Fixing these pieces has also given me a chance to get to know some of the younger generation in this valley.”Īnother learning experience came when a customer sought Dahl’s help with a down feather collection. “People are invested in repairing them, rather than replacing them. “Those pieces of clothing are expensive,” she said. “I subcontract that out to a friend.”īut to meet demand from local recreationalists who wanted her to repair fleece pullovers, rain jackets and other outdoor apparel, Dahl learned to work with the unique fabrics those items are constructed from: nylon, recycled plastics and other synthetics. “I learned I don’t like to work with upholstery fabric,” she said. Since those high school home ec classes, Dahl has been self-taught, and it has been a bit of an evolution.
Handmade quilts adorn the walls of the Nimble Thimble Needle Nook, a testament to Dahl’s passion for this traditional art form - a love she inherited from her mother, who did all her quilting by hand. Painstaking work, restoring quilts requires both a nimble touch and an eye for replacing fabrics that may be generations old. While the bulk of Dahl’s work is shortening pants (“I think they make all pants the same length regardless of size,” she said), she also provides almost any apparel alteration or repair one could need, from tailoring sundresses to altering shirts to removing stays from formal gowns to adding buttons.Īpparel repairs are Dahl’s bread and butter, but repairing and restoring heirloom quilts is what really feeds her. What comes in is an array of textiles needing repair, adjustment or restoration. “With more space, it’s easier to keep track of what comes in and what goes out.” “It’s a treat to be here,” Dahl said of her new studio. The move affords Dahl more space, giving her both a place to greet customers and make repairs, as well as a fitting room and storage area in an adjacent room.
A NIMBLE THIMBLE HOW TO
If you wanted a bigger wardrobe and you couldn’t buy everything you saw in magazines, you learned how to sew it yourself.”ĭahl has been sewing ever since, although she didn’t do it professionally until about five years ago, when she opened a “fixing, mending, repairing and restoring” sewing studio in Twisp, located first in the Cascade Center and relocated in early June to the Gloversville Addition building, behind the 3rd Avenue Salon. She was inspired, she said, “Because I wanted clothes.”
For Karen Dahl, owner of the Nimble Thimble Needle Nook, that passion was uncovered in home economics class when she learned to sew. If we’re lucky, we discover a passion in high school.
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