November 2021 Newsletter
President's Message
Interim president’s letter
When we were little, my father always waited until the (literal) bitter end to put on the heat. One day he came home to us all sitting on the couch with our coats, hats, and gloves on, huddling under a blanket. Hyperbole for sure, but effective. “Fine, I’ll put the heat on” as he stormed down the basement steps. That burning smell of the first time the heat goes on always makes me laugh a bit.
This weather always makes me want to snuggle under a quilt
or a blanket. I must confess that I haven’t quilted a thing since this pandemic
started. At first, I was just working all the time and now I have puppies who
need tons of attention (and get in a LOT of trouble in mom’s sewing room). I’ve
done masks and I’ve made blocks, but I haven’t had the thrill of finishing
anything. And really, I’m at my best when I’m quilting a few times a week.
So, I’m going to challenge myself to be kinder about the
should haves. Instead of “I should have spent 20 minutes a day quilting” (after
the 30 minutes on the bike, prepping 3 nutritious meals a day, working 10+
hours a day, and laundry—does yours reproduce like mine does????), I’m going to
just strive to do something quilt related a day. Maybe I’ll look at some
quilting websites. Maybe I’ll sew something crazy with a pug on my lap so I can
unpick it the next night, but I’ll do something each day that’s pretty….
As far as guild updates, we have made the decision to move
all our hybrid meetings to Covenant Church. They have amazing technology and
our hybrid meeting went extremely smoothly due to that Owl that they have
there. Although the fee is a bit more than Frazer Mennonite, speakers and guild
members will not have to compete with the church service going on upstairs. We
are also only paying each time we use the church, so we will not be charged for
use during our planned zoom meetings in January and February. This plan was in
motion after our September meeting, but having a really good experience at the
new (old?) church helped us cement the deal.
Any concerns, questions, or any other issues that come up
during my brief tenure, please send me an email or text me and we’ll set up a
time to talk. Happy quilting, looking at quilty things, talking to quilty
people, being your best quilty self!
Jen
The in person meetings will be held at New Location Covenant Presbyterian Church at 7pm on October 11th in the Church Basement. The church is on Rt. 30:400 Lancaster Ave, Malvern. It is between Rt. 352 and the Fraser Mennonite Church.
Members that attend are required to wear a mask. This way we can meet the needs of all our members respecting comfort levels and keeping us from passing around the virus.
Programs
Wow, what a fantastic space we now have at Covenant! The helper for our October meeting was VERY impressed with the set up and the program we had. Come out if you want to or are comfortable doing so or stay home and watch from home!
November’s program is Suzi Parron speaking about Barn quilts
Per Suzi’s Website: I travel full time by RV, speaking to quilt guilds, libraries, civic organizations--whoever would like to hear more about barn quilts! My talk will take you on a journey along the quilt trail, beginning with the very first barn quilt, which stemmed from Donna Sue Groves and her wish to honor her mother's quilting art. The presentation features over one hundred stunning photographs of barn quilts, some of which rival cloth quilts in their intricacy. You will hear stories of some of the individuals who have painted quilt blocks to honor loved ones or their local culture, along with a few humorous anecdotes. The presentation is both informative and entertaining, as we explore the way in which our quilting heritage takes on new meaning as this movement continues to expand. Please email suziparron@gmail.com or phone 678-478-6906 for further information.
In December we will celebrate 35 years of Penn Oaks Quilters! Please join us for cake and a holiday celebration!
We are doing the block swap. If you want to play, bring a holiday themed 12.5 x 12.5 inch block to swap at the party.
Jen and Donna
Scraps and Pieces from the Sewing World
Janome means the eye of the snake in Japanese, a phrase used to describe the bobbin used in an early model. The company is celebrating its 100th birthday this year.
Starting this week, the USPS is slowing down mail delivery. First class mail delivery is going from 3 to 5 days. A holida shipping surcharge also went into effect.
Our member, fashion designer Whitney Manney, created five beautiful looks and accompanying tutorials for JOANN. Check them out!e means the eye of the snake in Japanese, a phrase used to describe the bobbin used in an early model. The company is celebrating its 100th birthday this year.
Starting this week, the USPS is slowing down mail delivery. First class mail delivery is going from 3 to 5 days. A holiday shipping surcharge also went into effect.
For P&B Textiles, an Acquisition Leads to a Hopeful Future
The Odessas have been in the fabric business for a very long time. David Odessa, 55, and his brother, Ed, 63, run P&B Textiles, a division of General Fabrics, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Their father ran it before them and his father sold fabric, too. Over the course of three generations, the nature of the business has shifted dramatically, and responding to those changes hasn’t always been easy. Last year David and Ed nearly lost their business entirely.
In February, the Odessas sold General Fabrics to Brand & Oppenheimer, another Rhode Island-based textile company. The sale has given their family business a fresh start right when they needed it and now the company is poised for growth for the first time in years.
The founding of General Fabrics
In the late 1800’s, David and Ed’s grandfather, David Odessa, a Russian Jewish immigrant, settled in Providence, Rhode Island, and became a jobber. “He jobbed everything he could find to job and then he got into fabrics and started jobbing those,” David Odessa tells me on a sunny June morning at the company’s headquarters, a converted schoolhouse attached to a former Johnson & Johnson factory.
