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Home > Newsletters > April 2009

April 2009

Material Pleasures, LLC Summer Newsletter

Material Pleasures, LLC

Material Pleasures, LLC Free Shipping Policy:

all domestic orders less than 1 pound - No Minimum Order!

You still have the option of paying actual charges for Priority Shipping.

Orders over $100 are shipped for free in the US, International Orders will receive a discount. Consignment Items Excluded and clearly marked Consignment.

Calendar

April 25 - 26, 2009 Pieced Together Quilters at Somerset County 4H Center, 310 Milltown Rd, Bridgewater, NJ. Visit http://piecedtogetherquilters.org/quiltshow.htm

May 2nd - NJ History Fair at Washington's Crossing Park in Titusville, NJ.

Dana Balsamo will be providing Verbal Quilt Evaluations for $20/quilt. Please contact Dan Campbell at 609-296-1114 or brsfris@hughes.net to register.

What's New!

A whole lot! It's been awhile since our last newsletter!

Material Pleasures, LLC now offers Gift Certificates for $25, $50, and $100. Thanks go to Megan S. for requesting the option.

Also listed in the past few months: Antique Quilts, Handkerchiefs, Shoe Clips, and Linens.

A common question: What is the first documented printed cloth (cheater cloth)? When ladies see the Cheater Print Wholecloth Quilt hanging in my booth they are surprised to hear it is from around 1892. And prompted the question, how early were they printing cheater cloth?

A cheater print, or cheater cloth, is cotton fabric printed with a patchwork or applique design. From a distance, the fabric will look like a quilt, without the quiltmaker having to actually piece it. Layer it, quilt it, bind it, and voila! A Quilt! Often the designs were complicated with tiny diamonds or hexagons. One popular print mimics a crazy quilt with pre print embroidery and all!

With a small amount of internet research, I have been able to find that cheater prints have been available since the 1870s or earlier. Old Sturbridge Village has man's jacket made of 1840s cheater cloth. Cheater cloth is still made and used today!

Feature: Material Pleasures turns 10 years old!

I guess what they say is true: “Time flies while you're having fun”.
It was 10 years ago in February that I started selling vintage fabrics online on eBay. In the beginning it was just a hobby, a way to earn a little extra money. I would hunt at yard sales looking for inexpensive fabric. Kept what I liked, and sold the rest. My first daughter was still a baby, and I was getting used to being a stay at home mom. Little did I know so many people would have the same affinity for these priceless pieces of the past. It grew. I would purchase fabrics, blocks, tops, and quilts...linens, lace, buttons...anything pretty that caught my eye. I researched and read. Attended lectures. I moved my inventory from eBay to 2 online antique malls. I clenched my teeth, scared of what the change may bring. Material Pleasures stayed on one online antique mall for several years, during which materialpleasures.com was developed as an information website, with links to the online mall. A few more years passed, and the next natural progression seemed for me to become an independent store. Again, I clenched my teeth, fearful. And here is where you find me, now. For the past 6 years, Material Pleasures has vended at local (and some, not so local) antique and quilt shows. We restructured to an LLC last year...that was to make my husband happy. He has been so supportive through all my growing pains it was the least I could do. As have my daughters, now 11 and almost 9, by helping me at shows. They both help setting up, can ring up merchandise on the Point of Sale software, and my older daughter can help me when it's time to take the booth down. I dread the day when they think what I am doing is no longer cool or fun. I'll have to bribe them with more than a free lunch and a show trinket.

Now, Material Pleasures, LLC also offers appraisals for antique and contemporary quilts, consignment services for local consignors, restoration and conservation services, and lectures. Like a snowball grows as it rolls.

It was my love of quilting that sparked my interest in quilt history and antique textiles, and the antique quilts are still where I am passionate. We are starting to narrow our focus. At the end of this month we will be consigning all our purses and powder compacts to a local auction. Before I do, I would like to offer them to you at a special final deep discounted priced. All purse and compact sales will be final. They will all be removed from the website as of May 2nd. Free shipping will still be applied to orders over $99.99.

If you have a question, or are interested in an item, but need more time to think about it, please contact me. I am happy to work with you!