We're Celebrating At Fabric Spark

Fabric Spark started 11 years ago this month in Daryl’s small basement, with less than 200 bolts, an upcycled cutting table made from Ikea shelving and an old desk top, and an idea that other people might also find their sewing muse (or spark) in the fabric itself, hence the name.  The intention was to create a little side hustle that would fund Daryl’s sewing, her appetite for great design, and provide access to a lot of fantastic Japanese fabric, which at the time was quite hard to find. 

Our little business went through several evolutionary changes over the next few years as we figured out what worked for us and what didn’t.  We added a few helpers, got out of the basement into a shared retail space, and started dabbling in more types of fabric and sewing products. But, for us, the magic happened, and it all came together, when we arrived at 1992 Danforth in January 2020 - exactly 5 years ago.

Our new location wasn’t without challenges. We opened our doors in mid-January, and a week later, a massive street construction project started right outside our window, closing lanes and wiping out parking. A mere two months after that, we had to close our doors for a lockdown with no known end date. The pandemic meant an immediate shift in our business model and we had to pivot (scramble) to figure out delivery, front door pick ups, and to find products we’d never carried before, or even heard of (remember polypropylene?). 

But, a lot happened for us during the pandemic. We got a proper cutting table, we added sewing machines and studio tables, we started building a fantastic team, and eventually, we were able to re-open our doors. 

Welcoming customers back inside meant everything. We were bustling with your creative energy. The classroom filled and we all remembered and welcomed the joy in a lengthy conversation with other makers. We got to discuss colour, patterns, designers and tools with you. We saw acquaintances bloom into friendships around our studio tables. And, though it may sound cliched, we got so inspired by the work you started bringing into the store. Being an operational shop again meant we could finally find our rhythm as a sewing and quilting destination.  

The Danforth shopping neck of the woods and our larger online community have been incredibly good to us. You’ve been supportive, enthusiastic and encouraging. You’ve brought us ideas for products and classes, and you’ve been quick to adopt new designers, teachers, products, and workshops.   

We are so grateful for the last 5 years, and so excited about the next, we thought this was a good opportunity to celebrate. So that’s what we’re going to do, and we have a plan!

Our 5 Touchstones

As we were brainstorming about our anniversary celebration and how to share it with all of you, we decided to focus on the 5 priorities or themes that have come to drive and shape Fabric Spark. They are the qualities that we really care about and they help define our goals for how we want to relate to the sewing community. Over the years they have influenced our choice of products and suppliers, impacted our hiring decisions, and governed how we work with each other on the team. So with that as a framework, our next task was figuring out how to animate these themes and share them with you. 

We are putting together a calendar that we hope will be fun and engaging, and will help bring our operating principles to life. Over the next several months we’ve developed added activities and events that represent a different theme each month, starting now, in January.

1. Unique and Beautiful Fabric

First and always, we care about finding and bringing you those amazing discoveries you didn’t know you needed. Of course, we want to carry the big names and popular designers that we all love, but we also work really hard to find the hidden gems, the smaller International companies, and the new talent that may not already be on your radar, or known to our sewing community. 

We’re devoting January to this theme by launching our trove of gorgeous new fabrics from India and showing off some fantastic projects you can make with the fabric. Save January 17 in your calendars for that launch.

2. A Passion for Colour

The thing we hear most often when people walk in the door is “It’s so colourful!”...and it is. Everyone on our team has their own favourite palette, as do all of our customers, but we all really love colour and try to provide many options and possibilities for any of the colour combinations you’re putting together. 

We have a fun event planned in February for that. We’re going to do our own version of a colour challenge and have come up with some fun prizes. We’ll announce the details later in January but if you want to start thinking about it - we're choosing 5 colours, and you can add anything you want to them, or nothing. We'll make them available at a great price too. Feel free to start brainstorming now. 

3. Learning for Creative Growth

We design all of our workshops to try to give people more confidence to pursue their creative goals. Whether it’s a quilting method, garment pattern, or mending technique, we want you to enjoy the learning process and leave the class feeling like you have the know-how to try it on your own. 

To date we’ve only been able to do this in our studio, but we get a lot of requests from our out of town customers to find ways for them to participate in our classes. With that in mind, we are going to host FREE Friday lunch and learns in the month of March on subjects that we hope you find useful, helpful, and enjoyable. 

4. Commitment to Community

We are very aware and equally grateful that we serve an incredibly generous community. Sewists and quilters are caring and always incredibly quick to support a worthy initiative. We are inspired by this culture of giving and want to participate in a meaningful way.

To that end, we have a couple of initiatives planned for April. We’ll be having another sample sale where all of the proceeds will go to Beautiful World Canada to educate the most impoverished girls in sub-Saharan Africa. We already have a giant stash of product to sell and more on the way. As well, we have a fun community quilting project that we’re currently developing. We’ll be back to ask you to participate for a great cause. Stay tuned for details. 

5. Creativity for Wellness

I’ve been saying since Fabric Spark started, that we should all do something creative every day. 

There are so many ways that a creative endeavor can add to our mental health. It makes us present and can create a state of flow, giving us a break from stress and worries. It can provide a productive channel for your emotions, or give you a place to express a message.

Creative projects can provide social interaction (we see that a lot), and engagement with something bigger than ourselves. Creativity can improve brain function and cognitive activity. It can encourage us to try new things, to stretch our comfort zone and to see the world differently. 

We are going to try and scratch the surface of this giant idea with a few initiatives including a special guest speaker at the shop. More to come on this one. 

It’s On for 2025!

Whether you’ve been with us from day one, or are brand new to our community, we want to thank you and celebrate with you. Follow along on all of our activities here. We’ll share more details as events near and we have a few other little surprises up our sleeves that we’ll share in this space.  

Thanks for your attention and we’ll see you back here soon for more updates - now back to fabric news, workshops, and our other usual fare.