Heading to Muscatine, Iowa, seeking fabric and yarn shops

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07-25-2011, 03:37 PM

#11

Dretha

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Join Date: Jul 2011

Location: Iowa

Posts: 101

Also another wonderful place to buy material is Cantrel Iowa but dont know if you want to go that much further south.

07-26-2011, 07:39 AM

#12

ronnie17

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Join Date: Jun 2010

Location: Eastern MA

Posts: 230

After eating muscatine melons until you burst I would suggest heading to Kalona IA where they have two fabric stores and the Woodin' Wheel quilt shop with hundreds of wonderful completed quilts. When we are in IA the entire family knows this is one day's trip. also google--"quilt shops iowa" or :fabric shops iowa'. also I think Fons and Porter are there somewhere but can't remember the spot.

07-26-2011, 09:29 AM

#13

Marge L.

Senior Member

Join Date: Mar 2010

Location: Marengo, Iowa

Posts: 802

Quote:

Originally Posted by ronnie17

Fons & Porter are in Winterset, over near Des Moines.

07-26-2011, 02:05 PM

#14

pgthom

Senior Member

Thread Starter

Join Date: Mar 2010

Location: SW MI (yes there really is a Kalamazoo)

Posts: 634

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dretha

I only live about 30 miles south of Muscatine, Iowa. Go to Crazy Girl's Yarn Shop for yarn and to Neal's Sewing Center for fabric. Both are on second street. Not much else to recommend in Muscatine.

The reason for the trip is I collect vintage buttons, and want to visit the button factories and museum. BFF and I like to take a little road trip in the summer, and we are both stitchers and knitters, so can find lots of ways to give our money away! Thanks for the tips!

07-26-2011, 02:14 PM

#15

jdiane318

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Join Date: Aug 2010

Location: springfield, MO

Posts: 2,033

Don't forget to go eat at The Button Factory. The decor is very upscale vintage, you can see some of the machines used to make buttons. I believe that Muscatine was the main supplier/maker of pearl buttons at one time.

07-26-2011, 02:43 PM

#16

Dretha

Junior Member

Join Date: Jul 2011

Location: Iowa

Posts: 101

You are welcome. Glad to help.

07-26-2011, 03:48 PM

#17

pgthom

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Thread Starter

Join Date: Mar 2010

Location: SW MI (yes there really is a Kalamazoo)

Posts: 634

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdiane318

Yes Diane, you are correct. The story (as I heard it) is a German immigrant was wading in the Mississippi, and cut his foot on a clam shell. He had been a button maker in Germany, and saw the shells as free material. Many of the residents made their livings in the button factories. They made 1.5 billion pearl buttons annually. Plastic buttons gradually ended that era. I have thousands of MOP (mother of pearl) buttons and use them for all sorts of things beside buttoning.....jewelry, pins, bracelets, etc. Especially fond of the carved oneS.

07-26-2011, 05:37 PM

#18

jdiane318

Super Member

Join Date: Aug 2010

Location: springfield, MO

Posts: 2,033

My best friend since high school lives outside Muscatine on Highway 22. I was raised in the Quad Cities. I also know that Muscatine was known as the Pearl of the Mississippi for years. I go up during Labor Day weekend and stay through the week for a visit. You will also have to eat at The Clamshell, it has been featured on a road trip show about eateries on the Great River Road, along the Mississippi. It is a cute diner, usually closes Labor Day weekend. Enjoy your visit.