Home Sewn, a fabric and yarn store, opens in downtown Vallejo

VALLEJO — If you’ve ever dreamed of making your own pillows, dresses or sweaters, you are in luck. Home Sewn, a purveyor of fine fabric, yarn and handmade gifts opened last month in downtown Vallejo. 

The owner, Monique Perez Goff, had always worked in textiles and crafting as a hobby, but this is the first time she’s trying to make a career out of her passion by opening a small business.

Home Sewn, located at 630 Marin St., is a luminous, spacious corner shop, with high ceilings, two walls of windows and an enticing array of multicolor fabrics and yarns that would tempt the least gifted maker to try their hand at sewing and knitting. 

“The new fabrics I sell are all natural fibers, so that's cotton, cotton linen blends, or linen, and the new yarns I sell are wool, cotton, linen, or some kind of blend of that,” Perez Goff said. “I'm a big believer in ‘Be the change you want to see in the world,’ and if I want to see a world that has less petroleum products, I need to live that in my own life.”

Her interest in sustainability also pushes her to combine new materials with recycled ones. “The inside of my potholders has old cotton towels from my bathroom,” she said. “I made a quilt mixing new fabric and a recycled linen curtain. I’m big on trying to keep things out of the garbage.”

Aside from fabrics and yarns, Perez Goff sells homemade gifts. Some she makes herself, such as quilts, bags, potholders and special items like a wreath created with recycled book pages coiled into flower shapes, but she also features other Vallejo makers, like a woodworker who is designing an ergonomic crochet hook, and a man who makes rugs out of recycled suits. 

“I really want the handmade gifts to be eventually all made by Vallejoans,” Perez Goff said. “That’s the goal.”

In the five weeks that Home Sewn has been open, she has found a warm welcome, which has helped with the new business owner’s nerves. A mentor from the Small Business Administration has also been a great resource.

“It's really scary opening up a business. This is so much of my life savings, you know? And is it going to work or not?” Perez Goff said. “But the silver lining has been finding this incredible community of people who are helping without wanting anything in return. They just want the shop to be successful.”

Her fiber group, which had been meeting in cafes on Saturdays to crochet and knit together, decided to meet at her store to encourage more people to come inside. A friend is knitting a tank top to display in the shop’s window to feature the yarns. Another offered to pass out flyers in Benicia. And the small business owners on Marin Street have received her with open arms. 

“Karen [the owner of Alibi Bookshop] has been sending so many people over to the shop,” Perez Goff said, “and The Exchange has offered to lend me stools and chairs when I have classes, so I don’t have to make that investment myself. People are really interested. There’s a yearning for independent local shops and a vibrant downtown Vallejo.”

There is such a feeling of community among the business owners on Marin Street — who all happen to be women except for one — that Perez Goff decided not to teach how to sew clothes in her shop so she wouldn’t interfere with Make It Sew, the sewing school across the street, or how to mend, which is taught at The Exchange.

Instead, she plans to teach crochet, knitting or sewing very specific items, such as the little felt dolls that come from the book Felt Animal Families.

Home Sewn and Make It Sew don’t see each other as competitors, but as collaborators, and they regularly send customers to each other. 

Make It Sew opened two years ago at 627 Marin St. Its owner, Julie Barner, teaches one to four private classes every day.

Sewing has been a lifelong passion for Barner. “I started sewing by hand as a little kid. Eventually my mom let me use the sewing machine, and I finally got a sewing machine for Christmas when I was 13,” she said. “After that, there was no stopping me.”

Barner worked in fabric stores for years, then she got a job in the costume shop at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego, where she lived. She also worked for the San Diego Opera and, once she moved to the Bay Area, for the San Francisco Opera and the Berkeley Repertory Theater. Although she doesn’t work in theater anymore, Barner loves period costumes and makes her own to attend Peers Dances. 

Seeing a friend’s sewing school thrive in Alameda inspired her to open Make It Sew. When she started, she occupied a back corner in a ceramicist’s studio, but when the artist decided to move out, Barner took over the space. To make ends meet she shares it with two artists who display their work in the back.

People of all ages want to learn to sew, from young teenagers who sometimes will take classes for years, to retirees. Men are also avid learners, in some cases because they inherited a sewing machine from their mother and want to know how it works.

“Some people want to learn hand sewing techniques, others have never touched a sewing machine and I teach them machine basics,” Barner said. “Others want to learn how to hem and alter their clothes, or they want to make their own clothing, bags, or home accessories, like pillows.” 

“It’s not super lucrative, but I’ve been getting by and it’s very rewarding,” she said. “I’ve had so many students tell me that they loved it and I am a great teacher, and that just means everything.”

Like Barner, Perez Goff is focused not only on selling but on spreading joy. Recently she had a client who was trying to decide between two fabrics. She finally chose one, and as soon as she got out of the shop, she sat on a bench, opened the box and started to go through the fabric because she was so excited about her purchase. 

“It's been a week, and I'm still thinking about her,” Perez Goff said. “I loved helping her have that moment when she got excited about creating and making. That made me happy. I really hope that I can continue to spark more of that in people, a love of creativity and generosity.”

Classes are $65 per hour or four classes for $55 each, which is what most students choose to do. To reserve a spot, email Juliesmakeitsew@gmail.com or call 619-446-8800.