Warehouse Tour...

Tour Guide - Lisa Bongean's Son

I spent the day at Primitive Gatherings' monthly Sit & Sew yesterday. In conversation about the warehouse, I mentioned to Lisa that I'd never seen her warehouse before (I'm the newest group member), so she asked her son (who works for her) to give me the tour. My girlfriend, Kathy D. and her friend, Jody, joined us.

The warehouse adjoins her office area (where we meet monthly), so out one door and in the next one. I'm only going to share a few photos, but believe me when I say I'm not surprised she's a "big dog" in the primitive/wool/quilting industry. She does everything on a huge scale...and the lady knows what she's doing.

Primitive Gatherings Valdani Room

This is the Valdani Room. Every color, every count, boxed, kitted, impressive. (This was only half of the room!)

Primitive Gatherings Signature Fabric Lines

There are actually rows and rows of bolts of Primitive Gatherings' fabrics. These are all fabrics that Lisa designed. Once pulled from this area, they are either kitted or installed in her shop, a few miles from the warehouse.

Primitive Gatherings Hand Dyed Wools

In addition to these finished and ready-to-sell wools, there are facilities on-site to hand dye all the Primitive Gatherings' wools. Bolts of the raw materials are rolled and lined up, waiting for the dyers.

There are multiple washing machines and driers in the warehouse for preparing and felling all the wools. Once they're dyed, they're washed again to make sure no dyes bleed into finished projects. Nice touch, right?

The website and shop also offer Swatch Books. You, too, can have samples of all the colors (and textures) available through the shop. In fact, you can special order your favorite colors in your favorite textures, too! The loose leaf binders are available for $30 each. (I bought one to bring home with me today.)

Primitive Gatherings Kitting Room and Supervisor

The last area I'll share with you from the tour is the Kitting Room. This light-filled space is in the front of the warehouse. With all the blocks of the month, classes, and stocking the shop, there's a large area dedicated to creating the kits.

Lisa's son pointed out the "supervisor" up in the corner. Wouldn't you like to have Captain Jack Sparrow making sure you don't miss a kit component? Really. If I lived closer, I might apply to work for Lisa!

I hope you've enjoyed this quick, little tour. There were many more areas, like the packaging room, shipping area, wholesale section, and even a show booth staging and stocking area. It's a quilter's dream place...our own Fantasy Island!

I took many more photos, but I wanted to make sure I didn't divulge any proprietary information. Lisa was kind enough to allow me to take these photos, so I asked her to approve each image for this post. Be sure to visit yourself if you ever have the chance.

Before I close, I want to remind you about my Ninth Blog Anniversary Giveaway. To enter, click on the top button on my sidebar to go to the post. You can learn about the giveaway, and enter once a day to win!