In the 1940’s, David’s son, Benton Odessa, came to work in the business, exporting the jobbed fabrics to Central and South America. Benton also began buying mill end pieces of greige goods, seaming them together and roller printing them (screen printing wasn’t feasible because the screen would jump over the seams) to sell to companies that would service the chain fabric stores.
Servicing the chains
In 1978, Benton’s son, Ed, began working with his father, and a few years later his brother, David, joined him. Together they decided to cut out the middleman and sell fabric directly to the chain stores themselves. Within 15 years, General Fabrics had become a major fabric supplier to Wal-Mart, JoAnns, House of Fabrics, Hancock Fabrics, Clothworld, “and all those guys that aren’t here anymore,” David says.
By 2001, 50 percent of General Fabric’s sales volume was coming from Wal-Mart and the Odessas began to feel that their company was at risk. Chain fabric stores were closing; those that remained were beginning to source products directly, including fabric. “We saw the writing on the wall that there was no future there,” David says. It was time to diversify.
Creating for the independent market
Independent quilt shops offering premium quality fabrics, specialty notions, and classes were popping up all over the country. In 2001, the Odessas met a stylist and a salesperson from competitor, Benartex, and hired them to start a new division called Red Rooster, catering to the independent market. In 2009, they bought P&B Textiles, an established brand already serving the same market, to expand their portfolio.
Meanwhile, the chain store market deteriorated further. When Hancock Fabrics went bankrupt, General Fabrics took a major financial hit. Then Wal-Mart began sourcing almost all of their fabric directly. “It nearly knocked us out of business,” David says. In 2015, the Odessas pulled out of the chain store business entirely with what David describes as “a lot of collateral damage.”
Letting go of Red Rooster
“We made the decision to really shrink our business and things financially turned pretty bad for us,” David says. Analyzing their remaining assets they realized they needed to shut down Red Rooster.
“Red Rooster was killing us—the cost of product development, sampling, and just the overhead of running it. P&B Textiles is mostly basics and digital and we could keep a low overhead, but you had to keep an image with Red Rooster. New patterns, paying freelancers, it was astronomical.”
According to David, from 2011-2016 the competition among fabric companies serving the independent market grew exponentially.
Even with just one brand, the Odessa’s business continued to suffer. They were in an expensive spiral of downsizing, trying to lower overhead fast enough to keep up with dropping sales. “We lost some very valuable designers because we couldn’t pay their royalties on time, so they left,” Ed says. Staff members were becoming demoralized.
A way out
Just when the company nearly hit rock bottom, David’s phone rang and he heard a familiar voice. It was Eddie Ricci, someone he knew well from the fabric community in Rhode Island. Also a third generation textile executive, Eddie was now CEO of Brand & Oppenheimer, a company he and his business partner, Ben Galpen, had grown from $20 to $50 million through streamlining and strategic acquisitions. He wanted to know if General Fabrics was for sale.
“The timing wasn’t right,” David says. “We needed to fix our business.” The Odessas spent a year and a half restructuring to make General Fabrics more attractive to an equity partner. Then they called Eddie back. The deal closed February 1, 2018.
Brand & Oppenheimer owns a suite of textile companies serving the military, tactical, commercial, apparel, industrial, bias bindings, trim, and specialty end items markets. Quilting cottons was a welcome addition to their portfolio.
Once they’d been acquired, General Fabrics was immediately financially viable again. Orders started coming through and deliveries were going out which invigorated the sales team. “It’s been really good. It’s been great,” David says with a smile. “We’re able to make commitments and keep them.”
2021 Quilt Guild Challenge - Angela Brant
The theme this year will be International Travels- Real or Virtual: Pick a country outside of the US and design a quilt that represents that country.Go wild!
| Time Frame - October 2021 - May 2022 |
| Size Minimum - 18 " square Maximum - none |
| Categories for Prizes Best Representation of Country Best Use of Color Most Original Best Applique- While no applique is required in the quilt, there will be a ribbon for best applique for those who are so good at it. So get your creative juices flowing through the long winter months. Members will vote on winners at the May meeting . 1st, 2nd and 3rd place prizes will be awarded and announced at the May meeting. If you have questions, please contact Angela Brant at 484-682-3871 |
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Pop-Up Sale – Fabric and Quilting Goodies Ways & Means will be bringing a portion of the
donated items to the in-person meetings. Remember
to bring cash or checks so you don’t miss out! |
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Membership - Sara Reindel and Elizabeth Young
Penn Oaks Sunshine
If you know of a guild member who could use some well wishes or encouragement because of a sickness or life event, please contact me at marianne@thecaporales.us. I will make sure, as the in-coming Corresponding Secretary, to send our collective good thoughts to our fellow member.
Marianne Caporale
Ellen McMillen (ejmcmillen@verizon.net) and Cindy Vognetz (cvognetz@hotmail.com) 2022 Getaway Co-Chairs
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