – it is a fun challenge to match colors and prints across manufacturer lines to create something truly unique. Since I currently don’t have much time to sew, the bundles are my creative outlet.

6. Your site has a great feature; the color picker. And a buyer can pick secondary colors through that tool. Tell us about it and how it works. (I love it)!!  This tool was added to our web site a couple of months ago, and it is a great asset if you are searching for a particular color. You will find a wide rainbow of options – just click on the color you are searching for and the system will compile thumbnail images of all the fabrics it deems as matching.   This is a great time saver if you are searching for a particular color and don’t want to sort through an entire online catalog of images!

7. The “Coming Soon” and”What’s New” features on the menu bar are great tools for any shopper. I know this isn’t an exact science, but approximately what is the time difference between the two?  What’s New are the items that just arrived – this category showcases all the new goods added in the last 90 days. They are sorted by showing the newest items first.

Coming Soon is our section of pre-order fabrics – these items are not yet in stock, but will arrive as indicated.  We accept pre-orders on all of these items – you can order these fabrics just like any other in-stock items, but we will not charge you until the fabric arrives & we are ready to ship your order.   It’s a great way to reserve your favorites!  We always cut the pre-orders off the bolts first!

8. You always offer great ongoing sales. Are there any special ones shoppers should be aware of?   We have fantastic weekly sales on one or two fabric lines – all sales are advertised in our newsletter, along with the coupon codes needed!   Our sale section is also kept fully stocked, so you can always find a bargain!

9. Are you offering any special discounts or sales for Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday?  We have 30% off all Holiday House (Christmas/Winter themed) fabrics, bundles, kits, etc. And 20% off all (non-holiday) Bundles, Pre-cuts, and Kits!  These discounts will be automatically reflected in the shopping cart and are good through Monday, December 1!

10. What fabric trends do you foresee in the next six months?   I believe the trend for low volume prints will continue: low volume in color such as the great text background pieces you see in gray & white/cream, as well as tiny prints with color that can be used as background for quilt blocks. There are also a growing number of vintage-style prints being shown by the fabric reps and I believe these are also going to have a presence.

Jodie, thank you so much for sharing some pre-Thanksgiving time with us. It was a pleasure getting to know you better, and Ft. Worth Fabric Studio.

Jodie has generously offered a holiday fabric bundle, as a give-a-way.

To enter, please leave a comment in my comment box. Tell us the name of your is favorite bundle in the Bundle Section.
Or click on this link http://www.fortworthfabricstudio.com/shop/category/bundles.

I will announce the winner on this blog on Monday, December1st, at 9:00 PM, EST. Please make sure to leave your e-mail address.

 Have a Happy Thanksgiving, and enjoy this big sale weekend!!

Happy Quilting!! And safe travels.